The Passion of Christ captured in Michelangelo's Pietá

Pietá, Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1499.

Michelangelo's Pietá is one of my favorite sculptures.  Carved from marble, it took Michelangelo nearly two years to complete it.  Commissioned as a funeral monument for a cardinal, it now sits appropriately in St. Peters Basilica, Vatican City.



The sculpture is a depiction of the crucified Christ and his mother, Mary.  Jesus' pierced, lifeless body drapes over Mary's lap like her abundant robe.  Mary holds Jesus' body with her right arm as she lifts her left hand towards Heaven.  Her expression is one of resolute faith, not much different than how she is depicted in other art works holding the newborn baby Jesus. 



The powerful story of Pietá is perfectly executed by the skillful hands of an artist who lived 1500 years after the Crucifixion.  It was the only work that Michelangelo signed, and he was only 24 years old when he completed the masterpiece.  Within a decade after finishing Pietá, Michelangelo created the Statue of David and had begun painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo was more than just an accomplished artist, he had God-given gifts to create a visual world that to this day profoundly touch people's hearts and souls.

Loving limited-edition scarves by artists

It seems like a natural progression for artists nowadays to move towards product design.  In the last few years, I've loved seeing some of the fresh, functional designs from artists, including stationary, wallpaper, tea towels, and lighting.



The latest product to emerge from the design scene is the scarf, which is wearable, collectible, and relatively affordable. I'm absolutely smitten with Plainmade's false knit scarf, designed and screenprinted by artist Chelsea Heffner.

These lovely silk scarves were designed by Defyra, a group of four Swedish creatives. 

I posted a couple of weeks ago on artist edition tea towels.  Artist series scarves, like the ones shown below, can be found on Little Red Riding Hood.

 

The art of decorating eggs

There is a scene in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where Veronica Salt throws a tantrum about wanting her own Golden Geese that lays Golden Easter Eggs.  This is pretty close to how I react when I see a pysanka (Ukrainian Easter egg).  I burst into the "I want it now" tune.

photo source: Luba petrusha

The word pysanky is derived from the Ukrainian word "to write."  It is used to describe the traditional wax resist method of decorating eggs.  Designs are drawn on eggs with wax using a tool with a little funnel on the end. Eggs are dyed in stages, from lightest color to darkest.

photo source: Luba petrusha

Traditionally a craft at springtime or Easter,  pysanky are now made at all times of the year.  I think they look so charming hanging on the Christmas tree.



Here are a few of my favorite pysanky currently available on Etsy. 

Love Bird, Pysanky Panky, $30

Geometric Design Dyed Egg, jenben84, $25

Pysanky egg, bizabiz, $9.99

Etched Floral Rhea Egg, Carlton Art Factory, $175

Capturing night lights using motion photography

Last night, while we were on the road, I decided to take out my 35mm digital camera and snap a few motion pictures. I played around with different effects, like moving the camera around during exposure.  I included below some of my favorite shots plus the exposure settings. 

f/2.5@1/5  For all the photos, the ISO was set at 400 and an 85mm lens was used. 

f/8@.6s  The bright lights in the middle of this photo are the lights of a police car. 

f/10@1.0s  I moved my camera in circles during the one second exposure of this photo. 

f/10@1.0s  This photo and the next are of Christmas lights. Festive!

f/10@1.0s



Motion photography, especially at night, is a lot of trial and error with shutter speeds.  Fortunately, with digital photography, camera settings can be adjusted rather easily after viewing photographed effects.  Just make sure that your camera is set on manual mode or shutter speed priority.  Normally camera shake occurs at one thirtieth of a second (1/30) or longer.  Other variables that impact blur effect includes subject's movement, photographer's movement, and panning of camera.  In the last two photos shown above, for example, I was panning (following the subject with my camera) while I was in a moving car.

Affordable Art Finds, Week Seven

We're in week seven of the eight week Affordable Art series.  I've had a lot of fun the last couple of months searching for original art work priced at $75 or less. Here are a few more pieces to add to the growing list.



1.  Sweet little birdies handmade by Stephanie Congdon Barnes ($65 each).  I wish I could say that they were available, but everything sells out in her shop at a speedy rate (like one hour!).  She should be uploading new products in a few weeks; updates on new collections are posted on her blog here. 

 

2.  I love little bowls, and I want to add this one to my collection.  Silkscreened and handdrawn by Megan Bogonovich ($20).

3.  I've always wanted to learn how to use wax in art.  Here are a couple of original encaustic pieces found on Etsy.

Original Encaustic- no 63., Michele Bosak, $70.

Liquid Skies, Ali Herrmann, $40.

Captivating paintings on plaster by artist Ragellah Rourke

I first came across Ragellah Rourke's art on Carrie Haddad Gallery's website earlier this Fall.  The paintings shown below are just a few of her nearly two dozen works at the New York gallery.

Traces I, 2007.

Rourke works in layers.  She first coats wood with plaster.  She then marks, incises, sands, and paints on the plastered surface.  Each painting is a work in progress over an extended period of time.

The Hour Glass, 2008. 

Box Full of Stars, 2008.

Signal Tomorrow, 2009.

Rourke's paintings are very mysterious to me.  They actually remind me a lot of Joan Miró's abstract paintings from 70 years ago.  I love how both artists seem to have a child-like element to their art. 

Joan Miró, Nocturne, tempera, gouache, egg, oil, and pastel on paper, 1940. 

Beautiful glass art made in Portland

Glass blowing is something that I've always wanted to learn how to do.  The thing is, I don't like to sweat and and my upper arm muscles are pretty weak.  So, I stick to quilting. 



I've seen internationally celebrated glass blowers Justin Parker and Andi Kovel of Esque at work in their Portland studio, and it's so fascinating.  A glass orb is carried out of the firery furnace and immediately sculpted into a skull, a vase, or a light fixture.



One of my favorite pieces is the Sleeping Bird light fixture designed by Andi. 

Here's another bird rendition called Awake that benefits breast cancer research.

Esque has also worked on quite a few installations in town, including this one at Le Hana restaurant.

The glass clusters are cherry blossoms, and I think they're absolutely beautiful.

I've always loved their terrariums, too. . . if only.