Rembrandt Lives!
A nostalgic village of memories
Fascination Inspiration…
Rembrandt Lives!
Haru is a contemporary Japanese artist, creator of the imaginary town of Eckendoni Village. There the “residents are waiting in line asking, ‘Please draw me.’“
Judge Corona
Haru says of the Judge: “For decades, we have been waking up at the same time, walking the same path, taking the same number of steps, and living according to the same rituals.”
Meet Haru, Head of Eckendoni Village. Haru says, “I like to draw using ballpoint pens, ink and colored pencils…Dreams from memories overflow and emerge, dream and reality appear at the same time.”
The Mathematician
Haru’s art reminds me of the mastery and emotion of Rembrandt’s paintings. Do you agree?
The Housekeeper Sumi
The Country Teacher
So many fascinating images—it was hard to choose. Here is a medley—but visit Haru’s website and instagram to see much more!
From My Easel…
Still trying out colors for the flowers in these trial panels. I call them “dress rehearsals”. Which do you prefer? Note: most of the panels do not include the leaves yet.
Here is the blank dress rehearsal panel with blue background. These preparatory panels are only 5” x 12” but the painting is 4’ x 8’— the figure is larger than life-size!
1. Flowers in foreground are magenta, all other flowers are red
2. One orange flower in foreground, yellow flower above lower leg
3. Orange flowers in foreground, one red flower, blue flowers in background
4. Two magenta and one red flower in foreground, two red flowers in middle ground, small orange flowers in background
I’m a very slow painter—some of my paintings have taken 6 or more years to complete. I explore the causes and solutions in “Surrender to Slow” Chapter 20 of my book-in-progress, Art & Love: My Life Illuminated in Egg Tempera. Click the button to read the chapter:
Book update…
In a recent post there was little enthusiasm for head shot attempts for the book. I wrote that I decided to hire The Artist Hines and here are the thrilling results of the photoshoot…I can’t imagine anything better!
From My Shade Garden…
In keeping with the Japanese theme here are Japanese Camelias, a flower that blooms in December in Northern California!
My Son’s Got Talent!…
Amos is just back from completing a mural in Seattle. But here is an enticing creepy crawly painting from Amos’ imagination:
Medical Moment…
Did Michelangelo depict breast cancer in his fresco, The Flood in the Sistine Chapel?1 Michelangelo assisted at autopsies starting at age 17, and would have observed pathology, potentially including breast cancer:
The stars above the breast represent enlarged lymph nodes. As a nurse and artist I am fascinated by the intersection of art and medicine. The term “iconodiagnosis” is new to me— it’s “the medical analysis of artworks that looks for clinical signs suggestive of medical disorders and diseases.”2
Check out the links in the footnotes for a full analysis of Michelangelo’s fresco and the interpretation of why he may have depicted breast cancer.
As always, I leave you with 3
a Song from the Great American Songbook…
Deep Purple" was written by pianist Peter DeRose, and published in 1933. MItchell Parish added lyrics in 1938.4 Here is Donny and Marie Osmond’s interpretation: Please ignore any youtube adverts—they are not mine.
Carry on Bravely in these surrealistic times!…
Lora
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Housekeeping…🧹
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Did Michelangelo paint a young adult woman with breast cancer in “The Flood” (Sistine Chapel, Rome)? by Andreas G. Nerlich et al.
https://www.thebreastonline.com/article/S0960-9776(24)00154-1/fulltext
Iconodiagnosis: Guidelines and recommendations by P. Charlier et al.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352552523000828?via%3Dihub
The Great American Songbook is not an actual songbook — it’s the canon of American popular songs and jazz standards from the early 1920s to the 1950s. I love this poignant and clever vocal genre.
Lyrics to Deep Purple
When the deep purple falls over sleepy garden walls
And the stars begin to twinkle in the night
In the mist of a memory you wander on back to me
Breathing my name with a sigh
In the still of the night once again I hold you tight
Though you're gone, your love lives on when moonlight beams
And as long as my heart will beat, sweet lover, we'll always meet
Here in my deep purple dreams
I always enjoy your substack. There are many different types of topics and I like them all. Thank you!
Great portraits by an artist I'd never heard of.