The Tales of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter

Beatrix Potter 

"Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were - Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter. They lived with their Mother in a sand-bank, underneath the root of a very big tree" (from The Tale of Peter Rabbit, 1902)

I am sure that this is a very famous and an unforgettable line indeed, Its from a very famous children storybook, by the very renowned author Beatrix Potter. Such a talented writer she is, and not only that she also has a love for art, and a very erudite person indeed. It her biography, it was said that she entertained herself by painting, referring to specimens form the National History Museum or sketching nature in the Lake District where the family spent holidays. This is a very surprising fact indeed. So we all know that authors not only write but some of them have the interest for ART!. I feel so elated hearing reading about Beatrix Potter.According to her statement, Beatrix Potter had not the slightest regret of not attending school, I guess she felt she hasn't missed out much, as mentioned earlier she is an erudite student and was also interested in studying the subject of SCIENCE, and also developed her own theory on the germination of fungus spores. How interesting, from what i read I can conclude that she is an all-rounder, Even if she didn't attend school, she developed her theory and ALSO left a large body of remarkable science illustrations on fossils,mosses,lichens,wild flowers, microscope drawings and most importantly, fungi which she donated to the Armitt Trust. She published a number of children's books with watercolour illustration and in addition she also oversaw the whole production and designing process.Beatrix Potter really knew what children, ages from 6 -12 years really wanted to see, they not only wanted words, but also fun and friendly characters, they can relate to and also, nurture them to read. Not only she wrote but she also paid attention to the designs and illustrations that were to be printed out in the book. Well her hard work certainly paid off, as it is one of the classic stories that can be enjoyed from time to time. Its magic would never wear off. I still remember having the whole collection stacked at the side of my bed, and I would often flip through the pages to find out what trouble would Peter Rabbit always get into enjoying the warm colours and and illustrations. As a child, Beatrix or she was also known as Helen, was encouraged to draw, as she spent her holidays at picturesque places, she drew pictures of animals, insects and plants, but her imaginative features were of rabbits in bibs, and mice whose paws are busy spinning and knitting.And this amazing imagination of hers resulted ''The Tales of Peter Rabbit'', and also many other collection of children storybooks. SO conclusion, art is not only for the men race, but also women too, and who said authors only write stories, they are talented, and Miss Beatrix Potter has certainly proven this fact by indulging children in not only her magical words and stories but also her ART!!! Lets give a round of applause for this amazing person!!

These are some of her Artwork, enjoy!
Kareshma=D

GREAT ARTISTS!

Good afternoon fellow readers!! (if there are any) =D
Yes!! for the FIA students (July-2010), its a jolly holiday i must say, so it is a very lazy and sleepy afternoon. Well lets not think about sleepiness. Sleeping in the afternoon makes me grumpy and tired. I am a rather peculiar person, but nope sleeping in the afternoon doesn't make me feel rejuvenated. Well then lets move on! Today i would be talking about GREAT ARTISTS! Some of them you might know of , and some of them which still remains foreign to us. Its a pity that we find art a boring subject, I mean reading about its origins, what it actually means, and the reason to why it was created. Well i know that Lewis Carol, the author of Alice in Wonderland, wrote the book because he was high on heroine, and some people also say that he was dumped by his girlfriend, and some even say that to he was pedophile, and he wrote this story to attract a girl named Alice. Whatever the reason maybe, these great people, didn't create something out of the blue, they wanted to proof something or another, or express the way the felt. Art often connects with the soul, as it portrays emotions and thoughts. I am not quite sure if you have seen the episode on Desperate Housewives, when Teri Hatcher's ex-husbands son, drew a very horrific picture during her Art class, and when everyone else drew rainbows and unicorns. It actually shows that art is the main tool for a kid to also express his or herself. Its a very useful tool i must say. But its actually kind of complicated to find out the reason why artists during the ancient times painted pictures of Nude Woman, and this often became their best selling items. When i skim through books about art, there is always the presence of a Nude Woman.I guess it was their way of portraying the beauty of the woman, and that during those times, it was the correct way of doing it i guess. Well today let me share with you about the 10 greatest artist and their masterpiece.




1. Michelangelo
Italian sculptor, painter and architect. Michelangelo's output in every field during his long life was prodigious. Two of his best known works, "The Pieta" and "The David" are monumental masterpieces in sculpture. Despite his low opinion of painting, he created two of the most influential works, in fresco, in the history of western art. The scenes from the "Genesis" and "The Last Judgment" in the Sistine Chapel. He later designed the dome of St. Peters and revolutionized classical architecture with his invention of the giant order of pilasters. His works are priceless and untouchable.

The Pieta

2.Rembrandt (1606-1669) 
Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered on of the greatest painters and printmakers in art history. Rembrandt's greatest creative works are his portraits of his contemporaries, his self-portraits (90 paintings in all) and illustrations of scenes from the Bible. Among his 300 paintings are some of the greatest masterpieces in "Chiaroscuro", dramatic use of light and shadow, most notable are "Nightwatch", "The Anatomy Lesson", "The Blinding of Samson", and "The Syndics". His painting and etchings, when found, fetch tens of millions at major art auctions. A Dutch museum recently paid over $80 million dollars for one of his portraits. The most expensive work of art ever acquired by a Dutch museum.

Rembrandt (self-portrait)

I also read that the word ''Chiasocuro'' is Italian and means light and dark, it was first used to describe a type of painting on medium dark paper. Rembrandt knew the value of ''Chiasocuro'' direct lighting but he softened the edges and lessened the contrast of ''true''Chiasocuro to portray a calmness through his paintings.

I hope i am not boring all of you out there, as this is actually good information, and i find it rather interesting, as there are techniques that are used by great sculptors and painters to beautify their work of art, and i believe that putting these techniques to good use, anyone of us can succeed. Moving on to the third person, we all talk about his name, and know him, but not as famous at Leonardo Da Vinci.

3. Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Spanish painter and sculptor. One of the most recognized figures in 20th century art, best known as co-founder with Braque, of cubism. Most prolific and influential of all modern artists, Picasso's most famous work, "Guernica", is one of the greatest statements against the inhumanity, brutality and hopelessness of war. His "Demoiselles D'Avignon", inspired by African artifacts, caused a revolution in the art world and led to cubism, one of the greatest artistic movements. His works are regularly in the top ten most expensive paintings ever sold. Tow of them are currently on the top ten, totaling over $200 million dollars.

Pablo Picasso Guernica

I am sure there are some art terms that all of us don't quite understand, for example the word Cubism, which is actually pioneered by the great Pablo Picasso himself and George Braque. Cubism artwork, as you can see above, objects are broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an abstracted form—instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint, the artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context. Well we can clearly observe that its very different from the normal art we have seen above. There are many types of art! I will be discussing about this during the next post! It will be truly intriguing to know facts about something that we all thought was simple.

4.Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)

Dutch post-impressionist artist. His paintings and drawings include some of the world's best known, most popular and most expensive pieces. Three of his works are currently on the top ten list of most expensive paintings ever. "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" (far from one of his best), sold for $116.8 million, "Portrait of the artist without beard" fetched $71.7 million, "Irises" sold for 78.4 million. Not bad for an artist who was mentally ill and died in poverty. He produced more than 2,000 works, including 900 paintings and 1,100 drawings and sketches, a prolific amount considering he lived only 37 years.

I have seen his artwork, and i actually love the Starry Night. a very beautiful picture. I have always hope to see a starry night like that. I dont know why, but i think its maybe because of the colours and the longing to see something that has been depicted so beautifully in a picture, real life.

Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

5.Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519)

Italian painter, sculptor, scientist, engineer, and inventor. The archetype of the Renaissance man or universal genius. Although he produced few works of art, he is widely considered to be on of greatest artists of all time and perhaps the most-diversely talented person ever to have lived. Two of his works, "Mona Lisa", and "The Last Supper" are perhaps the most famous, most reproduced and most parodied portrait and religious painting of all time. They are priceless and untouchable. One drawing, a study for the "Adoration of the Magi" sold for $11.4 million. Billionaire Bill Gates paid $30 million for his Codex Leicester (one of his notebooks).

Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci

How can we ever forget this masterpiece, its a very famous one, and also used in many movies,comedy and are even display pictures on Facebook, and some are even edited with faces of paris hilton, micheal jackson. It such a pity, i would feel insulted if my painting were to be edited in such a way. I read that Mona Lisa is actually a Florentine woman who married a well-known figure  Francesco del Giocondo, and thus came to be known as ``La Gioconda''. The work should probably be dated during Leonardo's second Florentine period, that is between 1503 and 1505. Leonardo himself loved the portrait

The Last Supper By Leonardo Da Vinci

6. Claude Monet (1840-1926)

French impressionist painter. Monet was a founder of French Impressionism, the most consistent and prolific artist of this major art movement. The term impressionism is derived from the title of one of his paintings. He has produced more masterpieces than any other artist of his time. In his eighties, he was selling paintings faster than he could produce them. A painting from his "Water Lilies" series recently sold for $36.6 million, one of his numerous pieces that have sold in the millions.

Water Lillie's By Caude Monet

 7.Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
Flemish painter and proponent of a Baroque style that emphasized movement, color and sensuality. He is well known for his alter pieces, portraits, landscapes and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects. His famous painting "The Raising of the Cross" is held as the prime example of Baroque religious art. A recent discovered painting "Massacre of the Innocents" sold for $76.2 million. It is the current record for an old master painting.

The Raising Cross By Peter Paul Rubens 

I don't really know much about Claude Monet or Peter Paul Rubens, actually i am just reading about them, there are so many things they have actually contributed and I owe them a blog actually. I think it would be a good idea to talk about these people in depth as they are not just painters. There are many subdivisions, like Cubism, Impressionism, Surrealism. It all new to me to and i did like to learn more about it it would surely share it with you. For know please bare my lack of knowledge concerning this matter as i am just really new to it. 

8. Henri Matisse (1869-1954)

French painter, printmaker and sculptor. He is one of the best known artists of the 20th century, noted for his use of color and his fluid, brilliant and original draughtsmanship. Although labeled as a Fauvist (wild beast), by the 1920's, he was increasingly hailed as an upholder of the classical tradition in French painting. His mastery of the expressive language of color and drawing is apparent in a body of work spanning over a half century and won him recognition as a leading figure of modern art. A 1937 painting "L'Odalisque, Harmonie Bleue", sold for $33.6 million.

The Dance By Henri Mattisse

9. Joseph Turner (1775-1851)

English painter, watercolorist and printmaker known as the painter of light, his style can be said to have laid the foundation for the major art movement called impressionism. He is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivaling history painting. Although renowned for his oils, Turner is also one of the greatest masters of watercolor landscape painting. In 2006, one of his paintings sold for $35.8 million, an auction record for a work by a British artist.
 

The Slave Ship By Joseph Turner

10.Diego Velasquez (1599-1660)
Spanish painter. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist. Many modern artists, including Picasso and Dali have paid tribute to him by recreating several of his famous works. His masterpiece "Las Meninas", called the perfect painting, is one of the most important and famous paintings in European art history and a classic of 17th century art. His painting "Saint Ruffina" sold for $17 million, the most expensive old master painting by a Spanish artist ever sold at auction.

The last piece above is Las Meninas by Velaquez.

I am sure all of you let out a sigh of relief after reading this blog of mine, but why should i create a theme which is so cliched like lifestyle, or politics or fashion, these are all the thing we know of, we can find it anywhere and in abundance, but i think we should all be exposed to facts that remain buried because of our ignorance.As for me, the more i do research and read about these people and art, it opens up my mind and makes me think more. I hope it would benefit to all of you.

Happy reading!

Have a nice Holiday!

Kareshma =D

HEY DIDDLE DIDDLE!

Does the title ring a bell?! Well i hope it does! Its a Nursery Rhyme! It still vividly etched in my mind, especially the part where the cow jumped over the moon and the dish ran away with the spoon!. Some of you out there might be lost. I will type out the rhyme after this with a few other familiar ones =). Well yes this is my second post! i am kind of addicted to blogging already. I just had many things that i wanted to post. So this post would be about poetry!! YES some of you might open your  eyes! and most of you would fall asleep.! but i am obviously not going to talk about the Sonnets! by William Shakespeare! His sonnets are still very obscure to me, and requires loads of reading and deep understanding of literature elements which i am not really equipped with. But poetry takes on many forms, and friendly ones, like Nursery Rhymes! Yes the ones about Mary Had A Little Lamb, Hey Diddle Diddle!! One of my all time favourites =D Mary Mary Quite Contrary! Wow i am just reminiscing all those times, when i used to just read all these rhymes, and look at the pictures that are animated so creatively!The nursery rhyme that my lecturer mentioned to us, was the HEY DIDDLE DIDDLE


Hey diddle diddle,
The cat and the fiddle
The cow jumped over the moon
The little dog laughed to see such fun
And the Dish ran away with the spoon!


I just loved the fact that the cow jumped over the moon and the dish ran away with the spoon! Its just so vivid. I am so curious to how it is still etched in my mind, and after reading and doing some research on nursery rhymes and its meanings, it was a type of entertainment to delight children with impossible imagery and Mr Walt Disney, used these elements in making great and memorable movies for young boys and girls. There are also reasons to why nursery rhymes are important to be exposed to children at primary level. One of the most important reason is to develop phonemic awareness in children. According to Tony Stead, Senior literacy consultant, Mondo Publishing, New York, shows that during the year 1945, an average elementary student has a vocabulary span of 10 000 words and todays children have only a vocabulary span of 2500 words. This is a problem, he adds o say that parents are not cultivating reading values into their children's daily life at a primary level. Many problems also arise for children who are not memorizing or being exposed to the bread- and butter of early children's literature. And also in order for children to understand what they are reading, they have to hear the language first.When kids are asked to create their own stories they rely on the square box of information,rather than their imagination. Its a pity. that imagination is readily drawn up by the media, and not the inner self. Some rhymes like ''Mary Mary Quite Contrary''. Have meaning of their own, after reading about its true meaning which is rather a gruesome truth, i realize that there are people out there creative enough to turn such a fact into a nursery rhyme, enjoyed by children all around the world. This is the true meaning of art to me. And today I am 18, and i am suppose to create a poem, and these research i have made really inspired me and i hope i would also be able to create IMPRESSIVE poetry or even nursery rhymes! Here are some of the nursery rhymes that would really bring back balmy memories of being a five year old kid.


Mary Mary Quite Contrary,
How does your garden grow,
With silver Bells cockle shells
and pretty maids all in a row.

Imaginative drawing create by Scottish artist Shona Penny

Mary in this traditional nursery rhyme  is actually reputed to be Mary Tudor who was the daughter of King Henry VII. Queen Mary was a staunch Catholic and the garden here is actually symbolizes graveyards which were actually increasing in size with those who dared to continue to adhere to the Protestan faith. The silver bells and cockle shells are actually colloquialisms for intruments of TORTURE! the silver bells are thumbscrews which crushed the thumb between two hard screws after tightening the screws! and cockle shells was an instrument of torture which was placed at the genitals. The maids here are  actually device to behead people called the maiden. It all sounds so gruesome, doesn't it. But lets look at how they have covered it up so well and made its way through generations and generations of children.
There are many other poems and nursery rhymes available.That actually have meanings behind its words. Its nice to know about some of the meaning and helps us appreciate values that are not valued by people today! Lets start reading more! for a brighter future and enhance our vocab!
Happy reading 
Thank You 
Kareshma =D




POP ART!

The Gate by Hans Hoffman

Girl With the Ribbon by Robert Lichtenstein

Campbell Tomato Soup by Andy Warhol

The Drowning Girl by Robert Lichtenstein

Autumn Rhythm No.30 by Paul Jackson Pollock

Well for this week i will be posting 2 posts actually, because i haven't sent my blog in for the last week. Todays blog would be about something very interesting and known as POP ART! Pop Art simple means popular art. I am not sure whether its a common term in this modern age world, but i believe that art lovers would and must know what is pop art all about. Well i was just exposed to this topic during my first semester in college when learning the subject culture & ideas. I did like to give credits to Mr. Keith! for exposing us to such a topic.! as it was so FUN!. Do you know who is the creator of the Campbell soup design, well his name is Andy Warhol!! Most of us just drink the soup without thinking that, there is a story behind this and also a very genius commercial artist. Andy Warhol was a commercial artist, commercial artist meaning that he created and designed art that was recognizable by the people of 21st century, an art that would relate to everyone and anyone and keep a mark in their mind, and he certainly made it happen. Whenever we see the colour red and white, it reminds us of the Campbell soup tin. Andy Warhol not only drew and painted one can of tomato Campbell soup, but all 42 CANS! Can you believe! why would such an artist do it, well he is a peculiar man, and also wants to prove to that the world is very commercial based, we are attracted to items which are recognizable and appealing to us, and also that the world is very much manufactured. We are attracted to items or anything that are RECOGNIZABLE. We have become so SIMPLE! and straight forward! We are not like those people who pays an amount of money, and look at abstract painting for hours, analyzing its brush strokes and intensity of the paint. That era hardly exits in this modern day world. An abstract painting of The Gate by Hans Hoffman might not be our cup of tea. And currently I am looking at it right now and thinking where is THE GATE!. We are sophisticated personified and don't spend the time analyzing a painting, that cost millions of dollars. There are other very famous and well-known Pop artists, like Robert Lichtenstein, he introduced the use of Ben day Dots. He did it on canvas with pictures of people and speech bubbles, it turned out as colourful and retro comics. He did it because, he wanted people to appreciate these little things like comics, which are thought to be a waste of time. He wanted people to see the beauty of art. One of his famous art works would be The Drowning Girl. These people have turned art into something so beautiful and understandable.I believe that art can take any type of form ! whether its commercial based or traditional and abstract, art never dies. I will post some wonderful pictures of these artists that i have mentioned and also, a picture of 'THE GATE'. Lets see if you can figure out where is the gate! and also please do enjoy the great work of art by all these artists! 

Thank You

Kareshma =D