This and That: A Blog

  Y ellow is the Color of Spring this week for Thursday Postcard Hunt . Cottonwood Tree in Spring , Georgia O'Keefe, 1943 Nora in Ireland sent me this yellow Postcrossing postcard. Yellow Goldenrod is the state flower of Nebraska. From 1916 comes this yellow postcard.  This "Gold Nugget" was one of German-American minister and public speaker, William J. H. Boetcher's moral maxims.  These were published in a series Inside Maxims . Next week our postcard color will be Green .

  H arvey is the name of the artist, and for lack of any title given I call the painting Harvey .  Harvey is a big guy, 24" x 30" from St. Vincent de Paul.  I paid $6.50 for him.  There's an H poetry form about H arvey h ere .

  G reen Pheasant (referred to as Pheasant until the 1920s when publishers used Green Pheasant  in import titles), original painting by  Sakai Hoitsu, print  c. 1923-1925. This belonged to my paternal grandmother who may have purchased it at Gump's in San Francisco, which was a major importer of Japanese art and woodblock prints. There is a bit more to it along the left, but it had been folded for decades to fit an inappropriate frame.  There's a G for the Gogyohka form poem here . 

 Woolly Apple mint is a reliable invasive!  One of the self-seeded Sungold tomatoes.  I guess I won't have to buy any plants this year!    Star of Bethlehem is a weed that's hard to get rid of, but it sure is pretty.  Hopefully it stays cool enough for the snap peas to reach maturity.  They are in no hurry this year.  One of the oreganos pops up all over the yard.  It's pretty, so I don't mind. Golden Oregano  Geum Fire Storm  One of the free curb irises is blooming.  As are the California poppies.  I think 99% of them came up in the paths not the beds.    I'm already pulling them out. The globe artichoke is coming back nicely.  The weather's been nice, cool mornings and warm afternoons in the 70s.  By the weekend it will cool off though, with rain expected in a few days.   That might give the peas a chance!

  I bought this antique print, F rost Breaking,  1850s-1880s, in 1969 or 1970 in Portobello Market, London, when I was 13 years old.  It's a photo-engraved electrotype (electric engraving).  First, the original artwork was photographed, then a metal plate was etched using electric current, and the plate used to print the image.  An F poetry form can be found here .

 I was delighted to find some antique photos at St. Vincent de Paul.  It really pays to looks in places you don't expect to find things, as these were just stuffed down in a plastic container of the loose "artwork" (which is mostly junk).  1905 Hugo Hahn, Austria, cabinet card.  Larger than others I've found, 5 x 8. $2.00 A group of businessmen in front of Schloss Moritzburg - near Dresden, Saxony, Germany.  Pencil date on the back of 1940. At the time Moritzburg was a government-controlled site used for administrative and cultural functions, where delegations would meet for planning and negotiations.  It was under periodic restoration.  Perhaps the large bag carried by the one man held documents, maps, or tools.  Even the hats are telling. There are three Homburgs ( the power hats of 1940 Germany!), the hats of senior officers or high status professionals.  Three others are wearing fedoras, mostly worn by middle-ranking professionals, techn...

The E ye of God , or  L’Oeil de Dieu , is not the title Salvador Dali gave this print, however it is the dealer title, or marketing name.  He created it for one of the illustrations in The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini .  This is not from the book, it's a later print.  While some think " Oh!  A Dali print!  That's valuable! "  Not really.  Dali would sign multiple blank pages that would later be used for prints.  This is signed in pencil in the margin. It's worth a few hundred, but as my mother used to say, " Not enough to retire on ."   I actually got this at a yard sale with a pile of other artwork for $20 total, so less than $1!  My P post is another one from the same sale, and that is actually worth more.  The E poem for this artwork is here .