22 May 2014

Train rose


Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, Ted Rose (1940-2002) developed a life-long passion for railroads after a family trip to the Chicago Railroad Fair in 1949.

He completed over 1000 watercolors. Both his photographs and his paintings demonstrate his disciplined eye and expressive tendencies – all are evocative interpretations of an industrial era now rapidly vanishing.

Ted Rose captured not just trains, but the very culture of railroads; how machinery and industry intersect with humans and their communities.

Source: RRDC








I'm still fascinated about my own fascination about watercolor painting. Have a great warm spring day.


16 May 2014

Building the GGB

Colorized and half fake (see the original)



Building the Golden Gate Bridge


The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the world's largest examples of the art deco style. The famous suspension bridge spans the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean.


Construction began on January 5 1933. The bridge-opening celebration began on May 27 1937 and lasted for one week. The day before vehicle traffic was allowed 200,000 people crossed by foot and roller skates.


A trestle reaches out from the San Francisco shore to the foundation of the north tower, 1933



Work progresses, 1934



Golden Gate Bridge towers



October 1935



Workers complete the catwalks for the Golden Gate Bridge, hundreds of feet above the strait below, prior to spinning the bridge cables during construction on October 25 1935



May 1936



Unfinished from Fort Scott



Road deck being suspended from cables, 1936



Nearing completion in 1937



Opening day: the Golden Gate Bridge was opened to pedestrians on May 27 1937



A pedestrian poses at the old railing on opening day


+++
Very cool facts about the aesthetics of the GGB on my blog last July: Art deco in international orange




The Stranglers - Golden Brown



Golden Brown (Mariachi Version)




© Nathan Jones (here)


15 May 2014

Cheval rêve

From Houston, TX, US, dadadreams makes "curious collage creations featuring retro pop culture elements, but with a strange slightly off-kilter twist".
















&



WWI, Cabaret Voltaire & the beginnings of Dada

(excerpt from a documentary-in-progress on the dada movement, titled Random Acts of Beauty: The Story of Dada by Byron Caplan)



13 May 2014

Ex aequo enjoyable parts

My new work: miniature felt flowers in a wooden pot

If you have questions about how this tiny potted bouquet was made, here are the answers.

Felt is a non-woven textile.

First, you need felt.

Soft bendable fabric, I love felt. At the Etsy shop named BenzieDesign, you can choose the specific colors you want among trillions of colors. That's what I did.


Doink!

Cut a circle, I mean an oval, into a spiral.

Twist & stitch.

Roll it until you have run out of spiral. A few stitches will make the edge stay put. 

Repeat it.

Even if my – miniature – flowers are not made of paper, this tutorial helped me a lot: how to make rolled paper flowers.

Then the green stem.

The flower is stitched to the stem. Once the sepals cut, choose three colors that go well together.

And the pots.

Clue the small bouquet in the (hand-dyed (!) in strong instant coffee) miniature wooden pot. Meet my friendly supplier: MiniatureMakerSupply.

The flowers look like ranunculus.

You may ask yourself, which aspect is the fun part in this crafty beauty creation? Each moment is enjoyable when creating miniature felt flowers. Twisting, stitching, assembling, offering.

In my Etsy shop, the listed ones.


Thank you for you interest in my work.