January Black Ice $.99 Sale

Dear Gentle Readers,

January Black Ice, the first Cat Collier Mystery, is now on sale for $.99 at http://tinyurl.com/zmv3jeq at Amazon.com.  

The Cat Collier mysteries has been called an exciting new series. It is a fast, funny, yet heartfelt read. It has been compared to the detective novels of the 1940's. 

The Winter Collection, consisting of January Black Ice, February White Lies, and March Blues, is out now.

Pick up this first novella for $.99 from September 30 through October 3, 2016.

Hugs,
Carol

Elspeth McLean, Dot Queen

Look at what this woman does with stones and paint!

These gorgeous painted stones are by Elspeth McLean, an Australian artist born in Gooseberry Hill, a small suburb in western Australia. She showed her artistic tendencies at a very early age.







She moved to the East Coast of Australia at the age of nineteen to follow her dream of becoming  a full time artist.


Elspeth now lives in Canada.

Elspeth creates breathtaking masterpieces of tiny, colorful dots in beautiful patterns on round ocean stones.  Each one is more beautiful than the next. 

Follow Elspeth McLean on Facebook by visiting her beautiful page at:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elspeth-McLean-artist-/113764415348201?fref=ts




None of these photos are mine. I got them online or at website.  Her work is available for sale at 
etsy. com

Jack Vettriano

 Jack Vettriano

​Meet my new favorite artist, Jack Vettriano.  His biography begins "born in Fife, Scotland in 1951." Hold on, Readers! This Italian girl recognizes an Italian last name when she hears one. Intrigued, I continued reading that this talented man quit school and went to work in the mining industry. His girlfriend bought him a set of watercolor paints for his twenty-first birthday (Thank you, dear, whoever you are, you did the world a favor!) and from then on he spent his free time teaching himself to paint.

        There is something about his work that draws you into the painting.  The first one I ever saw was his The Singing Butler, which shows an elegantly dressed couple dancing on the beach in the rain with their butler with an open umbrella. Their is such a romantic aura in this beautifully done painting. Love it.

  And then I discovered a whole plethora of paintings by Jack Vettriano as his publishing company's website

 www.heartbreakpublishing.com

where you can browse and buy Jack Vettriano reasonably priced posters, cards, postcards, calendars, journals, as well as canvas prints.  It is a beautiful and easy to navigate website.  

I discovered Dance Me to the End of Love, a spectacular Audrey Hepburn-like beauty in perfect ballroom dancing hold with her striking partner.

​Jack Vettriano was born Jack Hoggan to a Scottish father and an Italian mother. When he was 36 and newly separately, he moved to Edinburgh and took his mother's maiden name and went on to become an international success with studios in Scotland and London.  The Singing Butler has been the best selling image in Britain and is very popular here as well.

​Those who criticize his work as "too erotic" have to be those guys who prefer to look at paintings of fish or maybe still life prints of fruits and veggies.

​Please visit Jack Vettriano - Official Jack Vettriano Page on Facebook for  news on Jack's current and upcoming gallery showings and current work.  Some other very interesting links are:

www.easyart.com/prints/jack-vettriano

www.vettriano-art.com/

www.allposters.com/-st/Jack-Vettriano-     Posters_c29036_.htm

The Fabulous Work of Suzan Drummen

The Fabulous Artwork of Dutch Artist Suzan Drummen

This gorgeous circular artwork is like giant floor jewelry.  I have never seen anything like the work of Dutch artist Suzan Drummen.

Suzan Drummen is a visual arts teacher in the Netherlands.  Some have called her work psychedelic.  The beads, stones, mirrors, etc. are placed loosely on the floor, making them ethereal and very vulnerable to destruction. 

 Side-view of Suzan's work look like giant sundaes with cherries on the top.  The must be viewed from above to get the full effect.

Directly from the Website by:www.moniquewijbrands.nl

From this website you can view many multidisciplinary works in the media of painting, photography, installation and public art. The works are a playful investigation of space, illusion, optical effects and other visual phenomena as part of a broad exploration of visual perception and the limits of beauty. There is an ongoing inquiry into the limits of seduction and repulsion.
The installations for example, are made from crystal, chrome-plated metal, precious stones, mirrors and optical glass. From a distance they appear clear and orderly, yet upon closer inspection, the eyes become disoriented by the many details and visual stimuli. That moment, of being able to take it all in or not, is explored, time and time again. The visual perception is challenged, requisitioned and intensified.

This website features a selection of the work, in chronological order, with the most recent work at the top. 

Thanks to: family, friends, fellow artists, exhibition curators, art advisors, clients, commissioners, architects and those involved in the production and realisation of the works. 

t

Suzan Drummen

1990 – Present (23 years) Amsterdam

"As an artist I make multidisciplinary works in the media of painting, photography,installation, and public art.  The works are a playful investigation of the space, illusion, optical effects, and other phenomena as a part of a broad exploration of visual perception and the limits of beauty.  There is an ongoing inquiry into the limits of seduction and repulsion.

The installations for example, are made from crystal, chrome-plated metal, precious stones, mirrors and optical glass. From a distance they appear clear and orderly, yet upon closer inspection, the eyes become disoriented by the many details and visual stimuli. That moment, of being able to take it all in or not is explored, time and time again. The visual perception is challenged, requisitioned and intensified.

Developing my own visual work is the main thing I do, but many other activities such as teaching, being member of art committees and initiate new art projects are so interwoven that I can hardly make a distinction between my activities. It is a great a stream of actions, meetings and findings that fertilize each other immensely."

The fabulous Dutch Artist Suzan Drummen uses a very special canvas for her work.  She uses the floor!  She uses crystals, chromed metals, precious stones, mirrors, and faceted optical lens to make large scale murals using complex circular patterns, reminding me of Tibetian sand painting... and the circular written language of Gallifrey.di

Vogue: The Art of Helen Dryden

The Art of Helen Dryden                              

All Information and photos from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Helen Dryden
Born November 5, 1887
Baltimore, Maryland
Died July 1981 (aged 93)
Nationality United States
Helen Dryden (1887 – 1981) was an American artist and successful industrial designer in the 1920s and 1930s. She was reportedly described by the New York Times as being the highest-paid woman artist in the United States, though she lived in comparative poverty in later years.[1]

Dryden was born in Baltimore and moved to Philadelphia when she was seven years old to attend Eden Hall. During her early childhood years Dryden showed unusual artistic ability, designing and selling clothes for paper dolls. Eventually she sold a set of her paper dolls and dresses to a newspaper for use in its fashion section. This in turn led to a position as illustrator for Anne Rittenhouse's fashion articles in the Philadelphia Public Ledger and The Philadelphia Press.
                                                    

Dryden was largely self-trained, describing her works as "a combination of things I like, in the way I want to do them." Her artistic education consisted of four years of training in landscape painting under Hugh Breckinridge and one summer school session at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Deciding that she had no real interest in landscape painting, Dryden focused her complete attention on fashion design and illustration.

Career
Fashion illustration
After moving to New York in 1909, Dryden spent a year trying to interest fashion magazines in her drawings. None, however, showed any interest in her work and many were harsh with criticism. Dryden was particularly disappointed in her rejection by Vogue. Less than a year later, however, Condé Nast Publications assumed management 

                                              
of Vogue and set out to make changes. Upon seeing Dryden's drawings, they directed the fashion editor to contact her immediately. The result was a Vogue contract that led to a 13-year collaboration (1909–1922) during which she produced many fashion illustrations and magazine covers.[2] Her "essentially romantic style produced some of the most appealing, yet fantastical images on Vogue covers, frequently depicting imagined rather than realistic representations of dress."[3] She also illustrated other Condé Nast titles, including Vanity Fair and House and Garden.[3]

Costume design
In addition to her prolific career as an illustrator, in 1914 Dryden launched a successful career as a costume designer. She designed the scenery and some of the costumes for the musical comedy Watch Your Step, followed by designs for several other stage plays including Clair de Lune, the fanciful drama based loosely on a Victor Hugo romance. Although the play starred Lionel and Ethel Barrymore, Helen Dryden's costume designs were generally given equal credit for the play's success.[4]                                       

Industrial design
Following the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, Dryden turned her attention to industrial design, producing a number of designs for tableware, lamps, and other housewares, for the Revere Corporation.[5] She had a highly paid job with the Dura Company until the stock market crash of 1929, at which point she was replaced by George W. Walker.[6] It seems Dryden never fully recovered from this blow. According to Christopher Gray, "The 1925 census recorded her living at 9 East 10th Street with her 25-year-old Philippine-born cook and butler, Ricardo Lampitok.

Dryden worked for Studebaker from 1934 to 1937, reportedly earning $100,000 per year.[7] Automotive designer Raymond Loewy contracted with her to help him design Studebaker interiors.[8] Her work on the interior of the 1936 Studebaker Dictator and President that established Helen Dryden as an important twentieth-century industrial designer.[9] The advertisements by the automaker proclaimed, "It's styled by Helen Dryden."[10] Dryden designed the Studebaker President throughout, and the press marveled that a woman had attained this eminence in mechanical engineering.[11] She was considered "one of the top industrial designers and one of the few women in the automotive field."[12] Dryden worked with Loewy through 1940.[8]

By 1956 Dryden was again living in a $10-a-week hotel room paid for by the city's Welfare Department. At the time, she referred nostalgically to "her '$200-a-month' 10th Street apartment".

Schedule for Sept. 26 - October 1, 2016

Schedule

Mon., Sept. 26 - Vogue: The Art of Helen Dryden

Tues., Sept. 27 - The Work of Suzan Drummen

Wed., Sept. 28 - The Art of Jack Vettriano

Thurs., Sept. 29 - Elspeth McLean, Dot Queen

Fri., Sept. 30 - January Black Ice $.99 Sale

Sat., Oct. 1 - Blood Shackles by Rosemary A. Johns