Aubrey Beardsley, La Dame Aux Camélias

Aubrey Beardsley, La Dame Aux Camélias, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

The Yellow Book, Vol. III.

Scanned from the book "Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley". Click image for 847 x 1310 size.

Aubrey Beardsley, The Rape of the Lock

Aubrey Beardsley, The Rape of the Lock, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

The Savoy No. 2.

Click image for 1101 x 1597 size.

Jacob Henricus Maris

Girl, originally uploaded by artinconnu.

Jacob Henricus Maris [Dutch, 1837-1899]

Emilio Baz Viaud, Autorretrato del artista adolescente, 1935

Emilio Baz Viaud, Autorretrato del artista adolescente, 1935, originally uploaded by kraftgenie.

Isaac Oliver, Queen Elizabeth I, The Rainbow Portrait, 1600

Isaac Oliver Queen Elizabeth I : The Rainbow Portrait 1600, originally uploaded by Art & Vintage.

http://largesizepaintings.blogspot.com/

Alexandre Cabanel, Albayde

Albayde - Alexandre Cabanel, originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

http://gandalfsgallery.blogspot.com/2010/05/alexandre-cabanel-albayde.html

Aubrey Beardsley, The Toilet of Helen

Aubrey Beardsley, The Toilet of Helen, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Under the Hill, The Savoy, No. 1.

Scanned from the book "Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley". Click image for 1015 x 1441 size.

Aubrey Beardsley, Of a Neophyte, and How the Black Art Was Revealedunto Him by the Fiend Asomuel, 1893

Aubrey Beardsley, Of a Neophyte, and How the Black Art Was Revealed unto Him by the Fiend Asomuel, 1893, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

The Black Art, The Pall Mall Magazine, June 1893

Scanned from the book "Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley". Click image for 1322 x 1758 size.

A Beautiful Morning

I had trouble titling the entry this morning and it is indeed a beautiful morning. One of my bird feeder broke and spilled all the seed on the ground, but that has brought Turkeys into the yard and six of them are working of the pile.

Do any of you read Robert Genn?
http://www.painterskeys.com/about_robertgenn.asp
He is a Canadian artist, a landscape painter and I will admit that I never heard of him till a friend subscribed me to his newsletter. It isn't really a newsletter, he writes you a personalized note twice a week. This morning's note was brutal;

Hopeless?

May 25, 2010

Dear Dan,

Yesterday, Keith Wright of Melbourne, Australia wrote, "Nothing is as hopeless as trying to justify a lifetime as an artist. I have painted for over thirty years and have little to show for it. I have a studio full of paintings and a wife who denigrates my career. I have no money, no sales, no hope. You may even say, 'His paintings are bad.' But I have no ego and little belief in my abilities. I always thought one day my work might be in demand. I know I don't paint for others--it's an addiction within myself. But the indifference to my work has gradually worn me down. I'm now being treated for depression. I can no longer believe in myself because no one else believes in me. A lifetime wasted. I should feel bitter but I'm beyond even that. I have loved my art but it has destroyed me."

Thanks, Keith. We've taken the liberty to put a few of your works at the top of the current clickback. I'm sure some of our readers will pass along their opinions. As in all cases where artists mention depression, I encourage them to seek help. Looks like you are doing that. While I'm deeply sorry for your predicament, I also recognize that it is, in degree, universal. While feelings of hopelessness may be part of the game, there is still the blessing, the power to create. At times like this, we can think of Vincent van Gogh.

"One may have a blazing hearth in one's soul and yet no one ever comes to sit by it," said Vincent. "Passersby see only a wisp of smoke rising from the chimney and continue on their way." This statement--even though his letters are often full of flights of optimism and joy--is the grim outlook of many of us. Success or no success, joy or no joy, we are alone. And it is to this private struggle that we must consign our energy, our focus, and our lives.

Vincent tells us that one needs only to listen to the voice of nature to be fulfilled. That only the beautiful mind is needed. The idealist in us finds this to be true. The pragmatist doesn't. Vincent himself could not live up to his own standards. He too was depressed. "What am I in most people's eyes?" he asked. "A nonentity or an eccentric and disagreeable man." Truth is, when we're able to kiss off the expectations laid on us by ourselves and others, we have the chance to overcome. 

Best regards,

Robert

I could have written Keith's Hopeless paragraph! Whew!
I choose not to! I could wax on about it for a long time and I also choose not to do that to you.
This morning, while I drink my coffee. I am taking inventory of those choices I have made, the successes I have had, and outcomes that are still unfolding, while watching my birds enjoy one seed at a time.
The top Pepper painting is heading to a show/sale next week.

Aubrey Beardsley, Mrs. Pinchwife

Aubrey Beardsley, Mrs. Pinchwife, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

From William Wycherley's The Country-Wife, The Savoy, No. 8.

Scanned from the book "Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley". Click image for 869 x 1550 size.

Van Eyck, St Jean-Baptiste, 1432

St Jean-Baptiste , originally uploaded by truity1967.

Caravaggio, The Cardsharps, c1596

The Cardsharps c1596 Caravaggio, originally uploaded by Gandalf's Gallery.

Aubrey Beardsley, A Child at Its Mother's Bed, 1895

Aubrey Beardsley, A Child at Its Mother's Bed, 1895, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Scanned from the book "Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley". Click image for 730 x 1381) size.

Aubrey Beardsley, Book-plate design, 1894

Aubrey Beardsley, Book-plate design, 1894, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

The Yellow Book, Vol. I, April 1894

Scanned from the book "Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley".

Aubrey Beardsley, Pierrot and cat, from St. Paul's, 1893

Aubrey Beardsley, Pierrot and cat, from St. Paul's, 1893, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Scanned from the book "Aubrey Beardsley, Imp of the Perverse" by Stanley Weintraub.

Franz Sedlacek, Storm, 1932

Franz Sedlacek, Storm, 1932, originally uploaded by kraftgenie.

Aubrey Beardsley, Frontispiece to Pierrot of the Minute by Ernest Dowson, 1897

Aubrey Beardsley, Frontispiece to Pierrot of the Minute By Ernest Dowson, 1897, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Click image for 948 x 1740 size. Scanned from the book "Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley".

Aubrey Beardsley, Portrait of Himself

Aubrey Beardsley, Portrait of Himself, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

The Yellow Book, Vol. III.

Scanned from the book "Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley". Click image for 838 x 1313 size.

Aubrey Beardsley, The Abbé Fanfreluche, 1896

Aubrey Beardsley, The Abbé Fanfreluche, 1896, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

The Chevalier Tannhauser, Under the Hill, The Savoy, n.1, January, 1896.

Scanned from the book "Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley". Click image for 1032 x 1459 size.

Aubrey Beardsley, The Third Tableau of Das Rheingold

Aubrey Beardsley, The Third Tableau of Das Rheingold, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

The Savoy No. 2.

Scanned from the book "Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley". Click image for 1094 x 1596 size.

Vincent Van Gogh, Landscape under a stormy sky, Arles 1888

Landscape under a stormy sky, Arles 1888, originally uploaded by artinconnu.

Vincent Van Gogh (1853 - 1890)

Aubrey Beardsley, The Fourth Tableau of Das Rheingold, 1896

Aubrey Beardsley, The Fourth Tableau of Das Rheingold, 1896, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Cover design for The Savoy, No. 6 October, 1896.

Scanned from the book "Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley". Click image for 1365 x 1647 size.

Aubrey Beardsley, Britannia à la Beardsley, 1895

Aubrey Beardsley, Britannia à la Beardsley, 1895, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Click image for 512 x 657 size. Punch Almanac.

Aubrey Beardsley, Lucian's Strange Creatures, 1894

Aubrey Beardsley, Lucian's Strange Creatures, 1894, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

For Lucian's True Story. Click image for 539 x 762 size.

Expurgated version. Scanned from the book "Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley". Click image for 1015 x 925 size.

Aubrey Beardsley, Madonna and Child

Aubrey Beardsley, Madonna and Child, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Looking at Spring

I have been paintings these small long landscapes for more than a year with the idea that I would paint all the seasons. I will continue with this plan, but it is interesting to see the challenges that can present themselves. I just finished this one.
Spring and Autumn change before your eyes.
Once the leaves fall off the trees, Winter can look the same for months. Summer can also remain the same if you do not including specific blooms of flowers. Georgia O'Keeffe thought that summer in the east was green from her toes to the sky. She did not care for it.
Spring changes by the minute! Everything is so accelerated! Fall is the same, one days temperature change can make a huge difference.
This spring has been crazy! Half a week in the 80's, now I have been stoking the wood stove for the last two days.
In this painting, I tried to get that new leaf leanness and shimmer, there for only a day

Max Beerbohm, Caricature of Beardsley, The Yellow Book, 1894

Max Beerbohm, Caricature of Beardsley, The Yellow Book, 1894, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Scanned from the book "Aubrey Beardsley, Imp of the Perverse" by Stanley Weintraub. Click image for 750 x 1245 size.

Aubrey Beardsley, The Examination of the Herald

Aubrey Beardsley, The Examination of the Herald, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Expurgated version, from Lysistrata. Click image for 1219 x 1785 size.

Bartolomeo Vivarini, The Virgin and Child with Saints Paul and Jerome

The Virgin and Child with Saints Paul and Jerome, originally uploaded by artinconnu.

Bartolomeo Vivarini (c.1432? - c.1499)

"Practice"

 72" X 72" Oil on Canvas

Aubrey Beardsley, The Lacedaemonian Ambassadors

Aubrey Beardsley, The Lacedaemonian Ambassadors, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

From Lysistrata, detail (expurgated version.)

Scanned from the book "Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley". Click image for 1030 x 844 size.

Aubrey Beardsley, Ali Baba, 1897

Aubrey Beardsley, Ali Baba, 1897, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Cover design for The Forty Thieves. Scanned from the book "Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley". Click image for 1360 x 1636 size.

Aubrey Beardsley, A Christmas Card

Aubrey Beardsley, A Christmas Card, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

A loose insert in The Savoy, No. 1. Scanned from the book "Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley". Click image for 1047 x 1624 size.

Aubrey Beardsley, A Suggested Reform in Ballet Costume, 1895

Aubrey Beardsley, A Suggested Reform in Ballet Costume, 1895, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Illustration to Justin Huntly McCarthy's poem "At a Distance," in A London Garland, edited by W. E. Henley with art by members of the Society of Illustrators.

Scanned from the book "Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley". Click image for 1402 x 1409 size.

Swords and Art

Reading things Japanese, remind me of how difficult it is to think differently.
I have enjoyed reading Yukio Mishima, till I got to "Sun and Steel". I realized I was in a very alien mind. This was fascinating to me,  after I got over feeling stupid!
I have had more success with "A Book of Five Rings". A manual for the swordsman. I may die in my western life, never truly understanding the "Void"
What I do love about Musashi's writing is that instead of making it real, from metaphor as we do in the west. Musashi gives it to you real, then you get make your own metaphor.
If I replace the sword with my paint brush in this paragraph, it still works!

The new sword holds interest for me greater then some macho weapon to fantasize with... OK! It also does do that too!

Aubrey Beardsley, Ave Atque Vale

Aubrey Beardsley, Ave Atque Vale, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Ave Atque Vale, Beardsley's "hail and farewell" to The Savoy as well as an illustration to his translation of Catullus.

Scanned from the book "Aubrey Beardsley, Imp of the Perverse" by Stanley Weintraub. Click image for 807 x 1302 size.

New Acquisition

Today I made a trade. My friend had admired several paintings over some time and I had made note of that. In turn, I had admired a sword that was hanging in his study. I have trained with Japanese weapons and can handle a bokken sword, but in the most elementary way.
I have had and lost several opportunities to own a good Samurai Sword. When my friend moved, I found out that he had put the sword on consignment!  Both of us respect our individual need for cash and the best price, so there was no conversation about the sword. Then I found out that the sword did not sell. I felt compelled to make him an offer of trading it for the painting that I knew he liked and he accepted! 
The story is that the sword was recovered from the wreckage of a Zero after a  kamikaze attack in the pacific. A great provenance, but not a pre-war sword.
The painting is a small acrylic on paper and I am very comfortable with the mutual values.

I am curious about the quality of the blade. It is extremely sharp and I could not resist taking a swipe at one of the branches of a shrub. An effortless cut! Wow!
I want to have it x-rayed and take off the sheath. I have promised my friend to renegotiate our trade, if the blade proves to be more than the standard Japanese army issue, but right now I am delighted.

Aubrey Beardsley, Frontispiece to The Comedy of the Rhinegold, 1896

Aubrey Beardsley, Frontispiece to The Comedy of the Rhinegold, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

The Savoy, No. 8.

Scanned from the book "Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley". Click image for 1221 x 1625 size.

Click image for 618 x 696 size.

Aubrey Beardsley, Poe's The Black Cat, 1901

Aubrey Beardsley, Poe's The Black Cat, 1901, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Scanned from the book "Aubrey Beardsley, Imp of the Perverse" by Stanley Weintraub.

Aubrey Beardsley, The Fat Woman, 1894

Aubrey Beardsley, The Fat Woman, 1894, originally uploaded by Gatochy.

Click image for 875 x 1000 size.