This and That: A Blog

 Now that the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge has ended, it's time for some reflections and the Reflections Post.  These questions come for the co-hosts, my responses, my reflections, are in blue.  Although I participated with two blogs I am only posting my reflections here.  Our team theme this year was: A is for Aspirations: Blogging hopes, dreams, and goals. Do you feel like our team's posts from this month met your expectations for that theme? Yes , I do. How do you feel about the Theme Reveal? (Especially if this is  not  your first year doing the Challenge.) I like that there is a Theme Reveal. It’s like a preliminary thing before the main event!  In what ways does the reflection post help you? Writing one helps me look back over the month and see what went right, and what I could have done better. Or, at least, i f not better, differently.  It also gives me a chance to address ongoing proble...

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 ...

  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 .

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. 

 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 . 

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 .

 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 .

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 .

  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 . 

  M agpie Goose (artist's title) is a limited edition (154/500) print by Australian artist  Doris Gingingara  (1946-1999).  I bought it as Goodwill for $2.06 with the signed and dated (9/99) Certificate of Authenticity on the back. I've written a Mondo poetry form for this one  here .

L is The Lighthouse, a lithograph copyright Henry B. Sandler Co. Inc. New York City published around 1962-1964.  The artist of the original painting is shown as Alfieri, most likely a publisher house artist or contract artist.  The name Alfieri is found on multiple Sandler Co. prints from the 1960s.  I found this in its original frame (Sandler lithographs were sold in frames, ready to hang) in the Goodwill Outlet bins.  10¢ a pound glass price!  An L for Lanturne poem can be found here . 

K brings us two works of art.  K analen I and K analen II, monotype mixed medias by Helle (Melchoir) Hamilton 1989. K analen means " canal ."  A monotype is a one of a kind artwork, which is why these are numbered 1/1.  Ms. Hamilton was born in Denmark and moved to the U.S. in 1965 at the invitation of her grandfather, Lauritz Melchior , a world-famous tenor who also performed in musical films. Two years later she married David Hamilton, the brother of actor George Hamilton, who was the best man at the wedding.   I rescued these, literally, as one was fallen out of the frame, from the Goodwill Outlet bins.  They still had the gallery artist's information on the backs.  I paid $1 each.  This goes to show us, you can find professional original art in not only thrift stores, but the salvage bins!   I wrote a K poetry form for these, found here . 

  This sketch came professionally framed from St. Vincent de Paul for only 50¢. It is signed Paunc h, and on the back is a doodle that reads PaunchoDoodles .   A Joseph's Star poetry form can be found here .

I nés  is my name for this painting on canvas I found unrolled in the dirt of a yard sale.  I got it for under $1.00. My I poetry form can be found here .

  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 .