Moon and Mars

                                                                       Wolf Moon

Last night the moon was the brightest and closest to the earth it's been for a long time.  I don't know exactly how long it's been but I know that many sky-watchers have been pretty excited about seeing that big beautiful moon and big orange Mars hanging around her edges absorbing some of the glow.  All the moon excitement, from the Blue Moon on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day to the Wolf Moon of last night has me inspired to paint moon paintings.  The pictures are paintings I've recently done.  Of course I painted them before last night and I will paint more and now that I know Mars  was a part of the picture he will be included.  In mythology Mars is the god of war.  I am wondering what's going on there?  Is it an omen?  If so, is it a good one or bad one?

 

Blood Moon

I hope it's not a bad omen. We have had enough bad stuff going on with the recession, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, political polarization in the U.S.A.the earthquake in Haiti and on and on.  That's why I painted the Blood Moon I guess.  Although I really didn't know why I just did it because that's what I was feeling at the time.    All this moon talk has been working on my emotions probably the reason for the dreams I've been having about men with animal heads,  The man with the lion head was not frightening.  He was  relaxed and seemed wise but the man with the bull head was kind of intimidating.  This is what the moon does to me.

                                                    Fish Moon

This painting I called Fish Moon just because there are some fish shapes floating around it.  Native Americans have a whole list of names for the various moons at different times.  I am confident that there is a Wolf Moon in the winter.  Fish Moon,  not so sure about that one.  I have heard of Beaver Moon, Milk Moon, and I believe there is a Rose Moon.  The thing to do, obviously is to Google it and find out.  When I find out there will be a whole list of new titles for my moon paintings to come.  The following are three moon photos I took last night.

                    

Moving Moon

                                             Cracked Moon

                                                                  Wrapped Moon                            

                                          

Animals I Have Known

 

Tiglath and his toy lion

  I have had, living with me, at various times,  cats, dogs, horses, snakes, rabbits, birds, turtles, fish and some uninvited ones.  I love them all and get very excited when I spot an animal in the wild.  If I'm lucky I get a picture.  The pictures I've posted today are manipulated photos I've taken of my  animal friends some no longer with us.  The cat in the first picture lived with us for fourteen years before he died at home.  He was one of the best friends ever.  He is buried on my property under a tree he liked to try to climb.  Unfortunately he couldn't climb very high because he was born with a very short tail and had  a tendency to gain weight.  He liked to bat that yellow stuffed lion around and then nap with it.

 

 Tulip showing off her leg

Tulip was Tiglath's litter mate but they were not related.  I found them together as kittens in a local pet shop and could not bear to separate them.  The shopkeeper  did not want to sell Tiglath because of his stunted tail but I insisted so she said I could have Tulip for $25 and she would throw Tiglath in if I promised to take very good care of him.  She was afraid he would be humiliated somehow because of that short tail.  I never tried to understand it.  I took them both and they were such playful kittens.  They climbed into my big jade plant and totally demolished it and tried to use my expensive navajo rug as velcro.  It was hanging on a wall on the stairway.  So tempting them to run, jump, stick.  Eventually Tulip grew out of it and became a very dignified cat lady.  

  

Woody the visiting woodchuck

The picture of the woodchuck has not been altered in anyway because I just like it so much as is.  The little guy appeared on my deck almost every day last summer.  He was very shy and I just barely snapped this as he sat up and looked around before he ran under the house somewhere.  I was warned he would make my house fall down but everything is OK and Woody, I am guessing, would be hibernating in a den somewhere nearby.  I'm not sure if he was kicked out from under the deck by another animal but I did smell skunk very strongly for a time in late fall.

  

Young Doe

 All summer I watched two does with twin fawns.  One set slightly younger.  This doe came up close to my studio and I took several pictures through the window.  The deer are such graceful, gentle creatures.  When frightened they turn up their white tails and run for the woods.  Once I was close enough to hear them make a high squeaky sound.  I guess it's a warning to the others.  It was the first I knew they made any sound at all.  They stand and watch when they see me and don't run unless I walk toward them.  If I walk slowly and avert my eyes sometimes they will stand and watch until they see me go inside and they think they are safe. 

 

Monarch just hatched

Lots of things happen on, under and around my deck.  I have a milkweed plant that comes up every year and I leave it because monarch butterflies and other things like to eat it.  I just happened to go outside when this monarch had completed its pupation and its wings were still damp an droopy.  I watched in fascination as it opened its wings toward the sun with a slight fanning motion as if it knew what it was supposed to do and was waiting for just the right moment and then it came and the wind carried the lovely creature into the sky.

  

Crow in the woods

Crows and blue jays are related or so I have read.  I believe it because they act like members of two families that have some long lasting dispute.  They are very loud and let everyone around know what they think.  I was told they eat each others children but did not believe it until one day when I was visiting my son in Florida I went for a walk and to my horror I saw a crow swoop and grab a baby jay by the leg and fly off with it.  A large group of jays flew after it screaming in alarm.  It is a sight I will never forget.  I tell myself that is nature.  Unfortunate for whoever turns out to be dinner.  Maybe they saved the day for the baby jay.  

  

 Blue Jay looking for fallen fruit

The blue jay picture is a straight, untouched photo.  I saw him through my studio window in a small crab apple tree.  I wanted to get him in the tree but he kept jumping up and down.  This was the best I could do.  It's a fairly good view of his back.   I love blue jays.  They are the most beautiful color with sleek feathers and a little crest on the top of their head.  I can forgive them the loud screeching because they are like flashes of blue light darting in and out of the trees.  

  

Doe looking for fawn

The doe was looking back to see where the twins were.  They were not far away.  This picture was taken last summer.  The deer are still around.  The fawns are grown.  There will probably be new ones in the spring.  I saw about six deer when I walked to my studio today and they did turn tail and run into the woods but when I was inside they were right back in the open grazing.  There has not been much snow this winter so they are still able to get at the grass.  It's very cold but they grow a winter coat and they have hooves so don't need to wear warm boots like us. 

  

Art Museums

Going to art museums is one of my favorite things to do.  Whether it's a short trip or across the country.  We always have visiting an art museum on the itinerary.  These images are of a recent visit to the Detroit Institute of Arts.  People walking up stairs entering the Great Hall.  It was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by the architect Paul Cret in 1927.  There were two wings attached in the 1960's and 1970's and a major renovation started in 1999 was completed in 2007.  

 

The African galleries are one of my favorites.  Pictured are two of my friends looking at a beaded mask and throne.  One of the new features is a video showing the masqueraders wearing costumes and dancing the ritual dances so one gets a feeling for how these objects were used.

The reason I like going to art museums is that they are like islands of beauty and tranquility in noisy and often hectic cities.  There one can go for a walk, see fascinating objects made by really good artists and there is almost always  a gift shop with unique things for sale as well as a nice place for a snack or a drink.  

My absolute favorite thing to see is modern and contemporary art.  I am just blown away when I see some of the ideas people come up with in the arts right now.  There are so many new media that are used in innovative and clever ways.  I walk through all the galleries but I spend most of my time looking at contemporary art.  I wish the Detroit Institute of Arts would re-establish a gallery of rotating new art made by artists today especially locally.

These girls caught my eye in the contemporary crafts gallery.  They were trying to get a picture of a gorgeous woven wall hanging.  It's sometimes difficult to get a good clear photo because flash is not allowed and the light is not always very good as was the case here.  

 

Rivera Court is the heart of the museum.  Murals were painted on all the walls in 1932 by Mexican artist Diego Rivera for whom the court is named.  The day I took this picture I saw people sitting in chairs arranged facing the south wall.  The sun was streaming the overhead windows.  A great picture taking space.  The people were waiting for a story-teller.

 

The man in the vest is the story-teller and the person in yellow is doing signing for the deaf.  I did not stay long enough to hear what the story was because I was anxious to look at more art.

These are some of my favorite pieces of contemporary art.  I was sorry the light was not strong enough to get a clear picture but I like the photo anyway.  I don't think we always need every little detail.  This brings to mind the new high definition TV that I don't blame actors for reacting against because who wants everybody to see every little wrinkle and blemish?  Actually, as an artist myself I think oftentimes the art looks better in a photo than in real life.

 

Winter Morning Light

 Today I have had some successes.  I was able to figure out how to post a link to my website and I took a couple of nice photos this morning.  I left home about 8 A.M. and saw the crescent moon just as the sky was getting to be that nice deep blue then I drove to St. Clair, a small river town about 15 minutes away.  There were sun dogs up and down the river.  The light was that soft winter early morning light that photographers love.  I'm sure you can see that one of the three pictures I posted is a painting I just finished.  







 This is my website:    http://www.lorettamarkell.com/

Paintings I Like

Today was a stay at home and get some things done day.  I worked in the studio on the "moon" paintings. The blue moon of New Years Eve did not show itself because of clouds  until the next morning. If you look back a couple of posts you will see the picture I took.    Since then I have been obsessing  about the moon.  Not that I didn't think about the luminous one before.  I have always, since I was a child who went  for walks  with my mother telling me stories about the lady who lives on the moon who always wears black and silver, been fascinated with the moon.

This fascination I have with the moon led me to begin a series of paintings on paper with the moon as subject matter.  So far I have four finished and a fifth just begun.  I plan to do ten.  I meant to post one of them to show  but I didn't want to take a picture after dark.  Daylight is much better so you don't have to use the flash.                            

My inspiration comes from other artists like Paul Klee, Joan Mitchell, Matisse, Van Gogh, Kandinsky to name a few.

The two images I've posted are paintings by two of the artists I've mentioned. The above painting is by Klee and the other by Mitchell.

Walking my Cat in January

No Way --- Not Today

My cat has been an indoor cat for the past year or so since she got deathly ill from eating something out in the wild and I thought she would die.  My wonderful vet told me if she stayed inside she would have to get one less shot and would not be likely to get sick again.

Staying indoors is nice.  She likes it but she has put on a few pounds.  I thought it would be a good idea to take her for a walk.  She has a little harness and leash.  She thinks it's a game when I put it on her.  

Today was very cold and a sharp northwest wind was blowing from the direction of my studio.  The destination of our walk.  Well, she did not walk, she ran.  Being on the other end of the leash I had to run as well.  

I thought I would document the walk with some photos.  As you can see she was quite anxious to have the door opened.    The rest of the afternoon was spent in the studio, where it is warm and cozy and bright and we played catch the end of the leash.

The End                        

Up in the Clouds

Up in the clouds is where I would like to be, flying to some warm sunny place where I would walk on the beach, feel the breezes blowing softly.

Realistically what I really want is to understand how to put a link on my blog to my face book page and how to center the above heading.  I'm sure it's as simple as pie but as they say, "it's simple when you know how."

To make this effort more satisfying I said I would post a picture a day.  My picture for today is one of my photo shop creations.  It's a little corny but in a nice way.  I like it anyway.  So here it is.  Deer in the sky.

When I am more comfortable with the technical end of blogging I will start writing about other, hopefully more interesting things.


Tomorrow I think I'll post two pictures.

Blue Moon in a Tree

I could not stop thinking about the blue moon. I saw it outside my window this morning in the west. The sky was cobalt blue. I got so excited. I grabbed my little camera which, luckily was in my bedroom. I threw open the window, ignoring the blast of wintry wind and took several pictures. One of them was quite nice. I want to post it but don't know how. What I want to do is make a moon picture folder. Well I don't want to do it right now. What I want to do now is go to my studio and start a series of moon paintings.


I deleted my first try at a new post today because I was playing with fonts and font size and did some weird things. This looks OK so far.


I was happy to see I attracted one follower who made a nice comment. I wanted to respond but didn't know what option to choose in the little drop-down window. I must have chosen the wrong one because my comment disappeared,


We went to the Detroit Institute of Arts early today and got there just after they opened. There's a print show I wanted to see from the days of WPA in the 1930's. It was a very good show. There were etchings, aquatints, engravings, wood cuts, lithographs and more. It was a great push by Franklin D. Roosevelt and some other important people whose names I forgot. This effort put money into the arts and put many artists to work. The government owned a lot of the artwork but after a while gave some to various organizations like art museums and universities.


All that looking made us hungry. After having a snack in the cafeteria we decided to leave and we were glad we got there early, because it seems that after a holiday on a sunny frigid day everyone in the state of Michigan thinks it's a good idea to go visit the art museum. They were lined up out to the lobby. It's good to do some things early.

Happy New Year 2010

The first thing I want to say is may 2010 bring us all better things and more happiness.

Creating this blog is my first act of the new year (other than having coffee and feeding my cat). I don't know what I'm doing yet. So I'll start by saying I missed seeing the blue moon last night because of cloud cover. That was a bummer. This morning I saw some deer strolling around outside my window. I liked that.

My wonderful and smart husband helped (practically did it all) me create a new website. My goal was to have it up by the end of the year. Success. It's up. I will reward him by taking him out to breakfast this morning. He loves going out for breakfast. I was surprised to find that the family style restaurant he prefers for western omelets and hash browns is open on New Year's Day.

Hooray.