Sisterhood of the Muse

Vajra Terror Mandala / Tibet, 16th century / 20″x17″

sisterhoodofthemuse2 — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:12:53 +0000

: A mandala scared me.

The show is at the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory Universtiy, in Atlanta GA.

One gallery is filled with mandalas like this one. No photography is allowed. This is a post card.

There is a case in a corner with one displayed flat. I wondered if it was on skin. The others are on fabric. The plaque said “painted on flayed human skin “. I had to look away. When I got back to Richmond, I wondered what it means. Did the monk mean to say that human skin is the same as canvas to paint on ? Because I see a lot of people around here that would agree with that. Only those people take their skin art with them when they die.

They have books in the gift shop about how to make your own mandala. It’s a spiritual journey. I might enjoy making one some time in the future, because I like geometric designs. I’m PA. Dutch and have made hundreds of hex signs. But I can’t relate much to the philosophy.

Let me state here that I don’t believe in supernatural forces, and they are not messing with me. :-) It’s just a coincidence that a couple weeks ago I posted “The Flayed One ” on the blog, then was scared by actual flayed human skin.

If you go out looking for beauty, sometimes you see something scary.

So many mummies, so little time !

sisterhoodofthemuse2 — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 21:55:02 +0000

The mummy factory outlet

Sarah and I went to the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University to see the Tibetan Mandala exhibit, and guess what they have ! Lots of mummies ! I’ll post a mandala later. But here’s a shot of a gallery with 6 mummies and the lids to their coffins. They have a great art museum there. Great ancient Egypt, great American pre Columbians, ancient Greek too. Definitly see the Tibetan Mandalas if you can. They are beautiful too. Plus they have mummy falcons , kitten and crocodile.

teen poetry slam @ the High Museum’s Alliance Theater

sisterhoodofthemuse2 — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 03:33:28 +0000

I never went to a poetry slam before, even though my daughter Sarah and I both liked to write poetry.

Sarah works for Emory University , and she has a teen group called the Start Strong Teen Leaders, which promotes healthy relationships and awareness of teen dating violence.

The theme for this night was “Healthy Relationships”, and they have a poetry slam every month.

WOW ! Those kids are smart, talented , thoughtful and cool ! After Sarah edits all the video, it’ll be up on the High Museum web site.

Elevation ( Standing Woman ) by Gaston Lachaise

sisterhoodofthemuse2 — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:03:14 +0000

: First 100 times or so I walked past this I was a little annoyed by it.

After I drew the 2 fawns playing in the same gallery, I got used to this figure.

Why do you think the hands are posed like this ? No explanation is given on the plaque. I thought either she was in a swarm of gnats, or walked into a spider web. I can hardly concentrate on reading the plaque, because there’s a photo of the artist frowning hard for the camera. The plaque says his muse was his wife. Look at my other shot of it from the back. Her butt is a scream , it’s flat and saggy ! The artist must have wanted it to look like that.

The critics of the day praised it’s “monumentality, strength, and grace”.

The artist studied under the Art Nouveau master Lalique.

After getting used to it, I don’t dislike it any more. I think it’s interesting now.

skulls and bones / never boring

sisterhoodofthemuse2 — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:31:18 +0000

: Chris plays “make a mummy”

This is the skull of a coyote and the jaw bone of a deer.

I was invited to enter a show in April at Art 6 organized by Helene Ruiz called “Disguises”. Sounds like another fun show with the Urban Individualists ! A taxidermist gave me these, and told me to use peroxide ,not bleach, to clean and whiten them. I covered the skull with paper towels and paste to keep it from disintigrating . I didn’t cover the jaw bone yet. Also it helps when working on them if they’re covered with a layer of paper. So that’s the first step. I’ll assemble the pieces and make a mask to be Anubis, the Egyptian god with a jackal head. I’ll have to make some big ears.

This is my kind of fun with art. I imagine I’m preparing the skull for its next life in the art world.

Two Fawns Playing

sisterhoodofthemuse2 — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:42:13 +0000

: I have the plan worked out.

A few months ago I made some sketches at the VMFA of the 2 fawns playing. Then I scouted around a lot to find a scene for them. This is my charcoal sketch with the fawns at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens. I saved a space for them, but I need to go back to the museum next with pencils and work on the fawns again ,so I can put some volume into them. Then I’ll get the foliage in pastel. I took a shot at this stage of completion so you can see why its taking me a long time to get this finished. But good art is worth the wait, right ?

Diamonds in the Rough by Patrick Doherty

sisterhoodofthemuse2 — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:59:04 +0000

: fun for kids of all ages, at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

I started a couple sketches of this structure. I’ll do a few more and finish the ones I like best. Can you tell how sexy this is from the photo ? Because it didn’t look sexy to me till I started to draw it. Then I felt like hiding my drawing from the kids !

They have a book for sale showing other stick sculptures by this artist. His work looks far out . It shows a whimsical sense of humor.

Warhorse / Richmond VA.

sisterhoodofthemuse2 — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:09:58 +0000

: I can’t draw it because it ‘s too sad

Richmond’s Warhorse is in front of the VA. Historical Society on the Boulevard. It’s sadder than the figures in Hollywood Cemetery. The Warhorse movie was so unrealistic.

Sometimes people from out of town think Richmoners are still fighting the Civil War. Maybe they saw guys with Confederate flags in front of the museum. Or maybe they saw guys in Confederate uniforms walking around Stonewall Jackson’s monument on a busy intersection. This statue is far back off the road, but a lot of people see it .

My dear departed friend Dick Clayman talked about the Civil War a lot. I don’t hear much about it from my other friends, but I am aware of Richmond’s history. When I was drawing in Hollywood Cemetery , I felt sorry for the southern ladies after the war, because it wiped out a whole generation of men. There were no men left , except some too old to fight and children.

The southerners starved. The Yankee prisoners on Belle Isle starved too. The South tried to arrange a prisoner exchange, but the North wouldn’t agree.

VA, was #8 out of the 11 states that seceeded from the Union. Up until then Tredegar Iron Works was making cannons for the Federal govt. So the north had the south outgunned.

That’s just a few reasons why the memory is still alive here. This sculpture is a reminder of the horror of the war. It took a long time for Richmond to recover, but it’s prospering again.

The Flayed One at VMFA

sisterhoodofthemuse2 — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:22:59 +0000

: How cool is this guy !

The plaque at the museum says this is an ancient Mexican god who is shown wearing the skin of another human. (evidently not a modern horror idea) The peeling off of skin represents rebirth like a kernel of corn sprouting. I think this is the corn god. It looks like corn kernels under his skin. And those legs look like corn stalks going into the ground with feet not for walking.

I drew it in 2011 and it makes me want to get some clay and do sculptures of primitive figures. You can see the drawing on my web site.

Belle Isle / Indian Summer ( detail )

sisterhoodofthemuse2 — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:39:43 +0000

: the smallest figures I ever drew with pastel

I like to do a figure drawing exercise where I go to Hollywood Cemetery and look at the people across the James River on Belle Isle through binoculars. I try to memorize the gesture and draw it without looking at the person again. This helps with getting a “memory for the figure “. Even with binoculars the people look tiny, it must be a half mile away or more. I’m challenging myself to draw the figure smaller. These people are in the shade. I drew them at 1 inch. There’s 2 more figures in the full size picture drawn at 2 inches, standing in the sun. I sent the image to my web guy and you can see the whole landscape on my web site soon.