It's About Time : December 2015

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Sewing outdoors - 19C Girls

Janet C Fisher (Welch artist, 1867–1926), In the orchard, c.1900.

Mary E Dear (English artist, 1848-1867) Patchwork 1857

John Thomas Peele (English-born American genre artist, 1822–1897) The Knitting Lesson

John Dawson Watson (British artist, 1832-1892)

William Frederick Witherington (British artist, 1785-1865) The Sewing Lesson

Charles Edward Wilson (British 1854-1941) Girl Sewing

Albert Edelfelt (Finnish artist, 1854-1905) A Girl Knitting Socks 1896

Friday, December 11, 2015

Sewing outdoors - Jean-François Millet 1814-1875

Jean-François Millet (French painter, 1814–1875) Seated Shepherdess Knitting 1858

Jean-François Millet (French painter, 1814–1875) The Knitting Shepherdess 1856

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Sewing outdoors - 1700s

The Lace Wearer Rewarding the Lace Maker Published by Carrington Bowles 1783

John Fairburn (English painter) Lace Maker 1795

Monday, December 7, 2015

Bathing Beauties by Stanley Spencer 1891-1959

Stanley Spencer, (English painter, 1891-1959) Girls Returning from a Bathe 1936

"Everything has a sort of double meaning for me, there's the ordinary everyday meaning of things, and the imaginary meaning about it all, and I wanted to bring these things together...I have always looked forward to seeing what I could fish out of myself, I am a treasure island seeker and the island is myself." Stanley Spencer

Stanley Spencer, (English painter, 1891-1959) The Bathing Pool, Dogs 1940

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Bathing by Camille Pissarro 1830-1903

Camille Pissarro (French artist, 1830-1903) Bather

Camille Pissarro (French artist, 1830-1903) Bathers

Camille Pissarro (French artist, 1830-1903) Bathers by the side of the river

Camille Pissarro (French artist, 1830-1903) Bathers on the Bank of a River

Camille Pissarro (French artist, 1830-1903) Bathers

Camille Pissarro (French artist, 1830-1903) Bathing Goose Maidens

Camille Pissarro (French artist, 1830-1903) Group of Bathers

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Reading Outdoors by Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1841-1919

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919) The Reader

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919) Madame Chocquet Reading 1876

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919) Two Girls Reading

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919) Gabrielle Renard (1878-1959) and Jean

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Reading Outdoors - My Favorite European Reading Portrait by Armand Guillaumin 1841-1927

1882 Armand Guillaumin (French Impressionist painter, 1841-1927) The Future Madame Guilaumin Reading

About My Obsession with People & Plants

Initially ancient mankind tried to gain some control over the constantly changing & often threatening natural surroundings by creating spaces to meet basic needs for shelter, family, food, healing, & safety.

The prehistoric discovery that some plants harm & others heal led man to search for & eventually grow life-sustaining food & healing plants. At the same time, mankind created myths about people & plants & events it just did not understand.

A garden became a planned space set aside for the practical cultivation of edible & medicinal plants, and/or for the display of decorative plants + garden ornaments & architecture.

As centuries passed, many "elite" transformed the landscape near their personal living space into the latest "garden-art" hoping to project to passers-by a powerful image of themselves - their wealth, refinement, & overall importance.

In General...

I am usually searching for WHY mankind's society changes & what those living before us declare in their own words and in their images of themselves & of the world around them.

Posting on the worldwide internet makes history less intimidating, more easily accessible, & available for most living in free societies.

Traditional historians rely on man's written & drawn records to interpret past progress & myths. The artifacts & science of archaeologists dig deeper to teach us more about our relative recent centuries & the hundreds of thousand years preceding it.

Their growing science forms the basis of our knowledge of civilizations before written & drawn records, most of which seem to be in Africa, Europe, & Asia. We don't know much about ancient cultures here in North America, but we need to.

Focusing mostly on the history of mankind's relationship with plants & gardens, on the history of Native Americans, and on the history of women, I put together several blogs, different in the particulars but similar in the essentials. Many are listed in the blogroll below.

Honored to have you here. Welcome! -

Barbara Wells Sarudy