An Ethereal Word Wednesday

This week I asked my lovely daughter to pick the word we would look at today. And, like the angel she is, she picked "ethereal".  A beautiful choice! So what is the definition of ethereal? Here's what I found:

ethereal (comparative more ethereal, superlative most ethereal)

1. Pertaining to the hypothetical upper, purer air, or to the higher regions beyond the earth or beyond the atmosphere; celestial; otherworldly; as, ethereal space; ethereal regions.  [quotations ▼]
2. Consisting of ether; hence, exceedingly light or airy; tenuous; spiritlike; characterized by extreme delicacy, as form, manner, thought, etc.  [quotations ▼]
3. Delicate, light and airy.

Celestial, light, airy - I like that!  Like many English words it comes from Latin - specifically from "aetherius" which means "of or pertaining to the ether, the sky or the air or upper air".  Brings to mind angels, clouds, blue skies, the heavens!  

So I went on Google and typed in "ethereal art".  Here are three completely random choices from the images that appeared as a result of that search.

Dance in Ethereal by brideinblacklace on deviantart.com

Art Friday - Jen Stark - paper artist

The Artist

American contemporary artist Jen Stark creates three-dimensional pieces from paper. Among her tools are an X-acto knife, wood, and mirrors.  Her methods are simply layering a variety of colors in order to achieve different effects. She is inspired by microscopic natural patterns, wormholes and sliced anatomy.  

Sunken Sediment

The Highest Point

From an interview with coolhunting.com:

You often say you are inspired by science and psychedelia. Tell us more about your fascination.

I love thinking about how enormous shapes out in the universe can have the same patterns as tiny microorganisms under a microscope. How geometric shapes and certain spiraling patterns apply to designs in nature big and small. Also, it is interesting to me how much we still don't know about science and the way things work. I hope to maybe reveal, on a visual level, some truth or insight about these ideas. My work relates to the psychedelic movement because of ideas of perception, and a sense of altered consciousness. I'm also drawn to the radiant colors associated with psychedelics and the fascination with optical patterns and mind alterations. I think in certain ways, psychedelia is a quest to discover unknowns about ourselves and the universe, and I'm striving to answer these type of questions through my artwork.

  

 

 

 

 

Centrifugal

 

Stark was the winner of the MOCA North Miami Optic Nerve 10th annual film festival, as well as recipient of the prestigious South Florida Cultural Consortium's Visual and Media Artists Fellowship in 2008. Her work was also recently included in Cool Hunting's "Best of 2012"

Spectral Zenith

Stark’s began working with paper during a study abroad trip in the south of France, during which a declining dollar forced her to choose an affordable art medium with great potential.

Coriolis Effect

You can find more about Ms Stark and her work here:

https://www.facebook.com/JenStarkArtwork/info

http://www.jenstark.com 

 

The Paintings of William Blake

Some believe William Blake is the greatest British visual artist in history.  Both his poetry and his paintings are considered part of the Romantic period. All of his works have a spiritual or mystical tone.

He created a series of watercolor paintings called "The Great Red Dragon" between 1805 and 1810 that depict various scenes from the book of Revelation in the Bible.

 

The Dragon ready to devour the child of the pregnant woman - Revelation 12

The Great Red Dragon and the Beast from the Sea

Blake painted "The Ghost of a Flea" at the request of painter John Varley who, upon hearing Blake's descriptions of visions, asked him to paint a depiction of one of the creatures in his visions.

 

 Blake's depiction of the Bible story of Cain and Abel. This is a watercolor created on wood.

The Body of Abel Found by Adam and Eve

  
The paintings I show above are such a small representation of Blake's work.  He created over 100 pieces for Dante's Divine Comedy alone. 

The video below showcases several more but it is well worth the time to look around the internet to find more of his work.  The music accompanying this video is Vivaldi: Gloria.

 

Art and Life

"Life is not a support system for art. It is the other way around" - Stephen King

Let me make one thing very clear up front. Stephen King rocks.  There are very few famous people that I am crazy about.  You know, the put-them-on-a-pedestal and drool-over-everything-they-do kind of admiration.  No, let me correct that statement.  I can't think of one other famous person I feel that way about.  But Mr King - well, there is a bit of hero worship going on with me where he is concerned.  He is a brilliant writer.  If you are a writer, or aspire to be a writer, and have not read his book On Writing, you must.  It's straightforward and clear and inspiring.  Even non-writers would enjoy it.  The first half is about his journey to become an author and it's wonderful.

Anyway, it's not only his writing I admire.  His views on writing and art, his philosophy about them, are spot on and he has a way of expressing them perfectly. The quote at the top of this article is a great example.

"Life is not a support system for art. It is the other way around". I love that! He is absolutely right! Not just the art we see in museums, the stuff of the rich crowd and snobs - although that art is beautiful - but art in every form.  Writing is art.  Music, sculpture, poetry, dance - any creative form of expression is art. 

I must agree with William Blake as well that repression of our emotions is deadly to our spirit.  Art in any form is an expression of our emotions, our spirit and creating it and enjoying it is one of the healthiest things we can do. It is a support system for life. In creating it we express ourselves, nurturing our spirits. In experiencing someone else's creation of art we connect with their emotion or the experience touches something inside our own spirit.  Art keeps us in touch with who we are, with our very essence.

    

Isaiah Stephens

The Man

Drawing is part of Isaiah Stephens' soul.  He began drawing as soon as he could hold a pencil and intends to do it for the rest of his life.  The inner strength of women that he says is his inspiration is beautifully illustrated in his work.  

In addition to creating pencil drawings he loves to read - mostly fantasy adventures and science fiction - and has a passion for writing.  He is currently working on his first novel!

When is the viewer, instead of the creator, of visual art, he most enjoys abstract art.  In his own words he "despises" creating abstract art but finds great beauty in the harmony and beauty that can be created by bringing together things that shouldn't go together at all. 

The Art

Isaiah Stephens is an American artist and writer from Lowell, Massachusetts. Mostly know for his 'Gothic Beauty' works, he also plays with art related to pop culture and surrealism.

The emotion Isaiah communicates in his work is amazing.  His ability to create unbelievably realistic portrayals of facial features with a pencil is beautiful.  Please take a few moments to watch the video below.  It showcases several of his pieces and the accompanying music and vocals is art in itself.  Enjoy.

You can see more of Isaiah's work here: www.isaiahs.deviantart.com/gallery

You can connect with Isaiah at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/IKS-Art/176369772413102
http://iksart.tumblr.com/

New Artists Every Week!

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the most popular pins on my Pinterest account.  They were a Van Gogh painting and a cookie recipe.  Well you fine people have wonderful taste because so far this month the popular pins are also art - two pieces that I really liked myself! 

I love art of any kind and apparently you enjoy at least painting and pencil drawings!  So starting next Friday I will indulge our shared love of art weekly.  Each week I'll feature a different 

artist.  We'll see how it develops but I'm thinking I'll share some of the artist's work along with a bio so you can learn about the person behind the art.  Some will be well-known artists like Van Gogh, some will be lesser-known artists.

If there is a particular artist or a particular art form that you especially enjoy and would like to see featured here please let me know by commenting below and I will gladly do so.

And let's connect!  If you'd kindly direct your eyes to the right, you will find a button where you can follow me on Twitter or Pinterest or a variety of other ways.  And we can be friends on Facebook!  Look me up!  Ta ta for now!

Well my Pinterest followers really enjoy two of my pins.  In fact, there are two pins that account for almost half of the repins on my Pinterest page. Here they are for those of you who don't follow me there yet. 

The first is a painting by Van Gogh titled Almendro en Flor - shown below.

There is a saying that no two people read the same book.  Each person experiences a book differently.  We each have our own unique images in our mind when reading a book.  The same is true for visual art.  Although you and I look at the same painting above, it may mean completely different things to us.  It may bring back some memory or evoke some emotion for you that it doesn't for me.  Visual art isn't just visual.  It's intellectual and emotional as well.

What does the painting above say to you?  Do the colors create a particular emotion or mood?  This is a painting of a delicate branch.  What does that mean to you?  If you think about the emotions it brings out in you, does that evoke some memory?  

When I saw this painting for the first time it made me think of spring and new beginnings. The delicacy of the branch and the flowers represent new, fragile life, fully of possibility.  The cool, refreshing blue sky and delicate white flowers are soothing. 

Sometimes we know the artist's intent and sometimes we don't.  It's said that Van Gogh painted this in celebration of the birth of his nephew - in celebration of a new beginning! A new, fragile life, full of possibility!  It's very easy for me to see that in this artwork.  Did you see something different?

The other popular pin from my Pinterest page is a recipe.  You are people of varied interests - cooking and art!  I love both as well though so personally I think you're geniuses to love both.  :)

The recipe is for easy lemon sugar snaps.  They are awesome!

I love lemon so maybe I'm biased but I don't think so based on how quickly they disappeared during the holidays.  Make them! 

Btw, if you'd like to view these pins and follow my Pinterest page so you're in on other awesome stuff, there's a little button to the right on this page that allows you to do that!  Wonder what next month's popular pins will be?

Toodles!