N.C. Wyeth

No, N.C. Wyeth was not a Nabi. I was busy watching Ohio State lose another National Championship (yay) and didn't write an entry on any of those artists. I had already finished this one. So enjoy it and tomorrow I promise to write something on topic.

Born in Massachusetts in 1882, N.C. Wyeth was an American illustrator and painter. He created illustrations for many magazines including Scribner’s and the Saturday Evening Post, and he drew advertisements for companies such as Coca-Cola and Cream of Wheat. He illustrated 112 books in his lifetime.

At age 21, Wyeth sold an illustration to the Saturday Evening Post, beginning his career. Not long after, the Saturday Evening Post asked him to illustrate a western story so he headed west to experience the area first hand. He fell in love with it and drew western-themed illustrations for about five years.

He married Carolyn Bockius in 1908 and began a family which grew to include five children.

He began illustrating classic books in 1911 with Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. He read the book carefully and chose to illustrate scenes that were not described in great detail. This allowed Wyeth to add his own viewpoint of the scenes. He illustrated 111 more books.

Wyeth was also a painter. He used mostly oil paints and liked to make huge pictures. He completed murals for several banks and organizations in Massachusetts and elsewhere in the eastern-border states.

It is his illustration that he is best known for, however. Click here to read the complete Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe, and view Wyeth’s illustrations. http://wyeth.artpassions.net/

Next time you read a book and come across a scene that his not described in great detail, try creating your own illustration, like N.C. Wyeth.
The painting shown above is Wyeth’s The Giant.

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Les Nabis

In the 1890s a group of artists banded together in Paris. They called themselves Nabis, Hebrew for “prophets.” They were unified by a dislike of impressionism, a major art movement of the time as you have seen elsewhere in the blog. The Nabis thought the impressionists wanted only to capture fleeting moments on canvas. The Nabis wanted to create something they felt was more meaningful: they wanted to cause spiritual reactions in the viewers of their work.

What the Nabi paintings truly had in common, though, was a use of bold but muted colors used in unexpected ways to show real scenes and objects in unrealistic ways. They were greatly influenced by Paul Gauguin, much of whose work can be described just that way. Below is his Self Portrait with Halo in which you see the bold, primary colors placed next to each other in a way that should be overwhelming but isn’t. This was painted in 1889.
Also notice the serpent and the apple. Remind you of the story of Adam and Eve?

Paul Serusier loved Gauguin’s style and founded the Nabi Movement based on it. Serusier painted a wildly colorful landscape on the lid of a cigar box and thus began the movement. The Nabis called it “the talisman.” It is the painting shown below.
Serusier was able to attract many members to the new style of painting. In the next week I’ll post on some of these artists, as well as on Serusier.

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John James Audubon

Happy New Year! I know, I'm a little late. I had a fun vacation in Florida, though, and now I'm ready to write about art again. It's worth noting, I think, that I'm beginning this year with my 100th post! If you've never been here before, please flip through the other articles and projects and let me know what you think!

And now, on to John James Audubon...



For John James Audubon, painting began as a hobby. His major interest was studying birds. He was the first person to track the habits of birds by tying string around their ankles. When you go to the zoo, you’ll notice that many of the animals have tags somewhere, maybe clipped to their ears or attached around their legs. Audubon began this.
While he studied birds he made his living by running a general store in Kentucky. He experienced many successful years before the business failed and he had to close his doors. This led him to commit to his study nature and his paint because he now had the time to lend to his passions.
In order to paint and draw the birds, Audubon first killed them and arranged each into a natural position. This may seem like a terrible thing but by killing each bird and studying it before drawing, Audubon was able to create pictures that were more realistic than any done before them.
Audubon could not convince anyone in the United States to publish his drawings so he took them to England. His paintings were combined into a book called Birds of America and he became an instant success among the British who were fascinated by Audubon’s pictures of rural America. He even caught the attention of King George IV who made him a fellow of London’s Royal Society and he spoke at a conference that Charles Darwin attended.

After John James Audubon’s death, the Audubon Society was founded in his honor. The Society now prints the best (in my opinion) nature guides just like Audubon’s Birds of America was the best guide to American birds in its day.

Scattered through this article are copies of Audubon’s original paintings: the Roseate Spoonbill, the White Pelican, and the White Headed Eagle.

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Create Your Own Edible Painting

Merry Christmas Eve! This is the last project before Christmas so enjoy. Paint a few of these while you’re baking other cookies for a little edible art.

Supplies Needed:

Sugar Cookie Dough
Rolling Pin
Parchment Paper
Cookie Cutter
Light Corn Syrup
Food Coloring
Paintbrushes
Small Cups

Bake your sugar cookies according the direction on the package. You can, instead, use your own recipe or buy undecorated sugar cookies already made from the grocery store. If you bake your own, let them cool completely before painting on them.

Pour some light corn syrup into several small cups. You’ll want about a teaspoon in each. Squeeze one drop of food coloring into each cup and stir to make your paints. To make the black color I just mixed one drop of each color (and two drops of red) to one of the cups. The other colors are standard food coloring colors.

Use a clean paintbrush, preferably one that has never been used, and paint your cooled sugar cookies. The paint is very sticky and you must wash the paintbrush in the sink between each color. For this reason, it would be useful to have a different paintbrush for each color.

Please note that the colors run together if you don’t wait for the paint to dry between each; however, the paint dries extremely slowly. I painted mine all in one sitting and I think they came out fine.


Also note that the Jackson Pollock inspired cookies are very messy to make. Place a cookie on a plate, set it in the sink, and then splatter paint like I did (shown in the picture below). Have a parent help you with this one.
Below are pictures of my cookie masterpieces, inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright stained-glass windows, Jackson Pollock, and Piet Mondrian. I thought I had posted on Wright stained-glass but I guess not. So below the cookie, notice the inspiration.




I think they turned out quite nicely. Use any artist for inspiration or paint your own pictures using the fun recipe.

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The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett

I know I said I’d post on a topic related to yesterday’s post, the painting demonstration but I want to show you a specific picture that I can’t seem to find. Last week I had a computer crash and, while I am certain I have those pictures backed up somewhere, I’m sure where there are. So it will have to wait for another time.

It’s been awhile since I posted a book review and I have come across a novel, meant for ages 8-12, in which a Frank Lloyd Wright house is a character. Sounds pretty cool, huh? It’s called The Wright 3, by Blue Balliett, and is the sequel to Chasing Vermeer.

Robie House, a Wright-designed house in Chicago, Illinois, is being threatened with demolition. Petra, Calder, and Tommy must learn to get along as a trio and use their diverse talents to save to house. But they aren’t the only ones determined to save the Wright’s creations; Robie House itself is determined to fight back.

Balliett does an excellent job of providing details about Robie House and about Frank Lloyd Wright. I recommend, however, that you bookmark this page so you can look at the pictures of Robie House, shown below, as you read.

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