art

nine cool things on a tuesday

~ jama ~ 4 Comments

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” ~ Lucy Maud Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables)

1. Hello, October, you are the prettiest month! To celebrate, we’re featuring the art of Minnesota illustrator Laura Irene (Chimney Smoke Art).

Laura is all about the warm and cozy, and is inspired by nature, home life and the changing seasons. Love how she captures the beautiful autumnal colors and a slower pace of life. Whether strolling down the lane or baking an apple pie, the people in her pictures seem to thrive on simple pleasures.

Creating her illustrations in a studio right off the kitchen means she’s never far away from the tea kettle. Is that chili and cornbread on the table? You can purchase prints and postcards at her Website Shop or Etsy. For the latest updates, check out her Instagram.

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nine cool things on a tuesday

~ jama ~ 6 Comments

1. Hello, September! We’re welcoming this new month with the lush beauty of Linnea Tobias’s art. Based in Spokane, Washington, Linnea enjoys painting modern interpretations of nature.

She’s inspired by daily walks in her neighborhood — the trees, birds, plants, light and color she observes later emerge in her work.

 I am influenced by textile design, the connection between the physical and spiritual worlds, fairy tales, optical illusions, and the changing of the seasons. I use different mediums depending on the effect I want to achieve. Lately I choose between watercolor, encaustic or acrylic paint, combining collage and texture with abstract forms and patterns.

Each painting or print has multiple layers of color to heighten contrasts and create an inner glow.

Linnea earned a BA in fine art from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA; studied painting, art history and printmaking at The Aegean Center for the Fine Arts in Paros, Greece; and graphic design and ceramics at Humboldt State University in Arcata, CA.

Visit Linnea’s Official Website for more. Prints and cards may be purchased via her Etsy Shop. Follow her Facebook Page or Instagram for the latest updates.

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once again embracing the blueness

~ jama ~ 41 Comments

“Blue is the closest color to truth.” ~ Steven Tyler

Please help yourself to some blueberry cake.

Hello, Friends. Hope you had a good summer!

We’re celebrating Alphabet Soup’s 17th Blogiversary and happy to be back in this space to serve up our usual mischief and merrymaking. 🙂

“Kamala Harris” by Ashley Longshore (acrylic on canvas, 2020).

Are you feeling more hopeful, optimistic and energized about the upcoming election? While I’m mostly thinking about the color 💙 BLUE 💙 these days, Richard Jones’s captivating abecedarian list poem has me considering other colors of the visual spectrum in entirely new ways.

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“Cornflower Field” by Marina Urchukina (acrylic on canvas, 2018).
THE NOMENCLATURE OF COLOR
by Richard Jones

Absinthe green: Laura’s eyes.
Bishop’s purple: Evening skies.
Cornflower blue: Dreams of the wise.
Dragon’s-blood red: My mother’s sighs.
Elephant’s breath: Imagination.
Forget-me-not blue: The dust of cremation.
Guinea green: Ruination.
Hessian brown: The dust of creation.
Iron gray: The paradox of clouds.
Jade green: The bride’s necklace.
Kingfisher blue: Justice and grace.
Lavender gray: A widow’s shroud.
Medici blue: The heart that is jealous.
Nile blue: The color of water.
Onionskin pink: A poem for my daughter.
Pearl gray: The wedding gift.
Quaker drab: The virtue of thrift.
Raw sienna: The dirt that we sift.
Seafoam green: The rowboat adrift.
Tyrian rose: The color of love.
Ultramarine blue: Heaven above.
Venetian pink: Hell below.
Wedgewood blue: The little we know.
Xanthine orange: The taste of life.
Yvette violet: The lips of my wife.
Zinc orange, zinc blue, zinc white: The color of houses in paradise.

~ from Stranger on Earth (Copper Canyon Press, 2018).

“Blue Heaven” by Yvonne Wagner (oil on canvas).
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alison dickson blues

~ jama ~ 5 Comments

Time once again to bask in the blues, this time courtesy of Edinburgh-based artist Alison Dickson.

Originally from Northern Ireland, Alison paints landscapes and still lifes with a primary palette of blues and greens.

Edinburgh artist Alison Dickson.

All of her paintings are inspired by the natural world; landscapes and seascapes under weather-laden skies are a common theme.

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fabienne delacroix: we’ll always have paris

~ jama ~ 5 Comments

Bonjour, Mes Amis!

Hop on the Montmartre Saint Sulpice omnibus — we’re traveling back in time to Fabienne Delacroix’s enchanting world!

Fabienne Delacroix in her Paris studio.

Upon first seeing Delacroix’s dreamy, romantic paintings, I was immediately captivated by their elegant beauty and distinctive charm. Who would not love lingering at a Parisian outdoor café, taking a midday promenade in the Jardins des Tuileries, or enjoying cancan at the Moulin Rouge?

Displaying a mastery of light and color reminiscent of the French Impressionists, Delacroix’s depictions of iconic city landmarks are set during France’s golden age, La Belle Époque. Dating from the late 19th century to the outbreak of WWI in 1914, this “beautiful era” was characterized by peace, optimism, economic prosperity, political stability and colonial expansion, in addition to technological, scientific, and cultural innovations.

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