Showing posts with label featured art form. Show all posts
Showing posts with label featured art form. Show all posts

29 March 2009

Mardi Gras Melt


Click for larger version.

I made this in high school; I found it digging through old boxes when I was looking for something else. This was made using plain old crayons melted in a spoon over oil lamp flames. Then using either the spoon or other tool (perhaps ink tips? don't remember) the wax was applied much like paint. I remember the melted crayon wax as being a somewhat tricky medium. On the one hand, if a mistake was made it could just be scraped off. But if too many mistakes were made and scraped off too many times the board underneath would just tear up. I think said boards were about the thickness of your average poster board, maybe a little thicker. And, as is obvious from the larger version of the above image, one could always put more wax on top of a mistake but that could make for weirdness as far as thick chunks of wax next to lower, smoother sections. Not to mention that if the wax was built up too high it could easily break off. I think I may have used toothpicks for the fine lines of her eyelashes and the feathers. Weird, huh? But it turned out pretty good considering I had no experience with this type of thing. At any rate, it was a fun, experimental creative process. I might try it again one day just for the hell of it.

And, no, I don't know why her face had to be silver. I remember I borrowed this image from a magazine ad so maybe that decision was made by someone else and I just went with it. I honestly don't remember all the details as this was made way back in the days of 1994 or '95. This is one of the weirdest and most interesting things I kept from my school days so I felt like sharing it.

11 July 2008

Pietre Dure

Believe it or not but this isn't a painting. It's an example of pietre dure which, in Italian, means hard rock. A new exhibit of art from European palaces is showcasing this unique and amazingly beautiful art form. From the article: hard rock or hardstone, refers foremost to an intricate inlay of finely cut, highly polished slices of semiprecious stones: agate, lapis lazuli, jasper, carnelian, alabaster, rock crystal, amethyst.

Pietre dure could be flat. Fashioned into radiantly colored geometric patterns, floral designs, landscapes or mythological scenes, it was incorporated into tabletops, cabinets of all sizes, wall panels, portable altars, jewelry boxes and other furnishings. Such works could also be in the round: carved hardstone sculptural busts, statuettes, vases, snuff boxes, cameos, jewelry and miraculously thin-walled bowls.


I'm just loving this style of art, which had its golden age during the Renaissance. As a wannabe-artist and lover of semi-precious stones this seems the perfect blending of the natural beauty to be found within the earth and the ingenuity of the human creative spirit. And strangely enough, finding this article was very timely as I've just recently begun considering adding some stones to a wood burning or possibly to a collage. I couldn't do things like the above picture of the Parthenon as I'm not a lapidary nor do I have access to a great quantity of stones. But I'd still like to utilize the magical properties of gemstones in a creative way. I'm still figuring out the logistics of such a prospect but am greatly inspired by pietre dure and will pursue my plans.