Michele

Project completed from Art 107.

The Alte Pinakothek is located on Barer Str. 27, in München, Germany.

Boys Playing Dice, ca. 1675/80
Oils on Canvas, 145 x 108 cm  
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

Two boys are sitting outside on the ground, absorbed in their game of dice. The boy on the right of the picture is perhaps hiding another die in his closed hand. A young boy is standing next to them and chewing a piece of bread, lost in thought. The motif of games of chance-and deceit in gambling-can be found just as much in the works of the Caravaggisti as in the Murillo’s choice of the Bamboccianti in Rome. Through Murillo’s choice of children as protagonists, however, the subject loses its moralizing poignancy.

Card Playing Soldiers, ca. 1625/30
Oil on Panel, 32 x 43 cm
Willem Cornelisz Duyster 

While one of the soldiers playing cards concentrates on his hand, the other player, hiding his right hand behind his back, looks out of the painting and catches the viewer’d attention. The depiction is a warning to be attentive and not to push one’s luck

 Danaë, ca. 1527
 Oil tempera on oak panel, 114 x 95 cm 
Jan Gossart

In 1527, Gossart painted his final work on a mythological subject, Danaë, a large-scale work, using sober and elegant architectural motifs as the setting for its subject.
In the centre of the painting an enraptured Danaë sits on two plump pillows on the floor. With her bare legs spread apart, and her deep blue mantle slipping seductively from her shoulders to reveal her right breast, she receives Zeus in the form of the fertile golden rain that gently falls into her lap. In the background, viewed through the columns, are buildings in a mixture of architectural styles: an Italian Renaissance palace, a medieval turret, a north ITalian church tower and lantern, and a Flamboyant Late Gothic edifice.

 The Canigiani Madonna, ca. 1507 
 Oil on wood, 131 x 107 cm 
Sanzio Raffaello (Raphael)

St Columba Altarpiece, ca. 1455
Oil on oak panel, 138 x 70 cm, 138 x 153 cm, 138 x 70 cm
Rogier van der Weyden 

Peasants Playing Cards, ca. 1636/38
Oil on panel 24.5 x  34.3 cm
Adriaen Brouwer

Had lots of fun planning this last minute trip to Washington. We decided to drive so we could bring June and the pinata I made. Yes, I made a freaking pinata! It was really fun to make and a lot of guess work. I used dollar store streamers, school glue, poster board, newspaper and masking tape.  First I had to figure out what shape to make and decided on a pirate ship. I looked at several different pirate ships as reference then drew a ship on poster board and cut out two pieces. I then joined the pieces together with masking tape and more poster board. Then with glue and some water I put a layer of newspaper around it. It took several days, letting one layer dry at a time. I think I did about five layers. I wanted it strong the hold all the candy I was planning on packing in it.

I wish I took more pictures of the process. The most time consuming and fun part was adding the crepe paper. I got all the color from the dollar store and Walmart. I used hot glue to put the crepe paper on. I was very happy with the results! I made a big opening for the candies and I used felt for the sails. I hot glued them on as well.

The pinata was wonderful! And in the end, after stuffing it with candy coins and rubber duckys we decided not to break it.

Keeping with the pirate theme, I tried to make a treasure chest cake. It was really fun trying to put it together, but I should have giving myself more time. I used 2 bread loaf pans I got from the dollar store with one with a little less batter to make the top. Once I got the cakes together I couldn’t figure out a good way to keep it open. I didn’t want to used a bunch of food color either. So it kind of looked like a treasure chest cake, but the colors made it look like a football cake, which was perfect because the next day was the Super Bowl. I also made cupcakes with little golden coins on top. If that wasn’t enough sugar, made pirate cookies using a pumpkin cookie cutter. I just used a basic sugar cookie recipe and vanilla almond frosting. Everyone loved them.

For the sand I used crumbed up sandies and I got delightful chocolate shells from Winco. I should have gotten the candy coins from Winco too. They have all sorts of candies in the bulk section. The funnest part of the pirate party was the green screen. We couldn’t find any cheap software to change the background, but it wasn’t too difficult to use Gimp to fix the pictures up. Here are some of the cute pictures we took.

We got bulk fabric from Joann’s and cut bananas out of them and made long gold sashes. I made a hook out of a paper cup and painted cardboard. The knives and sword were made out of cardboard and painted too. Pretty easy and really fun. The background images we found on google. The program we used to edit the pictures is a free program that can be downloaded from Gimp.org.  There are lots of tutorials on YouTube about Gimp. Photoshop works too.

I can’t wait to have another party!

I have been experimenting with polymer clay and I absolutely love the medium. The boxes take me about a day to complete and 15-20 minutes to bake in the oven.

This is my first project with an small candy tin.

I didn’t know what to make so I decided to have a go at making a peacock type design.

I think it turned out okay. I was really fun to do. I think I am hooked now.

I cut out some foam so I could place my calligraphy tips in it.

Banana for reference.

I made one for my boyfriend.

I decided to do the bottom too.

My third box.

Gimp is a great program for those of your who are just starting photo manipulation. This is my first picture using Gimp. I am still very much new to the whole graphic art world. Gimp is free and there are a ton of great tutorials online. Most of the pictures I used I found on Flickr under the creative common license.  Enjoy 🙂