In The Time Tunnel

"In The Time Tunnel"

The time has been set to France in 1851. Contrary to popular time travelling beliefs, one does not travel at blasting speeds filled with blurry dizzy images. Instead everything is magnified and illuminated. One finds somewhat strange bizarre absurd sightings in the tunnel. Some of them are fellow time travellers while many are in fact old irretrievable memories and deep heartfelt sentiments. They, like anyone else, yearn to be remembered, not forgotten or forsaken. Memories which are retrieved will cease to loiter in the tunnel. The owl historian apprentice takes all she sees to heart.

This 2nd piece of the Time Travel collection measures 16 inches by 16 inches on canvas. Antique bisque figurines, vintage hardwares, clock watch parts and brass stampings are glued onto the canvas with trusty epoxy glue. I like how the owl look with the antique optical lens over her right eye :D

An Owl Begins Her Time Travel Journey

The last 2 months had been great fun and excitement as I searched local and online for supplies that I would need for my new collection of mixed media assemblage artworks. Ophelia the Owl also a historian apprentice is preparing her journey to France in the 19th century. Here's an initial sketch of how the 1st piece, "The Gears That Set History In Motion" may look like:

Sketchy Thoughts From My Journal

Something was definitely gearing up within Ophelia to go back to historical times. She could hardly wait to be a first eye witness to the arts and cultural happenings of that era, she had to experience it for herself! She has come up with a  list of people whom she wants to meet and places she wants to visit, she's still consolidating her list at this juncture, trying her very best to make the most out of this trip.

Here are the pics of what I had hunted and gathered for this purpose (just part of it):

Vintage Watch Faces

Vintage Small Clock And Watch Parts

Vintage Clock And Watch Gears

Vintage Keys And Hardwares

Vintage Bisque Doll Parts

Vintage Decorative Tourist Souvenir Piece

Will be working on the 1st piece on canvas this week, finished work will be updated here :D

Monet's Garden In Giverny

The book Monet's garden in giverny: inventing the landscape proved to be a book filled with rich and insightful records of the impressionist master's life, painting endeavors and his passion for gardening at his giverny house (1883 - 1927).  I found the book to be very useful in helping me to have an insider's peek into how Monet went about designing the landscape, planting the flowers and making it into another masterpiece filled with nature's grandeur. It's time to get to know Monet as a gardener and not just  as a painter :D

The parts in the book that made me smile the most were the letters that Monet wrote back home to his wife, Alice while he was travelling, totally charming! His plants and flowers were constantly at the top of his mind, he worried about them, missed them, just like how a parent would treat a child.

1886

14 October: Monet writes to Alice, from Kervilahouen:

"For the dahlias, I really don't think it's time to bring them in yet, but they could perhaps be labelled, because if there's a frost, it's impossible to know which color they are; lastly, I'm counting on you to do all the things I unfortunately haven't been able to tend t; I'd also like someone to collect a few sunflower seeds for me. (........) The damage to the garden you describe doesn't surprise me."

10 November: Monet to Alice:

"So tell me if the chrysanthemums I sowed are flowering; if so, and there are some pretty ones, please mark them with a bit of wool."

1888

3 April: Monet to Alice, from Antibes:

"I forgot to tell you that for the chrysanthemums it would be a good idea to replant them in the vegetable garden, spaced well apart, so that they can grow, and on my return we'll plant them out; if a few hollyhocks have survived, look after them.

1900

9 March: Monet to Alice From London

"I hope you found the house and the garden, and the greenhouse, all in good order; it would be good if you could keep an eye on everything from time to time; and that Pascal gets a bit used to having an eye kept on him, too; likewise, it would be good to know what is happening at Florimond garden, see if the vegetables are in good shape, and know what has been planted. Eugene ought to be go there twice a week; it would be a good idea to find out and go there the day he is there."

For Monet, everything was thoroughly controlled and mastered in his garden. The book went on to narrate the following:

"The head gardener, Felix Breuil, and his team of five would receive precise orders, passed on to Alice when the artist is not in giverny, and Monet even went so far as to finance the asphalting of the road through Giverny to stop the dust from soiling his sumptuous water lilies. The artist left nothing to chance, primarily because he knew his garden would be his outdoor studio. As soon as he planted the first flowers in 1883, his intention was to paint them: I've had gardening to do, which has taken up a bit of my time, picking some flowers to paint them when the weather is bad." And when he applied for the permit required to make the pond, it was again to have "things" to paint.........the Giverny garden became his quintessential motif at the turn of the century. From 1900 to his death in 1926, Monet painted, and bequeathed us, nearly 400 pictures, not counting the panels at the Orangerie in Paris. More than half these works were devoted to his garden."



Water Lilies 1916



Water Lilies 1904

Water Lily Pond, Symphony In Green, 1899

Monet's Garden At Giverny 1895




The Garden In Flower 1900

 



What's On My Mind These Days

An owl also a historian apprentice and soon to be time traveller prepares herself for a trip to France in the 19th century. She listed some French people and landmarks whom she would like to encounter during this trip.

1) Victor Hugo during his exile stay in Guernsey where he wrote the novel Toilers Of The Sea, using Guernsey and the Channel Islands as his setting....a visit to his Hauteville house is a must :D

2) Monet's garden in Giverny, the garden is a masterpiece by itself! Stroll in his garden and observe Monet as he goes about his role as a fervent gardener, catch on his passion for art, for beauty and also to pick up a few gardening tips.

3) Emile Jumeau and his famous BeBe Jumeau Dolls, visit his doll factory and be wowed by the exquisite process of making these dolls.

4) Les Puces De Saint Quen, Paris antique flea market! A wealth of history and treasures to be uncovered in this place!

5) Eugene Atget as he explores and documents Paris's historic streets and squares with his camera. His works have the ability to move the viewer, feels like watching a drama or reading a poem.

 She hopes to complete recording her findings and impressions of these visits on canvases by the close of 2012 :D

Owl Art - Renoir's Summer 1880 (Original Mixed Media Assemblage Collage Art)

Here's the 7th piece of my "Catching A Fleeting Moment" collection, Renoir's Summer 1880.

If I could live for a moment in a master's painting, I would choose Pierre Auguste Renoir's Luncheon Of The Boating Party :D He portrayed 14 Parisians from diverse backgrounds enjoying a summer Sunday at Chatou, the Maison Fournaise along the Seine River. It was not just a group portrait, it was a scene, a moment in modern life that Renoir wanted to express through this painting.

Susan Vreeland's New York Times Best Seller, Luncheon Of The Boating Party is a vivid novel of what went on behind the scene of this materpiece. Through the author, I was being transported to the summer of 1880 where Renoir organized the setting and his models to pose for him over several Sundays and it was here that he met his future wife, Aline :D I would have loved to be the silent observer of the happenings while Renoir worked passionately on his canvas.There was an interview with Susan Vreeland at the last part of the book  and she expressed it so aptly that I couldn't agree more. When asked why she chose Renoir's Luncheon Of The Boating Party as a subject for a novel, here's her reply:

Besides being the central masterpiece of the art movement that changed the look of art forever, it represents the qualities of the French soul: joyous friendship, appreciation of beauty, verve, and the intoxication with life. It invites us to ask ourselves: How can one live a life so filled with beauty and so rich with pleasure?............what is the painting about? In part, it's about the tantalizing riches of the senses. It evokes sensuous experiences beyond the visual: the feel of the breeze on the skin, evidenced by the fluttering scallops on the awning and sailboats making their way upstream; the frangrance of the fruit that fills the nose; the taste of wine that enlivens the palate; the feel of one's surroundings - one woman's fingers in a dog's fur, the sun on another one's back; the sound of songs sung by boaters as they row past, and by the models to each other. They are sucking pleasure out of everything, valuing the last taste in the glass and the colors surrounding them, noticing the look in soneone's eyes and engaging in spirited exchange.

One looks at the painting and envies for an instant the characters' capacity to fill themselves with pleasure, to grasp the fleeting present and hold it as one might hold a bird before letting it go. The painting is imbued with this encouragement to notice the delicious details in life, to value the moment, and to each other. Seen in the press of high-speed living, it seduces us and urges us to stop and look and listen and taste and feel - and ultimately, appreciate. At its' best moments that's what fine art can do if we let it work on us."

This Blue French Letter fabric by Tracie Lyn Huskampm printed by Windham Fabrics is used as the background with the owl painted with bright summery colors. The owl's eyes are embellished with white pearls and her wings with sparkling gold rhinestone gems.

One of the major highlight of this piece is a miniature dollhouse framed painting of Renoir's Luncheon Of The Boating Party, measures about 2.75 by 2.25 inches. Found these petite glass Czech intaglio cabochons of sailboats which I mounted on vintage blue buttons, love the way they seem to sit nicely on the buttons.

Felt the need to include a vintage watch face here because Renoir was determined to complete this painting before the summer lights came to an end, time was of essence. At the bottom right corner is a yellow brass artist's palette, I added some paint onto the palette. Other border embellishments included wooden butterflies, french colored ribbon, antique metal buttons, rhinestone buttons,an antique gold stamping of the side profile of a lady (I wanted her to represent Aline, the woman with the puppy who eventually became Renoir's wife) and orange red poppy fabric flowers, those were the flowers found on Aline's hat :D

This artwork measures about 12 x 10 inches and 14 x 12 inches when framed.