A Bookmark / Two-sided Collage & Thoughts about a Winter Scene

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This side, “Near Avercamp’s Castle”, 2022

This side, “Less Snark”, 2022 Paper collage, pencil, charcoal, ink.

 

Another two-sided bookmark - This one featuring the re-appropriated works of Hendrick Avercamp’s A Winter Scene with Skaters near a Castle and Adriaen Brouwer’s Youth (Pages 93-94 from a book about Vermeer). I wouldn’t say that these are my favorite works from the time but out of the two I personally prefer Avercamp’s winter scene. I like the use of circular framing - It reminds me of a wide angle photograph. I had only seen this image in black and white and found parts of the scene disturbing. (I brushed that feeling off thinking it was probably just the vibe of the 1600s…) But then I saw that the painting was actually painted in these lovely soft colors. It’s impressive that a bit of color can change the narrative so greatly! Still, I do wonder… What’s going on it the distance in the center of the image? There’s water, a person who looks to be struggling in the water, and to the left, what looks like a headless skater. In fact, I see a couple headless women in the background… For a better look-see, visit the National Gallery and zoom in.

 

Hendrick Avercamp’s A Winter Scene with Skaters near a Castle

 

Bookmark

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I’m not sure what the average amount of time commonly spent on thinking about bookmarks is; but I feel confident in saying I’ve done more than your average amount of thinking about bookmarks and feel like they could use improvements!

For starters, I like the idea of my oversized books having oversized place-holders. Why are bookmarks all so short and narrow?? I like a longer, wider bookmark for my journals and sketchbooks that allow me to find my page just like a satin ribbon (called an “XactoPage” by the way) would. I also like seeing little pieces of art or inspiration tucked away into pages of a book and forgotten about for awhile - like when using them in cookbooks. Depending on the book and bookmark, new narratives and ideas start to form - finding the same bookmark next to images or text on one page can inspire ideas from the combinations Serendipity presents. One can re-visit the same book, with the same bookmark, on a different page and have an entirely different confluence of ideas! I could go on and on but this is time I could be making more bookmarks!

Liner Note

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Made while listening to Yuzo Iwata and thinking about Gainsborough’s Captain Wade.

The Master of Ceremonies, 2021

The quote I found interesting about this portrait is that this man, William Wade, “Demanded that Gainsoborough portray him in the most flattering, formal, elegant manner possible so as to impress the elite visitors to the spa.” (And P.S., the plan did not go as he had hoped for…)