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My art
Sept 16, 2011 19:44:14 GMT -6
Post by SweetSilverBird on Sept 16, 2011 19:44:14 GMT -6
Like a few of the people here, i also create art. I tend to do portraiture when I draw. Mostly I work with graphite and chalks. Here is a drawing I did of my daughter when she was a little child. img233.imageshack.us/img233/2305/youngkira.jpg [/img] Another thing I do, is carry on the tradition of making Ukrainian easter eggs with real eggs. Some of my eggs take up to 75 hours of pure stylus to egg, gruelling work. Here are some examples.. i hope you enjoy seeing them. I am also a concert level musician and I play these instruments: Does anyone else play an instrument?
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My art
Sept 16, 2011 21:02:33 GMT -6
Post by Brigid Briton on Sept 16, 2011 21:02:33 GMT -6
Hi Deb, Wow! The picture of your daughter is so precious. The eggs are stunning. And you make music and poetry to boot. Very impressive. Sadly, I never learned to play an instrument (or to draw that well, or to make Ukrainian Easter eggs!) Do you blow the insides out of the eggs.? (Please don't tell me they are hard-boiled, destined for eating!)
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My art
Sept 18, 2011 0:52:11 GMT -6
Post by SweetSilverBird on Sept 18, 2011 0:52:11 GMT -6
Hi Deb, Wow! The picture of your daughter is so precious. The eggs are stunning. And you make music and poetry to boot. Very impressive. Sadly, I never learned to play an instrument (or to draw that well, or to make Ukrainian Easter eggs!) Do you blow the insides out of the eggs.? (Please don't tell me they are hard-boiled, destined for eating!) Thanks, for looking, Brigid! I think as we go along in life, we find things that help us express ourselves in what ever way we can. For me it was music first, then art and the eggs. Yes, the eggs were drained out of one tiny hole by a specialized egg vaccuum. Aftrwards I filled the pin hole with black wax. Later everything is varnished and nothing shows. Traditionally, though, the eggs weren't blown, and the eggs just dried up over the years since the eggs are not air tight. I have a few in my cabinet like that. I have taught more than 100 kids and adults how to make these eggs. They are not painted. It is a long process of was resist, using beeswax and coloured dyes. You'd be intrigued. I learned at my grandmother's knee. best place to learn anything! I hope you liked this window in to my world.
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My art
Sept 18, 2011 6:24:42 GMT -6
Post by Brigid Briton on Sept 18, 2011 6:24:42 GMT -6
Wow, Deb, that is so fascinating about the eggs. I never knew there was any such thing as an egg vacuum! I remember punching small holes in each end of an egg and blowing and blowing and blowing until it hurt my cheeks! While I appreciate and am entranced by this art form, I know that I don't possess anywhere near the amount of patience or commitment it takes to complete these beautiful creations. This is a wonderful story about you and your grandmother.
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My art
Sept 18, 2011 18:01:08 GMT -6
Post by diannet on Sept 18, 2011 18:01:08 GMT -6
The portrait of your daughter is beautiful, you've captured a serene quality there. Your eggs are divine too...there must be hours of work in them, they are really stunning, it is wonderful to keep up traditions such as that, so many get lost over the generations. Wonderful stuff Deb thanks for sharing...
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My art
Sept 18, 2011 19:57:14 GMT -6
Post by SweetSilverBird on Sept 18, 2011 19:57:14 GMT -6
Thank you too, Diannet. Yes, it's a rich heritage. I have also passed on the techniques to more than 100 adults and children since I have taught my own children's classmates and parents, and also my girl-guides, since I was Girl Guider. My daughter now teaches my 4 grandchildren. Here's a closer look at the detail of the 75 hour egg. The orange thing is actually a Ukrainian woman's hand emerging from her embroidered sleeve, if you can visualize that. Very stylized but most Ukrainian eggs are.
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My art
Sept 19, 2011 11:18:06 GMT -6
Post by Reilley on Sept 19, 2011 11:18:06 GMT -6
I am also a painter, and a digital artist. I play saxophone really badly, and I play the spoons well enough to make my kids laugh.
I used to teach ceramics (my family owned a studio) and I am a fabulous cook.
Like most of us, my creativity is always looking for a way to get out.
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My art
Sept 19, 2011 11:23:58 GMT -6
Post by Fire Monkey on Sept 19, 2011 11:23:58 GMT -6
I seem to recall that once an egg is started, it has to be worked on continually or close to it [SSB can correct me if I am mis-remembering] This means that when she speaks of a 75 hour egg, that means she worked almost non-stop for 75 hours - more than 3 days - with only short breaks. This is because the eggs are not painted but rather they are made with many dips in dye with beeswax that is slowly etched away exposing different areas. I don't know how to do it, that's SSB's skill, but I know I found the way it was done to be interesting and so I thought it should be brought up so people would understand just how amazing these eggs are.
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My art
Sept 24, 2011 9:11:42 GMT -6
Post by dustandwater on Sept 24, 2011 9:11:42 GMT -6
The eggs are fantastic.
I like things with character, like that. Something quite different from the average painting, or whatever else.
If FireMonkey is right about the technique, it's similar to the way Batik is made, the national dress for Indonesia (where I live these days).
-D&W
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My art
Sept 24, 2011 12:12:33 GMT -6
Post by SweetSilverBird on Sept 24, 2011 12:12:33 GMT -6
The eggs are fantastic. I like things with character, like that. Something quite different from the average painting, or whatever else. If FireMonkey is right about the technique, it's similar to the way Batik is made, the national dress for Indonesia (where I live these days). -D&W Hi DustandWater, Oh yes! It's exactly like Batik. I use a very tiny little stylus to draw on the hen's egg with beeswax as I go from the lightest colour dye to the darkest in stages. When I am finished, I remove all the wax in a candle flame, and the beauty of the whole design emerges. You can't see it till the very end. The egg looks very big in the pictures, but is actually just a regular size hens egg. This is a very intricate art, but I have been doing it since I was 4, and now have grandchildren who do it. Got to pass it on, right?
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My art
Sept 24, 2011 21:29:53 GMT -6
Post by Brigid Briton on Sept 24, 2011 21:29:53 GMT -6
I just learned on Twitter that the art of making Ukrainian eggs is called pysanky. Who knew? Thanks so much, Deb, for sharing this with us.
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My art
Sept 24, 2011 23:28:13 GMT -6
Post by SweetSilverBird on Sept 24, 2011 23:28:13 GMT -6
I just learned on Twitter that the art of making Ukrainian eggs is called pysanky. Who knew? Thanks so much, Deb, for sharing this with us. ;D Almost. Psanky are more than one, and a Psanyka is one Ukranian easter egg. I'm so glad you like them. It's been a legacy I always wanted to pass on to the future. The embroidered clothing is another thing. I'll have to show you sometime. My grandchildren used to dance ukrainian dance, and I used to sew their costumes.
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My art
Nov 1, 2011 6:23:34 GMT -6
Post by Callisse J. DeTerre on Nov 1, 2011 6:23:34 GMT -6
Those are recorders you play, right? My father-in-law plays - very ancient tunes, some he has adapted from music for other instruments (including some no longer in existence). Usually I find the music hauntingly beautiful. Unlike everyone else who covers their ears, I even like listening to his howling and trilling warm-ups. I have a similar feeling toward the hammered dulcimer. As a child, I attended a Living Window Christmas Walk in a historic village area of my hometown area. One of the stops included an entire family of dulcimer players. I was mesmerized. I remained seated at their feet for three hours as the rest of the family shopped and completed the walk. For as many years as they were there, I returned, my mother unable to drag me away. They lived out of town or I might have followed them home. We never had enough money to heat more than one room in the winter, let alone music lessons or even just an instrument. This past year, after having painstakingly saved $600, I talked someone into dropping the price $200 on a beautifully-crafted, used hammered dulcimer. The construction is one no longer used: more strings, a deeper bell, harder and thicker wood. I hear a richness the new ones cannot match. After I brought it home, I spent hours upon hours, tiny crank in hand, tuning it each of 88 strings by ear to an alternative configuration allowing greater flexibility in song selection. Then set about teaching myself. Well, then my mother-in-law came to visit. She's an excellent flutist. Sometimes she and my father-in-law give a private duet concert. She bought me an electric tuner. I discovered I had surprisingly succeeded at expertly tuning each string to the other in proper intervals, However...I tuned the entire thing, all 88 strings a note and a half off! So, months later, I'm still retuning between all my other activities. Goal: play a single Christmas song successfully before I die, hopefully before my mother does - which shortens the time frame quite a bit. Barring sudden death, Parkinson's could hasten her home to God in as little as five years. So, I'm a wanna-be musician with songs ever in my heart.
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My art
Nov 9, 2011 3:57:09 GMT -6
Post by Fire Monkey on Nov 9, 2011 3:57:09 GMT -6
A song in your heart is the first and most important thing - though sadly I learned that while it is the most important thing, it isn't the ONLY important thing - however, if you were able to tune by ear and get the intervals right [even if the whole was off equally] then I believe you have the second most important thing as well and that I think IS enough to succeed.
SSB has a nice collection of various recorders and I have always loved it when she plays them. To me, music is like breath itself.
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My art
Nov 9, 2011 3:57:11 GMT -6
Post by eiken on Nov 9, 2011 3:57:11 GMT -6
Deb, I really love your art, your eggs and your music, you are multi talented. I paint (watercolour) and I do wreaths of shells, seeds, dried flowers, Xmas ones, Easter ones, lots of different natural materials with a seasonal flavour. I paint stones from the beach, lots of little hobbies. I play the piano but not very often at the moment.
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