FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, II 
May 15, 2012 

"Russian Icon paintings make me breathless!" (Archangel Michael)

Hi Family and Friends...(or in Russian, zdravst/ vuyte!) Still writing you from Russia as we sail along the rivers from St. Petersburg to Moscow. This week, I'm IN LOVE with the extraordinary Russian icons and frescoes that I've seen!  Typically painted on wood, Russian icons are simply The Gospel...PAINTED!! Artists started painting them back in 988 A.D. as commissions and gifts for the Russian Orthodox Christian churches. They're spectacularly beautiful... and many of Russia's centuries-old churches display them as part of their church history and decor today. They are art that's unique and soulful. 

Since we're in Russia, I decided to answer two blog challenges based on a couple of my photos...

INSPIRATION AVENUE called for a theme of "art with heart."  My piece is based on the Russian tradition called LOCKS FOR LOVE. Here, bridges, fences and sometimes trees are covered with different padlocks...heart shaped, house shaped as well as normal shapes. When a couple marries, they close their lock in one of these spots and throw the key away, symbolic of making their love untouchable as well as irreversible...LOVELY!!

COLLAGE OBSESSION called for art with tulips. We visited a Monastery founded in 1397...the Kirillov-Belozersky Monastery, in the little village of Kuzino. It, too, was filled with beautiful icons and frescoes dating back to its origins...and boasted some beautiful grounds. I planted my tulips here... 

Finally, ART and SOLE's POSTCARD CHALLENGE 2012  took challenge participants to somewhere in West Africa... My correspondent, Bahati (and his wife Champa,) very much at home in their native Africa, "journeyed" to Mali to visit with the Bobo fing people...a people that date back as early as 800 A.D.  They're famous for their mask making skills that they use during agricultural, initiation, divination and funeral ceremonies. Primarily an agricultural society, they grow maize, yams, sorghum and pearl millet for themselves and cotton and honey for trade and export. Here are some of their masks...  

Both sides of my postcard and my book page from Mali, West Africa, follow... Women's rights is a big issue there as it's society is greatly influenced by a conservative Muslim population. A Family Law granting women more independence and more rights has been introduced several times, but it's always defeated, rather than passed. The woman on the postcard front is a widow from a small town in Mali who believes in her equal rights as a woman and is fighting for them...TODAY!!

Once again, thank you for stopping by! Good-bye or (in Russian,) da svidanya for now. Hope you'll stop by next week... 

Hugs,

abbyj

 

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE 
May 10, 2012 

"Church/Savior, St. Petersburg, Russia...Gorgeous!" 

 

Writing you from St. Petersburg, Russia where we've seen some extraordinary sights, among them the Cathedral above. It's beautiful beyond words. More on the sights and sounds of Russia as the days pass...internet permitting. It's very slow and sometimes selects what it passes along :( ! But, I'll try, starting with this week's posting. 

For ART and SOLE's POSTCARD CHALLENGE 2012, we actually traveled to this part of the world...BULGARIA! This month, they'll be celebrating a national culture day as they pay homage to the two men who created the Bulgarian alphabet...pre-cyrillic! Read all about it on the message side of my postcard below.

Much of my challenge art was done on our long journey to get to Russia. I haven't been able to download them until now, though... internet service, as I said earlier, is somewhat limited.

In honor of Mother's Day... for family and friends who are mothers... and for readers I may not know yet who are mothers...THIS IS FOR YOU and for the CRAZY AMIGO blog challenge: Mother and Child...

SUNDAY POSTCARD ART challenged artists with a CHICKEN RUN theme...mine weren't running, just standing, sitting and perching!

TAKE A WORD's challenge blog was thinking about GENTLEMEN...always a fun subject for the ladies!! What is it that constitutes a "Gentleman?"

Finally, COLLAGE OBSESSION challenged us with the subject of DOORS...one of my personal favorite things to photograph!! I built the following scene to fulfill the challenge requirements...

I'm going to hurry and publish this while I still have internet power...here's hoping!! I wish you all a Happy Mother's Day (those of you to whom this applies...)  See you for my next posting...

Hugs,

abbyj

Virtual New Zealand and

Additional Blog Challenges 

May 3, 2012 

  "Extraordinary TRAVIATA...living her fullest life!" 

Inspired by the challenge blog 4X4 FRIDAY (that tasked artists to create anything they wished to create,) I thought I'd do a tribute piece to honor the incredibly wonderful opera I saw recently at the Met in New York City...La Traviata. I love the theme of living life to its fullest (hard to do when you know you're dying of tuberculosis) as did the opera's heroine, Violetta... La Traviata translates to mean "one who goes astray..."

I hope you're well and life is treating you gently. I've been playing catch up this week...lots of laundry and errands that needed to be done because I was away last week. But, as always, I must make time for "art stuff" ... 

For ART and SOLE's POSTCARD CHALLENGE 2012, we made our virtual journey to beautiful New Zealand. Since one of my correspondents (Bahati) is an indigenous person from a small Ethiopian village, whenever he travels, he's interested in the plight of those original country residents. In the case of New Zealand, that would be the colorful Maori people. 

SUNDAY POSTCARD ART's challenge was to use the theme "CELEBRATE" for our creations... I did! 

Finally, the TAKE A WORD blog wanted to see a piece with a BLACKBIRD...of course, Edgar Allan Poe immediately came to mind with his RAVEN... 

Once again, thank you for stopping by. I hope to see you next time. Have a happy, healthy week...

Hugs,
abbyj

 

FAIRYTALE NORWAY: 
REAL-LIFE LONDON 
April 29, 2012 

   "A week of RAIN in London!!!"    

But, no complaints here. My daughter and I escaped to London for a week of fun, during which we met up with our cousin from Glasgow, Scotland. We had lots of laughs, some good food and drink and saw many sights, both common and unusual! Some quick memories...before we met our cousin, we indulged ourselves in HIGH TEA at a posh department store, Fortnum and Mason- pretty much our first stop, just to get us in the British frame of mind!

 

We enjoyed seeing Big Ben, standing guard over Parliament,

 the Tower Bridge, keeper of the Crown Jewels,

a particularly pretty Tube stop at Tottenham Court Road...all tiled designs...

and finally, our Cousin Lynne, Michelle and I enjoyed some time in a few pubs...

We enjoyed some great "girl time" together as we shared 3 years worth of news. Isn't reconnecting with family wonderful? 

I didn't have much time for my usual art challenges this week...in fact, it may be a few weeks before I'm back in the challenge groove again...but I did complete this week's ART and SOLE POSTCARD 2012 challenge: we all made our virtual trip to Norway. I met some of the SAMI people...the only indigenous people in the country. Traditionally, they followed the reindeer herds so they were nomads. They used their reindeer for milk, meat, hides and also as draft animals for their carriages...their vehicle of choice. They lived in tents of reindeer skin, but in winter they lived in low stone houses covered with earth...good protection from northern Norway's fierce frost. Today, the Sami are more stationary and have branched out to fishing and farming. As a people, they have suffered as have our Native American Indian nations- they too have been robbed of their culture and language by their government. But they, too, have fought to survive and are still an integral part of the country that is Norway! 

SOARTFUL CHALLENGES called for a wedding anniversary theme. I chose a gypsy couple from my Kingdom of Girellygog (my imaginary gypsy kingdom)... they're the sweethearts celebrating their anniversary!

That's our visit for this week! Hope to see you next week...time seems so short. Sorry I didn't get to visit everyone's entries this week...hopefully, next week!!!

Hugs and love,

abbyj   

A VISIT to ROMANIA and 

ageless CABINET CARDS 

April 19, 2012 

   

 "New day dawns with endless possibilities"  

  

Hi family and friends... another week with new promises and experiences...life is good! Even found time for a bit of art...love those blog challenges. Like ART AND SOLE's POSTCARD CHALLENGE 2012.  For this week's challenge, we traveled to Romania, land of vampires...specifically, Dracula!! But there's lots more going on there. 

I was particularly captivated by its Gypsy (or Rom) population...they've always been a fascination for me! Too, Romania has an unusual cemetery of note... In SAPANTA, the Happy Cemetery was originally begun by a peasant grave carver in the 1930's, and is carried on today by the Pop family. The grave markers in this unique cemetery are carved and painted with scenes of the deceased accompanied by a poem describing their fate in their language. Almost half of them have two painted sides...one showing  the deceased as they were in life...and the other showing either the way they died or illustrating some quirk that made them memorable to their village. The most interesting of the carved grave markers celebrate the fickle nature of death... like the first three. The others shown celebrate the life of the deceased.

 

 

Aren't they wonderful? What a great way to be remembered... kind of a social commentary on what city residents consider right and wrong, 

or things to watch out for...like roller skating by the railroad tracks!!

A walk through the Happy Cemetery is a bit like a history lesson for Sapanta...interesting, eh? 

Finally, the COLLAGE OBSESSION challenge blog was interested in CABINET CARDS...I love these cards. Such a great way to do family or individual portraits in a time when photography was just coming into its own.

THREE MUSES was already thinking about summer with their call for vintage bathing beauties. My bathing beauty is male...why not? Note that this is also a cabinet card.

Thanks for visiting my blog yet again. I'll be in the great city of London, England with my daughter next week, but will try to blog from there...hope to see you back here at some point!

Happy week to you and yours,

xox,

abbyj