Sacred

I love sacred pools, groves and grottos . . .

© Gilbert Williams — The Offering

Make Themselves at Home

I received a really nice email from Michael McC, who recently discovered the beautiful work of Golden Age great John Bauer. Michael noticed I didn't have any posts with him listed and thought he would be at home on this blog. Well, I'm certainly aware of Bauer and greatly admire his work, I just didn't want to compete with Mr. Door Tree's site where he has shown a slew of Bauer's work here.

But to honor Michael's opinion, I've opened the door and invited a couple of Bauer's pieces to make themselves at home.

Thanks for thinking of this blog, Michael!

 John Bauer — Freja

John Bauer — Winter Tales About the Yule Goat — 1912

Once Upon a High Place

You never know what you may see once upon a high place . . .

Kees Van Dongen — Tango of the Archangel — circa 1930

Magazines are Like Mushrooms

If any of you have been paying attention to this blog's words, you might remember that I was making a big deal about wanting to publish an online journal/magazine about the pictorial arts, called Pictorial Arts Journal. And maybe you're thinking that I lost all interest and moved on to some other will-o'-the-wisp. Nope, uh uh. I've been plugging away at the first (prototype) issue all this time, as a one man production department. I received some editorial content for an article (thanks James!) and some editing (thanks Diane!), but the rest of it has been me working in the wee small hours of the morning, herding cats to the corral. 

I'm just about done! I need to write a bit more text, and have it edited and then sit on it a bit to look it over with a fresh eye. To that end I'm taking the next few days off from the real world (yes, including blogging) and retreating to a high place to meditate on what the hell I'm doing.

Tina Brown, the amazingly accomplished magazine editor, has some advice about starting a magazine that I have taken to heart:

"I think almost the first thing they learn at West Point is that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. Given what I call the "double V," the velocity of the variables, the venture either has to have enough time and money to fail for a time, or more realistically—because, frankly, who has that luxury?—perhaps it's better to skip an ambitious launch and perfect the trial-and-error process under cover by starting out of town or building frequency very slowly. Elizabeth Hardwick once said, "Magazines are like mushrooms. They should grow in the dark."

Just to keep me off balance (as if I needed help with that) here is a bit of advice from Felix Dennis, amazingly successful magazine publisher:

"The world is changing. Do not always listen to old hands who've been in the game for years, including yours truly. Do not blindly heed their well-meaning advice. Read their work and watch their work habits. Always do your homework. Do not be a smart-aleck or treat your readers as a commodity. Put yourself in your reader's shoes. Give them what they want and what they need.    .     .     .

"What (I'm actually preaching) is this: Go for it. Go for it now. Don't wait. Don't prevaricate. Give it all you've got. Listen to older and wiser heads—and then ignore the old farts . . . just remember to keep the seat of yours pants applied to the seat of your chair."

 Tullio Pericoli — 1980

Tullio Pericoli — circa 1985

When I return from some high place I will apply the final caresses to the journal and be ready to send it out into the world, from which I will rely upon the kindness of strangers to aid it in its survival, for I am utterly, 100 percent convinced, this is what I want to do for the rest of my pea-pickin' life.

See you all sometime next week!

Two Versions and a Sketch

This is a pretty powerful composition that seems almost Frazetta-like in its sweep and execution, even though it was painted nearly a hundred years before the fantasy master. It was interesting to find two versions and a sketch and assemble them together here.

Évariste Vital Luminais — Flight of King Gradlon — circa 1884

 Luminais

Luminais

They've Got Pictures in Them? Oo!

Somewhere in this little graphic fable is a lesson to learn well. Choose it wisely. This fellow chose . . . poorly.

©1983 Joost Swarte — Complete Your Collection 

Golden Dream

My posts are a little spotty lately because I've been spending so much time on the new Pictorial Arts Journal that will soon be rolling out its premier prototype. I will be posting about the Journal soon, and looking for a little advice about website formatting. 

In the meantime I'll keep posting when I can, such as this dreamy (literally) image from the Golden Age of Illustration.

Jessie M. King — Love's Golden Dream — 1913

Mysterious and Strangely Inviting

Bertha Lum — Goblin Dance

Curatives for the Soul

Can't you just feel the gentle warmth, the fragrant breeze, the peace and tranquility? Meditating on infused images like this can be curatives for the soul.

Harold Knight — The Morning Sun — circa 1912