Nov 04

2011

The Pencil Sketch Gallery, by Shannon Fleet

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A drawing showcase of my traditional artwork.

by Morgannafay

The pencil sketch gallery is a collection of my drawings and sketches that I've put up on display much like a virtual bulletin board. I've also created this page for people to get to know me better as an artist, and a person. This page also gives me a chance to talk about my creative processes, but if you just want to look at the drawings it's ok to skip over my ramblings, this page is about the visuals after all.

Some of the drawings here are my best and I've also included some of my worst, but I'll take a step back and let you all be the judge of that.

Just as a side note, most of the artwork shown here was either given away, sold, or bartered away for stuff I needed, or wanted. So this is just for show and tell while I rebuild my body of work. I also work in digital form, but I'm keeping them off the traditional page.

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Drawings and sketches at a glance.

Click on the thumbnail to go directly to that drawing.

Lylie portrait drawing

One of my favorite portraits.

5" x 7" graphite drawing on Stonehenge paper.

Lylie truly is a rare human being, she is both beautiful and warm hearted. Since we have a multitude of beautiful people running around in the world, the rarity is her wonderful caring nature. I knew drawing her would be a joy and that giving her this drawing would make her very happy. My challenge here was documenting her unique beauty and capturing the whole essence of who she is. As a bonus, I did get a bulls-eye on the likeness, which is never easy.

Here is the progress picture. I don't know if you can see them that well, but the little dots are my points of measurement. If I'm drawing from life I take a sight size like I did with my self portrait, but when drawing from a picture I like to eyeball judge the distance from this point to that point. I like to lay them down, then look over and double check my points again. I'm really careful when it comes to my Stonehenge paper, so I think I triple checked this one. This is how I start my envelope, or the area that holds the outside form so that I'm not all over the paper.

I don't always start a drawing the same way, it all depends on my mood, but this is only one of my methods. On occasion I will use a crosshair. This is the only form of grid that my brain and patience allows me. Also, If times are lean I will start on cheapo paper and transfer the envelope or outline drawing on to my expensive paper.

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Oct 25

2011

Totem Poles -- the Craft, the Art, the Culture

Posted by: liza in Projects&Works

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The stories and legends of Native American peoples' ancestors and family -- images captured on totem poles! by EditorDave

I've known about totem poles and their meanings and symbols for almost as long as I can remember. I was born in Montana, and although this area was not near the coastal Pacific Northwest of North America where totem poles are most prevalent, my adopted grandpa had married a native Flathead Indian and so the Native American culture was strongly represented at his home. Many of the characteristics of this particular tribe are similar to those of the coastal peoples--perhaps because of the similar weather and geography of their lands (Flathead Lake is a glacier-carved freshwater lake in the northern forests of Montana and near Canada). Thus, I sort of got indoctrinated to understanding more about the culture and the arts and crafts of the Northwest Peoples in that manner.

My family and I have since traveled around the world and after living for a while on the Pacific Island of Guam and going through Hawaii many times, have seen the tiki of the Pacific Islanders that have a very strong resemblance to the carved totem poles of the Pacific Northwest. These, too, have fascinated me with the craft, care, and artistry with which they were produced.

On a recent trip to Alaska, we stopped at ports-of-call that included Juneau, Ketchikan,Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and Seattle. And we saw wonderful and beautiful totem poles on display at all of the places we stopped. (But did you know you can find totem poles all over the U.S. and the rest of the world now?)

This Squidoo lens provides some resources, links, and images that describe more about these interesting cultural traditions.

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Totem pole on the grounds of the British Columbia Parliament Building, Victoria, Vancouver Island, Canada

Some totem 'stories' are just family history, others have moral lessons

Our guide in Ketchikan provided an interesting explanation of this particular totem pole with the additional "appendage" of a boy sticking his hand into the mouth of the lowest totem figure. Unlike many of the stories, family histories, and legends of the other totem poles, this pole had multiple messages and meanings.

One day, a Tlingit mother and her boy were walking along the Ketchiken shore collecting clams and other seafood. The mother, being aware of the dangers of the shoreline, warned the boy to not put his hands in holes in the rocks. However, the boy, not minding his mother, saw a shiny shell or rock in a small hole... and reached in to grab it.

One ending -- some animal in the hole reached out and latched on to the boy's hand not letting go. The tide (which in Ketchikan reaches about 20-25 feet) came in and the boy drowned. This story teaches a general common sense lesson about the dangers of hidden marine life.

Another ending -- the boy reached in and grabbed the object that he saw, but when he tried to pull it out of the hole, his closed fist around the object he had grabbed would not come out of the hole unless he'd let go of it. But because he greedily wanted what he had, he refused to let go. And the tide came in. The boy still refused to let go. And he drowned. This story teaches a moral lesson about greed and about sometimes, for the sake of like, one must let go of material possessions and not be greedy.

Either story works.

But both stories warn about the dangers of the high tides in the area... and both stories explain the wisdom of listening to the warnings of your parents and elders. And these stories are nicely illustrated by this particular totem pole.

Totem pole: Boy who got his hand caught. Saxman Totem Pole Park, Ketchikan, Alaska

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Oct 17

2011

Followww the Money

Posted by: markojezernik in News&Infos

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Folowww the Money

Texts on collage:
Is a War Bennefit?
No it is Profit!
Followww the Money

Author: Marko Jezernik Year: 2010
Technique: collage Dimension: 90 x 120 cm

Exhibitions:

Repyartrium 2011-1,1 Kilometer Tunnel Exhibition

No one understands you? Nessuno ti capisce?

Laker’s Retro Mirror

The Occupation Party

Here Are Four Charts That Explain What The Protesters Are Angry About…

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Oct 17

2011

No one understands you? / Nessuno ti capisce? – Life Class Hotels&Spa Portorose

Posted by: markojezernik in News&Infos

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Exhibition opening report from Life Class Hotels&Spa Portorose, Slovenia

The opening of the Marko Jezernik’s art exhibition at the Cafe Central of the Grand Hotel Portorož attracted many more visitors then most similar events at this popular location. The main reason for their great response, was most likely Marko’s popularity in his hometown Piran and the fact, that many Piran’s residents often appear in his collages. Singing performance of the slovene music diva Darja Švajger, accompanied by musician Sašo Fajon at the piano, added to the pleasant artistic experience.

Marko Jezernik started sculpting in wood and metal while attending the elementary school. He created his first drawings and paintings during his studies at the faculty of economics and finally became an active painter in 1980. In 1980-1984 he spent a lot of time at the Goce Kaladžijski’s art studio. Goce became his mentor and helped him perfect various artistic skills, painting, graphic art, and sculpting. Marko was especially fascinated with the aquarel technique, that remains his favorite artistic challenge to this day.

Marko’s works reflect mediterranean motives in many original and diverse ways. He sees the collage technique of “cutting and gluing” as an attractive opportunity for toying with ideas and symbols. „There are many beautiful and sad life stories in my every day enviroment, that can be told through a collage. They are life itself…“, he said at the opening of his art exhibition at the Cafe Central.

One couldn’t help but notice the pride on the faces of the Piran townspeople, when they saw themselves in Marko’s collages, shoulder to shoulder with the queen of England, Tito and many other celebrities.

Instead of the usual exhibition catalogue, a very special (and so far the only) edition of the Laker’s Retro Mirror newspaper was available to visitors. A documentary film about Jezernik’s gallery, his aquarels, artistic furniture, artistic glass designs including a brief „making of a collage“ presentation, premiered in the separate viewing room. Both interesting and provocative „additions“ to the art exhibition were designed, printed, recorded and edited by Marko Jezernik and Sašo Fajon – this time introducing themselves as a team of „correspondents for the only nation wide secret alien discovery agency.“ More details on the agency activity will be revealed to all visitors until the ninth of October, when the exhibition closes.

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Oct 13

2011

Thoth: Egyptian God of Writing and Wisdom

Posted by: Artistic in Projects&Works

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Trickster, Recordkeeper, Sage of Ancient Egypt

by Greekgeek

Thoth, Tehuti or Djehuty in ancient Egyptian, is the god of wisdom, writing, speech, measurement, the moon, and magic. He serves as the vizier (prime minister) to Re, King of the gods. He's also the gods' official record-keeper. He's Mr. Science, the Answer Man, and divine Secretary-in-Chief.

The name "Thoth" seems to be a shorthand version of his name that the Greeks who conquered Egypt found easier to pronounce. Here is Thoth's name in Egyptian hieroglyphics.

He appears in three different forms. Sometimes he is an ibis-headed man (left). Sometimes he's a baboon. Sometimes he's an ibis, a wading bird found along the banks of the Nile.

Baboon? Ibis? What's With The Weird Animals?

For that matter, what IS an ibis?

We sometimes forget Egypt's part of Africa, but it is! A lot of old African cultures are very close to the natural world. For many of these cultures, animals are sacred, and people see no reason to assume that god keeps to a human-shaped form.

So most Egyptian gods have a few animal shapes as well as human ones, and often have animal heads even when they're walking on two feet.

Scribe Writing Under Thoth's Protection
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There's two or three reasons for the baboon shape. First of all, like the Greek god Hermes (with whom he became identified), Thoth is a trickster. Baboons are clever animals. So that fits. Also, strangely enough, many bands of baboons line up facing east before sunrise and howl the sun up. The Egyptians worshiped the sun as Re, the King of the Gods and source of all life, so they thought the baboons were doing the same thing. Finally, some scholars guess that the Egyptians saw a "baboon in the moon" instead of a man's face, and Thoth is a moon-god.

Statuette of Thoth in form of Ibis
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What about the ibis? Well, in case you haven't met one, an ibis is a long-legged marsh bird that walks along slowly and deliberately scanning for small fish and other food. It finds things hidden beneath the water's surface. Thoth, as god of wisdom, sees deeper than most. Also, in ancient Egypt, after the yearly Nile flood that piled up fertile mud on the riverbanks, the king's scribes would fan out across Egypt re-surveying the fields and assigning boundaries, measuring the land one stride at a time. To the Egyptians, it looked like the ibis was out there surveying the riverbanks just like the scribes! Pretty smart for a bird.

At certain periods, animals associated with gods were kept in temple sanctuaries as honored pets and mummified after death, so archaeologists have found thousands of baboon and ibis mummies!

Thoth the Egyptian Trickster God

Egyptian Gods Thoth and Hathor in their anthropomorphic (more or less) forms

Photo Credit: C. Carlstead, Creative Commons

The Egyptians also loved Thoth as a trickster god. In one myth, Hathor, the hot-tempered goddess of love and destruction, stormed off across the desert in a snit. She was called the Eye of Re -- the personification of the sun's heat -- so Re needed her back. Thoth, as the moon-god and so-called second Eye of Re, was assigned to fetch his missing counterpart.

Thoth had a problem. In this myth, he took the guise of a small baboon, sent to fetch a goddess who had assumed the form of a huge ravening lioness with the devouring heat of the desert sun. Once he found her, he played the same trick later found in The Arabian Nights: "Please don't kill me, ma'am, until I've told you this wonderful story!" Inching towards Egypt a few steps at a time, he kept stringing her along with stories.

The moral of most of the stories was that powerful folks should be nice to the little guys. Hathor got the point, and decided that the little monkey had entertained her well enough that she wouldn't eat him.

I once worked on a Greek manuscript containing one of Thoth's stories, and adapted it for oral performance.

In another myth, Re grew angry with Nut the sky-goddess and wouldn't let her give birth to her children on any day of the year, because he knew her son, Osiris, might supplant him. Nut was cursed to stay pregnant... forever! In desperation she asked Thoth for help.

Queen Nefertari Playing Senet
Photo Credit: Yorck Project, Wikimedia Commons

No problem! In this myth, the moon-god was actually a separate deity named Khons. Thoth challenged Khons to a game of senet, an ancient Egyptian form of backgammon. The Man in the Moon bet his own light as the stakes. Thoth won enough light for an extra five days. These days weren't part of the regular year, so Nut was able to give birth to her five children. The lost light accounts for the moon's waxing and waning, and the extra time explains why the year isn't an even 360 days.

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