Up, Up and Away
I adore hot air balloons. As a graphic motif they are absolutely delightful. The multitude of colours and shape they come in are only limited by manufacturers’ – and artists’ – imaginations.
Obviously much of their charm lies in the romance they evoke as an oldey-worldey form of transport.
I travelled in one once, sailing serenely over the desert in Dubai, watching the sun rise behind the purple mountains. Such an exciting experience, and what a noise the gas flame makes as it roars into the balloon! We crash-landed, and the basket was dragged for twenty metres or so across the dunes. I think I was the only one who was laughing crazily during this experience. I lived to tell the tale though.
Enjoy this gallery of vintage and modern balloons.
Cheating in Venice in the Eighteenth Century
Riva degli Schiavoni Looking East, 1730I am not much a one for traditional art, particularly landscapes, but I have long admired the work of Venetian painter Canaletto. His full name was Giovanni Antonio Canal (1697–11768) – he must have lengthened his surname to make it sound more distinguished, which is a rather amusing notion.
He is famous for depicting the humble working areas of the city, and grand scenes of the canals and palaces of Venice. Unusual for artists of the period he painted from nature, or outdoors, as opposed to in the studio. The extraordinary detail to be seen in his paintings is explained by the fact that he utilised the camera obscura, a kind of primitive projector and drawing aid. (Seems a bit like cheating to me, but he was far from the only artist to use it – the Dutch Vermeer was another famous proponent.)
The glorious light he has captured in his paintings of the Venetian canals is beautiful, and the sense of infinite space – both doing nothing to dispel the popular notion of Venice as a fairytale city.
Images from WikiPaintings.
The Grand Canal from the Campo San Vio
The Molo and the Piazzetta San Marco
Adam, Check Your Front Window
Adam, Check Your Front Window :: GSQUAD // G-S0 // No flashOne of my artist/illustrator friends rents a studio space in a rather dilapidated warehouse in an area of Melbourne that has a less than salubrious ambiance. I’ve been there once or twice, and one truly does take one’s life into one’s own hands merely climbing the rickety stairs to the top floor. The other day she sent me this photo she had taken on the exterior of the building. It made me laugh. Artists are so insouciant.
A Long Summer
Recently I’ve been experimenting with hand drawn oil pastel backgrounds for my random poems. And this morning I wanted to try to assemble a poem that was somewhat more cheerful in tone simply to celebrate the fact that summer has come.
The table was strewn with a multitude of word snippets, and one phrase lead naturally to the next. By the time I came to the end of the poem, I found that not only was I pleased with the positive message, serendipitously the colours were also bright and complementary.
Instantly I knew exactly what kind of background I wanted: vivid, happy colours that softly merged into one another. Originally I was going to do broad stripes, but I decided on blocks of colour instead. I really love how it’s finally come together, and it makes me smile. Here’s to an endless summer.
Life is edged with delicate happiness
Step through the secret world where the sun sets gold
And a long summer for endless hours defies the laws of nature
Such an array of riches catches the inner glow to your heart.
’Tis the Season
A Christmas Carol, Basil Rathbone (narrator), Columbia Records, 1942Wow, who can believe 2012 has flown so fast? I’ve come to the last page of my Steinweiss calendar, and appropriately it is all decked out in green and red for the Christmas season. Not so much snow here in Australia though; we are celebrating the first day of summer.
But it’s time to reflect on the year gone past, what have we achieved, what have we struggled through, or triumphed in and celebrated? I have had some sad times, chiefly my beloved cat Hero’s passing. I still shed a few tears here or there when I suddenly remember she’s gone. And some good too – finishing The Yuckies books was a highlight, and making new friends and reacquainting with old ones.
I am looking forward to 2013 though – I have lots of exciting plans, but more on those later. And I am fully prepared already with a new calendar to celebrate the months of the New Year, this time a lovely illustrated calendar produced by the magazine Frankie.
In the meantime enjoy the holiday season!
Chopin Etudes, Op. 25, Frédéric Chopin, Remington Records, c.1957