Hansken - Rembrandt

It's time for another Rembrandt...

Hanskin

By Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669)

Love his sketches and since one of my sisters' current fascination is elephants, I thought this was appropriate. :-) I also learned all sorts of things about Hanskin herself on Wikipedia...

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Young Girl Knitting - William Bouguereau 1825-1905

Portrait of a Lady - Philip de Laszlo (1869-1937)

Tall Ship Painting - Patricia Gilmore

I love ships and waves. :-)

Scenes from the Life of Esther

Queen Esther

by Andrea del Castagno (1421-1457)

The Feast of Esther

by Frans Francken II (1581-1642)

Esther before Ahasuerus
by Claude Vignon (1593-1670)

Haman Begging Esther of Mercy
by Rembrandt (1606-1669)

The Banquet of Esther

by Jan Victors (1619-1676)

Festival of Esther

by Edward Armitage (1817-1896)

Esther
by Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896)

Esther
by Minerva Teichert (1888-1976)

Sydney Carton - Polka Dot and Mama :-)

The spare hand does not tremble as he releases it; nothing worse than a sweet, bright constancy is in the patient face. She goes next before him--is gone; the knitting women count Twenty-Two.

"I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die."
The murmuring of many voices, the upturning of many faces, the pressing on of many footsteps in the outskirts of the crowd, so that it swells forward in a mass, like one great heave of water, all flashes away.
Twenty three.

They said of him, about the city that night, that it was the peacefullest man's face ever beheld there. Many added that he looked sublime and prophetic....

"...It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."

~ From A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Yes! My sister drew this and my mother water colored it! And it was for me! For Christmas!!!!! I love it so much.

I had a wonderful Christmas (and not just because I got this amazing picture:-). I hope you did too!

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Behold, I am a servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your Word.

"The Annunciation"

by Fra Angelico (1395-1455)

My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he had looked on the humble estate of his servant.

For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

And his mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

he has brought down the mighty from their thrones

and exalted those of humble estate;

he has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy,

as he spoke to our fathers,

to Abraham and to his offspring forever.

Luke 1:46b-55

"The Annunciation"

by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

"The Annunciation"

Woodcut
by Albrecht Durer (1471-1528)

"The Annunciation"

by Orazio Gentileschi (1563-1639)

I love the fabric folds in this one...

"The Annunciation"

by Anton Raphael Mengs 1728-1779

Sorry if little putti make you uncomfortable...

"Ecce Ancilla Domini"

by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882)

"The Annunciation"
by John William Waterhouse (1849-1917)

"The Annunciation"

by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937)

Do you have a favorite? I was having a hard time finding any more recent "Annunctions". Know of any?

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's...and on them he has set the world.

"Hannah presenting her son Samuel to the priest Eli"

Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (1621-1674)

My heart exults in the Lord;

my strength is exalted in the Lord.

My mouth derides my enemies,

because I rejoice in your salvation.

There is none holy like the LORD;

there is none besides you;

there is no rock like our God.

Talk no more so very proudly,

let not arrogance come from your mouth;

for the LORD is a God of knowledge,

and by him actions are weighed.

The bows of the might are broken,

but the feeble bind on strength.

Those who were full have hired themselves for bread,

but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.

The barren has borne seven,

but she who has many children is forlorn.

The LORD kills and brings to life;

he brings down to Sheol and raises up.

The LORD makes poor and makes rich;

he brings low and he exalts.

He raises up the poor from the dust;

he lifts the needy from the ash heap

to make them sit with princes

and inherit a seat of honor.

For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's,

and on them he has set the world.

He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,

but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness,

for not by might shall a man prevail.

The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces;

against them he will thunder in heaven.

The LORD will judge the ends of the earth;

he will give strength to his king

and exalt the power of his anointed.

~1 Samuel 2:1b-10~

Evgeni Plushenko

The King of Ice...artist and athlete.

This is one of my favorite performances...

Although Andrea Bocelli and Plushenko together is pretty hard to beat!

Thanks for watching,
Miss Pickwickian

The Mayflower - Mike Haywood

I love paintings with lots of water and waves...

Leonardo DiCaprio - Polka Dot

So...my sister is a learning artist and this last year she's had a wonderful opportunity to take portrait classes. She's really improving and some of her pictures are just awesome! (No bias involved, I assure you.)

They don't come out quite as nice in photographs, but I want to post some anyways, and she has very graciously allowed me. So, in the future, you shall be seeing some Polka Dot art. :-)

If you are an artist of some sort and would like to be mentioned, recommended or linked back to, feel free to email me and we can talk about it. I'd absolutely love to!

Leonardo DiCaprio
Polka Dot 2010

(And just in case you were concerned...No, she does not always go around drawing actors and she is not particularly obsessed with DiCaprio. I just thought this was a good example because he has a very unusual, if pleasing countenance that I think would be hard to draw.)

Please encourage her! :-)

Thanks for looking,

Miss Pickwickinan

Pen in the Ink

I want to be able to say this...

You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.

- G. K. Chesterton

Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee - Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn

The Philosopher in Meditation - Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn

Sketches from Leonardo Da Vinci

Beauty in the Bible

We've been going through an amazing Sunday school class on beauty and the arts. (You can read some about it here.) Our week on "story" was especially inspiring. It's been great. :-)

This past week we also got an awesome sermon on beauty! You should check it out!
Beauty in the Bible by Pastor Tuuri

I've been thinking about this a lot. I went back and read a post I did in February, Modern Mediocrity in Christian Art. I think its all mulling around still. There are so many interesting things to read on the subject...and frankly, I feel pretty dumb.

The main thing I understand is...Christians should take the arts seriously! (And that includes writing, by the way.)

So yeah...
Miss Pickwickian

Jesus and the Woman Taken in Adultery - John 7:53-8:11

We recently saw this in an art gallery at Canon Beach. I thought it was beautiful. I didn't get the artist's name and couldn't find it online, but I enjoyed their work. There was also a really neat painting incorporating all of the parables in a more medieval style. It was pretty neat.


They went each to his own house ¹but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
² Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.
³The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst ⁴they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. ⁵Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" ⁶This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. ⁷And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." ⁸And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.
⁹But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. ¹⁰Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
¹¹She said, "No one, Lord."
And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."

The Grape Picker - William Bouguereau

Deposition from the Cross - Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

It's been to long with out a Caravaggio....

Painting....