Art in Europe, Part III: Rembrandt

When my mom and I visited the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, there were three self-portraits by Rembrandt van Rijn, displayed on the same wall, all in a row. The first one I ever saw was in the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh two years ago, and another just last week in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.  Rembrandt is famous for these portraits because he painted (or etched) so many over his lifetime, representing the various stages of human life and showing his ability to paint all different types of facial expressions and skin. Painting skin is something that takes skill, let me tell you. I have yet to be successful in such an endeavor. 

Here is the self-portrait I saw in Amsterdam, entitled Self-Portrait As Apostle Paul, painted in 1661 (or you can click here to see a sampling of his other self-portraits):

The Rijksmuseum has a large collection of other famous works by this artist. Before I went there, I never really felt that connected to Rembrandt. I understood that he did things that were special and important in terms of art-making, but he was just one of many. But now that I've seen so many works of his, and visited his house, now a museum, I am newly in awe.

The three Rembrandt paintings I spent the most time with in the Rijksmuseum were:

The Jewish Bride, ca. 1667

The Syndics of the Amsterdam Drapers' Guild, known as the ‘Sampling Officials,’ 1662

The Night Watch, 1664

Rather than go on an on about my personal experience with these paintings, I want to tell you that the Rijksmuseum experience was really great. Technology is being utilized to make museum visits all the better. The audio guide or (free) app that accompanies these paintings and many more of the works in the museum is what made my time with them so rich and meaningful. You've probably heard this before, not only from me about my own work, but from others: seeing an artwork in person is no comparison to the pictures of it, whether in books or online. Like I said, it is the experience of seeing these pieces in person that makes me feel like I have a relationship with them. I understand them and the artist so much better now.

At the risk of writing a (too?) lengthy post, let me tell you about a few more things, Rembrandt-related. 

After seeing these paintings, I visited Rembrandthuis, where Rembrandt lived in Amsterdam during the height of his career as a sought-after artist. 

The house was completed devoted to art. Sure, there was a kitchen and a place for him to sleep, but otherwise, here were the rooms: 

• an entry room and a separate gallery for his patrons and buyers to come view/buy art
• a small office in order to keep his papers in order
• a beautiful, large, north-facing studio
• a room of curiosities where he kept things like busts or statues of feet or hands, or stuffed alligators or skeletons of fish or coins or feathers or costumes or armor
• a separate studio where he taught his students, and 
• a room for etching or print-making

During my visit, I got to see a demonstration on etching/print-making, and another about how he would have made paint. (Rembrandt achieved all he did with just 13 paint colors!)

Finally, as I stepped onto the top floor, where the teaching studio was, a woman invited me to participate in a free art workshop in which we would study light and dark. I didn't hesitate! For the next hour and a half, I and 6 other "students" used one of three mediums (graphite, a red drawing medium similar to conti, and something completely new to me, bistre) to copy the forms and shapes of an upside down image she provided. She encouraged me to try the new medium, which I thought would be a great challenge.

At some point, the profound fact occurred to me that I was spending time in the studio of a great 17th century artist, painting, doing an exercise he himself might have had his students do. Was this real?

Here's how my piece stood by the end, before we presented them to the rest of the class:

Then, the reveal! Flip them over and all of a sudden, there's a scene!  All of ours were laid out, and the teacher talked us through what we had learned.

I got so much more than I'd bargained for at the Rembrandthuis. Thanks to that, to the museum, and to these two videos, I now feel a strong connection to Rembrandt van Rijn.

1. Flash Mob acts out Rembrandt's The Night Watch in a mall (1½ minutes)

2. Simon Schama's documentary about Rembrandt's late works (1 hour)

Card Swap 2015

The 2015 6 degrees of HLM Card Swap was once again a smashing success!  The theme this year was either "birthday" or "bird." Some people combined the two, and others diverged from the theme to create something totally different. It is a particular pleasure of mine to see how the same theme is translated into so many creative and unique ways by different people. Let me introduce you to our participants and their fine works of art (and click on any photo to get a closer view):

Brittany is from Fort Collins, and she used napkins with a bird print decoupaged onto cardstock and cut into tiny flying birds heading for tasty seeds (beads!) on a branch.

 

Laura is also from FoCo. She was really excited to get to participate this year, and she found inspiration in Anthropologie catalogs, placing bird images in unexpected interiors, in the mood to celebrate.

Nancy, from Portland, Oregon, played with a toucan/two can theme, using an original design and manipulating it in Photoshop to get it just right.

Susan used a combination of paper she had leftover from last year's swap, washi tape, bird cut-outs, and her own encaustic backgrounds to create a harmonious design. (She is from Fort Collins.)

Ambra lives in Canada--our one international participant this year--and was inspired by a birthday card I made for her many years ago. She made this collage then scanned and printed it to share the love tenfold.

This is Diana's first year in the swap, and she made a unique mix of cards. She and her school-aged kids worked together on the illustrated ones. Miles designed the middle one, and Claire came up with the right center one.  They all live in Tinmath, CO.

Claudia, another local, is also new to the swap this year, and her cards were a great contribution, utilizing different papers and hand-stitching.

Anne has participated in the swap several times, but this year she was inspired to do something different from her usual photography. She used a pin to create patterns that, at first, she hoped would be bird-like. She found she was happier when she didn't try to control the forms, though, resulting in molecular, fractal, starburst, and circle shapes. She is from Seattle, one of four people in our swap from Washington!

Another Washingtonian, Gloria participated for the first time in the swap. She contributed sweet watercolor paintings of birds. Of anyone who got to see all her cards before they were divvied up, the "Picasso Bird" (center) was a particular favorite.

Reid is another Seattlite. I've been inviting her to participate for years, and finally this year she said yes!  She did a series of ten "Let's..." cards. Each card had a unique illustration and inside, a suggestion for what we should do, like "Let's make each other mix tapes," or "Let's make out."

Not only did Reid participate this year, but she recruited a friend! Jaala, our fourth Washington representative, used old pages of text about birds to cut out silhouettes of birds and feathers. She and Reid even got together to make their cards in a fun work party of their own.

My card was inspired by a Martha Stewart Valentine's project I spotted in the February issue of her magazine. (Click here if you'd like to see it and get a template.) Lately I've been really into drawing, so I checked out some bird books at the library and drew from those using just one pen. I initially wanted to draw a different bird for each card, but after 5 drawings, I had to get a move on with the constructing of these volvelles.  I had particular fun researching good bird jokes to use. Paul (husband) had to hear each and every one of them. Ha!

I can't think of a year that Andrea hasn't participated in the card swap. She's from Fort Collins and we had an art date to get her cards done. She's a big fan of recycling old cards into new ones. She saves every card she receives in order to turn it into a new one.

This is Annie's first year in the swap. We met at the 2013 Fort Collins Studio Tour, when she visited my studio that weekend. The next year, she came back to tell me that my studio inspired her to make her own space for creating, and thank goodness she did that, because these excellent cards are one result of her efforts to make time and space for art in her life.

Gaye is from Fort Collins, too, and throughout the year, saves and presses leaves and flowers she finds. She was reminiscing about her camp counselor years when making these cards, a refined version of a simple craft project. Many of the flowers she saves are from cacti.

Gene was recruited this year by another loyal participant, Jennifer, both of whom live in Santa Rosa, CA. Gene used colored pencils to bring us into the world of joyfully sliding down sand dunes with the sun low on the horizon, and Jennifer's card (below that) was made with a stamp she carved out of a potato!

Haley is from Fort Collins, and she printed out engineering designs (made by her husband, Eric) on decorative paper, then cut them into bird house shapes. The outside represents science, while through the window on the inside, you'll find music!

Jessie and I have been working together at the university for about a year, but she recently revealed to me that we have art in common. Of course she had to participate in the swap! She drew this fun abstracted cupcake design while at the work party in my studio in April.

Kara is from Oregon, and another one I've been trying to recruit to the swap for a few years. This year she said yes, and hand-drew each of her ten cards in unique birthday/bird designs.

If you've been following along with the swap for years, you'll know that Katie (from Fort Collins) has actually already made two previous cards with a bird theme. This year, she wanted to find something she could do together with her three year-old daughter. Coinciding with her choice to make sun prints, I happened to be studying women artists in art history this spring, and Anna Atkins, the inventor of camera-less photography and a botanist, was introduced to me in class just a few days after Google made a doodle in honor of her 216th birthday.

Another Fort Collins resident, Mary Lu had a rough year of it in 2014, so was glad to have an excuse to say hello to her creative side again through the card swap. She made this fabulous rooster linocut, then hand-colored each one with colored pencils.

Megan's done the swap before and I was glad to have her back for a second time this year, with her "bubbly" happy birthday cards made with ink and watercolors.

Mia also played around with watercolors to create this sweet 'hello' card. This is her second year in the swap and she's from the Fort.

Phuong is a regular contributor from Boston, who also used watercolors and ink to create a dynamic and bright card design.

Sandy made ten unique collages for her ten cards, which also incorporated some drawing and watercolor. This is her first year in the swap and she's from Fort Collins.

Another local, Shari, covered masking tape in ink, then pressed it onto the paper to create the unique background pattern for her stamp design. She said it made a big mess, but the effect is pretty cool.

Last but not least, Siri joined the swap again this year after her last time, maybe 4 or 5 years ago. She's from State College, Pennsylvania and used some metallic papers to add pop to her birthday card design.

Two last photos, including the Big Picture (sorry for the bad quality of a nighttime photo) and everyone's piles after my friend Marci and I divvied them up late one night before my big trip (thanks Marci!). Be sure to click on the photo to see better who made what. In total, we were 28 people, which meant 280 cards! Thank you so much to those who participated. Whether you made cards this year or not, I hope you'll consider joining us next year for the 6 degrees of HLM card swap. It's your participation and help recruiting your friends that make the swap the success that it is.

Souvenir Art

I went to a Vine Arts meeting last week and was inspired. Artists in our corner of Fort Collins are doing really great stuff! My friend and fellow artist Jane Basile is particularly inspirational these days. She recently applied her mad science skillz in Sierra Leone to help with the Ebola outbreak and in the minuscule amount of spare time she had, she made what she called, "souvenir art." I never thought about art made in a place being considered a souvenir, though it makes complete sense to me now that she said it. Lately, I've been nostalgic for mountain biking and the nearly 200-mile bike trip we made last summer from Telluride, Colorado to Moab, Utah. And then I realized: I made some souvenir art on that trip! So here are four of the drawings I made that week. They do invoke different memories of the trip than photos. (Be sure to click on the pictures to see them up close.)

I couldn't not include a photo of Jane's Africa pastel drawings. Aren't they fantastic? (Each one is about 8 inches square.)

Card Swap - Call For Entries!

I made this painting for my dad's milestone birthday this year. It's not completely original--if you visit Ryan Conners' Etsy, you'll see where the cats came from. But I changed the road trip vehicle to be my dad's very own VW Vanagon, his main past time of the last few years.  I'll post a progression of the making of the painting at some point soon.

These vinyl pouches are a recent project of Amanda Jean, who runs the Crazy Mom Quilts blog. (There's a link to her wonderful inspiring blog on the right.) She made these, so I thought I would too. They're harder than they look! She's creating a tutorial, which I think is great in case you'd like to make them and need some guidance. (I definitely had to put my quilting skills to use!) I'm really glad to have something to organize my felt scraps and Christmas fabric in. She calls them "Work in Progress" bags.

Without further ado, you are invited to participate in the 8th annual 6 Degrees of HLM Card Swap!  This is one of my favorite things to do (ever!) for the following reasons:

• I get to make small works of art.
• I get to share them with you to use for any purpose.
• I get to do art in community with you, whether that community is in person or virtual.
• It capitalizes on my event planning and coordination skills, which I think is fun.

Here's the details:

1. After I hear from everyone who wants to participate and I give you the signal, you'll have 8 weeks to make ten (10) greeting cards, most often somewhat identical in design (although this is not required).  These cards can be any shape or size, blank on the inside, themed wherever your whimsy takes you. Every medium is welcome: fabric, stamping, painting, beads, collage, photography, papercraft.... Most important is that whatever you make fits into an envelope that can be mailed either domestically or abroad. THEME:  Last year we tried a theme and it led to the best card swap yet!  This year's theme can be either "bird" or "birthday." No need to be literal about this--be creative!  What images, thoughts, words, or inspiration do these words invoke for you?  Please interpret as loosely as you need to. (And if you're totally uninspired, just throw the theme out the window and do what you want!)

2. On the given postmark deadline, you'll send all the cards you make to me with enough envelopes for each card and a couple of dollars (international folks exempt from having to send me money).

3. Once I receive everyone's cards, I'll divvy them up so that every person receives ten cards from other swap participants. Using the couple bucks, I'll send them back to you.

4. You'll receive a set of handmade greeting cards to use over the next year in the mail for just the cost it took to make yours and ship them to and from me.

Here are the dates you need to know:

·   RSVP to participate in the card swap by next Saturday, February 21, by clicking HERE.

·   Start thinking about/making your design as soon as you can.  You'll be surprised how quickly that deadline will be here.

·   I'll host a Work Party at my studio in Fort Collins, CO on a Saturday afternoon in early April--anyone who participates in the swap is welcome to join us.

·   Monday, April 13 is the postmark date for getting those cards, enough corresponding envelopes, and cash in the mail to me. (If you're local, you obviously don't have to bother with the sending business--we'll just rendezvous!)  

·   I'll send out a reminder about 4 weeks through.

·   Around May 1 is when I will hopefully send your cards back to you.  This is a fuzzy deadline, as the nature of having an international card swap greatly affects postal travel.

Please DO forward this invitation to any of your crafty or arty friends and have them RSVP directly to me if they'd like to participate.  Anyone is welcome (even if card-making is not your main means of artistic expression!).  My only request is that everyone who signs up follows through to make/swap their cards.

For inspiring close-up images from last year, click here. 

Ideal Conditions For Change

Hello loyal Parsley Art/HLM blog followers!  I am happy to be back with another year of the art journey to share with you. Thank you for your continued interest and support!

More than ever, I am feeling the pull to be 100% artist. Over the holidays, I did some calculating and I am a year and a half away from paying off all my student loans. Plus, I have settled into the feeling of uncertainty that making a big change brings. I even notice that I'm less afraid.

I made this cool thing in my sculpture class in November. I haven't shared it yet because it's not that easy to photograph, so I wanted to try to do that some justice. Of course, it's even better in person, but this will have to do for you for now.

This is made of an old Psychology 101 textbook. I found it in a 'free books' box in the hallway at my day job. I love how easily it opens flat. I knew immediately it would become art, but it wasn't till I was asked to make a 3-dimensional piece using a "medium of choice" in the class I took last semester that it found its calling. Of course I had to make something out of paper, and my teacher encouraged me to do something I've always wanted to do.

Enter the work of Su Blackwell, a British artist I've admired for a while, whose work inspires me every time. If you click on this link, you will see how very much I've taken her idea and run with it: http://www.sublackwell.co.uk/portfolio-book-cut-sculpture/

The timing of this piece is what made it particularly meaningful for me. I've worked in the Psychology department at the university since 2007(!). I enjoy the work and it's a great fit for my skills, particularly getting to work with young people as they navigate their college journeys. You know I'm detail-oriented, and that translates to my non-creative work in many helpful ways. It is a good job with a good office culture, a steady paycheck and benefits, free tuition for one class each semester, and I feel like I'm making a difference.

I am so incredibly grateful to have found a job with all those good things about it. I'm comfortable there, I'm good at it. I like it. I'm in the little, warm, inviting house. And yet, this job it isn't my calling. Recently, I've felt a more and more pressing urge to run out of the little house, jump into that hot air balloon, and fly away to have a completely new adventure!

But is it responsible to do such a thing? What about changes in the wind? What about the unknown? What about warmth? What about the guilt I feel for longing to not do my university job? 

I am holding my choice in my hands. I'm sure I'll get in that balloon. Like I said, I'm not feeling so afraid. But I do have some more work to do to improve the flying conditions. And a promise I make to myself is to not require that the conditions be perfect, because they never will be.