Alice Cooper - School's Out Summer

Music Appreciation

Today, is my son's last day of school. He starts summer vacation at exactly 12 o'clock noon. So, I thought it would be appropriate to blog about Alice Cooper's "School's Out."

The song, which was released in 1972, was named by VH1 as the 35th best hard rock song of all time.

Sources: Wikipedia; http://www.youtube.com/artist/Alice_Cooper?feature=watch_video_title

Sergey Tyukanov

Art Appreciation

Welcome to the dream world of Sergey Tyukanov. Born on May 17, 1955 in Russia's largest island, Sakhalin, Tyukanov has taken bedtime stories and myths to create worlds in etchings, drawings, paintings and book prints, also known as ex libris.

One of his famous themes is Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, where Tyukanov introduces us to his imaginative world of Wonderland.

He has some other fantatic drawings and paintings that are full of philosophical elements and thought. For example, Town of Time, where Tyukanov illustrates a puppet hanging from a bridge with sand timers as vertical towers.

Probably one of my Tyukanov favorite is the watercolor painting of The Moon -- an imaginary stone covered city in the shape of a half crescent moon floating between a canyon.

Sources: http://artodyssey1.blogspot.com/2010/05/sergey-tyukanov-here-and-here-sergey.html; http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2007/04/tyukanov-revisited.html; http://www.tyukanov.com/; http://monsterbrains.blogspot.com/2012/02/sergey-tyukanov.html

Anna Karin

Art Appreciation

I came across Sweden born artist Anna Karin's work in a magazine a few weeks ago while visiting New Mexico. When I visited her website, http://annakaringallery.com, I knew why I appreciated her work.

What caught my attention was the realism in her paintings, such as the work I came across in the magazine called "Lace memory", a painting of a lace shirt on a hanger against a plastered wall.

Source: http://annakaringallery.com; the essential guide: Santa Fe & Taos, 2011 - 2012, 22 Edition.

Scott Naismith

Art Appreciation

I stumbled upon Scottish landscape painter Scott Naismith's YouTube page a few weeks ago. Since then, I've been educated by his tutorial videos on color theory and sketch and painting demos.

The demos are time lapse with music, so it makes viewing more entertaining, such as this demo:

Sources: http://www.scottnaismith.co.uk/, http://www.youtube.com/user/scottnaismith

TIME Magazine asks: "Are you mom enough?"

via Time Magazine

Yesterday morning, an Austin radio station discussed this month's Time Magazine cover of a three-year-old suckling from his mom's breast with the headline question "Are you mom enough?" 

Attachment parenting, as coined by Dr. Bill Sears, which the article is about, argues the importance of setting that emotional bond between the mother and child to help in the socio-emotional development in life.

Dr. Bill followers practice breastfeeding beyond 1 year of age. But how long is too long? And even if the mother doesn't practice extended breastfeeding, does that make her less of a mom as the Time Magazine cover suggests?

The radio station received several calls regarding this cover. A pediatrician called in and shared his concerns regarding Dr. Bill's theory, and argued that there are no nutritional benefits on extended breastfeeding for the child.

Jamie Lynn Grumet, the cover model mom appeared on ABC NEWS defending her breastfeeding cover. You can watch the interview HERE.

Source: http://lightbox.time.com/2012/05/10/parenting/#1; http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2114427,00.html?pcd=pw-lb; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_parenting; http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/jamie-lynne-grumet-defends-her-time-magazine-breastfeeding-180300346.html

The Cult - Love Removal Machine

Music Appreciation

Released 25 years ago and listed as a top 100 hard rock song of all time by VH1, we were introduced to Love Removal Machine.

With lyrics such as "Fall to the red room, Because she was there, A scarlet woman, She got me in fear," many were led to believe the song was about a prostitute. However, in a recent interview article with The Cult's lead singer, Ian Astbury, found that the song was more of a "metaphor for the music industry, corporate mentality, material mindset," the band was experiencing as rock stars early in their career.

Sources: http://2fast2die.com/2012/03/interview-cult-singer-ian-astbury-aims-new-weapon-at-sxsw-talks-then-now-beyond/; Wikipedia

Henri Matisse - La Coiffeur

Art Appreciation

Henri Matisse: La Coiffeur, 1901

When I was doing an internship in Washington, D.C., I spent my Fridays visiting the various museums. One of my favorites, which I visited several times, was the National Gallery of Art.  There I fell in love with art.

I began to appreciate every artist's brush stroke. I looked for patterns. I pictured myself in their painting and tried to feel what they wanted to portray in their work.

I came across La Coiffeur by Henri Matisse. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I pictured myself, a 21 year old kid from South Texas, in that room watching a beautiful woman fixing her hair in front of a vanity.

I soon became a fan of Henri Matisse and to this day look for his work when visiting other museums.

Born in Nord, France on December 31, 1869, Henri Matisse was a post-impressionist artist known for the dissonant colors in many of his paintings.

His wife, Amelie Noellie Parayre, appeared in a lot of his paintings. Given that they married in 1898, I would make a safe guess that the lady in the painting, La Coiffeur, is Amelie Noellie.


Source: http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/matisse_henri.html; http://www.arthistory-famousartists-paintings.com/HenriMatisse.html; Wikipedia