BOOKS AND KAY NIELSEN

Bought a few books recently, four are impulse buys from a library book sale (Riverside Library in California, folks) and the other two are for my art book reference collection. 

I already have a copy of this but in a different cover! 1977 edition, 'All Things Wise and Wonderful' by James Herriot, I plan to read this on the plane back home. If you like animals, want some funny or heartwarming animal stories, I highly recommend his books. He was a country vet based in Yorkshire during the war period and mid-century, so this is semi autobiographical. This cost me a dime! 

I think I read this 'James Herriot's Cat Stories' a long time ago. It's hardcover and 75 cents. The book contains short stories which are excerpts from his other books so it is suitable for younger readers. 1994 edition. 

Beautiful cover, though the book is a little bashed up. Love the pink and I love the illustrations by E.H. Shepard. The Wind in the Willows stop-motion animation by Cosgrove Hall back in the 1980s is my favouritest animation ever! 1961 edition. I think I paid a quarter for this.

Don't know how I found this treasure since it was on its side, I only touched it because of the title in YELLOW on the binder lol. And surprise it is a cookbook illustrated by Peter Max (one of my fave artist)! 'Teen Cuisine: A Beginner's Guide to French Cooking' by Abby Gail Kirsch & Sandra Bangilsdorf Klein, 1969 edition. There are some food stains on the pages; and the illustrations are mostly small page decors on a few pages but that's ok. A buck!

Kay Nielsen, edited by David Larkin, 1975 edition. 40 plates of my favourite illustrator who belongs to the Golden Age of Book and Illustration. This compilation I read has a better quality printing than other art books of Kay Nielsen's work, so I bought it on Ebay although it was more expensive. I have known of his work for some time now but only digital images so this was going to be purchased sooner or later. 

A page in the book.

The Unknown Paintings of Kay Nielsen, edited by David Larkin, 1977 edition. This art book features 42 of Kay Nielsen's unpublished illustrations for 'One Thousand and One Nights'. I also bought this on Ebay.

A page in the book, he does some very elaborate and beautiful motif designs in the borders for this collection.

LACMA NOV 2012

A trip to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art last year in November 2012. The current featured exhibition is Stanley Kubrick, it runs till 30 June 2013. 'The Shining' is one of my favouritest film, so I was delighted the exhibition was just what interested me (had obtained a free pass too).

These were some proposed cover art that were rejected.

Love the twins!

2001: A Space Odyssey

Designed by Georg Jensen for the film

A Clockwork Orange

Barry Lyndon perhaps? Haven't seen this film yet.

There was a small feature on Expressionism in films. LOVE Metropolis (and the poster). I just saw a 'Giorgio Moroder presents' version with a remix of the soundtrack with 80s music, unfortunately it kinda bombed, sorry.

I watched Dr Caligari after this exhibit lol.

Paul Kelpe, Signs (1925)

El Lissitzky, Proun 3A (1920)

Wassily Kandinsky, Signs (1925)

Wassily Kandinsky, Three Free Circles (1923) and Study for 'Circles in the Circle' (1923) 

Wassily Kandinsky, Melodious (1924)

Claes Oldenburg, Giant Pool Balls (1967)

Roy Lichtenstein, Cold Shoulder (1963)

Pablo Palazuelo, Diferencias XII (1987)

Picasso

Egyptian coffin

Ashurnasirpal II and a Winged Deity, from Nimrud, 9th century B.C.

Deity Performing Ritual Purification, from Nimrud, 9th century B.C.

Christ and the 12 Disciples, c.1450-1500

Archangel Raphael from Italy Naples, c.1600s

Francesco Picano, Saint Michael casting Satan into Hell (1705)

Jan van Huysum, Bouquet of Flowers in an urn (1724)

Claude Monet, In the woods of Giverny: Blanche Hoschede at her easel with Suzanne Hoschede reading (1887)

Claude Monet

Maurice Denis, Motif Romanesque (1890)

ANOTHER BEADED COLLAR

It has been 6 months since I last blogged, got rushy-busy and complacent about writing and many things happened including the death of my dad in November. But now I'm back and sorting out my Twitter and Tumblr account which were dormant for years. 

Here is the second beaded collar that I was talking about in my last post! The lovely customer (friend) who commissioned this was the same person who wanted the black collar. Beading took over 400 hours and includes Japanese tiny seed beads in gold, pink-lined and pearly white. The lace is an antique, possibly Edwardian era. I carefully covered every space of the lace with beads and my hands cramped after this was completed (still does a little). My sister saw the work in progress and asked if I would do another. My reply was 'probably not!'

Completed front.

Back of the collar.