Blue and White Delft Style Hand Painted Vases by Michael W. Moses, Ocean Springs, MS

A while back I did a piece that involved a hand sculpted bottle that had a blue and white design called "Alien Nafaar unguentarium", that I featured just a few posts back as having been sold.

I started thinking about how some of my earliest ceramic pieces were simple blue and white works that were in a modified Delftware style.

I thought it would be interesting to create a few new pieces in the Delft manner.
I was a bit leery about using a pre made blanks, but it was brought to my attention that it really did not matter who made the canvas that a painting is painted on. It was the painting that was important, not the canvas. This seems to make sense to me so, I went ahead and purchased a few commercially available blank vases and got to work painting them.

Here are the first two of these new pieces. They are undreglaze painted with my original free hand designs. These are not transferware, they are each a one of a kind hand painted work of art.

 

 

I have started a few more pieces that I will post as I have them finished.

Last week I started some new hand sculpted pieces that are now covered with plastic and are slowly drying on the rack. In about a week or so I will take each piece and start all the intricate hand stamping. Then They will have to be put back on the drying rack and left to very slowly dry out completely before being fired in the kiln.

Metropolitan Museum of Art Gives a Generous Gift of Free Art eBooks to Everyone!

 Over the weekend I was enjoying an in-depth browse through, looking at some of the ancient sculptural, ceramic, pottery and other remarkable art pieces being sold by Christie's Auction house of London.  The particular auction took place on 26 April 2012.  I was shocked by how high some of the realized prices were and even more surprised by how many lots just did not make minimum.  I was a bit disappointed that as good a quality as these piece were that I could not see more detail on some of the items. I had gone on a Google quest for larger images, when I stumbled upon this art blog, "Nord on Art".  A very informative and knowledgeable blog where there were larger images of a number of the great items from the afore said auction.  I stared reading back the posts on the "Nord on Art" blog and came across this "Free – Download more than 300 Met Museum catalogs" and much to my dismay, indeed there are 368 Metropolitan Museum of art books beautifully digitized and offered to the public for free.  What a beautiful and kind gesture for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City to make!  One can either read and enjoy these lavishly informative books on line or download them for your home eLibrary in PDF format!  Now I have to say, how cool is that!  Also, almost all of these books are out of print and many are difficult to obtain in the original printed editions. This collection has books for almost every interest. Here are just a few of the many exciting titles that are available:

Blue and White: Early Japanese Export Ware
Lerner, Martin
(1978)

Dangerous Liaisons:
Fashion and Furniture
in the Eighteenth Century
Koda, Harold, and
Andrew Bolton,
with an introduction
by Mimi Hellman
(2006

European Terracottas from the
Arthur M. Sackler Collections
Draper, James David
(1981)

Firearms from the Collections
of the Prince of Liechtenstein
Pyhrr, Stuart W.
(1985) 

The Robert Lehman Collection.
Vol. 11, Glass
Lanmon, Dwight P.,
with David B. Whitehouse
(1993)

Wordrobe
Martin, Richard
(1997)

China Trade Porcelain: Patterns of Exchange
Le Corbeiller, Clare
(1974)

Turkish Miniature Paintings and Manuscripts
from the Collection of Edwin Binney, 3rd
Binney, Edwin
(1973)

I will take this opportunity to thank the Metropolitan Museum of Art four this magnificent gift to the world of art. This is and will continue be, a boon to artists, scholars, educators, and collectors for many a year to come.

Please note. All copyright for images and information is held by respective copyright owners and is solely for non commercial use. So please do not misuse their generosity.  Thank you.

Ikons, Icons, Ex Voto, Tamata by Michael W. Moses

I have to tell you that I have not been getting much done in the way of pottery the last few weeks or blog posts.  I have been doing everything but pottery.  I have been working on a prop piece pseudo ikon of Cthulhu that will be used in some still life faux artifact art photographs.

Santa Sofia

I have been putting some of my vintage 1990's art ikons on Etsy to sell, and I have been doing a bit of stuff for South Coast Antiques. Mainly preping stuff for sell, researching, and tagging items. We have picked up a number of great items.  As I was saying I have been doing everything but pottery.  Maybe this week I will be able to get a few pieces painted.

As for my ikons I have been doing them for many years.  I did my first one which was a 1/12 inch scale miniature dollhouse sized one,  when I was 13. It has two doors and a small drawer with a silver handle.  I still have it somewhere.  I used to love doing miniatures.  I created everything that one could imagine. Even a small collection of fired miniature pottery I made back in the early 1980's.

Billy the Kid

Our Darling Girl

I recently came across some images that I took of a few years back of my ikons that I created in the mid 1990's.  I was living in Northern New Mexico at the time in a small town called Regina.  Regina was a magical place that filled my senses with art and creativity.  I loved it there but there was just no way for me to make a real living there so after a number of years there I had to give up and head back East and do an old fashioned job.  Well, I want go into that right now for fear that that might take a bit of the artistic integrity away from this blog.

Key to the Kingdom

My icons are entirely hand made. I very carefully choose the wood. Preferring aged and weathered and antique wood that I could either use as is or that I could manipulate to give the wood a bit more of an aged or appropriate look.  I then hand cut the wood using only hand tools and hand sanded and rubbed the wood to a beautiful finish.

My metal covers were usually made of sheet aluminum and in some cases sterling silver.  I preferred the sterling, but it just got to cost prohibitive over the years and ended up with my working in mainly the aluminum.  Which is good because it does not tarnish like silver. It stays about the same.

Saint Joan

Some of my Icons had nothing more that a small print underneath, some antique tin type photographs, and some I did detailed painting.

Many of them are further embellished with glass beads, real pearls, real stones, faux stones, translucent enamel paints, and of course gold leaf.

My subject matter has been everything from images of nameless unknown Saints to street kids.  Many of these Ikons are not really Icons in the traditional sense. Some might even be considered ex voto or tamata.  For the most part I just consider them art.

Defender of the Faith

The images posted here are images of ones that I sold back in the 1990's.  I did not think about taking photographs of these pieces until I had sold a fairly large number of them.  So I really do not have many images of my ikons.

Our Lady of Sorrow

Lori Stanley: the Heart, Soul, and Life of a True Artist

"Woman Sleeping with Dogs"  by Lori Stanley 

For those that know me or that have been keeping up with this blog, you will know that I have not had much of a chance to do any real posting as of late due to the fact that I have been in the processes of closing our shop on Government Street here in Ocean Springs and moving to a new house and getting ready to reopen the shop over in D'Iberville at Centuries Antique Mall. 

As I was unpacking I came across one of my favorite works of art. A wonderful painting that was done by an artist named Lori Stanley, that I used to know when I was stationed at Castle AFB at Atwater, California.  This was way back in the mid 1980's.

I hung Lori's painting up in my new living room and it still looks just as fresh and as exciting as the day I first laid eyes on it in Merced, CA.  It is a wonderful image and I have always felt that it was her true masterpiece.  I rather unfortunately do not remember the original title of this painting.  I have always called it "Woman Sleeping with Dogs".  It is an image of a an alien woman sleeping ever so peacefully on an otherworldly beach surrounded by dog like creatures.

Artist Lori Stanley Circa 1969

From the moment that I first laid eyes on this image I loved it!  If memory serves me correctly she was asking a bit more for this work of art than I could afford at the time.  Once I had gazed upon it I could not get it out of my mind.  The image was so alive in my thoughts that I just had to have this extraordinary painting.  Well, as you have probably guessed by now I did end up getting it. That is how it has ended up in my new living room. I hung it in my bedroom in Merced and for the time that I was in Merced I gazed upon it every night before I went to sleep.

I have always found this image both haunting and beautiful.  To me it shows one of humankind's most archetypal  desires, the desire to have peace among the chaos of the world.  This is an image of Bliss. An image of being able to get the mental rest that we all so very much crave.  To be exposed outside and surrounded by the safety of these gentle wearily sleeping dogesque animals that would protect you from all harm as you sleep is the epitome of contentment. What more could one ask for from this world? Perfect contentment. Not much more in my opinion. The image is executed in Lori's typical dream like style, that is so often a literal paradox of sophisticated naiveness.

Lori was as physically beautiful woman that also had such a great magnetic personality.  She impressed me with her simple straight forwardness, but at the same time complex character.  I was not an extremely close friend, but I can say that I was a friend of hers.  We spent a number of times at the Arbor Gallery in Merced talking and she came over to my place for tea and a bit of an art chat on a number of occasions. I sadly do not remember much of what we spoke of, but I do remember that the conversations were always lively and fraught with interesting content.

I was laying on my sofa looking at this painting a couple of weeks back when it just hit me, That I should look her up and let her see my ceramic art pottery.

I went online and typed into the Google search engine "Lori Stanely".   I found some information
on an art site called Pablo Picasso Club.

Lori Stanley Painting

I was so shocked to read that Lori had passed from this world of dull unhappy colors into the world where the colors that people like her and myself have always seen with our minds eye are real and tangible. I read on and on and found a bit more on another site.  I read little pieces here and there.  Some were quite sad. some of the things that people stated sounded so much like the Lori that I briefly knew and other things did not sound right at all.

I could not find an actual obituary. I looked and looked and could not find any information that I could actually verify as factual. There are only bits and pieces of half told tales on a couple of threads. I am now left with so many question and I can not find answers. When was she born? Is there an obituary? Where is she laid to rest? Is there a bio for her? If not, why not?

Lori Stanley Painting "Birds"

I was not surprised to hear so many people going on as to how valuable her works have become. I was also shocked at how many people were going on about how they seemingly did not want to share information that others might use to sell her work or for them to use to write a book.  I must admit that I am a bit confused as to the attitudes of both friends and family. I as an artist can relate were she was coming from in many ways. One of the things that she loved most in her life (and on occasion hated the most in her life) was her art.  The relationship of a genuine artist and their art is a very complex thing and virtually inexplicable. Art for her as for myself is a hard master that sometimes rewards and sometimes punishes us. Artist's of our ilk never walk the gentile boulevards of the nice sleek gallery world.  We spend our time doing art. We literally do art for arts sake.  We do our art because we are driven over everything else to do it.

If Lori is actually no more of this Earth, all I can say is what a sad, sad, sad, loss this is for our poor bleak world.  Her work was astounding, haunting, and I can not stress enough, complex!  She had a full appreciation for her own technique and worked it to great advantage.  Here work was always, her work.  She copied no one.  She did things as she saw them and was always true to her own image of how she saw things.

Lori Stanley Painting

I can not imagine how anyone in her family or any of her friends could ever say anything about anyone wanting to sell her paintings for crazy amounts of money.  All artists consciously or unconscionably are doing art for one reason. That reason is to be remembered.  Yes, to be remembered.  We devote our lives to create things that will be held onto and loved and treasured for generations. If Loris paintings are worth very little, she would have just wasted her time.  I would never even consider that she wasted her time.  She spent hundreds and hundreds of hours of her brief existence on this bland little blue rock, creating vivid images of how she and she alone saw the world.

She had magical eyes and saw incredible beauty, albeit sometimes a sorrow filled beauty, but true beauty none the less and she was able to directly channel this vision onto her canvas and let the world have a glimpses of here inner being.  I will be honest and say that in my opinion anyone that truly loved this woman would not only consider her paintings to be of the utmost value, they would demand it!  Her works should be selling for insane prices.  Not just because I have one, but because her work is worth it.  It is the duty of everyone that cared for her to get her story out to the world. Let someone write a book. For that matter write one yourself.  Let the world know about this wonderful woman that dreamed of being at peace with the world and was able to paint the painting that I have, lived and loved and cried and dance her happy little dances and sometimes walked out into the night alone and dreamed in colors that most people will never see or even know.

Lori Stanley Painting

She needs a Biography. She needs a Wikipedia entry, she needs, a web site, she needs to be remembered, she needs to have her paintings being sought after and sold for unimaginable prices! Her work was that good. She deserves to have what all real artists want to end up with.... their own immortality through their art.

As a matter of fact I must tell you that I do "NOT" want to sell my painting.....I might consider an offer, but it would have to be of an earth shattering amount for me to even entertain the idea and my idea would make even the wealthiest collector turn a bit green at the gills.  So be very cautious of any offers one might make. I can be made to laugh at some fairly large sums of money.  Money is a wonderful and great thing. But money is not art.  Real art is one of a kind and that is it...just one...no more.

Lori Stanley Painting "Some Sleep"

It fills my heart with such sadness at the thought that there will not be anymore art from Lorraine Gay Stanley.  I must now make a much belated condolences to her close friends and family. Her lose will always be in my heart. I look at her painting, that I have been blessed to be the custodian of at this time, and I will think of her daily!

Artist Lori Stanley Circa 1969

If you have one of her paintings and would like to include it on this blog I will post it so that we can all keep her art alive!  Also I would so much appreciate any factual information about Lori that one may have.

As an afterthought, I must state that I did this post with only the intention of trying to create a bit of online buzz about an artist that I held and hold in great esteem. I truly hope that I have not said anything that will offend anyone.  I must also state that I hold no copyright upon any of the images used here other than the image of my painting by Lori Stanley that I own.  If for some reason you object to my use of an image that the copyright belongs to you.  Then let me know and I will remove it from this post.

Art is survival.


Update: 2014 05 14
I have set up a website for Lori's Art, Lori Stanley Art .

please contact me if you have any images or information that you would like to share.

A Couple of Sales From the Weekend of Crusin the Coast 2011 at South Coast Antiques & Gallery

"The Peeper".

by Michael W. Moses

I just did not get a chance to take many photos of the great classic cars that were here in Ocean Springs last weekend for Crusin the Coast 2011. We had a vast sea of people pass through South Coast Antiques & Gallery. We also had some good sales. I sold one of my signature pieces, "The Peeper". It was one of my most popular works and I am so surprised that it took so long to sell. It was purchased by a young couple from Louisiana . They came into the shop on Friday and looked at my pottery. They stated (as a few other people in the past have) that if they won a jackpot at the casinos in Biloxi They would come back and buy a piece. They came back on Saturday and bought the peeper. They had won at the roulette wheel! The peeper was one of those really whimsical works, that everyone really seemed to like. My business partner, William Murphy made a YouTube video of "The Peeper". I hate to admit it but this is one that I am going to miss.



I also sold one of my watercolors on paper. This was one that I did way back in 1988. It is hard to imagine, but this is now a vintage work of art. This image was titled. "The Iris Were in Bloom". It is a very sensual vision of what a hillside covered my hundreds of iris blooms smells like.  I spent many years doing almost nothing but paintings on either paper or canvas and was fairly pleased. but now I have devoted myself to ceramic art pottery over the last five years and have had great satisfaction doing so. I will not say that I will never do another painting, but I think I will more than likely be doing pottery for as long as I am able. In my opinion there is absolutely nothing more wonderful for me than when I gaze upon a new piece of my pottery in my shop.

"The Iris Were in Bloom" by Michael W. Moses

The Green Hunger Ceramic Art Pottery Vase by Michael W. Moses

I did  a post on Wednesday, August 31, 2011 showing a new piece of ceramic art pottery, that I had just fired.

Here is what it looked like when it was painted.

"The Green Hunger" After Being Painted.

 

"The Green Hunger" After Being Painted. View Form the Top

Now it has been fired and is ready for your viewing pleasure! 
I have titled  it "The Green Hunger".

"The Green Hunger" After Firing

"The Green Hunger" After Firing. View From Top

 This is a piece that I really like. It has movement and color. One can almost see it moving as one looks at it and the color just draws ones eyes to it. This new piece of ceramic art pottery may be viewed at South Coast Antiques & Gallery in Ocean Springs, MS.

New Art Pottery, Night Time Feeding Frenzy Bowl by Michael W.Moses

I did  a post on Wednesday, August 31, 2011 showing a new starfish bowl that I had just painted. It has been fired and is ready to be shown! So here it is.

New Starfish Bowl by Michael W. Moses

The bowl portion of this piece is painted like smooth polished sea stone on the outside and has a blue on white interior design with a nice thick shiny glaze. The Starfish is Matt glazed and has individually applied (one at a time) points! The starfish has a rough texture that is actually reminiscent of a real starfish.

Starfish Bowl, Night Time Feeding Frenzy

Because of the interior design I call this piece "Night Time Feeding Frenzy". This new work of ceramic art pottery is now on view at South Coast Antiques & Gallery in Ocean Springs, MS.

Night Time Feeding Frenzy, Starfish Bowl

The Influence of Roger Dean on the Art of Michael W. Moses

I am often asked where I come up with my ideas for my art. I always tell people that I have spent almost my entire life looking at art, antiques, and jewelry. Studying styles, colors, and techniques. Most of my works are based on nothing other than my own personal visions.
There have been a vast number of artistic influences involved in my artistic development and it is not as much that I tried to copy the artists that influenced me as much as I have strived to recreate the feeling and mood that I felt when I viewed their art.

The artist Roger Dean is one of the artists that made me realize that there was more to art than just creating things from our world, we can create things from other worlds...Alien worlds! One can create the most fantastic of creations and with a little skill can convince the eyes of others as they look at our art that they are viewing something that exists in reality.

when I first saw Roger Dean's work on album covers in the early 1970's, I was taken by how he used so many of the artistic elements that I had always been intrigued by such as art nouveau, antique Japanese prints,and the aesthetic movement and blended them in his own unique way to create a view of things that had only been seen in dreams previously.

Mister Dean's works are exceptional in that they create a world where we not only see what is before us in his images, but we can also see in our minds eye what is beyond the image. They make us think and wonder and they force us to step further into his work. I guess I can say they make us use our imaginative skills a little bit more. The magic of Roger Dean's work is not always so much as what he has created as in what is just a few feet outside of the view that we see.

To see more art by Roger Dean please click the picture below and visit his gallery at his website. One may also visit Roger Dean on Face Book.

 

The main reason for this post though is that August 31 is Mister Dean's birth day and I would like to wish him 

A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

 

Walter Crane (1845-1915) Victorian Artist

Walter Crane  was a well known Victorian era, British artist. Born in Liverpool, he was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite Movement, John Ruskin, and William Morris.

Crane produced beautiful romantic paintings, wonderful illustrations for books, Ceramic Tiles and art pottery. He also worked in a number of other decorative mediums. I am especially drawn to the art pottery pieces he designed. I love the classical and aesthetic themes combined with the bold bright colors.