Thursday 6 August 2009

A dabble with Dante

Just rolls of the tongue nicely that title doesn't it. I refer not to the inferno but the pre-Raphaelite. One Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Yes, I have been partaking of a little of the Desperate Romantics again and it leads nicely onto this very post I was contemplating last night while attempting to sleep.

I realised that the weekend's Five Degrees of Inspiration post had indeed done its job - thinking of the magic of Italy manifested itself in Monday's Tuscan dreaming. Suddenly I was no longer short of ideas for posts this week - 5 posts on my 5 inspirations! One down, four to go.

What could possibly follow the Italian countryside? Well, you know how that little rascal inspiration works... one minute it's as coy as a fair maiden then next it's flirting and teasing. It dances the ideas before you, whirling and swirling with wild abandon.

First I toyed with a few words on my Muse but you'll have to wait for that one as Inspiration 2 most definitely decided to be 'artists and creatives' and who better tonight than Mr Rossetti with his rogue-ish charm and charisma. Oh yes, and the rather fabulous paintings! Add to the mix a little challenge I found lurking about on the web last night - 'create something purple' and we had the evening's entertainment.

So, while I observed Rossetti and pals (courtesy of the good old BBC) attempting to take the art world by storm whilst also trying not to ruin the reputation of fair maidens and knocking back copious quantities of Gin and substances of a dubious nature, I rummaged through my treasure chest for those little gems that said both 'purple' and respected one of the key principle of those Pre-Raphaelite painters: the beauty in nature.
Voila - my 'purple bloom' bursting forth in an abundance of earthy pleasure ... feeling at one with the flora and fauna. Yeah, whatever.... I do talk rubbish at times! It matters not, it was just great fun sloshing the acrylic about, rubbing the pastel, snipping and collaging and pretending I was a Victorian dandy! Methinks that now might be a good time to get some rest!

13 comments:

  1. I love this piece, especially the birds. I always like the Pre-Raphaelites. Rossetti's painting were the best. He paintings of his sister is lovely and dreamy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. " ... pretending I was a Victorian dandy": I think you're a true Romantics! ;) Lovely artwork, as usual!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow this is very impressive.
    Stunning work.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Did you paint this? It's beautiful. You should scan and copy it for birthday cards. I watched 'Desparate Romantics' this week - it was hilarious!

    ReplyDelete
  5. wow!! did you make this art? in which medium? it's quite stunning i must say :) the writing is beautiful too ... reminds me of those old classics :) very romantic indeed!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wherever he is, Rosetti would be proud of this! I'm writing this beside your side bar of swimming goldfish, and it's the most disconcerting thing! Anyway, before I drown, I want to say WELL DONE!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hello, just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your wonderful post, thank you - I'm really loving your blog too !

    ReplyDelete
  8. Luthien/Dartswife: It's a bit of a mixed media bag this one. Started off with a mainly white scrapbook background - you can see some swirling bits and turquise writing shining through. Cut the lady out of a magazine. She was ordinary looking when she started! Gave her the gesso treatment then painted her with acrylics and added lots of other paint around the picture, adding to the swirls and background colour and just generally sloshing it about in a fun experimental way. Added the birds - cut out from tissue paper then painted over them again so they blended in. Finished off with some oil pastel to intensify the colours here and there. The plan was that she sort of grew out of nature - a purple bloom and the birds, her admirers, brought her flowers in honour of her beauty.

    Thanks all for the lovely comments. I'm really chuffed :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh my goodness this is totally gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
  10. While it's easy to copy my last comment on your last posting over and over again when visiting your blog because your work both written and visual are always so striking and creative I have to take pause at this posting....

    The words honestly escape me to express how beautiful your work is to me (and how much I wish I knew where it could be purchase - online of course) and how moved I am by your sharing of your muse and inspirations - never "rubbish" that's for darn sure!
    ♥Sharon

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is incredibly wonderful!! I love it, gorgeous colours and elements! Well done!!!

    Linda

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comments - I always love to hear what you think :)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...