WHAT IS BEAUTY, etc. 

January 10, 2016 

My first blog posting for 2016...hope your New Year will be better than 2015 as there's always room for improvement! Wishing you the best of everything...

This week's art challenges were especially fun because it was food for thought for me. TAKE A WORD challenge blog asked participating artists what they considered "beauty" to be.  There's a long list, including music and family around which  I didn't create art. But, here's what I DID consider... 

A snowy winter day is beautiful to me...

the power and serenity of prayer is beautiful as is the art that it has inspired through the ages...

Buddhist nun praying at pagoda beneath burning incense

Golden Rock, a sacred site where pilgrims come to pray, near Yangon, Myanmar

Religious women bathing in Varanasi's sacred Ganges River, India... another awe-inspiring site.

This is the most amazing Church of the Transfiguration on the Russian island of Kizhi. Built in the early 1700's, it's all wood...no nails...and comprises 22 domes. The floor to ceiling religious frescoes within are jaw-droppingly beautiful...just imagine the age of this art. Russia stands out to me as a place where I saw/experienced the most beautiful ancient art I've ever seen and it adorns the walls and ceilings of so many of the old churches.

and the beauty in the power of LOVE...

THE THREE MUSES asked that we create a piece of art about "hearts." Mine is a bit of a shout out to Dr. Christiaan Barnard, the South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first successful human-to-human heart transplant on December 3, 1967. Medical science has come a long way since then...

DIGITAL WHISPER's request is anything involving a window sill... 

That's it for this blog posting. Stay well and safe...enjoy your days!

Hope to see you for the next posting... thanks for stopping by.

Big Hugs,

abbyj

SUSAN TUTTLE INSPIRATION

August 16, 2013

Who is Susan Tuttle, you ask? She's a digital SLR photographer, iPhoneographer, digital artist and author. You can see a variety of her art here!  Primarily a photographer, I love her art...especially the way she creates pieces with her photos and  iPhone apps!! She's the artist to inspire participants this week at Flicker's online art group, DIGITALMANIA. I wanted to show you just how inspired I am by her ph0tography... I manipulated some photos in photoshop, reminiscent of her style...

 

 

 

By playing with colors, lighting, shading and filters as well as using a combination of  your everyday photos (taken with iphone, ipad or regular camera,)  you can make wonderful pieces of art!! I'm working on that...

One more challenge blog piece for THINK MONDAY-THINK ATC whose theme had to do with "legs..." a fun piece!!

 

 

Enjoy your weekend. Hope to see you sometime next week!

Thanks for stopping by...

 

Hugs,

abbyj 

 

FRIENDS, STAMPS, BLUE and THAILAND 
May 31, 2012 

"I wanted to be Prima Ballerina!"

Inspired by challenge art blog THREE MUSES, my 6-word memoir this week flashes back to my much younger years when I knew what I wanted to be...I became a TV producer instead! 

The TAKE A WORD challenge art blog invited participants to create art around the theme, FRIENDS. It was my pleasure to do so!  

  

COLLAGE OBSESSION was in a BLUE mood this week...

Finally, the year-long ART and SOLE POSTCARD CHALLENGE 2012 took us on a virtual journey to Thailand. Quite a distance for us to travel from England, but nonetheless different and exciting. Nicknamed the LAND of SMILES, Thailand is approximately the size of France. Called Siam until 1939, Thailand is known for it's orchids, fish and fish products and it's a major exporter of rice for the world. It's a kingdom that was never colonized by a European power...the only country in South East Asia that wasn't! The main religion is Buddhism...95% of its residents are practicing Buddhists. 

Some unusual facts about the country... 
*Every Thai male is expected to become a monk at some point in his life... it doesn't have to be a permanent commitment. 
*Not wearing underwear can land you in jail!
*It's not unusual to see entire families riding on a motorbike (if they don't have a car.)
*It's not unusual to find a roll of toilet paper on the table in a restaurant...they're the paper napkins!
*One of the favorite desserts is ice cream between two slices of bread...their version of the ice cream sandwich! 

Thank you for joining me this week. I wish you a peaceful, happy week ahead. Hope to see you next week when we'll travel to yet another new country...  

Hugs,
abbyj