Beautiful Paintings

I always loved going to an art museum. I love the hushed atmosphere, the knots of people murmuring (or not) and the guards in the doorways - and presiding over it all is the art - some beautiful, some ugly, some beautifully ugly. 

Here are some of my favorite pieces:

Paul Klee, Twittering Machine

I love Klee's work, especially the subtle colors and concept of this one.

Walter Sickert, an English artist, produced darker impressionist pieces. Interestingly, this one has two titles, How Shall We Do For the Rent? and The Camden Town Murder:

The light over their bodies is amazing.

Brueghel is so earthly, so fleshy - his subjects have fat calves and homely occupations. His painting of the fall of Icarus is satisfying because the actual event occurs in a back corner of the canvas, while farming and life goes on. Only a slight splash shows what just happened.

I'm not a huge Andrew Wyeth fan, but I do love Christina's World - his portrait of the woman who had to pull herself along on the ground to get from place to place.

*****

To my mind, there is no better program to introduce or deepen one's understanding than the Sister Wendy series. Sister Wendy herself, with her huge buck teeth and her lovely voice, sees into paintings beyond the paint and canvas, finding hidden layers of meaning that always take me by surprise; plus, it's always funny to hear a nun talk about bottoms and breasts, which Sister Wendy does without any embarrassment whatsoever. 

Look at how cool she is:

I love her.

And you can find her book on 1000 Masterpieces at any library, or on Amazon. I highly recommend that, as well as her television series.

Mowrer's Steampunk Frankenstein

I've just discovered an amazing artist, purely by chance. I started chatting with Kevin Mowrer on the Steampunk Writers and Authors Guild, and he was kind enough to share the URL of his blogspot: http://www.mowrerart.blogspot.com/ 


If you go to that link, and I hope you will, you'll see wonderful images like this:

The Pinkerton and the Princess

This amazing painting (do go to the site and look at some of the details!) is from an upcoming book by Mowrer, called  Frahnknshtyne. It will appear first as a book. The author / artist is also working to expand it into other expressions.

Here is another character from the book:

Lord Praetor

I love what Mowrer says about this character: "I believe storytelling becomes truthful when the evil (or better said, Antagonist) in the story has a point of view and a true belief system. There are catalyzing events and moments that make characters heroic or malevolant. The Lord Praetor is just such a layered, brilliant and fanatical soul. He has been alive longer than any human on the planet as the original recipient of the Aether of others. His wealth is a fortune beyond the size of any government's and he believes in the supremecy and stability of the governance that flows from the Royales. In this portrait, the opulance of his accumulated wealth and empire seem indistinguishable from the man himself. Each flows into the other. Though he knows of the many horrible abominations that have sprung up amongst the ultra rich, he believes these are acceptable given the stability that has reigned for hundreds of years under his rule."

The artist's attention to detail is astonishing, as in this possible cover:

Mowrer adds, "...if you look closely into the reflection in the loupe over the empty eye socket you can see the outline of the good doctor himself."

I'm not the only one who admires Mowrer's art. Rafi Alexandrian Jose, who writes the steampunk blog  The Steampunk Populist, says of the images: "Absolutely stunning work.  This is a 1st rate example of the SteamPunk aesthetic.  It harkens back to an age where technology was elegant. "   

If your interest isn't thoroughly peaked at this point, consider this final quote from my new friend:  

Our hero is about to learn

that sometimes you find your true humanity at the moment you lose it.