Art Works For All
Salvador Dali’s Galatea of the Spheres was this week’s inspirational famous painting, chosen by Sue.
The 1952 work of art was something of a love letter from Dali to his wife Gala who managed all his affairs so that Dali could paint.
First to float in were Rachel and Beth’s circular confections, coincidentally conjured from a very similar palette of blues and ochre!
Feeling marooned on this island we’re on? Time to dispatch a bottle!
Apparently, bottled messages date to about 310 B.C., and were used in Greek water current studies.
This early form of email (sea-mail?) went viral in the sixteenth century, when Queen Elizabeth I reputedly created an official position of “Uncorker of Ocean Bottles.”
Back here in 21st century Wales, Chloe sent out her message to us to create the collaged contents of a bottle.
Beth’s bottle, containing an actual desert island, complete with palm tree was the first to land in Conwy.
That was swiftly followed on the incoming tide by Rachel’s – a botanical bottle, alive with plants.
Trish’s, meanwhile, contains a four-legged friend bearing flowers!
As much as we love the work of Anish Kapoor and Barbara Hepworth, it is entirely possible to make sculpture without a huge studio … or budget.
Sian’s challenge was to turn everday items into something totally different and, indeed, original.
Imagine one of these as the Angel of the North (Wales)? Antony Gormley eat your heart out!
Just in is Trish’s intriguing half cat half cuppa tea ensemble. Your webhostess follows that with slightly sinister portrait of scary dolls and Aunty Nelly carrying a star. (I know, I worry about myself sometimes!!)
First in was a family group from Rachel, her daughter Nia, and son in law.
Beth meanwhile has recreated Shaun the Sheep in mussel and razor shells. A highly innovative concept!
Following our attempts to reconstruct a well-known painting by famous artists and photograph it… Here is part two of Ruth’s challenge.
Now we’re recreating our photographed versions of the original in paint. Simples!
You have to look very hard to see which was the original in Heather’s almost mirror image of her take on Cezanne.
Anne has created a twin for Patrick Caulfield. Rachel has gone for a new twist ,and Bethan’s got art imitating art in all directions by including the vase she painted which had been made by Sue, last summer.
Trish, meanwhile is inspired by Mary Fedden’s bright colour blocks.
The original originals!
Guaranteed to brighten your day… spring flowers are the ultimate pick-me-up and we need that with our baffling weather.
Inspired by Sue, our team have been busier than Interflora when it comes to putting their bouquets together!
We like a bit of exotica here at The Escape Artists’ HQ so Beryl’s project to create a colourful felted bird has got everybody thinking of the Coco Cabana.
For many, this will be the nearest we get to anything remotely exotic this year!
First migrations to our Club Tropicana were Beth’s jaunty parrot, then Trish’s colourful chappie and next Rachel’s pretty polly. Just finding its way into the nest is Gemma’s lovely exotic visitor from warmer climes…
Having created pictures with all sorts of media during the past year we naturally come to drawing with … wire!
Yes wire! And with help and inspiration from Chloe we will never look at a humble ball of wire in the same light again…
First in was Anne’s lively picture of her grandchildren and their dog on Conwy Mountain. You can almost see their smiles!
Next came Trish’s delicate spring flowers. Then Rachel’s frog and flowers enhanced with painted effects in nail varnish!
This week’s challenge – from Ruth – was to knock out a masterpiece.
But we do that every week, I hear you cry. Well, yes. But, more specifically, this was reconstructing a range of famous paintings with whatever you have lying around the house. And then photographing them.
Just in is Beth’s arrangement of a fruit bowl, just as Cezanne had it and complete with her painted vase from an earlier challenge to paint ceramics made by Sue for an exhibition scuppered by CV19.
Mavis was also influenced by Cezanne’s composition of wine, fruit and vases.
First in was Anne’s reworking of Cezanne’s Still Life with Apples, cleverly substituting apples for seeds and some other 21st century additions.
Then came Trish’s colourful take on Mary Fedden and Cezanne’s studies of fruit and wine. Love the orange cloth.
Your web hostess was also attracted by Fedden’s deceptively simple arrangement! while Rachel’s Cezanne inspired composition, was complete with her hand-painted vase from last summer..
Admit it – you had to look twice!
Top left to right: Matisse, Grace Venditti, Marsden Hartley
Middle: Cezanne, Mary Fedden, Samuel John Peploe
Bottom: Cezanne, Patrick Caulfield, Elizabeth Blackadder
Hands have been in the spotlight over the last 12 months, what with all the washing and sanitising!
Here we celebrate them in colours and patterns…
The decorative art of mandala making was our focus this week, introduced to us by Sian.
Mandalas have their roots in Tibet where Buddist monks would work intricate patters in coloured sand, usually in concentric circles to represent the circle of life.
Just in is Gemma’s perfectly placed mandala of shells on a pink background that makes the seashells pop! And Chrissie’s edible artwork. Pasta mandala’s on the menu!
First in was two from Rachel – a floral pattern made from needlecraft decorations, in blues, contrasting with a painted yellow circle.
Then came Bethan’s seashell extravaganza made from shells collected locally. Very zen!
Next, a tile found on Conwy morfa, and feathers from Gwydir Castle make a perfect partnership from me/Jill.
Then a shell-tastic mandala – this time from Trish, with sea glass highlights.
And just in, a circlet of spring garden flowers – just right for Easter- from Mavis, who grew them!
The Escape Artists