Rolling van Gogh
Just as The Rolling Stones have been my favorite musical artists since the first time I heard them in the 60s, so Vincent van Gogh has been my favorite visual artist since the first time I really became aware of him when a boyfriend took me to his exhibit at LACMA in the 70s. I can see Keith and Vincent sharing a smoke and some laughs together while Mick and Theo discuss business in the background. The same souls keep coming around in different disguises. This is a story about one of Vincent's over-paintings....
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-sci-vangogh30-2008jul30,0,7491968.story

Rabbit Hides, Egg Yolks & Mummies

Painting in the Ancient World is the day-long workshop I attended on Sunday at the Getty Villa. We learned Romano-Egyptian painting techniques led by artist Sylvana Barrett. We learned how to mix pigments with boiled rabbit hide (or cow hide) glue or egg yolks to make our own paint and prepared a poplar board (which is what the Mona Lisa was painted on) using authentic materials on which we created a tempera portrait. We started out in the museum gallery looking at the mummy portraits. I've looked at these many times but never noticed the fine (and not-so-fine) cross hatching before. We learned to use this technique to create shadows and highlights and soften the edges between them. I rather like this technique and plan to experiment in acrylics.

I'm not comfortable doing anything for the first time in a classroom situation so although I'm not happy with my finished product, it was a fun day and I'd like to use these pigments and techniques at my own speed. But for better or worse, I'm brave enough to post the portrait on this blog for the whole world to see! And you can see the mummy portrait that inspired this painting here. (So, mine doesn't look so bad now, heh....)

The instructor will be teaching a workshop on manuscript illumination later in the year and I already have the date penciled into my day planner.

(Photo copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Terra Cotta and Shiny Rocks
Saturday five of us invaded the Bowers Museum to view the Terra Cotta Warriors, the largest exhibit of Emperor Qin's Terra Cotta Army ever seen outside of China. I had previously seen photos of the thousands of soldiers lined up in the trenches, discovered by farmers in the 1970s, but I didn't know what to expect from the exhibit. The Bowers, as usual, has done an outstanding job. KL had seen the original excavation in China but was suitably impressed by the presentation. I was amazed by the completeness of the statues as many had been pieced together from shattered remains. Like the marble statues of the Roman Empire, these terra cotta soldiers were brightly painted, but apparently as soon as they hit the air the paint disappeared and we see only the color of the clay. So although there are possibly thousands more of these statues waiting to be uncovered, they will remain buried until technology is able to save the paint colors. The exhibit is well attended (at least at the weekend) and the lines were long for people without tickets.
And now for something completely different, the other worthwhile exhibit at the Bowers, is GEMS! Colors of Light and Stone. To quote the website "the most important private gem collection in the United States, with few rivals in the world outside of the royal families, the Michael Scott Collection is back at Bowers Museum and features even more luxurious pieces." I wouldn't know a diamond from a piece of cut glass, but this exhibit is fascinating. I particularly liked the rocks in their uncut state compared to the finished piece. And the largest cut gem in the world was on display, a huge hunk of 500,000 carats... you gotta see it in all its glory...
The Terra Cotta Warriors are a must see (even if you've already seen them in their raw state in China) and if you visit before August 24 you'll have the added treat of the gem collection. And I never tire of seeing the museum's collection of plein air paintings, California, The GoldenYears.

Women of Art and ScienceIf you have any interest in botanical art, don't miss Maria Sibylla Merian & Daughters through August 31, 2008 at the Getty Center. From the Getty website: "Enterprising and adventurous, these women raised the artistic standards of natural history illustration and helped transform the field of entomology, the study of insects. The exhibition presents books, prints, and watercolors by Merian and her contemporaries and features one of the greatest illustrated natural history books of all time, The Insects of Suriname."

As an adjunct to the exhibit you can visit with botanical artists in the Central Garden as they demonstrate materials and techniques for rendering plants and flowers. Free; no reservations required. Learn more about artist-at-work demonstrations. Thursdays and Sundays, July 3–31, 2008, 1:00–3:00 p.m. Getty Center, Central Garden.

After visiting the exhibit I wandered around the garden talking to the various artists. Their work is inspiring. And each one had a different story to tell about how they came to this avocation. The Central Garden is in its full summer glory right now as you can see from the photo above.

I learned the Botanical Artists Guild of Southern California is to host the 13th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Botanical Artists October 30, 2008 - November 1, 2008 at The Huntington Library. I plan on being there!

(Photo copyright roslyn m wilkins)