Bednobs and Broomsticks

 Bednobs and Broomsticks.

Today has been the first day since Christmas day that I’ve felt well enough to get out of bed. I’m still not well but at least I’m managing to stay awake for more than 30 minutes at a time. I thought I would make the effort to get dressed and spend a couple hours in the living room watching TV.
‘Bednobs and Broomsticks’ happened to be on TV.  It’s a while since I’ve since I’ve seen this film, it reminds me of when my kids were young and we used to spend Sunday afternoons watching films. We watched silly films like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Mary Poppins and this one and even now my grandchildren still like watching these silly old films.  I couldn’t help thinking it was quite apt, this was the first time I had been out of bed and I found myself watching a film about a bunch of people transported around on an old iron framed bed. And then I thought maybe it was some sort of omen, beds feature in quite a few paintings, and here are a few of them.

No 1 ( above) has to be the very famous VINCENT VAN GOGH: “La chambre de Van Gogh à Arles (Van Gogh's room at Arles)”, Van Gogh first painted his room in Arles in October 1888 (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Van Gogh), and, one year later, he painted two more versions while living in Saint-Rémy, this one is one of the later ones and the most elaborate of the three.
No 2 HENRI DE TOULOUSE-LAUTREC: “Dans le lit (In bed)", 1893 This is one (and arguably the best) of the several scenes of a couple in bed painted by Toulouse-Lautrec,
No 3 EDOUARD MANET: "Olympia", this was first exhibited in 1865 and the painting was not liked by art critics of the time. However,  it was much admired by Émile Zola.

No 4 Mary Cassatt's painting Breakfast In Bed, one of the loveliest portrayals of mother and child.
No 5 The Nightmare: Henry Fuseli, 1781, this is the one that most resembles my confinement to bed……….the stuff that nightmar4s are made of.
No 6  Master Bedroon by Andrew Wyeth, no one can resist this painting. 
No 7 The Poor Poet by Carl Spitzweg. This is one of my favourites, I love the detail. A poll of Germans listed this painting as their second favorite painting of all time second only to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. It has often been used in literary works to exemplify the metaphor of the starving artist. Unfortunately, this painting has been stolen on two different occasions. The thieves in 1989 were more successful as the original work remains among the missing

Jane Aukshunas

Jane Aukshunas

http://janeaukshunas.com/

I posted a couple of these prints a few weeks ago when I didn’t have time to do a full Art Sunday post. They were just a taster of her work. I had never seen this womans’ work before and even at first glance it immediately appealed to me. 

Aukshunas revels in the creamy medium of oil pastels and uses a hybrid technique that can be regarded both as drawing and painting. She applies thick layers of richly colored oil pastel to paper or wooden panels and works the medium with her fingers and other tools. Her giclee prints convey the texture and richness of the original work.

Jane Aukshunas holds a Bachelors of Fine Art from Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, with additional studies of Japanese art at Harvard University and fashion design at Parsons School of Design in New York City. The artist also studied traditional Balinese painting in Indonesia, and developed her current oil pastel techniques through experimentation in her studio.

She  lives and works  in the Willamette Valley which is rich with diverse terrain supporting what may be the widest variety of crops in the world. Over the years; she has traveled to Italy and Hawaii to draw some of the world’s most beautiful landscapes and has studied traditional Balinese painting in Bali, Indonesia. All of this experience reflects in her rich work of the landscape. 

Training

Jane Aukshunas holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Massachusetts, with additional studies of Japanese art at Harvard University and fashion design at Parsons School of Design, New York City. Jane has also studied traditional Balinese painting in Indonesia. She has developed her current oil pastel techniques through experimentation in her studio.

Education

• BFA, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA,  1980

Additional studies at:

• Parsons School of Design, New York City, NY
• Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

This is what she says of her own work

“People who love my work say they feel as though they can walk right into my images and take a deep breath, because the space there is so tranquil and inviting. My use of vibrant color and undulating shapes create a sense of calm yet buoyant joy, and the pathways and roads I incorporate invite exploration. The colors and shapes carry awareness on a journey throughout the picture space.

When I was about 10 years old, I discovered oil pastels and have been enamored of them ever since. Oil pastels consist of pigment mixed with a binder of wax and non-drying oil. They are much creamier than chalk pastels, allowing a greater freedom of expression than pencils and more control than paint. I adore them for their textural sensuality and find them delightful to apply to the wood panels and paper on which I work. Over many years of experimentation in my studio, I have developed oil pastel techniques that blend both drawing and painting. To achieve my lush landscape imagery, I utilize thick applications of richly colored oil pastels, working the creamy pigments with my fingers and other tools.
I like to work “en plein air” (on location in the great outdoors), but painting outdoors can sometimes be challenging. At times, while working by the side of busy roads, I have had to hold tightly to my drawing board when trucks roared by. I have had to devise ways to keep my oil pastels from melting on hot summer days, and during the rainy season, I occasionally have to work inside my car, using the windshield wipers to clear my view of the landscape.

Perhaps because my formal art training is rooted in design, I pare down the world around me to the essential elements, shapes and colors that have become the crux of my imagery. Vibrant color and sensuality of line give my work a playful and contemporary feeling, and the images in my art reflect my love of rhythm, music and movement. I have had a lifelong interest in textiles, and consequently, my imagery is influenced by fabric design’’.
Jane Aukshunas