Cosplayers and cosplay for you to enjoy! I’ll be seeing lots of you at Phoenix Comicon 2016 this week. Come by Thursday through Sunday at booth AA330 and say hello, get your picture up on my blog, and feel free to buy one of my six books while you are there…
Monthly Archives: May 2016
When Elevators Don’t Stop
I’m sorry for the week without blog posts. I was at one of my other jobs, coming down the elevator from my office on the 24th Floor to the Lobby. The elevator did not stop as it should. If you have ever stepped off a curb unexpectedly, this felt like stepping off a 5 foot ledge.
So, my neck, back and leg hurts pretty bad but is getting better. Getting imaged for fractures in the spine. The building security had to pry the doors open. Now, I’m not really looking forward to using the elevator again…
Filed under Uncategorized
Cosplay Pictures for Your Saturday!!
Cosplayers and their cosplay for your enjoyment!
Filed under Humor and Observations
I’m Appearing at Phoenix Comicon
Phoenix Comicon is June 2-5 and I will be appearing at table AA330. Please stop by and say hello. Cosplayers Aria and Cassandra S. Kyle will also be stopping by to join me.
Filed under Uncategorized
Cute Dogs for Your Monday Blues!
Cute dogs to start off the week…
Filed under Animals, Humor and Observations
Cosplay Pictures for Your Enjoyment!
Cosplayers and cosplay for your enjoyment!
Filed under Humor and Observations
Countess di Castiglione The selfie queen of Paris society
c. 1865-1894
Countess di Castiglione
The selfie queen of Paris society
c. 1867
IMAGE: ©RUE DES ARCHIVES/PVDE/GETTY IMAGES
When she first visited the photography studio of Mayer & Pierson in 1856, Virginia Oldoini had already become notorious in Paris society. Married at 17 to Italian Count Francesco Verasis di Castiglione, she had been dispatched to Paris to convince Napoleon III to support Italian unification — instead, she promptly became his mistress.
Their dalliance was brief but helped establish her reputation as a beautiful and enigmatic seductress.
She was enthralled with the study of her own beauty, and collaborated with photographer Pierre-Louis Pierson on over 400 self-portraits.
While Pierson operated the camera, the pose, dress, setting and angle were all conceived by the countess. She was also involved in post-production, directing the printing of the pictures and often painting on top of them herself.
The countess posed in the elaborate and luxurious gowns that she wore at court, reenacting her moments of greatest triumph. She soon expanded her oeuvre to include scenes and costumes inspired by theatre, literature and myth, and even rather voyeuristic shots of her bare feet.
As she grew older, she retreated from high society and became an eccentric recluse, living in an apartment with the curtains drawn, only venturing outside at night. She died in 1899 at the age of 62, but her extensive and distinctive record of herself endures.
c. 1865
IMAGE: CHRISTIAN KEMPF / ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1865
The Countess with a child, possibly her son Georges.
IMAGE: CHRISTIAN KEMPF/ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1865
IMAGE: CHRISTIAN KEMPF/ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1865
IMAGE: CHRISTIAN KEMPF/ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1865
IMAGE: CHRISTIAN KEMPF/ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1865
IMAGE: CHRISTIAN KEMPF/ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1865
IMAGE: CHRISTIAN KEMPF/ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1865
IMAGE: CHRISTIAN KEMPF/ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1865
IMAGE: ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1865
IMAGE: ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1865
IMAGE: ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1867
IMAGE: ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1867
IMAGE: ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1867
IMAGE: ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1867
IMAGE: ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1867
IMAGE: ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1865
The Countess with a child, possibly her son Georges.
IMAGE: CHRISTIAN KEMPF/ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1865
IMAGE: ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1867
IMAGE: ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1867
IMAGE: ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1867
IMAGE: ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1867
IMAGE: ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1865
IMAGE: ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
1894
IMAGE: ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1895
IMAGE: ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
c. 1865
IMAGE: ADOC-PHOTOS/CORBIS
Filed under Humor and Observations
Art and Eye Exams Meet: The Prize Winning Microart of Yukari Ehara
Master BlasterFeb 19, 2013
The carving above was made by microartist Yukari Ehara, as you may have noticed, on the tip of a green pencil crayon measuring 1.5mm in height.
This is nothing new for Ehara who works primarily in the 1cm to 0.1mm size range. Up until only recently she accomplished this and the other works seen below without the aid of a magnifying glass or microscope .
In addition to her pencil tip carvings let’s take a look at her miniature origami and paintings on single grains of rice and penny sized canvases.
First here are some of Yukari Ehara’s carvings which can be seen on her blog.
▼ 6mm Maneki Neko
▼ 3mm Coffee Cup
▼ Some flowers which Ehara says takes about 30 minutes to complete
▼ This 2.5mm by 1mm strawberry shortcake took about 3 hours to do.
Ehara also does micro painting on what has to be the cutest little canvases ever.
These small-scale works lend themselves nicely to unique handmade jewelry.
Going even smaller are her rice drawings which can also be made into jewelry.
She makes these rice drawings with her stockpile of tiny pencils. Here they are compared to regular pencils and pins.
Going even smaller is Ehara’s origami. Unfortunately they’re so small the camera doesn’t really pick them up.
Yukari Ehara combined all of her talents into one work and entered it in the Ouchi Gallery7th 100 Artists Exhibition where it earned first place. Including origami, rice art, and carvings the entire work measures 33cm by 33cm and each inner frame measures 4.8cm by 4.8 cm.
There’s also a miniature hanafuda deck of cards. Hers are seen below a regular deck in this picture.
Finally, we’ll leave you with arguably Yukari Ehara’s coolest work: a pencil with a hand carved in it holding an even smaller (working) pencil.
This talented artist has a lot more to offer on her blog and hopefully has much more lined up for the future.
Source: Microart – The World’s Smallest via Kotaro 269 (Japanese)
Filed under Humor and Observations
Man Arranges Leaves, Sticks, And Stones To Create Magical Land Artworks
Scottish sculptor Andy Goldsworthy creates transitory works of art by arranging leaves, sticks, rocks or anything else he can find outside.
Most of Goldsworthy’s art is considered transient and ephemeral, causing people to perceive it as a criticism on the Earth’s fragility. However, for Goldsworthy, the meaning is more complicated.
“When I make something, in a field or street, it may vanish but it’s part of the history of those places,” he says in an interview. “In the early days my work was about collapse and decay. Now some of the changes that occur are too beautiful to be described as simply decay. At Folkestone I got up early one morning ahead of an incoming tide and covered a boulder in poppy petals. It was calm and the sea slowly and gently washed away the petals, stripping the boulder and creating splashes of red in the sea. The harbor from which many troops left for war was in the background.”
Check Out Andy Goldsworthy’s photo books on Amazon
Filed under Humor and Observations
Michael Bradley - Time Traveler 