Dinner Table

Dinner Table
Henri Matisse – 1897. Oil on Canvas. Private Collection.

This is such a wonderful sumptuous painting of what a dinner table can look like – but ours never does. On our own, we eat quite plain food and serve it simply, too. If we have guests, which is not often these days, I prefer to arrange cold buffets, or in summer we might have a BBQ or picnic instead. I love the finger foods, the canapés and nibbles, and the big party salads…

The photo actually goes years back! I can tell from the surroundings that this is still from the time when I used to live with my mother – so it must be my 16th birthday buffet. It was the only teenage birthday I really celebrated, of which Mother did not approve. She decided to go away for the weekend and leave us to it, and I had to make the entire buffet myself…

*****

Everything is from Club Scrap "Salsa" except for the recipe cards and 3D stickers which are from Jolee's Boutique and Jolee by You.

Sleeping Child

Sleeping Child
Gustav Klimt – ca. 1905/07. Drawing. The Detroit Institute of Art.

This work by Klimt is entirely boring to my taste. A thin drawing, quite possibly only a draft or study, of a naked little boy on a pillow. He seems to be sitting rather than lying but whatever he is sitting on is not there. The whole picture has an unfinished careless look – nothing like Klimt’s normal flamboyant and colourful nouveau art style.

However, it was the title that caught my attention, and immediately made me think of this cute photo taken of me in July 1966, at not quite two years of age – blissfully asleep amid my friends: my first ever teddy “Volker”, a doll I do not remember and the inflatable “Mickey” of Disney fame...

*****

Paper from Club Scrap "Salsa"; alphas from Club Scrap but can't remember the kit; Disney 3Ds from EK Success.

Rays od Reflection

Rays of Reflection
Tobias Zeisig, 2003. Photograph.

Although the original photograph is of the sun reflecting behind a single fir tree in a little wood near his town, the artist has taken a whole series of photos that would justify the same title. Many of them involve beautiful rays reflecting off clouds with various types of scenery – not unlike the one I have chosen from my own collection of such things…

If I’m perfectly honest I cannot remember where that photo was taken, probably somewhere in Windsor Park, but I think it has beautiful “rays of reflection”, and incidentally, over a fir wood, too.

*****

Most materials are from Club Scrap - background from "Culinary"; mattes and stickers from "Time & Space"; alphas from "Reaching Out" (not sure); jewels from "Stepping Out". The "R" chipboard is a leftover from a Scrapmuse kit and the butterfly came from an embellies swap.

A Bride

A Bride
Abbott Handerson Thayer – ca.1895. Oil on canvas. National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.

I have always been attracted by the beauty of bridal gowns – I can spend hours looking at them in shops and used to love it when our church choir was invited to sing at a wedding when from the choir stalls we had a prime view of the bridal couple… No wonder I instantly loved this painting of a bride in her Victorian finery.

My first idea was to make this layout with one of my own bridal photos but then I thought that would be somewhat strange with the title of “A Bride”…so I chose this lovely photo of my penfriend Asmah. There is a custom nowadays, I believe in many parts of Asia, by which the bridal couple and in particular the bride spend considerable time on their photographs, getting changed into various different outfits including hairstyles, headdresses and flower arrangements to suit. These tend to include the local traditional garment (in Asmah’s case Malaysian), a Western style white bridal gown, and various other Asian outfits of choice. A very colourful event indeed!

*****

Papers and alphas from Club Scrap kit "Wedding" and epoxy stickers from Creative Imaginations "Sarah Johnson" series.

A Campus Group

A Campus Group
Louise Jordan Smith – ca. 1925. Oil on Canvas. Maier Museum of Art, Lynchburg, VA

Again, it was the title that got me interested in the painting – then I loved the colours and the informal style of the group.

It reminded me of a photo of my grandmother with a couple of friends from the music conservatorium, a campus group, so to speak… I don’t know anything more about the two young men in the picture – I assume they were just colleagues, but the picture was taken in 1919, just five years before the completion of the painting!

*****

Paper and date cutout from a HOTP Heritage paper book; alphas from an old Club Scrap kit. Metal corners and clip from the Wiggly Woods "Heritage" textiles box, and lace from my haberdashery stash.

Night Cruise

Night Cruise
Brian Simons – contemporary. Acrylic on canvas. Private Collection.

Another painting prompting a holiday reminiscence – the brightly illuminated cruise ship reminds of how we were greeted in Chongqin by the cruiser that would take us down the Yangtse River. There were several cruise ships moored along the river promenade, most with colourful lights on every deck, quite a lovely welcome sight!

The photo was taken aboard our own cruiser of those moored behind and the lights of Chongqin climbing up the steep hills in the background.

*****

Paper from Club Scrap kit "City Scape" and alphas from another old CS kit (not sure which); foam wave border from Craft Creations, cruise ship 3D from Jolee's by You; plus a pack of Magic Scrap Designer Flairs.

Watchmakers of Switzerland

A Campus Group
Louise Jordan Smith – ca. 1925. Oil on Canvas. Maier Museum of Art, Lynchburg, VA

Again, it was the title that got me interested in the painting – then I loved the colours and the informal style of the group.

It reminded me of a photo of my grandmother with a couple of friends from the music conservatorium, a campus group, so to speak… I don’t know anything more about the two young men in the picture – I assume they were just colleagues, but the picture was taken in 1919, just five years before the completion of the painting!

*****

Paper and big alphas from Club Scrap kit "Passage of Time", and silver ring element from "Time + Space"; small alphas from Making Memories. For the various watch parts I finally took apart some old obsolete wrist watches...

A Beauty

A Beauty
Sir John Everett Millais - 1856. Location unknown.

Millais is most famous for his painting of The Two Princes Edward and Richard in the Tower – but I found this unknown beauty much more appealing. She seems to be plaiting her hair; something I do myself every day these days.

The photo, however, is from the days in Hong Kong when I used to wear my hair loose a lot of the time – probably 1994 or 1995, taken at one of the many fountains in the squares and courts of the city.

*****

Paper and sticker from Club Scrap kit "Be Still"; chipboard letters from a Scrapmuse kit; and scrunchy flower made from a bit of organza.

Love Song

Love Song
Norman Percevel Rockwell – 1926. Saturday Evening Post illustration.

In artistic circles, Norman Rockwell has never been considered a serious painter, mainly because the majority of his work was covers for the Saturday Evening Post: drawings or paintings reflecting “the American life in a somewhat sentimental style”. But I find them very likable and have added several of them to my favourites list.

The Love Song painting is, of course, nothing like the photograph I’ve paired with it, which is of a karaoke party at our Hong Kong home with the colleagues from our department. Karaoke was hugely in vogue with the Chinese population of the city at the time and a great draw to get them to come to “gwailo” parties. I’m singing with the wife of my boss, and as you can see from our slightly soppy expressions, and the smirky face of the guy in the background, it was a love song indeed!

*****

Red paper is from Club Scrap kit "Autumn Splendour", alphas from "Salsa" and sticker from "Musical Interlude"; vellum from Craft Creations, heart diecut from Jolee's by You and bubble shakers from I-Kandee.

Newspaper

Newspaper
Karin Jurick – 2008. Oil on Masonite. Private Collection.

It was the title that drew me to this picture, because I knew I had this lonely photo sitting around of me in my “newspaper denims”. Newspaper print clothing was ever so fashionable for casual wear during the time I was in Hong Kong. I never went in for the tops and t-shirts but really loved these trousers!

I also loved the painting when I saw it. It’s of a woman reading a newspaper inside the Seattle Central Library and I think it’s great how the window grid makes this surreal surrounding to the figure.

*****

Background paper is from a HOTP Heritage paper book but all the newspaper clippings are real (I know - archival nightmare but I don't care here...). Alphas from Club Scrap kit "Salsa".

Fashion Poodle

Fashion Poodle
Deb Harvey - contemporary. Acrylic on canvas. ACEO Gallery

I found this quirky little painting while looking at ATC’s on the Internet – it is only 3½ x 2½“ but it reminded me of my Aunt Inge and her fashion foibles which she also attributed to her dogs. Poodles were the obvious choice, so first there was Blacky, a raven-black standard who’s in the photograph, and later on Lady, a silver-grey miniature poodle. Both were always trimmed immaculately to the latest fashion of crowns, brush tails and fluffy bits on the legs, and adorned with glitzy collars and leads…

Photo 1969

*****

Papers and small jewels from Club Scrap kit "Stepping Out", and alphas from "Down to Earth"; big jewel charms on the photo from my haberdashery stash.

A Burro on the Patio

A Burro on the Patio
Mariano Fortuny y Marsal – ca. 1874. Oil on Canvas. Private Collection.

It was the title that drew me to this picture, because I knew I had this lonely photo sitting around of me in my “newspaper denims”. Newspaper print clothing was ever so fashionable for casual wear during the time I was in Hong Kong. I never went in for the tops and t-shirts but really loved these trousers!

I also loved the painting when I saw it. It’s of a woman reading a newspaper inside the Seattle Central Library and I think it’s great how the window grid makes this surreal surrounding to the figure.

*****

Papers from Club Scrap kit "Wild Wild West" and big alphas from "Fossils"; small alphas and brads from Making Memories, and paper flowers from a mixed bag bought in a sales. The edges are chalked.

Tea AnyoneTea Anyone Bob Dornberg – contemporary. Oil on Canvas. Artist’s Sales Collection. An artist I had never heard of, with a stack of impressio

Tea Anyone
Bob Dornberg – contemporary. Oil on Canvas. Artist’s Sales Collection.

An artist I had never heard of, with a stack of impressionist paintings for sale on the Internet – it was the title of this work that made me have a closer look. It somehow sounded inviting… The further explanation said “women getting to know each other”…

I could think of a stack of photos I have that represent my having tea with a friend but my choice fell on this one in the fabulous setting of the famous Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong – a really girly outing on the occasion of my friend Susanne visiting from Germany.

*****

Everything is from a HOTP Busy Scrapper's Solutions book (except for the waxed thread from Club Scrap kit "Bridges").

A Bay with Cliffs

A Bay with Cliffs
Gustave Coubert – ca.1869. Oil on canvas. Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT

This picture reminded me very much of the Seven Sisters, a famous and beautiful cliff on England’s South Coast. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find pictures of it although I’m sure I have some from a similar angle as this painting, as we were approaching the Seven Sisters by kayak from the sea.

However, sea kayaking reminded me of a visit to the Anglesey Sea Kayaking Symposium we did some years ago and I found this beautiful photograph of a bay with equally stunning cliffs in the background and lots of colourful boats on the water. I can’t even remember the name of the bay but it was a sunny afternoon to try out different makes and types of kayaks – there are some more lined up on the beach…

*****

Papers, cutouts and accent beads used in photo border are from Club Scrap kit "By the Seashore"; plus alphas from Making Memories and boating buttons from Dress It Up.

Abu Simbel

Abu Simbel
Frederick Arthur Bridgeman – 1874. Oil on canvas. Private Collection.

This very life-like painting reminded me vividly of my own visit to Abu Simbel as part of a 14-day Nile cruise in 1989.

On reviewing my pictures I found that I had one of myself posing in front of the monument, taken from almost the same angle as the painting. It shows the changes that have taken place in those just over hundred years: all the sand has been cleared away in front of the figures, so they are now clearly visible including all the inscriptions at the bases, but the fallen fragments from the second statue, on which a man sits in the painting, are still exactly where they were!

*****

Papers and alphas from Club Scrap kit "Egyptian", plus some images stamped on paper scraps.

A Bath

A Bath
Fernando Botero - 1992. Private Collection.

I found this painting when I was randomly looking through the Athenaeum website – I couldn’t believe my eyes but proceeded to look up this painter on the Internet, and lo and behold, he has produced an entire series of these “fat beauties”, many of them naked, in tight leotards or similar. I cannot quite see any one of them hanging in my home but the “bathing beauty” certainly inspired this LO…

The photograph is, of course, me – equally in the nude but in much better shape! Taken in July 1966 at not quite two years old…

*****

Papers from Club Scrap kit "Mosaic Twist" with a complete pack of Jolee's Epoxy Stickers and alphas by Making Memories.

Woman with Umbrella

Rainy Day (Woman with Umbrella)
Childe Hassam – 1889. Oil on Canvas. Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH

The image of this beautifully and daintily dressed woman with her umbrella instantly brought to mind a photo I once took of my own mother, flouncing her newly bought lace parasol… The person in the picture looks like quite the lady my mother has always pretended to be or wanted to be – so the association is quite apt and we shall forget the fact that the painting is actually called “Rainy Day”. I do love Hassam’s style of painting, and I know my mother would like it, too…

*****

Paper and frames from HOTP Paper Pizzazz book; lace from my haberdashery stash; alphas from Club Scrap and palm trees from Jolee's by You and Jolee's Boutique.

The Walk to Work

The Walk to Work (Le Depart pour le Travail)
Jean-Francois Millet – 1851. Oil on Canvas. Private Collection.

The painting is a lovely atmospheric work of a couple of peasants walking by the fields. It made me think of the fact that for most people these days, getting to work probably does not include much walking – at best maybe to and from the bus or train station. But there was one time in my life when I often used to walk to or from work, weather-permitting: that was in Hong Kong.

We lived halfway up The Peak and the offices were first in Central and then in Causeway Bay, both more or less straight down the hill. The shortest route down was via Ladder Street – which is simply a series of flights of steps. I counted them once and there are well over a thousand! I admit that on the way back I usually took the outdoor escalator they built a few streets further on…

*****

Random kanji paper; alphas from Club Scrap "Asian Artisan"; and wood shapes from Craft Creations.

The Star: Dancer on Point

The Star: Dancer on Point
Edgar Degas, ca. 1878. Gouache and pastel on paper. Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA

A lovely picture, if a slightly weird idea: point dancing in nature with the sea in the background…? Also, the ballerina seems to be slightly off balance, leaning forward more than this posture does normally allow.

Both the picture and title reminded me of a particular recital, on the occasion of the school’s 25-year celebration, when I was the “prima ballerina” (i.e. the star of the show) in a set dancing the Emperor’s Waltz. The photo I have chosen here is not very flattering but it closely resembles the ballerina in the picture including the slightly too far forward stance which results in my having to bend the supporting leg…

*****

Random ballet paper; alphas from Making Memories; 3D stickers from Sandylion Essentials. Used watercolours pens for the pink highlights on the paper.

The Pool

The Pool (Jas de Buffan)
Paul Cezanne, ca. 1876. Oil on Canvas. The Hermitage, St Peterburg.

Cezanne is one of my favourite artists – in general I like the paintings of that period, the style, the colour choices… Of course, my page is not going to do his painting justice because when I read “The Pool”, I immediately thought of some photos with a totally different association: swimming pool/paddle pool… I decided to go for it anyway…

My little bath costume in these photos was a really bright raspberry red with black and white polka dots, which gave me the idea of polka dot paper and I remembered this one, ironically from a company called “Fancy Pants”, hehe…
I thought it might at least be more reminiscent of the colours in the painting than something bold but I was surprised just how well they matched. All the colours in the paper are exactly represented in the picture, too! This makes me feel a whole lot better about the connection between the Cezanne and my layout!

*****

Paper from a Scrapmuse kit; stickers from Club Scrap "Fruit & Vine"; metal word from Making Memories; plus vellum diecuts.

The Piano Lesson

The Piano Lesson
Henri Matisse, 1916. Oil on canvas. The Museum of Modern Arts, New York, NY.

The picture is a strange take on a piano lesson, with the teacher sitting well in the background (or maybe the mother watching?) and the student alone on the piano. But it is strangely reminiscent of my feelings about piano playing and piano lessons – the slightly desolate expression in the boys face; the inevitable dreaded metronome on the piano (which you can see in the photo, too…).

My photo is a more commonplace teaching situation, with my grandma right next to her student (there isn’t actually a photo that shows me together with her on the piano, even so we often played pieces “for four hands” and she always sat by me to watch and teach…). Mark my grandma’s chunky old piano, too – it had to have jars of water placed into the bottom of it to “temper it right”.

*****

Papers and alphas from Club Scrap "Musical Interlude", plus metronome 3D sticker from Jolee's Boutique; musical notes eyelet from Eyelet Outlet; and a piano charm from my needlecrafts stash.

The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer

The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer
Edgar Degas, cast in 1922 from a mixed-media sculpture, modelled ca. 1879-80
Bronze, partly tinted, with cotton skirt and satin hair ribbon, on a wooden base

As a child and teenager I loved my ballet classes, and I’m still irresistibly attracted to every kind of dance - so this beautiful statue immediately appealed to me. I could just see myself in it, all those many years ago – including the day-dreamy look and posture.

The title, however, brought to mind a specific dancing photo because I was 14 years old at the time! Here, I’m dancing with my classmate Bettina for the entertainment at our school fete that year. We had learnt this dance the previous year in a group of six for a dance school recital, and luckily my classmate was my partner, so we were able to perform it again. It was much scarier doing it just with the two of us and for an audience we largely knew and who knew us well…

The dance revolved around the theme of the music used, which was a piece popular in Germany in the 1920s about a guy ogling a woman bathing in a lake, and he’s overwhelmed by being able to see her calves! Hence the outfit of the very early bathing costume and guy with moustache and monocle.

*****

Papers and numbers from Club Scrap "Musical Interlude" with sticker strips from "Music and Fine Arts"; plus prima flowers.

Selbstbildnis

Self-Portrait (Selbstbildnis)
Käthe Kollwitz – 1912. Etching on Copperplate Paper. Pasquale Iannetti Art Galleries, San Francisco, CA.

Kollwitz has produced several self-portraits which all just go by that name – I’ve chosen the one I find most appealing, softer than her more famous front on portraits.

The fact that she has done so many reminded me of a little private portrait shoot I was given once in Hong Kong. The photographer was a business contact and did a series of photos for me in his hotel room, just to kill time before a company dinner in the restaurant downstairs (all very proper!). I have chosen a photo with a pose that is very similar to the Kollwitz portrait described above – same angle, same hairstyle – only I’m smiling and she isn’t. Kollwitz never smiled in her self-portraits…

*****

Papers from HOTP paper book "Mixing Jewel Colours"; plus Jolee's Photo Corners.

Seated Woman

Seated Woman
Joan Miro – 1939. Oil on Canvas. Peggy Guggenhejm Collection, Venice.

Okay – not the kind of art I would choose: I had to look at the painting for a long time before I even FOUND the seated woman…she’s rather small compared to the indefinable rest of the picture!

But I knew I had this lonely photo of the Seated Empress to scrapbook – the Empress being me, taken in 1992 at Sung Village Culture Park in Hong Kong. There is a dress-up-and-get-a-photo shop attached to their wax figure collection of famous personalities of Chinese history – and of course, I can never resist a dress-up!

*****

Paper is Club Scrap"T+N" except for the colourful washi paper; and alphas and Chinese coins from "Asian Artisan"

Night Windows

Night Windows
John Sloan – 1910. Etching on Laid Paper. Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE.

An interesting piece of art that makes you see more detail the longer you look at it!

It reminded me straight away of this shot of Hong Kong at night, taken from The Peak, with the amazing glow coming off all the lights of the big city. It’s impossible to count all the windows in the photo, but you could just imagine the scene in the etching to be part of it, somewhere – especially considering the predilection of the Chinese for hanging their washing out of the windows in just such a way!

*****

Paper from Club Scrap "City Scape" and alphas from "Harvest"; plus stars from Jolee's by You.

Large Fish Market

Large Fish Market
Jan Bruegel the Elder – 1603. Oil on Oak Panel. Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

Many years ago, with my mother and a friend, I visited the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. I remember that they have whole rooms dedicated to particular painters, and that both my mother and I liked Bruegel’s pictures because of the amazing detail in them. Almost any one of them, you can stand for a long time and look and still take in new aspects of the scene – quite fascinating. The Large Fish Market painting is a good example of what I mean…

I imagined that fish market in real – the buzzle, the smell… - and it conjured up memories of a very different but equally intriguing fish market: Hong Kong Wanchai! It’s what I call “an experience”…

*****

Paper, alphas and fish sticker from Club Scrap "Fossils"; plus vellum diecuts.

Knives

Knives
Andy Warhol – ca. 1981-82. Acrylic and Silkscreen Ink on Canvas.Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington. D.C.

Now this one was entirely by association – I know Warhol’s funky style, and together with the ideas of knives I couldn’t help but think sushi!

Sushi properly displayed, like in the posh Evergreen Sushi Bar, are a stylish funky work of art… Evergreen Sushi Bar was one of the eateries on the ground floor of Evergreen House, where some floors up our offices were located for the first year of my Hong Kong contract. We were regular customers, so Mikey and Jenns were happy to smile into our camera!

*****

Papers and cutouts from Club Scrap "Culinary" except for the Kanji-print mulberry paper; sushi charms from Far and Away "Asia Charms" and alphas from Club Scrap "Asian Artisan".

Five Dollar Bill

Five Dollar Bill
William Michael Harnett – 1880. Oil on Board Trompe l’Oeil. Philadelphia Museum of Art – Alex Simpson Jr Collection.

I thought this picture was fantastic work, and such a quirky idea it deserved to get remembered in every way possible!

It also reminded me of this picture taken during one of our many visits to Hong Kong’s Ocean Park. It shows me fanning out a batch of their “Middle Kingdom Notes”, the token currency valid within the Middle Kingdom section of the park.

*****
Papers from Club Scrap "Study in Red" and "T+N", plus CS stickers from older kit; faux banknotes from an advertisement campaign; cherry stickers from Mary Engelbreit.

Deer in the Woods

Deer in the Woods
Franz Marc, 1912. Oil on Canvas. Städtische Gallerie im Lembachhaus, Munich.

To me, Franz Marc has always been a special artist – not because he was German but because most of his work is about animals/wildlife, with an angle of suffering well expressed in his riotous use of bold colours, especially reds. His most famous painting, “Fate of the Animals”, bears his inscription on the rear: “…and all being is flaming agony”. Unfortunately, he died far too young at only 36 years of age. Great loss for the expressionist movement if you ask me.

So, no doubt I HAD to use this picture as a base for a layout. Despite its sad connotation it conjured up a rather happy memory: our visits to the deer park that was about an hour’s train ride from home. We went there at least once every summer and I was always looking forward to it! I always insisted that whoever took me would also buy a bag of animal food at the entrance. The park had different types of deer in separate enclosures, but all of them were of course used to being fed by the visitors and would come to the fence freely, eating straight from your hand. I loved it, in fact more so than our much more regular visits to the various local zoos where feeding wasn’t allowed. Or maybe it was because, then as now, I preferred to see the animals in a more natural environment? (Photo August 1972)

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Mainly papers and cutouts from HOTP Scrapper's Solution book; plus notelet and diecuts from Club Scrap The Great Outdoors; plus 3D sticker from K+Co "Happy Trails".

At the Piano

At the Piano
James Abbott McNeill Whistler – 1858-59. Oil on canvas. Taft museum, Cincinnati, OH.

This beautiful picture of a lady playing the grand piano with a pretty girl watching reminded me of my grandma playing the piano for me to sing. We rehearsed regularly (I much preferred singing to playing the piano!) and had several recitals with me usually singing Schubert’s Lieder, but unfortunately there are no photos of that activity. Nowadays with the digital cameras, people take photos everywhere and of everything, but in those days photography was still rare and selective, and parents would not walk up during a recital to try and take photos…

So, it’s just me “on the piano”…first in 1973 and then in 1980.

*****
All materials from Club Scrap, mainly Musical Interlude with some sticker strips from Music and Fine Arts.

Art Inspiration

Yet another blog for layouts... This is my latest album which I started as past of Cyber Crop challenge with the Scrap-from-your-Stash Yahoo Group. Was great fun, by the way!

The challenge was to base each layout on one of a given list of artworks - mainly paintings, some sculpture and photography; either by using the title of the art and the name of the artist, or by basing the layout on colours and style.

I was so intrigued by the idea that I decided to do a "random memories" album in this way: the title of the layout being the title of the chosen artwork. The format is 8x8" which I'd never worked with before but found to be great fun, and the journals are printed on the back along with a thumbnail print of the artwork.