DJ Geribo's Art Apart Newsletter
Sep/Oct 2020
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Welcome!

Fall Finds Us at Home, Still


A most beautiful time of year here in New Hampshire - the foliage was spectacular this year. I took so many photos to add to my already extensive collection. And some of the most beautiful photos I took were right here in my own backyard. (see below)

We are still in our home, mostly, going out when we need to replenish supplies like fruits and veggies. Those are always the first to go. But we are still working on household improvements with several more to go. But also making time for the things that are most important to us such as, painting, writing, and reading. I have been writing a lot more than painting but miss painting when I haven't done it for awhile. I really miss visiting my friend who I was painting with almost weekly when this pandemic hit. And now we have gotten out to eat outdoors a couple of times and haven't painted together since February. 

No, this is not a fun time, but I just think about the people who have suffered with this virus and I feel grateful that I'm healthy. But I'm also smart and doing what the doctors are recommending - that we stay home, wear a mask, avoid crowds, and wash our hands. It really is that simple. I do not understand why people can't just take responsibility and get us all through this tough time. 


                                
 
Add your comments to my DJGeribofineart blogs!!!
***Important Note: You can now access my art website either at www.djgeribofineart.com or www.geriboart.com
Featuring  Some  of  My   Completed  Paintings  

Some of my favorite paintings and ones that I have been painting for many years now are my miniatures. When I first started painting them and selling them at art shows, I hadn't seen anyone else painting them. Now, a lot of artists are painting miniatures. It is a way for someone to have a painting without spending a lot of money. And you can put them anywhere around your home. 
Over the years my husband and I have taken many day trips up north to find fall foliage and especially to find moose. We've been lucky a few times and have taken a few photos of moose but we always find beautiful pictures of fall foliage. This is one that I took up along Rangeley Lake in Maine. I love this area - it is so picturesque with lots of beautiful landscapes. Perfect opportunities for subjects to paint. 

To see more of my miniatures, go to my fine art gallery.
This is a pastel painting I had been working on and stopped to look at it and determine whether or not it is complete. From the photo I took there isn't much more that I would add, and I've also removed a few branches that weren't adding anything to the painting. I really love the contrast of the blue water and the white birch. But I would love to know if those of you who receive my newsletter can share what you think of the painting. With the exception of a few touch ups here and there (that I can see just looking at the painting, like some shadows on the white birch branch that overhangs the water) - do you think it needs anything else or does it look almost complete to you? Looking forward to your comments!
The Masters
Michelangelo


The Sistine Chapel, Statue of David, The Pieta, are just a few of the genius works by the sculptor/painter/architect Michaelangelo Buonarroti Simoni.   

Second-born son in 1475 to his mother, Francesca del Sera who married early, served her husband's wishes, and died young, Michaelangelo's father was a man filled with vanity, self-pity, mean-mindedness and indifference to the needs and dreams of others. To try to explain the genius that we all know as Michaelangelo, one should look at the biography by Giorgio Vasari who explained it as 'a destiny that shapes our ends'. 

Growing up in the town of Florence, Michelangelo soon became a student at the school for sculptors set up by Lorenzo de' Medici, an accomplished musician and poet and member of the wealthy Medici family. It was during his times of study that Michelangelo got into an argument with the sculptor Torrigiano who landed a heavy blow on the bridge of Michelangelo's nose and broke it. It is that sad and battered face that is so familiar from his portraits that may well be the beginnings of his lifelong feelings of dissatisfaction with himself. 

After spending several years in Rome, in 1501 Michelangelo returned to Florence. Here he was presented with a block of marble known as the 'Giant' that he would carve the almost 17 foot statue of David. Michelangelo was only 25 years old. 
 













 Michelangelo was only 33 when he began working on the Sistine Chapel. Four years later, working mostly unaided, the 5,800 square foot surface was done. A quarter of a century later he returned to the Sistine Chapel to execute the Last Judgement. 

There was only one relationship with a woman that Michelangelo was known to have had and that was Vittoria Colomna, a woman of intellectual substance who also took pleasure in being a hostess. She was 46 when she met Michelangelo and he was 61, Their closeness was based on an appreciation of what each considered to be the other's worth. Her death in 1547, 11 years after they met, came as a dreadful blow to Michelangelo. 

Michelangelo never underwent the indignity of senility or invalidism- at 85 he could still inspect the construction work at St. Peter's on horseback. Even as he approached 90 he rode every evening in good weather and he walked every day regardless of the weather. He passed away on Feb. 18, 1564 at the age of 89.

(Biographical information from "The World of Michelangelo")


"A painting requires a little mystery, some vagueness, and some fantasy. When you always make your meaning perfectly plain, you end up boring people.
                                       — Edgar Degas
                                         
Art Quiz
After working for 40 years on this single piece, which sculpture was often called Michelangelo's greatest failure?
         1. Madonna and Child
       2. The Julius tomb
           3. Tomb of Lorenzo de' Medici

(The answer to the Jul/Aug Art Quiz - Which artist said the following about Vincent Van Gogh: "He will either go mad or leave all of us far behind. I didn't know then that he would do both." 1. Pissaro)

Authistpreneur

author/artist/entrepreneur

Someone who is an author, an artist, and an entrepreneur.  Any person who writes or has a published novel, who paints fine art/illustrations, and also has established businesses using the combination of artistic talents.
                                                                - DJ Geribo
 
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