Chagall! The circus! It's time.
I've been wanting to do Chagall ever since I started #ToysRecreatePaintings. He's next up, at No. 5, for next weekend. Specifically, his circus art.
I don't know that I like actual circuses. I like circus art, and Chagall did a lot of it. Here's a sample. I like his circuses best of his paintings.
(I love Calder's moving circus too.)
ABOVE right: "The Circus Rider" by Marc Chagall, c. 1927.
I made the invitation in a fast 15-minutes this morning. (Join in! if you like. NO RULES.)
Sometimes I like these quickies better than my more labored recreations.
I do love the labor of making the creations though, in itself. Up to a point, anyway. After five hours of making Boschian hats yesterday, I was getting cranky--and so were the girlettes, who were fussing and NOT STANDING STILL.
They thought it was funny to push each other off the electricity boxes on the side of the house. (What do you call these?
*googles*
Oh, right. "Electricity meter boxes.")
Oh, huh. I have 12 blog posts indexed "circus".
They include this watercolor, below, from 2013. I copied the still of a home-movie showing my mother with my sister and me at a traveling circus that came to small-town Whitewater, Wisconsin in 1964.
My mother helps me, in blue sweater, feed peanuts to an elephant, while my sister looks on. I remember being surprised at how soft the elephant's trunk was on my hand.
I've recreated the work of five artists now: Wyeth, Vermeer, Kahlo, Manet, Bosch. Interpreted? Bounced off of? While I like some better than others, the main thing is that this project is working to get me working, which is terrific. I drift.
Yesterday I picked up in a Little Free Library a Bill Bryson book, Neither Here Nor There, about traveling in Europe. It reminded me that I've never liked Bryson--too glib, and cringey (ohgod, not funny) sexist. BUT, reading about traveling made me think, hey, I should take a trip!
Sister and I take expeditions--I'll suggest we do another--but also, I haven't gone anywhere by myself in ages. (Moving to a new(ish) neighborhood was an adventure, but it wasn't purely for the sake of an adventure, for fun.)
Fun?
My workplace is fun, but the setting is NOT fun. Everyday seeing desperation. It's wearing.
I want a break. Four days off has been great, but it makes me think I want a longer break.
I COULD DO THAT.
Meanwhile, I got a Christmas tree!
bink, Maura, and I walked over to the little holiday fair a block away, where the indie florist was selling trees. Immediately the right tree presented itself.
(Forty-five dollars. They're a lot cheaper at places like Home Depot, but, gross.)
A 3-foot Fraser fir. Perfect!
_____________________________________
“Damn everything but the circus!
"The average 'painter' 'sculptor' 'poet' 'composer' 'playwright' is a
person who cannot leap through a hoop from the back of a galloping
horse, make people laugh with a clown’s mouth, orchestrate twenty lions."
--E. E. Cummings, (full quote via Quote Investigator)
"The average 'painter' 'sculptor' 'poet' 'composer' 'playwright' is a person who cannot leap through a hoop from the back of a galloping horse, make people laugh with a clown’s mouth, orchestrate twenty lions."
--E. E. Cummings, (full quote via Quote Investigator)
Nice tree. I bet it will smell delicious.
ReplyDeleteit's a fir -- those are the best!! everyone always wants scotch pines (which i am allergic to) but firs are great because of thin branches that allow the light through the tree.
ReplyDeletei, too am thinking of a long trip -- i'm considering iceland next summer which would be so cool.
what about klee, miro, mondrian . . . . or even modigliani
kirsten
Calder's Circus is the absolute best of any on earth! Unpredictable Calder, clever man.
ReplyDeleteYour watercolor is superb!
I love the prompts for recreating art with toys on hand- moves me too. Especially since everything I do is in boxes at the moment!Thank you for the inspiration with Orphans and bears and lids!!
brilliant.
Your little tree is gorgeous, kind of pricey for this area- we live in forest so trees are relatively cheap.
Circus tricks are astonishing- I was never athletic enough to even imagine!
Also Marc Chagall an all time fave! The Orphans are stoked! LOVE what you did in fifteen minutes! perfect!
ReplyDeleteand circuses are often different depending upon the country. in the early 1990's i was on a tour of russia where we attended the moscow circus. mainly human performances.
ReplyDeletein one instance on the trapeze acts, the actors kept messing up the act until the 3rd try when they did it perfectly. i realized that this was done on purpose and wondered about the performers not only having to learn it correctly but also how to miss without hurting themselves.
we also attended the ballet in st petersburg which was unbelievable but our guide told us that the dancers we saw were not the top artists who were so much better.
kirsten
KIRSTEN: I like your line-up of artists---I can imagine doing something very geometrical like Klee, Miro, or Mondrian.
ReplyDeleteBut the girlettes say No to Modigliani--"those toys are sad and they don't get enough to eat," they say.
Frex = Fresca