This and That: A Blog

 For this last week of Thursday Postcard Hunt 's theme Color of Spring we're hunting for the color  Blue .  From the Porcelains Collection in the Hebert Hoover Presidential Library, West Branch, Iowa  Lake George , Georgia O'Keefe, 1922 Blue Forget-Me-Nots  To My Sweetheart , postmark 1910 Next week is May, and the new theme will be Parks and Gardens. Up first will be National Parks. 

Our last letter, Z .   It's a Z oo Out There was bought at Goodwill for $2.69.  How could I resist!  There must be a story behind this trio of Washington D.C. powerhouses!  The title is one I picked for the Challenge, I usually call it Animals in D.C.  A Z poem is here .  This is the end of another April A to Z Blogging Challenge.  It's always fun to participate, and read so many other A to Z posts.  Come back soon, I post multiple times a week beyond April!

  Y ang Jian is a figure in Chinese mythology.  I found this mid-century half-tone print of Y ang Jian in an Italian frame in the Goodwill Outlet bins.  It's not unusual for his third eye to be missing, as exports (the print isn't Italian, only the frame) "softened" the supernatural elements for the Western markets. Also, his celestial dog is often left out of these small prints, focus is on the central figure.    There's an alphabet haiku for Y here .

Not an X for a title or subject of the artwork, but for the red X I see across the image.  It may not have been the artist's intent, although it would fit his theme.  This is a print of Franz Marc's Fate of the Animals , painted in 1913, here renamed by the publisher, for an American market, to Animals at Bay .  The artist wrote on the back of the original canvas, " And all being is flaming, suffering ," or " And all being is flaming sorrow ."  Marc had a sense of foreboding, a premonition of society's apocalyptic shattering.  He sensed the coming World War, and his painting depicts the price of human conflict on nature, the animals innocent victims.  The dark portion of the painting was damaged a few years later, after the artist's death, in a warehouse fire.  Using photos, the artist Paul Klee, a friend of Marc's, restored it, but used brown tint to show an obvious difference, although it was never discovered why he did so.  I got this in the ...

 There's a new thrift store in town!  The sign in the window reads " Clothes and Antiques ."  The clothes were all outside on racks, and I wasn't too hopeful about what we'd (my son and I) find inside.  But, it was full of vintage and antique items!  More than newer items actually.  It reminded me of an antique mall booth, but an entire store.  Good prices too.   I got dogs.  Five dogs and an antique photo.  Here are the dogs shown by size, little to large.  Light plastic to heavy chrome plated  brass. A little plastic Scottish terrier made in Japan.  This and the next were $3 for both. A pair of playing fox terrier puppies, also marked Japan. As a rule, I avoid buying chipped or cracked items.  However, for $1 I couldn't resist this pressed glass French bulldog, chipped in places and missing his right paw.  It's Westmoreland, from the original mold, c.1920. In the mid-20s they added their logo.  The gl...

  W restlers I  (there is another I call  W restlers II ) was painted in 1960 by my father, W in Smith. There is a W poem here .

  M is the letter of the week for Sunday Stamps .  M andrill  Republic of Burundi 1975 M oustached Guenon  M onkey Federal Republic of Cameroon c. 1962 M ouse, Cactus USA 1999, Nature of America: Sonoran Desert series N ext week it's N stamps.

V is for The  V irgin . I found this hand-painted Mexican devotional Madonna painting in the Goodwill Outlet bins.  It's about 75 years old, not a tourist item. There is a V poem here , a V erso-Rhyme.

  U rban Showers  is my U , and my title for this ink on newsprint by Mary  Pedri.  In a previous life it won an award at the 1963 Lodi (California) Grape Festival and National Wine Show. It was a birthday gift from one of my sons, who found it at Goodwill.   An U ta poetry form can be found here  for U Day. 

 This week's Thursday Postcard Hunt is all about the color Purple.   A Postcrossing card from the Czech Republic from Michal. Forever Thine German, c. 1908-1912  Purple Petunias, Georgia O'Keefe, 1926 "I decided that if I could paint that flower in a huge scale, you could not ignore its beauty." Georgia O'Keefe, a quote from the 1920s . Blue is next week. 

 T urquoise Memories (what I believe the title reads - the signature and title are in silver on the black border, in cursive) is a monotype, a print created by drawing or painting on a smooth, non-absorbent surface and transferring that image onto paper.  A monotype is one of a kind.  I bought this at Goodwill for $5.21.  There was a gallery sticker on the back, " Monotype $550 "!  I can't read the artist's signature, but obviously not an amateur attempt for that price. A T poetry form can be found here . 

  S udden S hower over S hin-Ohashi Bridge , by Hiroshige Atake.  My print is either a late Edo-period (1857-1868) or early Meiji impression (late1860s-1870s), both considered "original period" impressions printed from the original blocks, using the same pigments and techniques as the first edition (1857).  There would be a seal to date it more accurately, but it's currently matted and framed.   How it came to be in my family is a sad story.  My father bought this, and a few other Japanese prints, from Japanese neighbors who was selling their belongings prior to going into WWII internment camps in California.  He paid 50¢ each.   My S poetry form is here . 

For R I have The R anch House,  my name for this unsigned mid-century (1930s - 1950s) California regional impressionism.  I bought it as a present to myself with a tax refund back when I worked and got tax refunds!  I did pay more than you are used to my paying for art, $89.00.  An R poetry form can be found here .

 A few cute things from a few St. Vincent de Paul trips.   A cute little bone china pup made in Japan c. 1950s-1960s.  Someone donated a few small dog figurines, but the manager priced most at over $6 due to them being "original" so and so made.  Not worth it.  These 4" ceramic fish were just 75¢ each and puzzled me when I bought them.  What are they?  Whistles!  Or to be specific, "edge-blown aerophones," like fish-shaped bottle flutes. Yes, they work just like blowing across a bottle, or playing a flute. Which I did, played the flute, for years.  My father was completely unable to play a flute, or even make a noise blowing on a bottle!  These are Japanese made, sold as good-luck items, from around 1960-1970.  Red Wing Pottery salt and pepper shakers in the Lexington pattern produced roughly 1941-1957, in their hand-painted dinnerware era. The two different shapes through me, and the manager.  She had them displayed in se...

 This is Q ueen Isabel , my name for her.  I have always seen a woman in a royal type headdress, and my imagination sees the background as ship sails!  You're welcome to see something else, that's the beauty of an abstract without any artist information.  To me this looks like a black ink print over paint.  I bought her at a Goodwill for $5.39, in an amazing, and expensive, frame and matting.  A Q poetry from can be found here .

 Welcome to Sunday Stamps and the week's theme of L .  L yrebird  Australia first issued in 1937 L ynx (Eurasian) USSR 1988, Zoo Relief Fund Ll ama mother and young (a cria) L iberia 1971, UNICEF 25th anniversary series "Animals with Their Young" What's up next week?   M of course!

Linking to Skywatch Friday

P ompeii. The Race  ( P ompei. La Corsa ) i s a watercolor painting signed Scognamiglio,  inspired by ancient Roman wall paintings in the Pompeian style.  Scognamiglio is a common surname in Naples, so the artist can't be narrowed down.  Artist families would work together in the Neapolitan workshops near Pompeii producing fresco copies for tourists.  This piece dates to between 1935 and 1950. These dates are based on the paper type, and border and signature style.  I bought this at a yard sale with a lot of other works of art, so divided evenly probably cost a bit under $1. There's a P poetry form for this here , a Pareado. 

O ut of Order gets its title from the sign on the bathroom door in this pen and ink drawing I got at a Goodwill, framed, for $1.65.   Part of its charm is the note the artist wrote on the back. There is a light-hearted O poem, an Ovi, here .

  Green is this week's Color of Spring for Thursday Postcard Hunt .  Absinthe Robette ,  Henri Privat-Livemont,   a postcard version of the French poster advertising the Belgian absinthe brand. Oh, Garfield, don't we all?    The Japanese Garden in Portland, Oregon  Gauguin's Chair , Vincent van Gogh Next week's color is Purple .

  N ativity  is my name for this diptych (an artwork in two connected parts), a term from Greek meaning " pair of writing tablets ."  I found it in the Goodwill Outlet bins, and it's one of my favorite pieces.  The artist is  Marlinde von Ruhs , which is rather incredible to find!  The two parts are hinged, trimmed in gold braid and a tassel, with the backs covered in turquoise felt with beading.  It's the most amazing nativity I've ever seen! Marlinde often mounted her smaller works in felt or velvet, brocade, and gold braiding.  According to some sources she didn't want them to be just paintings in a frame.  She liked the idea of a tactile, handmade presence.  I had assumed the framing and edging was added after the paintings left the artist's possession, and to find they were done by the artist herself was actually moving!  An N poem form, Nonce, can be found here .