Children the world over have long been told tales about the sinister magic of the forest at night. Stories about witches and hungry wolves and beady-eyed raptors. Stories about darkness swallowing up all traces of goodness. Stories about the innocent entering into the woods never to be seen again. These stories are quickly followed up … Continue reading Otto Marseus van Shrieck, A Forest Floor Still Life, 1666
In the fist third of the seventeenth century, Judith Leyster painted The Last Drop. It shows two young men in the prime of life, drinking and smoking. Mentally edit their clothing, and they could easily be a pair of young men from today, drunk, laughing, letting off steam. They seem carefree and genuinely happy. Which … Continue reading All Is Vanity? Methinks Not.
It’s been a (delightfully) hectic couple of weeks for me, as I’ve been completing several freelance projects. In the moments that I’ve allowed myself to come up for air, I have read several arts-related news stories that I had hoped to discuss here. There was the recent news that ISIS deliberately destroyed works of art … Continue reading Longing & Nostalgia
Ellen A. Hurst 