My Magical Art Case

My antique art case, one of my favorite things!
I left the portrait there, it came with the box.

(Please double click to enlarge images)

Why is it things seem to quickly escalate right around Thanksgiving?  By "things" I mean commitments, work, social events, shopping, Christmas preparations, just life in general.  This time period between Thanksgiving and New Years Day will soon be a past blur.  What I'm truly getting at is I have not posted anything new on this blog in a long time.  I have been working on some portrait commissions and it was time to drag out a treasure of mine.

Some of the treasures found inside!

The label from one wooden box of pastels ...

This treasure is my "art box", I think officially it is called an art case.  The lid locks on with wing nuts and I fell in love with this old wooden box the minute I laid eyes on it in an antique store about thirteen years ago.  It is from England and was full of different art supplies but my favorite things were these boxes of old pastels.  I know they were a jumbled mess with many colors used and gone, but oh so charming.  I imagine this belonged to an art student many years ago. The portrait shown tacked to the inside of the box is still there.  I haven't had to heart to remove it, I just like the idea of someone long ago taking the time to paint it.  So, I have just left it there as I found it.

Whoever heard of "witch" pens?

I had not heard of them until I opened this wonderful box.

As you can tell, I have used them.

Visit to Dr. Baker's Lounge

Clint and I in Dr. Baker's Bistro at the Crescent Hotel
in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

Clint and I had a wonderful week, we went on a little vacation in Eureka Springs, Arkansas and Branson, Missouri.  Wednesday evening we ate at Dr. Bakers's Lounge on the 4th floor of the historic Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs.  What a place!  There were so many blog ideas and I made a ton of pictures.

The painting at the Crescent Hotel done in a "Klimt" style.  I loved the painting
and the use of gold leaf, swirls and spirals.

The painting behind us in the photograph was painted in the style of Gustav Klimt 1862-1918, an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement.  Klimt's primary subject was the female body.  He used gold leaf in his paintings and often a motif of spirals and swirls.  I really liked this painting in the bistro.



"The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt,
1862-1918.



"Adele Bloch-Bauer" by Klimt sold for $135 million in 2006.

 

The Other Girl from Ipanema

"The Other Girl from Ipanema"
4.5" x 7" micro pen sketch with watercolor
November Virtual Paintout submission

                                                               

Today I completed a little Micro Pen sketch with watercolor for this month's Virtual Paintout, the blog of Bill Guffey.  I actually got something submitted early (don't go into shock, Bill :-))  I usually get my submission in on the very last day, the last few hours.

Using Google Street Map, I could see the image of a girl crossing a busy intersection in the Ipanema district of Rio de Janeiro.  Bill selected this month's city of Rio de Janeiro for the November Virtual Paintout.  It is such fun!  It is quite amazing how much I am learning about different cities around the world.

We have the option to change what we would like when we paint a scene. I gave this girl long hair and a different print skirt.  Can't wait to see the ideas of the other Virtual Paintout artists.

Feminine Mystique

Feminine Mystique
Pastels, Pastel Pencils
3.5" by 7"

Today's artwork is a submission to Bill Guffey's blog, the Virtual Painout.  Each month he selects a location from around the world, artists search for painting subjects using Google Stree Maps in the chosen location.  It is fun to "travel" different cities each month, looking for different subjects.

While searching San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, I discovered this mysterious blonde woman sitting on the sill of an open window.  The instant I saw it I knew I had my subject. 

The drawing was done in pastels and pastel pencils, measures 3.5" by 7".

(Yay for me, my first posting of my artwork on this new blog.)

Dixie Gardner

"Dixie Gardner"

For some time now, I have been thinking of having a blog just devoted to my art.  Having a long time interest in art, theatre, literature and history ... The Absinthe Theatre was born. I could see the blog and etsy banner in my mind's eye before I completed it today.  It is not always easy to duplicate in reality what our mind sees when you are dealing with the dreaded exact number of pixels to make this puzzle piece, a banner photo,  fit!

I also saw it fitting that I use an old photo in my blog banner of Dixie Gardner, former vaudeville performer and actress.  She worked with Mae Murray, the silent screen star of the early 1900s.  Dixie was a small town girl who was raised in Alabama but the bright lights of New York City beckoned. Oh, the tales she told of her life ... filming a movie in South America, life in Greenwich Village and the marriage proposal from a Spanish prince!

These tales were quite entertaining to a twelve year old girl.  I would never tire of hearing Dixie's stories and  don't think Dixie tired of telling them either. In fact, I felt she enjoyed reliving those days of long ago.  She came to help us out when my parents got a divorce and lived with us for a year or so.  To my brother, sister and me, she was simply Aunt Minnie, my grandmother's sister.