the blog quebecois

Via Electronically Brighter

Google Trends:

If you don't know what a Fleshlight is, consider yourself fortunate. Warning: Link NSFW.

Er, cancel the Fleshlight order. I just happened across this book that shows the horrific fate that awaits practitioners of the loathsome vice. A close call indeed!

Worth1000's latest Photoshop challenge: Place 2D cartoon characters into famous paintings.

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?

The Beast of Brampton?

I recently discovered this amazing site called eBay, where all the riches of the world are laid out for purchase. Also a lot of crap. When I got tired of buying that, I decided to look at the art available. Plenty of dross there, too, but there were certain sellers that stood out. One of them was an Ontario artist, Cathy Horvath, whose impressionistic landscapes caught my eye.

She works mainly if not entirely in acrylics, a medium that I used briefly but abandoned when I decided they didn't smell as good as oil paints (and that sentence should tell you all you need to know about my short-lived artistic career).

They're also astonishingly luminous, probably second only to watercolor. The above picture doesn't do it justice; it glows like a piece of stained glass. It's also a people magnet -- everyone who sees it is drawn to it as though hypnotised.

It cost me $98 US (all eBay transactions -- at least the ones I've been involved with -- are denominated in US currency), and I think I got a good price. At the exchange rate and adding shipping it came to about $150 CDN. A more typical range would be $120-160 US. If there's a piece you simply must have, she has some pieces for sale on a "Buy It Now" basis with prices at $200-300. Or you could enter that as your bid in an auction and be pretty well guaranteed the win.

If you'd like to see some of Ms. Horvath's other work, her eBay store is here or go to eBay's home page here. You'll be prompted to open an eBay account if you wish to make a bid, and a PayPal account if you purchase something.

As for me, I find myself on the horns of a dilemma. I originally intended the piece as a Mother's Day present; I'm trying very hard to convince myself that what she really wants is a box of chocolates.

I've written about Zuiikin English before, here
and here. The links on those pages are undoubtedly broken by now, so here's an up-to-date list on YouTube.

That's the only name I know her by. I found her on eBay when I was looking for Japanese prints. Didn't find any -- but hey, Chinese is close enough, no?

At any rate, she's selling traditional Chinese art -- landscapes, nature scenes, animals. These aren't prints; they're done in watercolor, pen-and ink washes and what looks like poster paint (watercolor, but more opaque). I have copies of two of the three posters pictured here, and I must say, they are impressive. First of all, they're big -- the bamboo on top is 52 x 26"; the birds and bamboo to the left measures about 4 x 2'. (Yes, bamboo seems to be a big theme.)

Secondly, these are very interesting, artistically speaking. The composition and colors are flawless and the draughtmanship and painting are equally skilled. Now it may be that I've accidentally come across a hitherto-unknown tribe of dazzling Chinese artists; but I suspect the truth is more prosaic. These are created in workshops by teams of artists, each of whom specialize in certain parts of the painting. For example, the picture above of the birds and bamboo -- 1 person draws and/or paints the birds, another the bamboo, another the calligraphy, etc.

This is very like the shops that produce other mass-consumption art, like the Dogs Playing Poker genre; however, art-by-committee has a long and storied history. The Renaissance masters (and probably others) were notorious for enlisting their students and apprentices to work on less-critical aspects of the painting; as they grew in skill, they were entrusted with more elements, until sometimes the only genuine contribution of the artist was his signature (and even then, not so much).

In other news, Rembrandt (among many others) are credibly suspected of using camera obscura as a drawing-aid. As Mr. Steve Martin might have warned us, "Art ain't pretty."

That leaves price. I've bought some fourteen or fifteen pieces by now and I've only had to bid above the minimum price ($0.99 US) twice, each time for only a couple of dollars more. Naturally, shipping from China is expensive -- about $17 for the first piece, with discounts of up to 80% for additional items in the same order. I think she probably makes a few dollars off the postage, but you can hardly blame her for that. It takes approximately 7-10 business days to arrive (shipments are fully trackable). I'm getting ready to order some more. They truly are beautiful.

Framing them is simple -- I don't. However she offers two methods of display: Matte mounting, or traditional scroll mounting. I haven't tried either one of these so I can't comment on the price or look. I just thumbtack them up, but I first reinforce the corners (and the edges on larger pieces) by gluing small pieces of cardboard (the blank side of matchbooks is ideal) to the back of the piece with rubber cement, which won't wrinkle the paper like ordinary glue.

Her eBay store is here. She also sent me a link to her catalog. I'll post pictures from it from time to time.