Back on the Hook Again

 

I am officially off the DL after spending a few months battling tendonitis in my right wrist. I was finally able to get a cortisone shot from my doctor and, a week later, I’m happy to say I think I’m almost all healed.

This means, among other things, that I can crochet again! I haven’t done anything for a couple of months, and I’ve really missed it.

Coincidentally, during my convalescence, I learned that my local yarn shop, just a few blocks down the street, is going to close at the end of May. While this is of course bad news for the neighborhood, it also presented a yarn-stocking opportunity that I couldn’t miss. A friend and I had unused gift cards from this store, so, even though I had no idea when I’d be able to crochet again, we went. (She’s also having trouble with her shoulder and hasn’t been able to knit much, but yarnaholics aren’t about to be stopped by such considerations.)

So on that visit and a subsequent one, I happily added to my stash. However, this was not just willy-nilly yarn buying. I actually do have patterns to make with this yarn.

So here’s what I bought:

 

 

The light green on the bottom (isn’t that a beautiful color?) is Berroco Weekend, and as you can see, I’ve already started crocheting with it. The top picture (obtained at a great bargain price) is Crystal Palace Mini-Mochi, a yarn that’s very hard to find; it isn’t even sold online. About a year ago I downloaded an absolutely gorgeous free crochet pattern for a wrap consisting of squares made with Mini-Mochi. I hadn’t looked for the yarn because I wasn’t sure enough of my ability to make the squares. I would just sneak a look at the pattern every now and then and yearn over it. But now I have some experience with making squares, and when I saw this yarn, I jumped at it. The pattern is made with different colorways of the yarn (not exactly the same as these, but close enough), and I was thrilled to find out that I could buy enough and in colors that will go well together.

So. On top of the two projects I had to interrupt when I hurt my wrist, I now have plenty of crocheting to keep me busy for the rest of the year.

As long as I don’t land on the DL again.

 

 

 

 

Z

 

Zuccaro

When I decided to do Art for A-Z this year, I thought it would be an easier challenge than last year’s, but it was more work than I anticipated. However, I did get to look at beautiful pictures every day, so I can’t complain!

And I did find a Z artist—Taddeo Zuccaro, a Renaissance painter. I thought it would be fun to show his version of The Conversion of St. Paul and compare it with Caravaggio’s, which I presented here. I’ve also included it below.

Zuccaro’s version, which is a preparatory study for an altarpiece, is a pen-and-ink drawing with brown wash, black chalk, and lead white on blue paper. Caravaggio’s, of course, is a full color painting. But the subjects are similar: both portray the moment when Saul of Tarsas is struck by a light from Heaven, hears the voice of Christ, and falls from his horse. Despite the similarities, there are great differences in composition (particularly the dominance of the horse in Caravaggio’s version) and emotional power. I love to see how different artists treat the same subject.

 

Zuccaro's Conversion of St. Paul

 
 
 
 
 
 

Caravaggio's Conversion of St Paul

Congratulations to all A-Zers at the end of this challenge! Now let’s all go grab some ZZZZ’s.

 

Y

 

Young Woman with Water Pitcher

 

Ever since I read Girl with a Pearl Earring, I’ve been a fan of Johannes (Jan) Vermeer. Vermeer (1632-1675) was a Dutch painter best known for interior scenes and for his use of lighting. He tended to use the same one or two rooms in his own home for his paintings, and many of them show the same backgrounds and floor pattern.

 

 

In this painting Vermeer used the natural light coming through the window to illuminate the face of his model. The window was used in several of his paintings, as was the map on the wall and the tablecloth. He was one of the few artists at the time to use the brilliant ultramarine blue of the young woman’s dress. The blue pigment was made from lapis lazuli, a gemstone, which made it very expensive. Vermeer was hardly rich—he did not make many paintings in his short lifetime and had eleven children--but his mother-in-law was quite well to do and probably provided him with some financial support. He may also have received some support from a wealthy patron. Nevertheless, his financial troubles mounted, and upon his early death his wife was left in debt; she attributed his death to financial pressures.

 

It’s unfortunate that Vermeer’s slow and deliberate style of painting coupled with his brief life span deprived the world of more of his paintings, but we can be grateful for the ones we do have.

 

As a footnote, one of Vermeer's paintings was stolen in the robbery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The paintings remain unrecovered.

 

 

X

 

The X

A post of few words today…”The X” by Ronald Bladen.

W

Whistler

 

James Abbott McNeill Whistler’s most famous painting is also one of the most parodied in the history of art; probably only the Mona Lisa rivals it as a pop culture icon. Though it’s popularly called Whistler’s Mother, the painting’s title is really Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1.

 

Whistler was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, which is also the hometown of Jack Kerouac—quite an interesting legacy for a small industrial town. His own legacy is much more varied than many people know who are familiar only with the portrait of his mother. Working in Paris, he became friendly with several of the Impressionists, as well as with Dante Gabriel Rossetti, one of the pre-Raphaelite painters; Whistler’s work incorporates some of the style of each movement as well as many other influences, but it is also uniquely his own, distinguished by his use of monochrome tones. He often titled his paintings “nocturnes” or “harmonies”.

 

Nocturne in Black and Gold--The Falling Rocket

Symphony in White: The White Girl



Grand Canal Amsterdam




 

V

 

Vincent van Gogh

 Of course, V had to be for Vincent, probably my favorite artist and the favorite of very many people. It’s so sad that he never knew how popular and lauded he would become, because his life was nothing but a series of failures, disappointments, hurts, failed relationships, and self-destructive actions. Yet today he is hailed as one of the greatest and most innovative artists of all time.

Vincent van Gogh had tried several professions in his youth, most notably as an art dealer (with his brother Theo) and a preacher. In everything he tried he ended up alienating other people, largely because of his overenthusiastic and perfectionist approach to everything. I won’t go into a detailed biography here; for those who want to learn more about this troubled and brilliant artist, I highly recommend this excellent biography:

 

 

 

So much has been said about van Gogh that I don’t need to elaborate here. Instead I give you these wonderful examples of his art to enjoy.

 

 

(just for fun—van Gogh’s Irises and a photo I took)



Sunflowers

Café Terrace



Starry Night


 

Almond Blossoms (showing Japanese influence)

 

U

 

Uccello

 

Paolo Uccello (1397–1475) was a Florentine artist of the Renaissance, the time when artists were discovering perspective, and he was fascinated by it. He worked endlessly on perfecting the technique of foreshortening to add depth to his painting. In his best known work, The Battle of San Romano, we can see how he used these new techniques, although it seems crude compared to later Renaissance paintings.

 

 

The Battle of San Romano

 

 

Under the rump of the rearing white horse in the center lies the body of a soldier, his feet touching the bottom edge of the frame, his body stretched toward the back of the picture; this is foreshortening. The figure is very small in comparison to the others, but it is probably the earliest instance of this technique being used to represent a figure in depth. Furthermore, the lances lying on the ground all point toward the rear, what came to be known as the “vanishing point” of a painting, something that Renaissance artists perfected as part of the illusion of dimension.

 

Here are a few other examples of his painting.

The Hunt

The Magi

St. Francis