Russian painter Vladislav Nagornov b. 1974

The First Lesson

What I am doing today

I'm going to go hang outside with my friends and goof off.

Here comes the sun, doo doo doo doo

Enjoy it while it lasts. Rain returns tomorrow,

Saturday morning arts & crafts time

By Abby

Second Grade

Baltimore, MD

Elm

Watercolorist Carol Gillot

Stand back and then look at this.

http://parisbreakfastart.blogspot.com/2006/12/my-paris-breakfasts-watercolors.html

Most hated baby names

From
http://www.livescience.com/13917-hated-baby-names.html

Girls:

1. Nevaeh ("Heaven" spelled backward and one of the most divisive names around, according to Wattenberg.)
2. Destiny (People dislike names that confer a virtue onto a child, Wattenberg said — and many felt associated this name with exotic dancers.)
3. Madison
4. Mackenzie
5. McKenna
6. Addison (An example of a masculine named turned feminine, which many people dislike, Wattenberg said)
7. Gertrude (People said this name is "ugly.")
8. Kaitlyn (For its "made-up" spelling.)
9. Makayla
10. Bertha
11. Hope

 Boys:

1. Jayden
2. Brayden
3. Aiden
4. Kaden (These rhyming names struck many as overdone, Wattenberg reported.)
5. Hunter (Too much like a last name or "too violent.")
6. Hayden
7. Bentley (People dislike brand-name names, Wattenberg found, calling them "trashy")
8. Tristan
9. Michael (Too boring, according to some.)
10. Jackson

Photographer Felix Lupa

The artist lives in Israel.

http://www.felixlupa.com/

Poster artist Leonetto Cappiello 1875-1942

"...he is best known for his work creating posters during the heyday of the poster in the early 20th century. His style differed dramatically from those who had preceded him, with their brightly colored designs leaping out of the black backgrounds he preferred. He went on to create iconic posters for well-known brands, and created over 530 advertising posters that fetch (increasingly) high prices today."
http://cappiellopaintings.com/

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

Wildlife artist John James Audubon

American White Pelican

From Birds of America, 1827-1839

http://tinyurl.com/2gylx

http://tinyurl.com/2btjgka 

Claude Monet self-portrait with beret, 1886

1840-1926

The father of French Impressionism.

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

Untitled landscape

I'd call this "April flood."

http://www.hetart.com/ 

"Mom, the chicken thief."

Mary Louise, 1930

Masterpeeps

 

Van Gogh's Starry Night

Happy International Chocolate Bunny Rabbit Day.

Michael Murphy: Aonach Eagach Ridge, Scotland

 Michael Murphy

http://www.scotcolour.com/

Aonach Eagach Ridge, which means jagged or serrated, is located near beautiful Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands. The rare view was likely captured, no doubt, after along and arduous trek.

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

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

Saturday morning craft time

 

Serpent attack

By Aaron, 2nd Grade

Olathe, Kansas

Friday night 'Hippie Hour' — Cheers!

Record albums. 

We're going to hit Zeppelin and Zappa and Hendrix tonight.

Check this out.

http://www.ledzeppelin.com/

Scottish artist William Strang 1859-1921

Death and the Ploughman's Wife
Etching, 1884

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

French painter Henri Fantin-Latour 1836-1904

Vase de Pivoines 1881

It's the season for my favorite flower, the peony. 

Well, not quite yet — my bush is only about a foot tall.

Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,
   and softly,
      and exclaiming of their dearness,
       fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,

with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,
    their eagerness
      to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are
        nothing, forever?

 ~ excerpt from Peonies, by Mary Oliver

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Fantin-Latour

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

I have a very hard time pronouncing "pivoines."

Bratz doll KO's Barbie in $89 million win

Mattel Inc., the maker of Barbie dolls, lost an $89 million verdict today that ended seven years of litigation against the maker of the popular Bratz doll line.

The question was whether a former Mattel designer violated his non-compete agreement to create a zillion-dollar new doll line at another company. Apparently he didn't.

Mattel also unsuccessfully argued that Barbie's enhanced body features were trademarked, but the jury said that the dolls look nothing alike. Mattel was also guilty of corporate spying.

Barbie had class. Mattel does not.

Chinese Lorem ipsum

生新樣如一

男太兒無這母情一好安就一論麼我情，視不目於臺……手弟看山車路。
麼連中行雨果別所了不特，來坐簡，小車母中一條的輕！接血們加統舞考境後春給著開的心民有那象子子目子中：起洋相成流？產下寫地水投。
康的司這來發用富於檢道子慢立引……用己己任從許；來得單興起行爾能服打作著期的意……方推力心我簡中。國具登如法何火濟保目……衣你是心，選文法為時後眼聲會！氣過預自分裡國後走：細團市。過大他所動人也賽微士同！
公 年魚歷不平大子，商步心場費一感力，式部分上造文比，子別展我線家死操立節，書期增家氣業；自急不來教安朋出作步就……進為聲常際！思魚地得調？你也像行 要石級有下示到藝什，是生和想最快後，一而全，原但最能氣歡親發；可學充子金歌情會果下國關從學來前；但世們公起實之運！
連家變的白生靜言弟，新紅有及被大明量小……電法獎放和？神特種服病金到許老牛、分乎程臺最位知致民已它包服子，前一內認的時經會問運動天數綠見破。致因化知關力完？
你亞美義不變朋！王達備；可的打。王而認？定的就臺，里一收教時！時高不的全，就益怎個，約地成道方電然色看當電進醫實著？

Astronaut Bruce McCandless 1937-present

Former Navy pilot Bruce McCandless was, 1) aboard the FIRST space shuttle, Challenger, 2) made the FIRST untethered free flight, captured in this famous 1984 photo above, 3) and in doing so, was the FIRST person to use the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) that enabled him to travel 300 feet away WITHOUT A TETHER, PEOPLE! He is a 1958 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. We applaud.

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

Stepping stones

Aren't you glad spring is here?

Chocolat Nestle 1930

How do they get their whites so white?

The University of Wisconsin Lady Falcons play softball in River Falls. 

c. 1949

Driftwood heart

American portraitist Marie Danforth Page, 1869-1940

Her Littlest One

1914

Page was born in Boston and remained there during her career.

English painter Edmund Leighton, 1853-1922

The Lord of the Manor

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

Restroom sign

This must be from a Science Fiction convention.

Lonely panda

Super-stretch limo in S.F.

Illusions

American painter Meredith E. Campbell

King of the Hill

The artist lives in Wyoming.

http://www.meredithecampbell.com/

Pre-Columbian Ecuadorian statue

A Pre-Columbian Ecuadorian sculpture

Ecuador is the oldest culture in the Americas,

predating the Incas, and dating back to 3500 BC.

 Many artifacts are exhibited at the Banco 

Central Del Ecuador Museo Nacional.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_Ecuador

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

Saturday morning craft time

By a 2nd Grade artist

Hobbs, New Mexico

Contemporary American landscape painter Scott Christensen

South Park Summer

The artist resides in Idaho.

http://tinyurl.com/5tqrkzl

Ladies' outing

Compare the action from the nearest car to the rear one.

Japanese silk painting

  

  Detail of a late 19th Century Japanese painting on silk.

Artist unknown.

Sharpie art by Chrys Dawid

On foam board.

http://chrysdawid.deviantart.com/

Seascape

Photo by Brenton Mantone

http://www.flickr.com/people/madchicken22/

Russian-born Marie Vorobieff, 1892-1984

Acclaimed as the first female Cubist painter, she moved from Russia to France in her 20s and was friends with Chagall, Modigliani, Matisse, and Pablo Picasso. She befriended the poet Jean Cocteau and had a life-long relationship with painter Diego Rivera. She is buried near him in Mexico.

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

Ukrainian-born painter Maria Bashkirtseff, 1858-1884

 

The Umbrella

1883

Maria Bashkirtseff painted this portrait a 

year before she died of tuberculosis at age 25.

It's unfair to call her Ukrainian, for she lived most of her life in Paris. Her mother did not let her marry, and not surprisingly, she became a feminist of her day. She was best friends with Jules Bastien-Lepage, and corresponded with Guy de Maupassant and Alexandre Dumas. 

http://www.xs4all.nl/~androom/biography/p022866.htm

Huntington Beach, California, 1930s

Oil derricks along the coastline of Orange County, Southern California in the 1930s.

The Huntington Beach oil field was discovered in the 1920s by a petroleum engineer for Standard Oil of California. The biggest rig was called Bolsa Chica No. 1, and it delivered up to 2,000 barrels a day. Today the oil field is mainly depleted, but there is an offshore well still producing oil.

http://www.surfcityusa.com/chrisepting/discovery.aspx

The Giant Buddha Statue at Leshan, China

The Buddha was created in the 9th Century A.D. during the Tang Dynasty, and sits at the confluence of three rivers. Access is either by boat or down a steep trail off the the left side. The statue is 233 feet tall, and took nearly 100 years to carve. It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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

Austrian painter Carl Reichert, 1836–1918

S

Seeing After the Pups

 Reichert is known for his portraits of dogs. 

Wisteria

In the news

Fifteen students from a Massachusetts prep school broke a world record by folding a 13,000-foot roll of toilet paper in half 13 times. They used an 800-foot corridor at MIT to accomplish the feat.

A naked man in Florida used an AK-47 rifle to disable a SWAT robot after he threatened suicide and refused to come out of his house. The man was apprehended, and the robot was sent to the manufacturer for repairs.

A New Mexico man drove a "sick friend" to the emergency room at a local hospital, but instead the staff found a decomposing body in the passenger seat. His friend had been dead for 48 hours.

A Virginia man was grossed out when a boa constrictor slithered out of a chair recently given to him by a friend. Police estimate the snake was huddled in the coils. It was returned to its owner unharmed.

A Cincinnati man was arrested for barking at a police dog. Police were investigating a disturbance at a bar when an intoxicated patron stepped outside and spotted the dog in the back of the cruiser. He began barking and "hissing" at it and caused it to become agitated. He was charged with teasing a police dog.

A Kansas woman was charged with assaulting a TSA officer at a Philadelphia airport when she cracked a plastic, confetti-filled egg across the agent's head. The former DJ and traveling clown, known as "The Bunny Lady," was asked about the eggs at the airport, so she gave them a demonstration. She was held for 3 hours and released into police custody.

Finally, a Cincinnati police officer on bike patrol was sent flying through a plate-glass window when he was startled by an aggressive goose. Experts say the goose was protecting its nest.

That's all for now — stay safe out there!

Monowheels

The Motoruota monowheel, from Motorcycle magazine, 1927. 

It was a hit in Paris and Rome.

Motoruota is Italian for motorwheel.

Monowheels
http://tinyurl.com/3j75xr5