Olga Suvorova ~ Russian Artist Extraordinaire

 

Olga Suvorova/ Ольга Суворова is an acclaimed Russian Master. She was born in 1966 in St. Petersburg. Olga Suvorova has created her own style of painting – lifestyle portraits of costumed characters in the interiors of different epochs. Her work is a nostalgia for the St. Petersburg “World of Art” movement with its retrospective and love of the 18th century. Olga is the daughter of the Honored Artist of the RSFSR Igor Suvorov. She graduated from the Academy of Arts of Ilya Repin in 1988. . Her paintings of the players in "Comedia de arte" have a haunting quality that sets her apart from the many young talented artists emerging from the Institute. Recently she has produced a series of magnificently detailed screens which have been widely praised and collected. She also paints portraits and landscapes. Olga has exhibited in Italy, Germany, Sweden, Finland, France, Britain, Ireland, China, and the USA where her work is in many collections.

I do love her style . . . filling the canvas with the intricacies that can take some time to view and appreciate every stroke of her brush.

How did they survive?

 Fascinated by these devastating photos from the 1930s that capture the poverty and hopelessness of the decade. 

Can't believe this was the era when I was born.  We didn't have much but I never wanted for anything as a child.  Lived in a rental, no car but luckily lots of relatives and friends, enough food, and a roof over our heads.

These photos from Pinterest show the poorest of the poor after the market crashed in 1929.

What goes around comes around

 Years ago, when my friend Karen and I spent another of our days of thrifting in and around Spokane where I live, we found a sweet little book which was a bit over our cheapo budgeting.  So ... we decided we would go together on it and trade it back and forth.  Loved the illustrations in "The Teenie Weeniees" 1917 children's book and had to have it!

Well, it's been sitting on a shelf in my craft room for years.  I finally came across it while looking at my collection of old children's books.  Still love the artwork in the pages (here are a few examples) ~

Not that I would ever sell it, but thought I'd do some research.  Found it to have been published in 1917, but to my amazement the inside front cover was stamped "Crosby-Ironton Public Schools TEXT BOOK LIBRARY"!

I grew up in Crosby-Ironton and went all the way from kindergarten through graduation in the schools there.  Spent a lot of time in the libraries, and it's possible I could have read this.  Looks like a lot of little fingers went through this beatup, stained, torn and taped tome.

Made my day

Cecelia Beaux ~ Impressionist

 From humble beginnings painting on fine China and drawing fossils for a geological survey, Philadelphian artist Cecilia Beaux became a prominent portraitist. Her personal style, which combined solid academic training with an experimental streak, was sought after by prominent figures such as American president Theodore Roosevelt and French prime minister Georges Clemenceau. Beaux’s portraits are appropriately stately and serious, but also capture the sitter’s individuality.

Beaux was wildly successful during her day, despite early struggles during her studies at the Académie Julian in Paris. “You know how I hate to fail,” she wrote in a letter at the time. “My grip is pretty hard as a rule.” Beaux made eight trips to France, beginning at the height of the Impressionist movement, and there, she developed the habit of painting en plein air, using loose brushwork and dramatically cropping paintings. 

Another in my series of great female artists that haven't gotten the recognition they deserve.

Cecelia Beaux 1855~1942

 

Oh . . . and

 the quirky old oak box that kept my memorabilia!

It's a well made sturdy box with dovetail corners and brass hardware. The label gives a hint to what is inside

If you are able to read the inside label and are not at all squeamish, it will put you in mind of it being an instrument of torture. 

Thankfully the tubing, bag and stop-cock didn't come with this years ago when we bought it! (Not that I would be tempted to use it.)

To soften what this was used for, inside was this lovely silk rosette . . .

~ Oh so Victorian ~

Lost and Found

 Yesterday, while searching for something else, I came across an old oak box forgotten since moving here.  I've been looking for my good prescription glasses for months now. A little light went off in my personal head computer and thought of another place I hadn't looked before.  So, digging through all the old quilt tops and scarves on the top of the dresser in my closet, a little treasure appeared.  This box contains old letters, photos, newspaper articles, a love letter and so many other clippings and memories going back to the 70s.

I intend to savor each piece . . . one a day to make them last

Letters from my Mom going back to 1970

and from my cousin Sue, Aunt Patsy and Aunt Ruth

and my sweet dear Grandma Laura a letter and Christmas card

Photo of my Aunt Inez being visited in the care center from her husband Clif, plus memory of her death in 1996

My sister's graduation notice (1961) and a sweet letter from her namesake Candy

Newspaper clippings of Dad as City Clerk and Mom with my cousin Craig in our local Crosby Courier

I will keep the love letter to myself.  The old oak box will come as a future blog post. 

Never did find my glasses!

Feeling a bit sentimental today

 Today is my mother's birthday and it got me to thinking about her gardens.  One of her favorite flowers was the gladiola.  I remember her sending me to school with a bouquet of glads for my teacher while in grade school.

I have never attempted to grow that type of flower.  Usually stick to the tried and true petunias, alysum, and other easy to grow annuals.  But this year I expanded my horizons with three new and different perennials.

Several years ago, my mother~in~law gifted me what has become my favorite vase ~ a 1930s Tiffin Poppy Black Amethyst satin glass jewel!  It is perfect for my little front porch with the brightly colored "new-for-me" variety of brown~eyed susans, Indian blankets and cone flowers that adorn my back yard today.

The colors make me so happy!  Thank you for the memories Moms ♥

 

Rocks ... you gotta love 'em

 Kim and Ben purchased a claim in Idaho where they spent a lot of time this summer.   With gold fever, and EPA/government permission slips,  they are just beginning to dig in earnest.

Since they are near a river, I asked her if she could find some smooth river rocks for me to paint on. She found them 6 feet deep in the soil.  Yesterday she brought me two rocks ~ one is a heart shape.

  When I picked it up, ore dust transferred to my fingers.  I know ore dust; I grew up in a mining town in Minnesota.  I was about to run my dishwasher and figured they would come out spotless clean if they went in with the dirty dishes.  Problem solved?  No!  

It is actually a solid piece of iron ore and will rub off forever.

Won't be painting on this one but the other has possibilities.

She looks good among my succulents

Fascinating Trims

What I've been doing on these days where the temp has risen over 100 degrees ~

Digging in my boxes of tangled lace and trims and wrapping them on cards perchance to list them on etsy or eBay after summer is over. None of them are antique but many vintage pieces ... mostly yardage.  I've only separated a few of the many I've collected over the years.

Kept my hands busy during these days stuck inside!

Old family letters

 Written in beautiful hand with what looks like a crowquill pen, these letters and envelopes go all the way back to 1891 and trail off into the early 1900s.  Sometimes my husband's obsession with saving everything brings forth some mighty interesting items. They are part of his family's history which started in Norway and ended in the farmlands of Southwestern Minnesota.

Don't I wish I could read these sweet letters, mostly written to Christi and Nels Bakke, whose family changed their names from Birkebakken when they came to the States.

Struggles

Some may call it a waste of time, but when time is all you have, you fill it with the most mundane of inessential goofing off.  Over the years I have admired the works in "Galloping Pony Studio" (check it out on Pinterest) and the way Virginia Cole adds bits of quilt pieces, buttons, quotes, sayings, etc to her collages. I especially like the little Dresden plate pieces and wanted to replicate them in miniature as she does.

At first I tried making paper patterns of what I thought would work for the pieces it takes to build the plates . . . big mistake!  After spending nearly a day trying to figure that out (with the help of the internet), I gave up and ordered Marti Michell PERFECT PATCHWORK TEMPLATES.  Just exactly what I wanted to make a 3.5" plate.

The first one I struggled through didn't turn out the way I really wanted . . .

 I ended up having to glue the center down over the wonky petals.  Not at all happy.  But I have plenty of time as I said.

As always happens, you learn from the first try and, if you are as stubborn as this blogger, you try again.

Better . . . much better.  This time I made a little yo yo, turned it upside down and glued it in place.

Then I looked closer at the Pinterest offerings from Virginia's site and saw that she made another Dresden plate pattern than the one I had been struggling with.

What a difference the pointed petal made to save time (although I have plenty of that) and picky picky work forming the curves.  This one went together so quickly, I feel like I have to make more of them.

Although there were more petals in this version it was so much easier to turn each one. The next one will look even better!!

These were made from the tiny pieces of vintage fabric I have been collecting for years. It's a small thing, but I feel I have accomplished something new for myself.  

I 

What goes around, comes around

 Years ago when Selah was a just a little girl, I was making Christmas stockings for her and all my grandchildren.  This year, as a newly married woman, she asked me to sew up one for her and one for her husband.  So happy to do it and thankfully I found my stocking-making talent has not left me over the years!

Merry Christmas Matthew and Selah.  Hope I'm around when you need another stocking for your family!

Four Pin Friday ~ Olga Boznanska Impressionest

 Polish painter Olga Boznańska (April 15, 1865 - October 26, 1940) was a notable female painter in Poland and Europe and was stylistically associated with the French impressionism. Boznańska was born in Kraków during foreign partitions of Poland. She was the daughter of a railway engineer, Adam Nowina Boznański, and Eugenia née Mondan. Boznańska learned drawing first with Józef Siedlecki and Kazimierz Pochwalski locally.

Another in the series of female artists we should know and give attention to.