The Beauty of Bronze

From the Renaissance to modern times, bronze has been a popular metal for both for the work of artists and craftsmen. Paris is a perfect city to find both types of works outdoors, for wherever you look in Paris, you find bronze in all its glory:

From a giant elephant (at the d' Orsay)

to a life size rhinoceros (at the d' Orsay)

and the workman's companion (also at the d'Orsay).

Fountains galore-here a memorial to Delacroix in the Luxembourg Gardens.

Detail of the doors at the Pantheon show the craftsmanship of the 18th century bronze masters.

The cannon of the King with the royal Fleur de Lys (Invalides collection)

Louvre masterpieces.

Maillol's Art Deco 1925 monument to Cezanne (near the carousel).

Balconies like this one on the Louvre (Lion Pavilion), and

streetlights (at the Garnier) to

simple door handles, bronze beauty is everywhere in Paris.

HAPPY NEW YEARS-1918 Style

 

  Another New Years' Celebration full of lights in the sky. But on January 1, 1918, the fire in the sky wasn't from fireworks.

Rather it was from two sets of massive warring forces the Allies vs the Central Powers. Here an Imperial German 77mm field gun.

And its opposite number the famous French Soixante-Quinze (75) mm. None of those fighting in the Great War knew that 1918 would be the last year of the terrible conflict. Yet it was and New Year's Day 1919, saw a World that while not at total peace, as least saw the guns of the Great War silent.

These are metal pieces from Old Glory that I painted for my Great War Armies back in 2010.

May 2023 be a good one for you and yours, and hopefully the current guns of war will fall silent as they did in the Great War 125 Years ago.

Thoth-the Recorder of Lives

Thoth the scribe of the gods, creator of magic, writing, laws, religion, science and the recorder of the results of the judgement of the dead souls attempting to enter Osiris' realm of the Afterlife.

With the head of an Ibis or Baboon, his sacred animals, Thoth accomplished his duties with honesty and truth.

As one of the Major Egyptian Gods, he was critical to the maintenance of the Universe.

Thoth and his baboon are plastic pieces

All Crows are White, Right?

 

The God Apollo used his white crows (ravens) to give messages to and spy on humans.  When Apollo fell in love with the Thessalian Princess Coronis and made her pregnant he had his crows watch over her. 

 

Unfortunately for all, the crow witnessed Coronis have an affair with Ischys a mere MORTAL!

When informed of this infidelity Apollo flew into a god like rage and had his sister Artemis shower plague arrows on Coronis' palace, dooming her and her retainers to horrible deaths. 

He sent a white crow to see the result. When the crow retuned, he gleefully reported on Coronis' suffering, her begging Apollo's forgiveness and asking the god to save their child.  The crow ended his report with a laughing HA, HA, HA. Apollo was so angry with the glee the crow had for the pleas of Coronis that he cursed all white crows and turned them black. Apollo then raised Coronis into the heavens where she became the constellation "Corvus the Crow."

Since that day all ravens/crows have been black, and their once melodic voices turned into harsh cry's. Apollo did save his child, a son Asclepius who was a great healer, but that is another story.

I painted these two plastic pieces in 2022.

Hera, Queen of the Gods-and Revenge

 

Hera Queen of Revenge

Hera, Queen of the Gods, Daughter of Kronus and Rhea, wife of Zeus, Goddess of Women, Childbirth and Marriage and one very, very jealous wife.

Nothing angered her more than catching her over sexed husband having his way with humans, gods, immortals or any female period (seeing as Zeus had over 100 children that were not Hera's, she had a very busy time getting her revenge).

Even heroes like Herakles were victims of Hera's anger towards Zeus' philandering. 

Hera is a large plastic piece from Mystic Battles that I painted last July.

Tank, Cruiser, Mk VII, Cromwell (A27M)

 

What a mouthful of a title, let's just stick with "Cromwell." During the Second World War, British tank designs were designated as either "Infantry Tanks" or "Cruiser Tanks."  The former were slow AFV's (Armored Fighting Vehicle's) designed to travel with and give close support to infantry forces. While cruisers were fast attack tanks designed to create breakthroughs in the front or contain enemy assaults. With only 4000 units built, Cromwell's were not the most common tank in the British Army. Yet with its high speed of 64kn/h (40 mph), good armor of 76-100mm (3 to 4 inches) and a reliable 75 mm (2.953 inch) main gun, the Cromwell was popular with its crews. Cromwell's saw heavy service from 1944 to the end of World War II in Europe, as well as action in the '48 Arab Israeli War and the Korean War. After World War II, some Cromwell's found service with the Greek, Israeli, Polish and Portuguese Armies. By the mid-1950's, they were no longer frontline units in the British Army.

This is a plastic piece that I put together and painted in July '22.

Correcting an Infamous Statement

She teaches theater.

 There is an infamous saying about "those who do can and those who can't teach."  The truth of the matter is more- "THOSE WHO CAN DO AND THOSE WHO CAN'T BLAME THE TEACHER!"