MYTHOLOGICAL TAROT 

AUGUST 22, 2015 

 

A quickie piece of art for the online challenge blog,  COLLAGE OBSESSION. (A quickie posting...putting it together was anything but quick!!) Collage Obsession asked participating artists to create a tarot card based on a mythological being. I love the myth of Icarus who flew too close to the sun, melted his "wings" and fell from the sky. Here's poor Icarus...

I'll be back with another posting soon...please do check back!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Hugs,

abbyj

 

TRAIN TRACKS, TATTOOS and MAN 

AUGUST 22, 2015 

I've always had a love affair with anything involving trains... the tracks, the steam locomotives, freight trains, the Orient Express, less fancy sleeper trains and normal passenger trains... that lulling click-clack sound and gentle sway of the carriages. It's all part of a romance novel for me,  one of adventure and comfort, too. This week's theme at online art blog DIGITAL WHISPER just happens to be "railroad tracks."  My mind flashed to one of my favorite visual experiences with the subject...in Bangkok, Thailand, Maeklong Railway Market is set up along both sides of very narrow railroad tracks. The train chugs through the market spaces 8 times a day. The people must pull back their booth covers and often, their products, each time. The customers walk along the tracks to gain access to both sides of this market. It's very exciting and wonderful fun!! I wanted to share this with you...I only played with my photos, digitally, a bit.

Here's a good video showing how this works in real time...check it out by opening this link...it is truly AMAZING:

https://youtu.be/wJpR9n-L680 
SUNDAY POSTCARD ART's theme for the week is "tattoos." This is near and dear to my heart being a child of the 60's. I have a lovely thin vine with a couple of small flowers tattooed on my wrist (done within the last decade) and a matching  small flower on my ankle (from the 60's.) Here's the first woman tattoo artist, going back to the mid to late 1800's...Maud Stevens Wagner. She was a circus performer and learned the art of tattooing from her husband, also a circus performer! Here's Maud...

 Finally, TAKE A WORD simply asked to see "man!" That was easy and fun. I thought of boys and their toys...what's more fun than a motorcycle???

Thanks so much for stopping in. Please join me for the next posting. Enjoy your days ahead...

Big Hugs,
abbyj

THE THREE MUSES 

August 19, 2015 

Hi Dear Family and Friends,

This is the first summer in a decade that I haven't spent  part of my days in Africa...I'm missing it, but I was just there in January! Will return next year...soooo looking forward to visiting with extended family once again as well as making new friends.

When online art challenge group, THE THREE MUSES declared this week's theme for our creations to be "background with text,"  my thoughts turned to the Dark Continent.  I recalled a trip to Ethiopia where I spent a while with a tribe called the SURI. They are true artists...even the children...using natural elements for personal adornment: florals as well as minerals found in the ground to paint themselves and the things they make.  Here's the piece I created using my photo of a new friend...a chief's wife.

We spoke easily through a translator, despite her lip plate. Here are some more photos of these beautiful and interesting people...

Thank you for checking in. Hope you enjoyed a peek into the art of Ethiopia's Suri tribe. Please stop by for my next posting...

Hugs, abbyj