Turtle Takes Art Lessons, Part iii

This third and final part in our Fun With Cont Ed series looks at watercolour.

Of the three water-based media — acrylic, gouache, and watercolour — watercolour is my favourite. Maybe I like the mystery of its transparency and translucence. Maybe I appreciate the idea of all that fun for $25. More can be spent — really good paper is the biggest expense, because a good brush will last years while the paper can’t be reused — but the excitement of slipping into the art supply store for a little three-dollar tube of luscious colour is hard to beat.

Below are three of my efforts, all combining techniques our instructor taught us with bits from my brain pan.

This first one is a nice little cottage-country lake. The main thing that I learned for this is that your picture will be a lot more interesting if you use three different colours to paint the shoreline. We were also shown how to make the dock pilons with their reflections. My imaginary addition is the little splishy fish, homage to E.g.’s fishy logo she created for a quarterly she used to produce.

The next one uses techniques we learned for making rock and tree textures, and rendering objects less colourful as they recede in the distance. The brain-pan part is a memory of a several-day canoe trip in Algonquin Park. The lakes aren’t this big, but the rockiness of the foreground and middle-ground island are the way I want them to look.

And finally… sorry to have to revert to a winter theme, but it’s my best piece, so I wanted to save it for last. It was for marks, and penciled on the back is the eight class-learned techniques that went into it. But first, the inspirational photo:

And now the painting. Can anybody tell what it includes that’s missing from the photo? Something Turtle has been occasionally dreaming about? Give you three guesses.

Turtle Takes Art Lessons, Part ii

As part of the acrylics unit in the “Water-based Painting” course, we devoted one evening to collage.

Again, we were asked to bring in a picture. This time it could be anything, so long as it could be seen in fairly big blocks of colour. I saw a magazine ad that I liked, showing a young woman with bright red gloves and umbrella:

The model is hopping over some driftwood with her pals. She’s pasted to the back of the cardboard that I used for the collage. When I cropped it (too much) , some of the ad tore away. And with all the gluing, the cardboard is bowed, hence the funny shiny bit around her leg.

Anyway, we were to paint swatches of colour onto cartridge paper, and then cut them out to replicate the photo we had chosen. As in yesterday’s tale of the Modigliani impression, my subject took on a life of her own. She may not be as fashionably dressed as the model, but she’s a tad more sensible:

Here’s the clams! Is that bonfire started yet?

Turtle Takes Art Lessons, Part i

Hi, everybody! Today, tomorrow, and after-tomorrow, I’m going to share with you some fun I had at the local community college last year. Besides three drawing classes, I took Water-based Painting and Watercolour I.

Water-based Painting was an introduction to three media: acrylics, gouache, and watercolour, in that order. After a number of exercises in what acrylics can do, we were asked to bring in a copy of a painting by one of three artists. I forget the other two, but I printed off a public-domain pic by Modigliani. This one’s called “La jeune fille au corsage à pois”, meaning “the girl with the polka-dot blouse”. “Pois” all by itself is French for “pea”.

Here’s Modigliani’s original:

And here’s how I interpreted it:

I called this “La jeune femme au corsage à carottes”. I wasn’t intending for her to take on that dom look, but once she did, I bowed to her will. Note the wilted carrots in the collander. Next!

And don’t worry, the rest of my works are all rated G.

Christmas Card

May you be warmed, empowered, enlivened, and renewed.

Patent Pending 1933

Christmas is a traditional time for the giving and receiving of gadgets, some of which turn out to be useful. This is one.

It was already old when I was born — how old, I’m not sure. It dates at least from my parents’ wedding in 1953. I’ve found others like it on the internet, and have learned that a) the original patent was filed in 1933 or 1934, and b) the company that made it is still in existence. Curious? Read on. (Oh, and I scoured it with a dry scrubbing cloth halfway through the photo shoot, so some pictures are rustier than others. )

Cute. What is it?

Hmm…

Expanded.

Contracted.

The company.

The gadget. “Top-Off jar and bottle screw top opener”.

Hold jar in one hand, turn wooden handle with the other. Works like a charm.

Tape Loop with a Half Twist

It’s called a Mobius strip.

Nineteenth-century mathematician August Ferdinand Mobius didn’t invent it, he just studied it closely.

I’ve always been fascinated by the thing. It’s simple: make like you’re creating loops for a paper garland, get distracted, and tape the wrong edges together. Like so:

Notify the HR department.

Now take two drawing implements of differing colours. Use one to draw a line down the centre of the loop’s outside, and the other to draw a line down the centre of its inside. Draw until the colour meets its starting point.

Correct: black inside, blue outside. Mobius: Blue.

As you can see, the Mobius strip isn’t behaving very well: one colour did both sides before meeting itself.

Never mind. You’ve decided these loops are too wide for the garland. Snip them along their freshly-drawn centre lines, then, to make two loops.

Correct: two loops of regulation width and diameter. Mobius: one loop of regulation width, double diameter.

Maybe the scissors aren’t feeling too well today? Let’s try that once more, just to be sure.

Correct: four slimline loops, comprising two coloured and two plain. Mobius: One double-diameter slimline plain loop twined with one double-diameter slimline  coloured loop.

Uh-oh. The garland department union is crying foul, because the Mobius loop received only one cut while the regulation loops were given two cuts, one for each loop. The union demands that each of the two Mobius loops be cut, to keep pace with the proper loops. Here goes:

We’ve ended up with three double-slim, double-diameter, plain loops intertwined with one double-slim, double-diameter, coloured loop. Kinda pretty, isn’t it?

As for you four, excellent job! To reward you, we promise to cut and retape only three of you in order to proceed with the fabrication of slimline garland.

Serious Turtle

Today I got an e-mail from the World Wildlife Federation (I always feel the need to spell it out in order to distinguish it from the World Wrestling Federation) . They periodically ask their members to send a letter to a world leader or sign a petition on behalf of dolphins (who have a really hard time with ballpoints) or something similar. So I send, or sign. It’s easy enough to do, and I feel good supporting this organization.

Today’s e-mail is just a little different. They are asking for photos “featuring your eyes” to symbolize the idea that “the whole world is watching.”

Well, last year in my Drawing II class, we had to make watercolour self-portraits. Just the head. We were to sit with a mirror as close to our face as possible without going cross-eyed, and put in every little line, shadow, and plane that we saw.

Just as well my vanity is not invested in my looks.

Anyway, I thought I would use a crop of that watercolour. Here now, for your glee, is How Turtle Sees Herself:

Scary, n’est-ce pas? Though somewhat mitigated by the purple background.

But wait! I cropped in further. Then I played with the colours.

What do you think? Serious enough? Do you like the earth tones? Would you want this hanging on the wall behind you while you’re working at your computer?

Guest Blog

Well okay, I didn’t get that writing done that I wanted to. That’s okay. E.g. took some photos today, and then I took some, and I ended up downloading her photos onto my machine, and that gave me an idea, and today’s entry is Photos courtesy of E.g. and Poem courtesy of the late Al Purdy, Canadian poet who visited our high school, leaning against the podium in the library, cigar between unstoppable fingers, the librarian yielding territory to the Wordsmith. Here’s to you, Al.

Update: I just received a breathtaking defamation of character (not in a legal sense of course) in the guise of a you-forgot-to-ask-permission letter from Mr Purdy’s publisher. It would have gone public in the comments section — twice, in fact (I guess the publisher doesn’t know that bloggers vet first-time comments) . I would have accepted the letters, but those of you who read my stuff regularly know I’m not that mean. But I have, as I promised I would, deleted the copyrighted poem. Sorry, everyone, the library’s closing and the public reading is over.

Tomorrow’s Blog, Today

… or is it yesterday’s blog today? It’s being prepared on Saturday, because timelines for Sunday are iffy. So I suppose it really is yesterday’s blog today, but “tomorrow’s blog, today” sounds so much more newsworthy and current and stuff. Anyway…

Today, which is yesterday (Saturday) , Turtle was given a little something. Never mind that the whole point of the yard sale was to get rid of stuff; this little something, a purchase at the semi-annual craft fair in the park (the same weekend as the neighbourhood-wide yard sale) , is small, tasteful, one-of-a-kind, and beautiful. And colourful. And turtleful. And Jack picked it out. Here it is:

“I love it!” says Seamus.

It’s by a Toronto artist, Joanne Larkman. Apparently she does a lot of her artwork based on photos taken by her husband, Dave. The web site gives no more personal information, so I can’t say whether she’s Mohawk or Micmac or Macedonian — but I very much appreciate the style, and the fact that Jack thought of me/Turtle/Seamus when he bought it. Thank you!

“Woodland Turtle.” Ink and watercolour (?) , 2008, Joanne Victoria Larkman.

Paris Progress: Recap of Day 3

I think the planned itinerary for Day 3 might have worked if we hadn’t all gone to bed so late the night before. With the time change and the excitement and a snack in the kitchen after the Messiaen concert, my travelmates were under the impression that this was a vacation, and not the military drill I had set up for them. So instead of being in the Jardin des Plantes by 09 00, they weren’t even all out of the shower yet. I had stayed up ridiculously late the night before, and was hopelessly cranky and crankily hopeless. Note to self: Have some water. Get some sleep.

Paris City Hall.

Re-examining the plan for May 30, though, I see that we covered most of it, and the four sane members of our group actually had more fun than I thought they had. We walked from our apartment down beside the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall), over the Seine at the Pont d’Arcole, past the Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral, and over the Pont de l’Archevêché into the Latin Quarter. We paused to look over into the Seine on the north side, and saw a batobus and the Bateau-Mouche; the first provides on-off transit at eight stops between the Eiffel Tower and the Jardin des Plantes (12 euros for the day), and the second is a one-hour round-trip commented tour (9 euros).

Scow on the Seine.

The boat that excited me the most, though, was this gravel scow. It took the Seine out of the travel guides and films, and set it into a real-live, workaday city. I AM in Paris!

On the narrow streets of the Latin Quarter we saw the lady walking her dogs and the shop full of second-hand cat memorabilia, both pictures of which are on the Day 3 post. Here is the shop sign for the cat-collectibles:

Medieval street in the Latin Quarter.

Although the Latin Quarter is named after all the university students who lived there and spoke the language of their instruction for centuries, there was also a Roman presence during the first few centuries of the Common Era. The Museum of the Middle Ages is housed partly in an old monastery and partly in an old Roman bath house. Seamus is perched on  one of the exterior monastery staircases in the “Paris, Day 3″ posting.

Photo taken from garden, Museum of the Middle Ages.

It was already 11 00 when we got to the Left Bank, so we skipped the Jardin des Plantes, bought lunchables, and carried them over to the garden at the Museum of the Middle Ages. The garden is in several sections, and each section contains plants used in medieval times. The area is surrounded by the wooden fencing seen in the photo above, and the fencing is lined with continuous benching. We sat here for our picnic, which included multiflavoured meringues.

In the Museum, we went first to the one-hour concert featuring motets of the 12th to 15th centuries, performed by a six-member group called Ultreia. The music was quite different from the Messiaen concert of the night before, but almost as weird — a real treat! Then we poked around the exhibits.

Item in the Museum of the Middle Ages.

Dennis the Vizsla and Checkers and Cody may be interested to know that dogtags existed 600 years ago.

The museum houses the tapestries of The Lady and the Unicorn. The gift shop has an excellent collection of books on the Middle Ages. I bought a book of medieval cookery. 

In the Luxembourg Gardens.

After the museum, we wandered through the Luxembourg Gardens and then went to the Bourdelle Museum. I loved this one! Bourdelle was a sculptor, a student of Rodin. I was blown away by the colossal size of some of the pieces, and really enjoyed Bourdelle’s style. In fact, I prefer it to what I’ve seen so far of Rodin’s work.

We met back in front of the postal museum, and then walked to the Montparnasse-Bievenue station, where we saw the elevator to the Jardins Atlantique if not the gardens themselves. We caught the M4 subway to the Etienne Marcel station, and walked to our apartment from there.

So that was Day 3. And now it’s mid-morning, Day 5, and high time I was through the shower and on my way out with E.g. for a leisurely day. The other three left over an hour ago, headed for the Eiffel Tower.

A bientot!