The Junk Drawer

TMNT--Leonardo, Renaissance Genius by fleur_de_lis

This will be the last of my posts on Renaissance giants, and I have saved Leonardo DaVinci for last. Where do you start with this man? He was not only a famous artist, but an inventor, mathematician, philosopher, musician, botanist, biologist, and architect. Leonardo was blessed with many gifts. He was said to be strikingly handsome, with great physical strength, and a fine singing voice. He was a man of colossal talents producing studies on all kinds of subjects. Leonardo's interests were so broad and he was so easily sidetracked that he usually failed to finish what he started. Dozens of his paintings and projects were left unfinished because he was compelled to go in another direction, and of those he did finish many were damaged (Mona Lisa) beyond repair or examples of experimental techniques gone wrong (The Last Supper). He spent most of his time studying science, either by going out into nature or by locking himself away in his studio and pondering universal truths. Around 1490...

Very Punny! by fleur_de_lis

Visual puns. These pictures speak for themselves! Eggplant Pool Table Card Shark Micro phone And here's a website where you can check out some more: http://personal.ecu.edu/snyderh/Check%20Out/vizipunz.html

It's called bagvertising.... by fleur_de_lis

My last posts have been pretty heavy, so I thought I'd lighten things up by showing you some very unique ideas for shopping bags. It's called bagvertising, and some very creative people have thought of interesting ways to package their products for the trip home. Ouch! This bag advertises Panadol Ouch again! This bag advertises stop n' grow for nail biters! And finally this scary one... This bag was given when you bought a book by Belgium's most famous crime writer! If you want to see some more, go to this Snopes site: http://www.snopes.com/photos/advertisements/shoppingbags.asp What some people come up with is beyond me, I love it!

TMNT--Donatello, Raphael, and St. George by fleur_de_lis

Yes, I'm combining these two guys and showing you their interpretations of St. George the man and St. George the legend. St. George is identified with the ideals of honor, bravery and gallantry. Very little is known about him, but it is believed he was born in Turkey in the 3rd. century to Christian parents. He became a Roman soldier at the age of 17 and was renowned for his bravery. He served under a pagan emperor, the emperor Diocletian, but never forgot his Christian faith. While he was serving in England, he heard that the emperor was putting all Christians to death and so he returned to Rome to help his brother Christians. He pleaded with the emperor to spare their lives. Diocletian did all he could to persuade St. George to give up his faith, but he refused and he was beheaded on April 23, 303. Donatello (1383-1466) was a renowned sculptor of the Renaissance who enjoyed widespread fame, success, and admiration. Michelangelo, himself, was greatly influenced by him. He was widely...

TMNT--Michelangelo by fleur_de_lis

Cowabunga, dude. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles--yes, those heroes in the half-shell are the inspiration for my next few blogs. As if you didn't know already, these legendary comic stars share their names with four of our most revered and admired artists ever--Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael, giants of the Renaissance. I will not go into lengthy background information on any of them, but will choose just one of their works to discuss. I have decided to start with Michelangelo (momentary pause to catch a deep breath).This giant of the art world is most well known for his sculptures but was also a painter. Michelangelo was a surly, difficult to please, unsociable and solitary man wholly wrapped up in his art. He was suspicious of other artists, onlookers, and even members of his own family--totally focused on his projects to the extent that he would wear the same clothes for months at a time and forget to eat. Michelangelo's greatest painting of course is the ceiling...

Into Iraq--Update 8 by fleur_de_lis

For those of you who don't know, my daughter is a member of the Army National Guard. In my previous updates I have filled you in to some small extent on the process of saying goodbye to a deployed soldier. It is not easy, and it has just gotten much worse. Her unit has spent the last couple of weeks in Kuwait doing some more training exercises and field work. She has become close acquaintances with sand fleas, rats, porta-potties, mres, tent living, blast furnace heat, sand storms, and other primitive conditions that make you sick at heart. But at least she was relatively safe. I won't hear from her for a couple of days as they will be moving into Iraq momentarily, and they will be in a very dangerous zone. Something I didn't quite prepare myself for. I haven't eaten, slept, or accomplished anything at all today, but I've done a lot of pacing, and cried a few tears. Thank God for my Marine husband who was in the worst of Vietnam and can help me understand. Thank God...

Pearblossom Highway by fleur_de_lis

Pearblossom Highway--David Hockney David Hockney is a versatile southern California artist who is widely known for his images of swimming pools, portraits, domestic still lives, landscapes and stage designs--all using unconventional techniques such as photocopiers, fax machines and video cameras. My favorite of his works though, are the ones in which he makes giant photocollages which he calls joiners. A joiner is a series of photographs taken from different viewpoints that is joined and overlapped to create a large image (this one is 10' wide by 6' high). Pearblossom Highway is the culmination of Hockney's experimentation with photocollage. It consists of 750 photographs taken with a 35 mm camera depicting the vast desert landscape along the Pearblossom Highway between Pearblossom and Palmdale, California. Hockney took his series of photos over a span of 9 days recording hundreds of details and standing on ladders to photograph the street signs head on. This image is best...