The Friday Evening Nudes

I'm kind of nervous. I've never taken requests for nudes before. And as I suspected, at least a couple of you  have put me in somewhat of a compromising position. But I did ask for suggestions and what kind of art hostess would I be if I did not fill requests graciously, right?   ;-)

  This one goes out to Susan, who requested a nude by illustrator Edmund Dulac. But I'm adding a bonus:  one by Dulac I found tucked into a file labeled "illustrators".  Susan, thanks. I went on a Dulac hunt after I read your comment. Your work reminds me of this style. Heavenly. 

Mermaid and Prince

 Selene and Endymion

Edmund Dulac

And if I had gained Susan's permission earlier (I didn't think of it until later) I would also be posting one of her own images. Honestly, they are in the same league as Dulac.

I do have this mandala that I received as a blog award and it is made by Susan. So, though it has nothing to do with nudes, it sort of fits with the mood of this post. I think. Then again, it does have something to do with nudes. Doesn't everything? Nudity is truly elemental.   :-)  You could most easily view Susan's paintings, sketches and silk art creations by visiting her at Phantsythat.

 Dianne:  This one is for you. The subject had to be in the company of a cat.  ;-)

Valloton

Okay. There is nary a doubt about it:  I have quite the eclectic bunch showing up around here!  :-)

 Spadoman:  I did my best, my friend.  I haven't been successful in finding an image where one can actually read the thought bubbles, so I have not an exact idea of what the serpent trails off into...

r.crumb

Lemme Caution had no preferences so we'll go off for a bit on a Pagan Sphinx tangent. Shall we?

Emile Bernard

Albert Von Keller

Cupid and the Three Graces

Raphael

1517

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5. And this one's for MadPriest:  I didn't know your tastes leaned toward the athletic.

;-)

 The authentic Tennis Girl:

Martin Elliot
click for larger viewing

My apologies for not linking to everyone's blogs. I've run out of time before I have to leave for dinner. 

Ciao

Happy Hanukkah

Black Crow

I thought this video tribute to Joni Mitchell's composition Black Crow was particularly well done. But I would expect no less from someone whose youtube handle is hejira33312. ;-) Well done, Don. This is my all-time favorite song by Joni Mitchell.

And while I'm here, I'd also like to pass on this award given to me by my dear friend Betmo at Life's Journey, to Crow and Susan at Phantythat, to whom the song is dedicated.


Thanks, Bet. I'm looking forward to those pictures of your garden you've been promising us. That season can't come fast enough, huh? We're expecting a winter storm tonight. Alas, nothing can be done. We have to weather it out.

Creative Blogger Awards & Other Froms of Bloggy Love

This thank you and acknowledgement is long overdue. A few weeks back, my blog friend and fellow Peace Tree blogger, Betmo nominated The Pagan Sphinx as a recipient of this lovely award. Betmo also has two blogs I follow: Life's Journey and Betmo's Corner. She is a tireless news hound - I find myself turning to Life's Journey if I really want to know what's going on from a real-life Leftist American Feminist Woman and all-around very cool and lovely person! And Betmo's Corner is like a little santuary in the frenzied blog world. I don't know if Betmo ever received this award herself but just in case, I'm re-giving it to her for fantastic haiku in the Little Sanctuary.

Thank you for your kindness and generosity, Bet!

I would in turn like to give the Creative Blogger Award to the following six people. All creative, intense, fascinating, beautiful people. Please give yourself a break from the pressures of life and blogging by visiting their sites to view their beautiful work.

Thorne from California, Carmi from London, Ontario (through The Pagan's Eye) and Soulbrush (also via The Pagan's Eye) from London, England, are new friends whose blogs I've been really enjoying a connection with. Keep up all your wonderfully create efforts, everyone!

Love,
Pagan Sphinx

Linda at Vulture Peak Muse (painting and photography)
Susan and co-blogger Crow at Phantsy That (painting, jewelry and fabric art and writing)
Steve at Color Sweet Tooth (painting other creative forces)
Thorne at Thorne's World (writing, photography, tatoo art)
Soul at Soulbrush (painting)
Carmi at Written, Inc. (photography and writing)
Betmo at Betmo's Corner (poetry)

Fabulous Blog Award

I've recently ventured out farther into the blogosphere and have discovered some very fine blogs. Gobs of blogs. Largely, the new blogs I've been reading have been introduced to me by people who like to take pictures and post them to various theme memes such as Ruby Tuesday and Shadow Shot Sunday, to name my two favorites.

Honestly, I don't know how I ended up at Thorne's World but as I did, she had just moved out of blogger and into her new space on Word Press. First of all, I immediately admired her courage in doing this, as Word Press is exactly where I should be renting. But I'm scared to lose all of my blog possessions. And when I went to Thorne's World and was immediately treated to a laugh in just the first sentence of the first post I read, I knew that I would want to have Thorne as one of my bloggy friends.

So, friends of the Pagan Sphinx, please meet Thorne from California, whom I am only just getting to know but already think highly of. I'm honored to have been recognized by you with this award.

And today when I read my comments I was invited to Thorne's World to pick this up:



I love the yellow dress. I could never pull off yellow, not even when my hair was deep brown. Maybe because my skin is light but an olive undertone. And the heels are something my size 91/2 feet could never tolerate. Though I do have a thing for nice shoes, especially strappy sandals. I don't care for hats and I only wear one when I absolutely have to in scortching heat or heavy rain or bittere below zero temps. Oh and the dog. I always think I'd like to have a sassy little dog one day - isn't that some sort of little terrier she's walking? They're cute and jaunty and everything but my experienes with them have not been good: too barky and annoying and nippy. I have never been that skinny, either. Especially at this stage of my life.

I would not have written so much about the blog award picture if it didn't love it, which I do. It's very 60's Paris. And I loved getting from Thorne, my new blog bud, who, as it turns out is a blog bud of Betmo, who also recieved this award because she is awesomelly well-informed and tells it like it is. Bet (whom I have taken to called Betty in my head) is also a really nice person and dedicated blog bud.

Now. For the rules:

I'm supposed to name five addictions:

1) blogging
2) taking pictures
3) carbonated spring water
4) collecting home renovation ideas (but rarely following through)
5) that first sip of coffee in the morning

Now I'm supposed to give the Fabulous Blogger Award of the lady with the little dog to five other bloggers who are not only deserving but will also play the 5 addictions game. It's really a win-win situation, if I think you're deserving you don't have to play the game to get the award. See? I'll still like you even if you don't play the game, in other words.

Steve at Color Sweet Tooth: a consumate artist, Steve is also a highly thoughtful commentator and kind and generous soul. You should check out his paintings. I actually own one and if I ever get around to affording the mat and frame for it, I will post a photo of it hanging on my wall. Meanwhile, you can view it here. It is even more beautiful in person, I assure you. If you like that, also please have a look at this one. It was inspired by my daughter and daughter-in-law's wedding at San Francisco City Hall. I still get chocked up when I think about how much this painting means to me and how grateful I am to know someone who was able to capture so beautifully the love between two young people just embarking on their future together. Thank you, Steve for your art and your friendship.

Hey, Harriet deserves this award. Tracey from Brisbane has treasures gallore about life and art in her city and she's a very fine photographer so her readers are treated to spectacular and creative photos of her environment. Tracey also hosts Shadown Shot Sunday, which can easily boast about the talent and dedication of a good number of participants weekly; all of whom are very intelligent, articualte and friendly. I highly recommend you visit, except that you will be swept off your feet by the beauty of Brisbane and then you won't stop chewing your partner's ear off about how you have to go there some day. Like me. ;-) And tracey, I'm thrilled that you've been coming by the Pagan Sphinx as well as "the eye". I enjoy your comments very much. Oh, and I love the "random surrel generator" thingie you have on your blog. I look forward to it. :-)

Bobbie at Almost There. She tells lots of stories about her Norman Rockwell past and her children and grandchildren but she's not stuck in the past and that's obvious by the posts she writes on the state of our nation and the world and her caring and concern for the earth and its people. I admire this lady a whole lot and I can't go a day without at least checking in quickly to see what she has to say. Bobbie also takes great photographs which she posts to various memes like Ruby Tuesday and Sky Watch Friday. In fact, it was through Bobbie's blog that I first discovered Sky Watch. And also how I met this wonderful blogger:

Dianne at Forks Off The Moment. What can I say? I adore her. She's sweet and very funny; down to earth and also creative and political and oh, so very cool. And she's a native of the greatest freakin' city on earth -New York. Dianne has an exceptional knack for writing posts that draw people like moths to a flame. And her photos are really good too. Check them out on Do You See What I See.

Susan and co-blogger Crow of Phantsythat. Susan is another amazing, imaginative, whimsical, creative, loving soul. The artwork she shares is so special and dear and lovingly rendered, that I'm always touched by what I see there and so grateful that I am fortunate enough to view her wonderful paintings and hand-painted silk scarves and purses and jewelry. Oh and did I mention how she can write, too? The kind Susan is well-traveled and shares many vignettes, adventures and pursuits through her other blogs: Adventures Ink and Baby Days a little illustrated story that I fell in love with on first read. Do have a look. Don't miss a thing.

Bookworm Meme

Susan has tagged me for a bookworm meme that includes this racy badge, which makes it all that much more fun!

Am I a bookworm? I don't read nearly as much as when, as a child, I earned the title, but I'm surrounded by books both at home and at work, which is an elementary school. Books have played a tremendous role in my life as the shapers of values, ideals, ideas and common sense. I credit my appetite for books with helping shape an art and literature lover whose experiences were not vast due to the limits of a Portuguese immigrant upbringing.

When I think about my love of books and reading and learning, I invariably think of my father, who died in 2005. He was a working class, immigrant man with a veracious appetite for reading. While his English was far from perfect, even after having lived in the U.S. for 20 years, he read three U.S. dailies from cover to cover, as well as books in Portuguese and French.

I recall family shopping trips to the local Mars department store, where in the toy department, I would seek out these cheap, hardbound copies of children's classics, which I would ask my father to buy for me to which he would almost always oblige. Some of these included Heidi, Little Women and Gulliver's Travels. I've managed to hang on to the ragged copy of Heidi, which I must have read at least 25 times.

Now, you may think that reading Heidi was a nine-year-old isn't very sexy but I had a hell of a crush on Peter, the goat keeper! ;-) Besides, before I knew it I had graduated to D.H. Lawrence!

Okay. Now for the rules of the meme. If you play, you are instructed to find a nearby book, turn to page 46, select the fifth sentence and type if out, including subsequent sentences. I interpret this to mean that whatever after the fifth sentence makes sense, should be included.

Like Susan, I picked up a couple of handy books that didn't quite work out. One was a book of the artwork of Nick Bantock, the creater of the Griffin and Sabine books, but the pages were not numbered and there is very little text. The other was a book I just bought at The Book Mill where I also ran into the problem of not enough text on the page due to the art plates. Finally, I resorted to grabbing a random book among several that were on top of one stack on a bookshelf:
Wintering by Kate Moses, a fictionalized account based on documented events and the work of Sylvia Plath. The book chronicles Plath's last six months living in a London flat before she killed herself, as well as weaving in and out of the pasdelving into much of what may have gone on during the period when Plath wrote Ariel, the last collection of her work. It's a beautifully written novel, clearly written by a scholar who both appreciated and understood Plath's work.

Here we go.

In truth, they are moving eagerly on, their life telescoping out fromthis claustrophobic walk-up; what does it matter to them who takes their exiguos flat? But surprisingly, it does.

"Hullo?", Sylvia says, elbows on the kitchen table, her free hand fingering her braided bun. "Assia, this is Sylvia Hughes - "

Her voice carries through the apartment, moving over it lightly, like a fine mist. It settles over the painted floors and glossy molding that traces the rooms. " - you'll have to visit us there. It's Ted's dreamscape. Our own Avalon, complete with apple trees and the bones of pagans."





Is reading sexy?

You can play too, just let me know if you do, so I can read your post.

Heart Mandala Award

This is such a beautiful award; both visually and symbolically. I'm very, very honored to have received it from my friend Liberality, whom I grow to admire and respect more with every post of hers I read. And that it was created with love by Susan, the subject of this art post, makes it all that much more special.

So many talented, creative, loving people deserve this award so it's hard to choose from among them. It's also hard for me to recall who likes awards and who does not, so if I pass this one to you and you're not an awards person, please feel no obligation.

For their heartfelt kindness and support:

1.) Steve at Color Sweet Tooth
2) Dianne at Forks Off The Moment
3) Betmo of Life's Journey

(My apologies to all for the delay in posting about my high regard for this award. I've been ill since Monday; struggling with an earache and congestion as well as a whole host of other related and unrelated ailments. Today, in the wee hours, I developed a massive headache that I've been fighting off all day. This is the first time today I have been able to be up and about. )

Artist of the Week

Garden Cats

Susan Mills

Once again, I have the pleasure of featuring an artist whom I can count among my blog friends. Susan, of the blog Phantsythat. These luscious watercolor paintings have stolen my heart, in part because of the love and tenderness with which Susan paints the animals in her creations, the rich details, the gorgeous colors and patterned borders.

When you visit Phantsythat, be sure to read the posts that accompany the paintings she features, as they connect in some meaningful way to one another. I've included links to a few of my favorite posts.

Susan lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and has lived and traveled extensively within Canada and the U.S. as well as many places of the heart, mind and imagination. She's an intensely spiritual and delightfully positive human being.

Moonlight Reprise

Read the accompanying post which is about one of my favorite recent novels

Life of Pi

After Science

Accompanying post:

What Else Don't We Know?

Balancing Act

Baby Days
Please read and enjoy this lovely, whimsical story that Susan wrote and illustrated in pen and ink

And this lovely drawing from Adventures Ink, the blog where Susan not only shares with us her drawing ability but also her strengths as a writer. The stories that accompany the drawings are taken from Susan's own interesting life and travels.