Sunday, April 22, 2012

Crazy Whimsy in Original Affordable Art -- Coco de Paris at Etsy

I've returned full time to my writing. You must have noticed that posts displaying my own art have become more diminutive. I'll paint now and then, but not as regularly as this past six months.

What I am going to do is feature other artists as I've done in the past. It's hard for a fiscally-limited painter/writer to buy other people's work, but I do. An image haunts me and I just have to have it. There's such a wealth of talent out there that it's impossible to collect everything I'd like, but I do enjoy keeping an eye on them, the special ones, and I tuck them away in my favorites list with the child-like hope that I'll buy an example of each of them eventually,

So, Mesdames et Messieurs, allow me to introduce Coco de Paris at Etsy, a mixed-media artist currently incorporating a variety of quirky images, especially humanized animals (correct term: anthropomorphism), on pages from “La Petit Illustration,” a 1920s weekly Paris literary journal.

Today's offering pleases both my artistic and literary bent, and the fact that the background is in French is enormously pleasing, as it's the one language I most aspire to. (After decades of self-directed study I'm still pretty useless, although I can read it well enough to get by.)












 
Isn't this the most unusual artwork? What a mind! It knocks my socks off. (And try translating that into French, Coco.) And it's all  so affordable - the true sign of Coco's generous, creative soul - you couldn't buy a couple of cafe au laits for much less.

You  must stop by this Etsy store. There are hundreds of pieces available. I challenge you not to find at least one "must have".

A la prochaine.


Postscript: Coco translated "It knocks my socks off" as "Mes chaussettes tombent par terre." This literally means "My socks fall by land." Who knew?


Saturday, April 14, 2012

Letitia and Harriet - New Faux Colonial Portrait

Here's another little salute to Colonial Times. It's all I want to paint right now. I'm really enjoying adding extra texture to my canvas, using a broodingly-dark background - simulating (I hope) a well-aged picture that someone might have found in Grandpa's old trunk out in the barn.

If I were the kind of artist who concentrated on one kind of art, or even one subject, I'd go crazy. I need the variety, otherwise I wouldn't paint at all, which wouldn't be such a bad thing, because I should spend more time on the novel-in-progress.  But you'll note I have reduced my painting output. As the weather cools here, I'm in literary mode again. Writing during the day, and reading snuggled up in bed at night. (Kate Atkinson is truly amazing...)

So I'd like to introduce Misses Letitia and Harriet, at a small soiree -- Letitia's first, probably.

Harriet, the older sister, is meant to be the chaperone, otherwise Papa wouldn't permit Lettie to attend, but Harriet is proving to be rather popular herself, so who's chaperoning whom?





Letitia and Harriet
Acrylic on Stretched Canvas
9.5 x 13 inches