Fantasy Architecture

 Birds Of A Feather

Architecture is a way to interpret fantasy using details and parts used in the composition.  I find it fascinating to use architectural details or parts in a way that is fantastic as in the somewhat mysterious Gothic image above with birds flying around building copulas formed in a square (it made sense to me at the time, copulas are at the very top of buildings where birds sometimes roost), galactic stars, spaceships or patterns.

 St. Basil Cathedral Moscow

The choices are endless as are the building styles for exteriors and interiors.  

Inspirational Cathedral Ceilings and Spires II

   
In the above image I have incorporated cathedral ceilings and spires for the image above which is a pattern of sorts, almost like looking through a kaleidoscope.

I would not have considered doing outer space art but became inspired when putting the church roofs of the image below in position and finding it looking very much like a space ship suspended in space heading somewhere.  Bring on Star Wars VIII!!

Star Domes

   
If cathedral dome roofs made into space ships are not your cup of tea, how about Victorian conical roofs with a Gothic rose window or Catherine window in stone made into galactic stars?!  

Named after St. Catherine of Alexandra who was executed on a spiked wheel, ouch!  It is from the 17th century and used in Medieval cathedrals.  All the major cathedrals from that period in France have these windows.  The Gothic revival period in the 19th century also used these windows.

Victorian Blue Star

You say blue is not your favorite color, too conservative how about a galactic star in shocking pink?!!  

Purple Victorian Star

Real stars are probably very colorful burning otherworldly metals and rocks.  Wouldn't it be interesting to see one up close.  Some stars and their colors can be seen from earth.

It is possible the origin of the rose window is found in the Roman oculous. These large circular openings let in both light and air.  The image below a sort of time capsule I believe is the dome of the Pantheon where the oculi is at the top, the best known example.  Early Christian and Byzantine architecture also made use of the use of circular oculi.

Time Tunnel

Iniquity too early of a time period how about Henri Toulous-Lautrec's Paris and the Eiffel Tower.  Here is how it might appear as a star.

Eiffel Tower Star

Some interesting facts about the Eiffel Tower it was built to sway slightly and on the sunny side it will grow as much as seven inches away from the sun.

The Tower was originally made to be taken down in twenty years. When it went up there was a petition of 300 architects, sculptors, artists and writers asking the Commissioner of the Paris Exhibition to halt the construction.  Trying to save it, Gustave Eiffel, who's firm designed it, made a meteorology laboratory on the third floor right after it's construction encouraging scientists to use it for their experiments.  Studies were performed there from gravity to electricity.

 

It was the tallest man made building until the Chrysler Building was built in 1930.

Ultimately what saved the Tower was it's usefulness as a wireless telegraph transmitter, enabling the military to communicate with ships during WWI.  Today it is still used as a transmission tower with more than 120 radio and television antennas.  

 

It is also home to two restaurants, several buffets, a champagne bar banquet hall and gift shops!  You can't get married on the Eiffel Tower but you can have your reception dinner there.

You say "So what can top the Eiffel Tower?"   They say two is better than one, two iconic buildings of New York, the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings combined!

Empire and Chrysler Buildings Star

Taller is better, only kidding!  The Chrysler Building has some nice assets one of them being the wood inlay and chrome steel detailing in the elevator.

     Chrysler Elevator by Dogears

The lobby is a contemporary abstraction of African marble and chrome steel.  The marble is not only on the floor it is on the walls and ceiling.  Like the elevator everything looks like it is in tones of medium to dark brown.

Chrysler Building by WestportWiki

 Chrysler Building by Norbert Nagel

This is one of the radiator-cap gargoyles, there is also a band of abstract automobiles on the building.  Patterned brickwork is used extensively.  

The Empire State Building was the tallest building for almost forty years and was topped by the North World Trade Center building in 1970.  To date it is the forth tallest building in the world.  Pretty impressive for being built in 1931.

Suzanne Powers gallery:  http://suzanne-powers.artistwebsites.com

I Love New York And Grunge

Merriam-Webster definition of "grunge": a type of loud rock music that was popular especially in the early 1990s; also : the fashions associated with this type of music,: heavy dirt

I love New York City and the grunge style equally. Both are synonymous with texture and have layers of it.  New York in the sense of arts, culture and food a seemingly never ending supply, so much to see and do.  Grunge, there are so many different textures (sometimes layers!) that can be found in objects large and small.  

Never in my wildest dreams in my formative years (I'm not going to admit my age here for the world although I have a degree in interior design from eons ago) would I have imagined liking rust, patina, aged, scratched, dented, flaking, dust, flea bitten, the list goes on...everyone was always chasing the new, not realizing what we were giving up.

I'm a firm believer that good design has no age or one style.  That is something design school gave me that no one can take away!

The idea of liking grunge it seems to be mostly the vintage type (not too old then it becomes antique, another style) goes along with the changes in fashion.  Today with jeans being worn everywhere, when I was growing up girls were not allowed to wear pants at school, we wore dresses, skirts, blouses with white gloves and a hat on Sunday.

I remember the day in high school when the rules changed and females were allowed to wear pants. It seems as we have become more relaxed in our dress so has everything else, fashion and art, it's all related to one another.  Who would have guessed what the future lay in store and what possibilities there was in dirt!
   

The image of the young man above is contemporary but it could be mistaken for fashion in the 60's.  The model's hair is the same length and "mophead" style the Beatles made popular.  Their hair was considered long, no males were wearing the shoulder length hair then. It is one of the first "signs" of grunge in my opinion, before this long hair on men was considered unkempt and meaning couldn't afford a hair cut. 

 

The New York grunge image is a kind of tip of the iceberg for me and the latest of a series of New York images (see previous post).  The gunge images in particular turned out better than I had hoped and I am now salivating to photograph old and even new objects that are presently in the garage including my neighbor's new motorcycle. I know new isn't old but grunge is associated with the Industrial style and I am seeing a lot of machinery parts, lighting, architectural details and machine shop accessory images.

   
Originally I wanted to photograph his pretty blond wife sitting on the motorcycle now I am more into shooting the motorcycle body more than the person!  I may appear somewhat fickle...but I can just see all that wonderful chrome gleaming in the afternoon light coming through the garage door?!  I understand now more what the fuss is all about...the curvy smooth metal, the glistening chrome...

 
It's exciting, grunge is a whole new art venue for me to photograph, manipulate and paint.  One of my favorite furniture and food photography styles has been rustic, somehow by doing the New York images I have becoming more aware of the possibilities of grunge.  It is a truth the more you do something the better you become.

One of the advantages of having an art gallery associated with other artists, I don't have to go off the site to see what others are doing and doing well.  Pinterest is as I have mentioned before in one of my posts invaluable for inspiration as is Tumbler and other visual sites.

I have run into artists who don't look at other artists work for inspiration, they have become uninspired for long lengths of time, even to the point of giving up their art! I do know about discouragement but that shouldn't last long once you become inspired.  

I am thankful for having so much art history behind us with every kind of art style available to view today and grunge fits right in, as they say "We've got it all!" 


Suzanne Powers art gallery:  http://fineartamerica.com

New York's Hidden Jewel

 
New York is hard to describe in a few words, it has a rhythm that is fast paced like a charging bull.  Among all the loud voices of the city crying for one's attention there are hidden jewels among the more well known parts of the city who's voices are softer but no less alluring. 

I can remember as a child staying many stories up at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, "the city that never sleeps" walking up to the window and hearing the honk of taxicabs with constant traffic.   My father would have conference/vacations in large cities on the East Coast often taking the family.

The fact that the city is located on the Hudson River with a natural harbor is part of it's success as a center of trade.  It is also a major world cultural and arts center.  

New York has always integrated people into it's fabric of life; large Jewish, Chinese, and Hispanic communities attest to this fact.  It is believed to have the largest linguistic diversity in the world with over 800 languages being spoken with over 30 percent of its residents foreign born.

Years ago when I was in college I visited New York again on a school trip.  The food was as good in the Mexican basement restaurant right off the sidewalk as it was in the fine French restaurant named "La Mole."   

Big cities usually have better food on the whole than anywhere else and New York is a gourmet mecca.  More recently when I traveled to Palm Beach, FL I ate at a moderately priced Asian restaurant and was pleasantly surprised at the level of quality of the food. 

  

At about this same time period I and other family members were accompanied by my future brother-in-law's family's Vietnamese house keeper who showed us around China Town.  You would not have known you were in the US but in some foreign Asian city. The language spoken on the street was Chinese. All street signs, newpapers, signage outside and inside stores and restaurants was in Chinese.

New York has the largest population of Chinese outside of China.  I would recommend a trip to New York City to experience it there isn't anything quite like it except maybe San Francisco. 

Growing up and being of Anglo Saxon descent I had always been in the majority where I lived, suddenly on the street in China Town I was not, it was a strange feeling for me and I was glad I was in tow with someone who was Vietnamese and familiar with the area or I would have been lost.  Now I would embrace the chance to experience it although I would recommend knowing where you are going beforehand and plan ahead before you go.  

You don't hear as much about China Town as other popular sights in New York like Times Square or the Meat Market District. I did attend a musical on Broadway on one of my visits but I would have gladly traded it for a night out in China Town.  Before the internet you probably needed to know someone who was Asian who knew China Town in order to take full advantage of what it has to offer.

We passed by the fishmonger with octopus and eels in the front window, the only language you heard spoken on the street was Chinese.  Small  restaurants, hole-in-the-wall size served  ethnic Chinese fare.

I ate food I don't remember the names of.  I remember one restaurant I was served a homemade baked dough with a sweet barbeque filling reminding me of the "Manwhich" barbeque only the bread was homemade and the filling was made homemade.  This is the real deal not Americanized Asian food. Apparently many who come here for a better life were not raised on fast food or convenience foods, everything is cooked from scratch.  

In addition to the all the food I experienced having that homemade quality the prices were inexpensive, the restaurants catering to the locals is a neighborhood restaurant rather than a tourist attraction.

There is a lot of talk about the iconic foods of New York like the hoagie, Coney Island hot dog, bagel, pizza, knishes, White Castle Hamburgers which are very good, there is nothing to compare to them outside of New York and China Town is no different.  China Town is a world unto itself, a jewel in the crown of New York City's many foods and should not be missed.

Have you been to China Town in New York or a China town in another city, what were your experiences, I would love to hear?


Suzanne Powers gallery:  http://suzanne-powers.artistwebsites.com

Andrew Wyeth's Realism Lives

Andrew Wyeth-The Mill

The more I look at Andrew Wyeth's paintings and drawings I realize I owe him a debt of gratitude for "holding down the fort" of realism and leading the way. Realism lives and it is well.  I appreciate the different styles of art and grown in my taste and appreciation for all kinds of art.
  

There are those that feel Wyeth's art is not real art but illustration or romanticized Americana.  There has been some polarization by the art world as to who the leaders are, those who fit into the contemporary abstraction definition or contemporary artists like Wyeth. I agree with Mrs. Foster of the Philadelphia Musem "I think we are all grown up (now) enough to realize that there are many roads to modern art, not just one channel." 

His style is recognizable and continues to be popular.  Wyeth and Any Warhol are the most prominent artists of the 20th century.  

Art doesn't have to be contrived with strange looking expressions on peoples faces and symbolism everywhere.  It is OK to just tell your story.

Andrew Wyeth, Wyeth Home

 

All art has a place and one style is not more important than another although I find for my own work I do more realism. Photography can have different styles depending on how you aim the camera and the editing room with all it's possibilities.

I especially admire Wyeth's use of negative space and detail with his monotone coloration.  It is fascinating to me that he can light with just greys, browns and blacks, little else, creating depth and texture.  It is also encouraging to find that most of his work was done in the confines of his own home and surroundings.
 

For those that think they need to go to an exotic location Wyeth only visited Europe once and felt his artistic "innocence" could be compromised if he traveled too much.  I believe there is truth in that what you see can affect you.  He may have been speaking of other artists and their work.

Helga Testorf

I got excited when his grand-daughter Victoria Wyeth who gives art lecture/tours on the Wythe family at the Brandywine Museuem made the comment while he was still living, her grandfather had  gotten excited about a tree on his property.

  

He was not able to go to school with his brothers and sisters because of his delicate health and spent many hours wandering the land around his home developing a love of nature and his surroundings.  Trees and how they appear are important to him.

Nature is often the subject of my camera.  Lately I have questioned myself that what I am doing is too mundane.  Trees are everywhere and a common commodity.  

I can now be assured if Andrew Wyeth can draw and paint the same surroundings and still find new subjects or ways of looking at them I can too.  His work attests to the fact everything has value and beauty.

I like his architecture, he has a strong sense of design and creates wonderful texture with the stone walls, brick chimneys and wood boards.  He incorporates design with areas of contrast  of light and dark shadows on the buildings and landscape.

His buildings and interiors always appear old often with unpainted surfaces and mottling.  He was ahead of his time appreciating the effect of the elements and aging, "rustic" and "vintage" are now quite popular as a photographic style and pervades all art forms.

I love the detail in the foreground above you can see the blades of long uneven grasses, the welding joints and aged metal of the old bucket.  Wyeth said he liked Helga Testorf (the subject of his Helga series) because she wasn't obsessed with organization and clothes.  

There is a naturalness, simplicity to his work  and Helga that causes one to feel comfortable and value older things. The architecture and interiors are spare and beautiful giving the idea that one doesn't have to add on and complicate things, that there is beauty in simplicity.  Helga's hair is never perfect and she wears no cosmetics.

This naturalness contrasts with some of what is being done today.  In American made moves and photography the models often are wearing so much makeup it creates an unreal look even when the style is antique or vintage.  Helga dresses in clothes that are interesting and different without discernible style and regard for high fashion, she is unique and seems to transcend time. 

Andrew Wyeth has inspired many artists along the way and there are a cadre of artists that admire his work and have a similar but distinct style.  In my research I found Doug Brega whom I feel certain has been influenced by Wyeth with his image of an old structure much like New England architecture near the water.  

He has added subtle texture with the shadows on the building and windows, wood siding and wood posts, the shadows leading your eye to the subject.  The sky is not a perfect blue with white clouds but stormy grey, lending to the natural look.

 Doug Brega

I too have been inspired, once I edited my photo file after the shot I was pleasantly surprised to find it was in the style of Wyeth, well maybe not perfectly!  What do you think?  Have you created art that looks like Andrew Wyeth?  Supply a link I would love to see it!

Suzanne Powers Art Gallery:  http://suzanne-powers.artistwebsites.com

My Family And An Edwardian Kitchen

This Old House kitchen

The Downton Abbey kitchen is not the only place to see the Edwardian style.  Did you know a popular design style in kitchens today is Edwardian? When you see old school pendant lights or funnel industrial style pendants it is mimicking the Edwardian period. A simple trim is usually incorporated into the design.  My family's farm had Edwardian appliances in the kitchen.

The husband of the couple who live in the house above grew up with an AVG oven.  The one pictured above is in the style of the old wood burning stoves like the stove below that was used in the Edwardian period.  You can't see it there is an old wood box under the stove filled with split wood.

My great aunt never married and lived on the family farm in West Virginia with her widowed mother, divorced sister, child and unmarried brother the other children had married and left home.  They supplied eggs to the Greenbrier Resort during the Great Depression. 

My great aunt's sister worked in the doctors clinic at the resort where millionaires would come for a checkup along with some R&R. My great aunt's job supplied most of the income during those years for the family, my great uncle also worked the dairy farm but it didn't provide enough income for the family.

The Family Farm is now a B&B, The Old Stone Manse, Caldwell WVA

The stone and wood plank house was built in the early 1800's, my great grandmother arrived there on horseback at the turn of the century as a bride, my sister inherited her ladies side saddle from that trip.  The house was never renovated except for electricity and running water.  When you walked on the floors the wide planks would creak.    

My great grandfather was a clerk of the court and died before the birth of his last child.  My great grandmother never married again and raised my great aunts and uncle on her own.  Three of the children received a college education.  My great uncle and aunt stayed to work the farm.

The stove in the kitchen was an old black cast iron wood burning stove.  The stove above looks fancier than what my great aunt had.  It was the same stove that cooked the food my father ate when he would go for long visits as a boy in the summer during the 1920's and 30's. 

Root vegetables my great-grandmother would keep in the cellar

  

My father joined the Navy during WWII and became a pilot in the Pacific theater.  He made a "visit" to the farm flying his plane under the telephone wires to show off, scaring my great-grandmother but she enjoyed it just the same.  That's how she was a good sport and fun loving.  I think she's one of the reasons Dad loved the farm so much and what child wouldn't love to be on a farm.

Dad mentioned things that happened while visiting, the sheep that died and was burned in the field (apparently they are not buried).  He said he didn't like the smell (it was a mature sheep) and didn't want to eat mutton afterwards.  Stepping in what looked like a solid cow "pie" and sinking down until it covered his ankle and part of his leg!

My father eventually married and brought his family to visit at the farm.  We would stay overnight since it was a days drive from out home in Northern VA.  I wasn't used to old houses with high ceilings having always lived in a new house in suburbia.  At night I would be so scared I would pull the covers over my head be hot all night and never sleep or at least it seemed that way. I was always relieved for the morning and light!
  
Dad is gone now and I wish I had asked him exactly what he did all day at the farm.  I would like to have known more of his routine and his interaction with the family. 
  
Now I would love to stay and walk the mountain behind the house, check out all the rooms and old furniture.  The old milking barn and furniture is gone now, probably the old stove too although it may still be there.  The long front porch running almost the length of the house is gone but that probably wasn't there in the beginning, it looks much better without it.  

The present owners who bought the house from my family made it into a Bed and Breakfast and did a wonderful renovation. My father has since stayed at the house and loved how things looked.

There is usually a mist that comes off the Greenbrier River, you can see it in the picture.  In the early morning it is almost like thick pea soup, you can't see a foot in front of you, at night when it is clear you can see every star in the sky!


Suzanne Powers Art Gallery: http://suzanne-powers.artistwebsites.com 


 

How Spring And the Redbud Changed My Life

Even though the bird's nest looks abandoned during winter's cold there are signs of life and the hope of the birds returning! How I appreciate nature and it's ability to shake the cobwebs of winter out of our thinking and start us on a new path! 

Red maple seed pods

The Redbud tree is one of the first to show off it's stunning pink flowers, it is life changing - I'm a visual person and beauty affects me, if something is beautiful sometimes it makes me cry. I stare at the tree in bloom in breathless awe not having seen such bright color for eight months. 

The color is nothing less than spectacular, ranging between a purple and a bright pink setting off the dull brown tree trunks  and undergrowth just beginning to transition from winter's lifelessness to the lush bright greens of springtime.

The shock of color sets off the woods like a precious magenta jewel, seeming to give off an aura of brightness in it's woodsy realm.

It is native to the eastern United States and grows as far as Ontario Canada and spreading west to Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.  It only grows to 30 feet and has round heart shaped leaves.  

It is part of my heritage and has been here since before the Colonials and Indians giving a feeling of continuity, revealing a hint of the past of what things may have looked like in a primaeval state.

The trees give sustenance, the flowers, buds and pods can be sauted, the buds pickled.  The fresh flowers can also be added to salads.  In southern parts of Appalachia the green branches are used to season wild game and is known as the spice tree.  

I like discovering folkways and I am beginning to understand that the woods are full of new tastes and delights yet to be experienced. I am curious now and want to try a small handful of blossoms on my next excursion.

The Redbud flower arrives early and takes us out of the winter dole drums, regrets of the winter enjoyments and parties now past with a beautiful jolt of sprays of pink branches stretching out, foreshadowing the summer season to come.  

Just when you were counting the months until Christmas wishing for that jolly season the Redbud gets our attention and makes us take notice, giving us exciting thoughts, triggering our memory of past summer fun; a trip to the beach and other good times. 

The beauty of the flowers of the Redbud keeps coming back to me I can't shake it and starts me dreaming about new warm weather adventures.  On with the new and what lies ahead I now affirm.   How I love and appreciate the Redbud tree!

Suzanne Powers Art Gallery:  suzanne-powers.artistwebsites.com