Charley Harper

Cardinals

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charley_Harper

American Impressionist Daniel Garber

The Studio Wall 

1914 

 Portrait of the artist's wife 

 James A. Michener Art Museum 

Doylestown, Pennsylvania 

Garber is a graduate of the Art Academy of Cincinnati.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Garber

Sapporo Snow Festival, Japan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapporo_Snow_Festival

American Impressionist Mary Cassatt

Breakfast in Bed

1897

http://www.biography.com/impressionists/cassatt-bio.jsp

Sledding in Central Park 1897

Cat

For Goodyear Tire and Rubber, 1960

Christmas G.I. Joe

Don't ask, don't tell.

Foot race

 

Company Christmas party

Ashfield, New South Wales, Australia

1937

 "Relax, Ted, it's only a phase!"

http://www.cartoonstock.com/

British painter William Caldwell Crawford

Picnic in East Lothian

1927

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5224922

The Flashcube and Magicube

Remember these things?

Developed by Kodak for the Instamatic camera.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_%28photography%29#Flashcubes.2C_Magicubes_and_Flipflash

Moroccan goats eating the fruit of an argan tree.

The tree has a knobby, twisted trunk that allows the goats to climb it and eat the fruit, which is similar to an olive. Argan trees are mainly located in Morocco.

Reminds me of a Monty Python sketch about flying sheep nesting in the trees.

http://www.odditycentral.com/videos/the-tree-goats-of-morocco.html

A visit to Santa

In the news

When a Taiwanese business man accidentally shredded what amounted to $6,000, he recruited a police forensic specialist —  the "jigsaw expert" — to piece the money back together. After a week, the bank declared two-thirds of the bills had been restored and replaced the cash. Lucky guy.

In Germany, where prostitution is legal and sex workers pay taxes, the town of Dortmund enacted a new "pleasure tax" requiring prostitutes to purchase a 6-euro ticket for each day they work or face a fine. Authorities estimate that 750,000 euros will be added each year to offset the town's deficit.

In an effort to slow traffic, several Czech Republic towns have placed life-sized cardboard cutouts of female police officers in mini-skirts along well-traveled routes. Officials report the scheme is working.

An ex-felon convicted of multiple embezzlement offenses in Indiana was hired by a company in Washington State that believed the man had reformed and could provide "extra" security services at its firm. They were wrong. He is now serving a new 6-year prison sentence for embezzlement.

Police officers in a UK town responded to a 999 call only to find the resident's cat had been sleeping on the telephone.

A woman in France had to be rescued by helicopter after wild pigs chased her up a tree.

That's about it. Slow news day, week, month.

Lake Tahoe

Tucked away in the Sierra Nevada mountain range on the California/Nevada border, Lake Tahoe's 6,000-foot elevation makes it a prime winter playground.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Tahoe
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=active&biw=1730&bih=1021&gbv=2&q=lake+tahoe&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

Snow boots

British photographer Bill Brandt

Children, south London

1930's

 http://www.billbrandt.com/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Brandt

French painter Jules Bastien-Lepage

Joan of Arc

1879 

Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Bastien-Lepage 

Snowman rhinoplasty

 

"I want a smaller carrot."

http://www.toonpool.com/artists/Ian%20Baker_1233 

'Tis The Season

To Be Jolly

Put on your festive clothes and decorate your house.
Sing Christmas songs and and light a fire.
Fa la la.

(Deck the Halls is a Welsh melody dating to the 1500s
with American lyrics added around 1880.)

George Harrison documentary

I forgot to mention that last week was the 9th anniversary of George's passing. Next year director Martin Scorcese and Olivia Harrison will release their documentary about George that took them 5 years to complete. In an interview, Olivia said she even opened old drawers in old rooms and read scraps of old paper, went through everything, and it's all coming to a theatre near you in 2011.

Semper Opera House, Dresden

The first Dresden opera house was built in 1841 by Gottfried Semper and 

is named after him. The building was damaged by fire and rebuilt in 1878.

It is a mix of many architectural styles.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semperoper

Stone spiral staircase

As seen from below

Patriot Paul Revere

By John Singleton Copley

1768

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Revere 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Singleton_Copley

William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Far Niente 

1904

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bougereau 

First grade masterpiece

Created by a 1st grader

Crystal Collage Children's Art Studio, 

Gwinnett County, Georgia

http://dewestudio.schools.officelive.com/default.aspx

 When I was in the 1st grade I was still drawing arms that came out of the head.

Double date

Neidpath Castle, Peebles, Scotland

Neidpath Castle was built for the High Sheriff of Tweeddale who died in 1390. It was one of the last Scottish castles to fall to Cromwell in the 1650s. Mary Queen of Scots visited here. Today it is privately owned and open to the public.

Memorialized by Sir Walter Scott in the poem, The Maid of Neidpath, the ghost of a young lady, Jean Douglas, is said to haunt the castle, she having died of a broken heart.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neidpath_Castle 

July 1956

"Come 'ere, Little Susie, and let me give you a shiner like mine."

Caption this

Hradcany Castle, Prague

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hrad%C4%8Dany 

Mud house

The First House in Dighton, Kansas, Built in 1879.
Photograph taken in 1916.

http://www.dightonkansas.com/

American painter Dennis Miller Bunker

 

The Mirror

1890

Bunker died of meningitis at the age of 29.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Miller_Bunker

Middle Ages painting

700 A.D.

Sidewalk art

Mariemont, Ohio early 1920s

The top caption reads, View of the Town Center, Mariemont, Ohio