The In Between @mizrobnh - Tumblr Blog

“Painting Tunes”

My last piece of artwork is a painting by music, done in the round. The media is watercolor on paper. I painted while listening to music - when the song stopped, I moved down the paper to start a new art piece with a new song (pics below are in chronological order starting at the star). I worked clockwise, building on six sections three times, adding and more and moving towards the middle as I went. Below is the link to my Spotify playlist so you can listen to the songs for a more interactive approach. :)

#https://open.spotify.com/playlist/69WT53KnkUmn4UFVHaH3Ej?si=cl3Ao2LSThS9frqXfPu6vQ

Jackson Pollock

Jackson Pollock lived a life of constant influences from Native American art he had seen as a youth, to education in the Regionalist style of Thomas Hart Benton. With the changing trends in society during World War II, art itself was evolving to express human emotions and vulnerabilities. Pollock may have felt that any form of representation was limiting to the artist and the viewer. Since he was so interested in psychology, this style of painting gave him free reign to paint from the inside out, creating pieces that have no forms or representation to allow the viewer to visualize their own experiences. His drip paintings allow for individual interpretation, hence the reason he stopped naming his artworks and simply giving them numbers similar to symphonic music. His painting technique could be considered a musical dance of paint; it’s layered, textured - the steps are choreographed but once the music begins, the art takes on a form of its own.

#jacksonpollock #musicalpainting

This image above is where I found my inspiration for my non-representational art below, titled “I Shit Glitter”, painted it on the back of a stretched canvas to help contain the glitter but also to almost frame it.

#ishitglitter

The Flaying of Marsyas by Apollo

Antonio de Bellis

1630-1640

Oil on canvas

The Flaying of Marsyas by Apollo by Antonio de Bellis is an unusually gory and dark piece of art among the more serene and Biblical scenes of the Renaissance and Baroque artworks that surround it. Based off of a poem in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, it depicts the aftermath of satyr Marsyas’s challenge to Apollo that he could best him in a musical competition; one where the wager was the winner could do whatever he wanted with the loser. The satyr lost his wager, so as punishment for his arrogance in challenging a god, Apollo tied him up and skinned the flesh from his body as other’s looked on.

Although little is known about his life, Antonio de Bellis was a 17th century Italian painter from Naples that was active in Baroque style and strongly influenced by Caravaggio. Much like other Baroque artists, de Bellis uses natural colors, bold accent colors, dramatic movements and facial expressions in his paintings. In The Flaying of Marsyas by Apollo, the main subjects are painted light in contrast to the darkness of the background, and centered in the scene with their bodies creating an almost circular shape. Apollo is painted lighter than Marsyas and wrapped with a bold red cloth, likely to put emphasis on him as a god or as the winner or both. His almost-serene facial expression is in direct contrast to the anguished look of Marsyas’s face or the horrored ones of the figures watching from behind him. Marsyas’s arms and legs are tied, and his splayed hands helps further express the intense pain he is in during his punishment. The discarded musical instrument in the lower foreground hints to the viewer that this may have had something to do with music.

This large oil-on-canvas painting immediately caught my eye during my visit to Ringling. The first thing I noticed was the look of intense pain on Marsyas’s face, along with his oddly-shaped ears and horns on his head which suggested he was a mythical creature. His eyes were dark and mouth wide open; I could almost hear his screams. It wasn’t until I continued my study of the piece that I saw that Apollo was cutting away a strip of Marsyas’s thigh. The flesh was laid open, with enough details of the laceration that caused my breath to catch in my throat and my stomach to flutter. I felt both horrified and intrigued at the same time, and I wanted to know more about the story behind this painting. After perusing eight galleries of Renaissance and Baroque art, this was the first one that gave me pause, and I sat down on the bench to give it my full attention.

*me at the museum - I didn’t think to get a pic of myself actually in front of the painting I chose.

#flayingofmarsyasbyapollo #ringlingmuseum

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2. Claude Lorrain, Ascanius Shooting the Stag of Silvia; Figure 2.6 (I do not have a page number) - contains linear perspective, implied depth, implied motion, harmony, and color.

3. Every room in my home is painted a different color, as I feel that it’s important to set the mood in your home by room. The bathrooms and laundry room are bright, intense paint colors that make you feel alive and energetic. The bedrooms are painted in more subtle hues that allow for a more restful or peaceful feeling when you’re in them. If I had a color scheme that represented me, I would say it was the vibrant, intense colors of jewel tones. Amethyst, ruby red, emerald greens and royal blues always draw my attention. They are beautiful colors to me.

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This painting is called “Take Me Home, Country Road”. I was raised in West Virginia and have wanted to return to visit for about a decade now. The cardinal represents my grandmother who was a very important figure in my young life, and she loved cardinals. This painting represents the view that is laid out before you as you drive over the mountain highway roads into the heavy mountain area. Here’s an in progress photo (I only took one as I got into the zone and forgot to take more).

Tiananmem Square Massacre 1989

AIDS epidemic 1990

Virtual Sketchbook 2: Photojournalism

The early AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s was horrifying to watch on television and in pictures. Images like this one depicting the gaunt victims of the disease left an indelible impact on the world. Here, David Kirby’s father holds his son tight for his final moments. The expression on the father’s face shows the anguish and pain he is feeling about his son’s condition, and photographs like this one drew the public’s attention toward researching for a cure.

Virtual Sketchbook 1

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Hieronymus Bosch “The Garden of Earthly Delights” (exterior) 1490-1510

Hieronymus Bosch “The Garden of Earthly Delights” (interior) 1490-1510

There were so many facts I wanted to share about Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, but these were my favorites:

The triptych has three panels hinged together, and when opened fully, the piece is 7 feet tall and over 13 feet wide.

The outer panels fold in, and the grisaille (or monochrome) on the outside of the closed panels displays the creation of Earth, possibly the Third Day. There is a sphere half-filled with water and a God-like figure in the clouds.

The whole piece tells a story: the outside of the panels displays Creation, the left panel displays the Garden of Eden, the center is the inhibitions of mankind, and the right panel displays man’s punishment (Hell).

Some experts believe that Bosch included a self-portrait in the Hell panel as the face of the Tree-Man.

In the lower left area of the Hell panel (also known as Musician’s Hell), there is music painted on the buttocks of one of the damned. To hear that piece played using instruments from that era: Hieronymus Bosch Butt Music

The first time I had seen this art I felt anxiety from the surreal depictions in the center and right panels. The Garden of Eden panel felt like a calming anchor with its relative peace and minimalistic nature. Now that I know the story of the piece I still feel anxiety but for a different reason. Bosch seemed to predict that our world will eventually end in darkness and despair, and with the state the world is in right now, that 500 year old prediction is closer than ever.

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This black and white photograph is printed on canvas and wrapped around a wooden frame, and it hangs in a place of honor by our front door. I especially am drawn to this because of the perspective of Times Square; the slight off-centering of One Times Square to include the lighted Broadway signs harking Kiss Me Kate and The 3rd Man, the lines that the streets and buildings make that draws to eye towards the tower in the dark, misty distance. People dressed up in the fashion of the time and the old cars and taxis that were the vehicles of yesteryear. You almost feel as though you are walking down the street inTimes Square in 1942.

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*I am a 40-year-old wife and mother of two teenagers, one of whom started college last week as well.

*I am female and proud of that.

*Caucasian and proud of that too (I can’t change either detail, so I choose to own them).

*I was born in Texas, raised in West Virginia until I was nine and then we moved to Bradenton, where I’ve lived ever since.

*I take ballroom workout classes and read for fun. I work for a roofing supplier in Sarasota.

*I don’t really like groups of people, I am perfectly happy not socializing most of the time. Every once in a while I will break out and do a girls night out or something fun like that.

*I’m just me - weirdly naive for my age, and usually middle-of-the-road on many subjects because I see the valid points on both sides of an issue.

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mizrobnh

Hieronymus Bosch “The Garden of Earthly Delights” (exterior) 1490-1510