Judith

Michael Brophy Michael Brophy, Pacific Northwest Contemporary Artist

Besides Anselm Kiefer the painter Michael Brophy is the greatest living painter today.

michaelbrophy.com

This high-contrast detail of a vintage kimono panel, dating between 1950 and 1970, showcases the bold graphic sensibilities of mid-20th-century Japanese textile design. The composition features a cluster of large, stylized peonies, with the primary bloom rendered in soft white and grey gradients. Overlapping this are vibrant orange-red petals and buds, some of which are filled with a traditional seigaiha (wave) pattern in white. The use of negative space and strong outlines is further emphasized by deep black leaves, one of which contains a delicate shippo (seven treasures) geometric pattern in gold and cream. Slender gold-leaf lines arc across the background, suggesting stems or a sense of movement within the floral arrangement. The overall effect is a sophisticated blend of traditional motifs and modern, avant-garde composition, reflecting the era's focus on textiles as a form of graphic art.

Detail of vintage Kimono Panel. 1950-1970, Japan. Yorke Antique Textiles

REUNION When Odysseus has returned at last unrecognizable to Ithaca and killed the suitors swarming the throne room, very delicately he signals to Telemachus to depart: as he stood twenty years ago, he stands now before Penelope. On the palace floor, wide bands of sunlight turning from gold to red. He tells her nothing of those years, choosing to speak instead exclusively of small things, as would be the habit of a man and woman long together: once she sees who he is, she will know what he's done. And as he speaks, ah, tenderly he touches her forearm.

Closing this run of Louise Glück poems with a personal favourite

"Still Life with Cherries and Stoneware Can", 1937, oil on canvas, 35.3 x 46.0 cm - Jan Bogaerts, Dutch (1878 - 1962)
#art #painting #artist #BlueSkyArt

Congratulations!

Flowering tulip magnolia. Pink cups of flowers.

Flowering yellow forsythia beneath tulip magnolia

Nature's first green is also pink

Dandelions | Mabel Royds
1935, woodcut

"I found myself, I made myself, and I said what I had to say.”
- Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938)
French artist
#InternationalWomensDay

Daffodils

'Boy with Comic.' (c1953) Of all the children who sat for Joan Eardley, Andrew Sampson was her favourite - a boldly but sensitively painted work, a picture which has authority and presence; a proper portrait and not a caricature.

Hellebores after the rain

Photo of a few square inches of tree trunk. Growing on the tree trunk are several grey lichens (growing flat on tree), a lichen that looks like a bunch of tiny egg yolks, and a bright red fungus that looks like a half dozen or so round/oval red blobs.

A few square inches of tree trunk. At least 4 species of lichens (Parmelia, two Physcia species and Caloplaca) plus Red Tree Brain Fungus. #lichen #fungi #fungifriends.

Small ceramic sculpture of a white figure sitting cross legged with a daffodil for a head against a white background

Carolyn Clayton, UK Ceramic artist known for her figurative sculptures #womensart #Spring #FridayFeeling

Laurent Grasso - Studies in to the past (2013)

[Exit Murderer.]

Priscilla Roberts (American, 1916-2001)
"Self-Portrait," 1946
Oil on masonite
29 7⁄8 x 14 1⁄8 in
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

#art #painting #artist #BlueSkyArt

Poems for Lent (Day 12)

• John Clare •

Do you know the Roethke poem Overheard in a Violent Ward? "And that sweet man John Clare" thank for the poems you share.

60 degrees and blooms beginning to appear in Portland, Oregon today. #Photography #Flora #Flowers #Oregon 📷

Let the mind be, along with countless other things, a landing strip for sacred visitations.‬

‪- #JamesMerrill ‬

The Children Speaking from the Rubble Tell us, what do the living do? Do you dance? Do you make bread with each other? Do you walk in the parks in autumn, smelling the late summer flowers? Is it true that some things get to grow old? What is the world doing now? Are you fighting with sticks and stones? Do you remember us? Do you lie down under the stars and listen to the birds passing overhead, and do you get to feel the little wings of your own wild heart be opened? You have somewhere to go then, don't you? Go. Don't let us keep you. We have names. We are safe. We're at school. We are hiding in our favorite little places, waiting for you to tap us on the shoulders, to tell us it was just a joke, come home now, and the bombs and boots are just a game we're playing, and the bread and milk are waiting on the table, and the moon is new, and the gardens are in blossom. This sentence is the length of one of our shoes. —Joseph Fasano

When will we ever learn?

Deeply moving, beautiful and true

"Every war is not only a defeat of politics but also a shameful surrender to the forces of evil." #PopeFrancis #PrayForPeace

Lennart Anderson (American, 1928-2015), Still Life with Kettle, 1977. Oil on board, 46 x 38 1/8 in. The Cleveland Museum of Art.

#art #painting #artist #BlueSkyArt

Is it possible for grace to be excessive? Botticelli really testing that in this Annunciation from 1490. Plus check out little Christ-in-tomb w/ sudarium on lower frame.

Kevin Chadwick (American, b.1957)
"Togetherness," 2024
Mixed media on canvas
30 x 24 in

#art #painting #artist #BlueSkyArt

Winter Evening at Sannenzaka Slope This atmospheric photograph captures the quiet magic of a heavy snowfall in the Higashiyama district of Kyoto. The scene is set on the historic Sannenzaka slope, where the narrow stone-paved street is being rapidly blanketed in white. Traditional wooden buildings with tiled roofs line the path, their dark facades punctuated by the warm, inviting glow of paper lanterns and shop windows. In the foreground, several figures navigate the snow-covered incline under umbrellas; notably, a person in a patterned kimono and a companion with a white umbrella are seen from behind, adding a sense of timelessness to the view. Bare, spindly branches of a weeping tree hang from above, dusted with snow and framing the top of the composition. The dense, falling snowflakes create a soft-focus effect, turning the bustling pedestrian thoroughfare into a serene and "radiant" winter wonderland that highlights the enduring charm of old Kyoto.

A snowy street scene in the historic Higashiyama district of Kyoto, Japan. The specific location is the Sannen-zaka (or Sannenzaka) slope, a famous pedestrian street known for its traditional wooden buildings and shops.

Line drawing of a relatively young Andy Warhol sitting in a chair at a table, his head resting against his clasped hands. A cup and saucer and pitcher with flowers, among other items, sit on the table

Jane Wilson, Portrait of Andy Warhol, 1960 whitney.org/collection/w...

Little Enough I speak of shadows, saying That they ask little enough: Just to be allowed to be faithful— At our feet in the warm light Or hovering darkly above us— Like dogs, like guardian angels. What shall I leave you, later, When I leave you? My shadow. I shall avoid the light, then. You shall avoid the dark.

Henri Coulette