#bc i want to expand that manuscript

[kaatiba]

I haven't really thought about religion in Rivener but I just thought of something too amazing not to include. So Wren's not religious, she hasn't had the time or space to think anything about it, but Kai is.

His shifter clan specifically have something like patron saints, holy figures, mythologized or mythological ancestors, who they speak to and call on for comfort, and they are—

Sister Sorrow and Brother Bone and Mother Solace (and Father something, undecided). And they came about in response to the Cataclysms that broke the world.

[lais-a-ramos]

so, i don't know much this fits into today's theme for lottielee weekend, "day 1: missing/extended scene", but...😅

yesterday i was talking with some discord server friends about the theme of belonging in yellowjackets, and it made me want to expand a bit on how important the relationship between lottie and laura lee is even if they had a relatively short time together in season 1 (if i remember correctly, the showrunners said they abandoned any attempt at tracing an outline for teen timeline, but, as some might know now with those leaked scripts from a few months ago, they spent only three days as each other's People, so, a really short time!!!!)

lottielee is such an special ship, not bc it's "healthier" or whatever, especially since it isn't healthier than any other yellowjackets ship lol

it's special bc lottie spent her whole life feeling like she is an error of nature due to all the psychophobia/sanism that she has faced due to her psychosis episodes and schizophrenia diagnosis, and then comes this girl saying that she is not an error but that she is a gift from God.

and, sure, yellowjackets is a horror story, so that ends up being the catalyst for the tragedy that comes later.

actually, yellowjackets not only draws inspiration from horror, but it seems like it also draws a lot of inspiration specifically from Gothic fiction and literature as it's defined on the Wikipedia entry, especially the parts on how Gothic fiction "is characterized by an environment of fear, the threat of supernatural events, and the intrusion of the past upon the present", how "the depiction of horrible events in Gothic fiction often serves as a metaphorical expression of psychological or social conflicts", how "the form of a Gothic story is usually discontinuous and convoluted, often incorporating tales within tales, changing narrators, and framing devices such as discovered manuscripts or interpolated histories" and how "especially in the late 19th century, Gothic fiction often involved demons and demonic possession, ghosts, and other kinds of evil spirits".

so, with that type of inspiration, it was obvious that things would have a tragic end, which is lottie's downward spiral into cult leader precisely due to this new-found confidence in her visions inspired by laura lee's faith in her.

still, that dynamic, that idea of being moved by someone that tells you that you're not an error of nature and growing attached to then even if for a relatively short time, that is something that's so fragile and so...Human.

and, also, there's a parallel there to be made with queerness, yet another thing that systematic oppression treats as nature's mistake, and how much relief it can bring when someone makes sure that it is not.

as for laura lee, we can't say that it's something that is one-sided on lottie's part.

we can see in pool scene that she feels disconnected from the other ppl in church, as much as lottie herself seems to feel disconnected from her large but empty mansion; actually, that she feels so disconnected to the point of attempting to take her own life, or, at least, some form of self-harm by diving into the shallow end.

and, as jane widdop themself has said in their interview to the yellowjackets buzz podcast, pool scene was a result of laura lee having a similar immaturity to cope with emotions to what the other girls had at doomcoming, which adds to the idea that it was an impulsive act of desperation, a mental health struggle which was received by her peers as just proof she needed to have "more faith" bc she survived the not-so-accidental "accident".

there is a parallel to be made with queerness here as well, actually, with how oftenly queer Christians are told by conservatives that if they have "more faith" they will be "fixed".

so, lottie going after her asking for advice, it was probably the first time she ever felt like someone has seen her and genuinely took her seriously.

the first time someone really took their time to actually listen to what she had to say.

so, we have these two girls who are so fucking starved for validation.

and they met each other, and, for a moment, they belonged together before death (an very strange plane explosion with literally no spark or other catalyst for the fire, to be more specific) did them part, and that is tragic, and melancholic, and so so painfully human...

anyways...

lottielee is a such a raw and fantastic dynamic and i could spend hours talking about them 😅

[latimeria-fell-from-heaven]

Okay, forgot to say about Dawn Duel. When the last part that Nikki got worried to player just somehow disappeared or Nikki can't sense them because they're exhausted (?) or whatever what happened to them. That also caught me off guard like "Wtf just happened? Did Desire did something to me?"

And yeah, I'm having theories about player since no one knows them except Aeon, Marina, Nikki and Momo knows of our existence.

Oh yeah, btw I got Desire's reflection, she's hot and gives my 'Mommy' vibes.

—°u°

hi hi °u°!

tbh, this event just gave us more lore regarding us, the player. like we did get spoilers regarding volume 2 from the chinese server, but it hasn't been released to the english server sooo,, also congrats on getting desire's reflection! i was trying but i don't have enough diamonds,,mostly wanted loen's top up reflection tho,,

so what i love is that this event gave us a physical limitation. like we get tired just like any other person when under a lot of pressure. to be fair, not a lot of people beat the crap out of a goddess and win. but this does show that the player has a somewhat corporeal body and has the capacity to be exhausted, which can only happen if one has a physical body.

in one of nikki's momento's, we accidentally cut ourselves with a knife, and nikki could actually give us a bandaid and see the blood. i also just got one where nikki bought us an eyeshadow that she'd thought would look good on us, which shows that probably only nikki can actually properly see us and touch us.

i do hope we get the volume 2 update soon, bc hopefully it'll expand on more lore regarding the player and leonid's manuscript.

[riviae]

I'm BEGGING you to expand on your hc that Regis and Lambert have adhd whenever you get the time

sorry this took so long anon!! i’ve been in a bit of a writing funk so apologies if this isn’t as robust of a set of hcs as i’d normally provide. but w/o further ado, here are some incredibly self-indulgent adhd hcs for regis & lambert: 

regis: 

perks of being near immortal: an inexhaustible amt of time to focus on hyperfixations!! being a scientist/medic sprouted from his newfound beneficent interest in humans /after/ his uhhh bad blood bender days. mandrake brewing and other forms of distillation came about later as an interest after he read an encyclopedia on brewing techniques & became intrigued™

stimming! we know the big one presented in tw3 (clutching the straps of his satchel), but i could see him having other stims, such as when he was younger & had longer hair; perhaps he played w/ or twirled his hair while pouring over books etc. 

in a modern au he’d 100% be the type to listen to a singular song on repeat for hours, if not days, humming the tune under his breath while doing mundane tasks 

two reading modes: voraciously reads whatever is put before him..... or takes 2 centuries to read (1) book he’s been carrying around. there is no middle lol. hc that he had a few manuscripts on witchers in his possession at the time he was traveling w/ the hansa that he had been carrying around for awhile, but never got around to reading them before his fate at stygga castle 

impulsivity--it might seem more tempered now that he’s older, but he still shows flashes of the brashness of his youth (i mean he did choose to follow geralt & company on an adventure w/o any preamble or explanation in the books so.......)

needs stimulation of some kind; otherwise, he’s prone to bouts of intense boredom. which is never good for higher vampires. at least regis has enough hobbies/general interests to keep him busy tho so he never /really/ feels the urge to fall into more... bad habits. HOWEVER, he also experiences times where he is overstimulated, in which case, he retires to a cold and dark place (hence the crypt) to regain control of his whirlwind thoughts/emotions. he can also be overstimulated by really large crowds, tho he still enjoys traveling to bigger cities since they usually have stores/books/ingredients he needs

chaotic workspace/alchemical bench when in the midst of research. it will seem too messy/unorganized for most ppl to work comfortably in, but it’s organized in a way that specifically caters to how regis categorizes certain ingredients, reagents, etc. 

when he’s having trouble concentrating, it becomes more difficult for regis to retain his usual corporeal ‘human’ form. he tends to shift into his incorporeal/’smoke’ form, if u will, especially when working in his study/lab bc his mind is racing as he makes observations, changes his hypotheses, makes notes, takes stock of ingredients/materials, etc. 

even alone, regis talks to himself. usually as a way to organize executive tasks & to plan them out accordingly. otherwise, he may drift from project to project or task to task w/o any logical progression or find himself distracted by something else in the midst of an important task he currently wants prioritized

passage of time problems. combined w/ his longevity.... regis is definitely the type to forget what month, season, or year he’s in if he gets too engrossed in a topic of study. 

lambert: 

textbook insomniac. he can meditate much better than he can fall asleep, but it still isn’t the same as actual sleep,,, which is bad™ when ur life/livelihood depends on being cognizant & aware of your surroundings 

stims w/ his witcher medallion. the vibration of the medallion against his sternum would usually agitate/worry other witchers, but the feeling/motion of it is actually soothing for lambert as it helps him focus on the task/contract at hand. 

rejection sensitive dysphoria is a big ol’ problem for him. it’s partly why he pushes ppl away on instinct. having someone close to him truly criticize him in a non-teasing or cruel manner? definitely hurts him much more than he’d ever admit or show outwardly. his emotional control/general understanding of his emotions is also quite dulled/poor even compared to geralt bc of his own self-hate (masquerading as narcissism) /and/ adhd, which makes his emotional outbursts even more explosive

a major hoarder. if u think geralt’s bad.... lambert is the epitome of a compulsive hoarder. he logically knows what stuff he can keep, what he can sell, what should be thrown away, but he has difficult getting rid of the stuff that’s ‘in-between,’ so to speak. things that /could/ serve a purpose in certain situations, but said situations are incredibly unlikely to occur. in truth, he may seem like a very well-prepared witcher to say a random peasant or villager due to the sheer amt of stuff he carries on his horse... but 98% of it are things that he will unlikely ever need  

will forget to eat and sleep if in the middle of an interesting contract. executive dysfunction definitely contributes to his ‘prickly’ mood/behavior since most of the time he isn’t eating or sleeping enough. which is why he is much more agreeable/calm when on the path w/ someone he gets along w/ (i.e., aiden in tw3) bc he has someone to remind him to eat or take a break 

textbook reading/academic-style learning is not his forte. he was an awful student at kaer morhen tbh. BUT, anything done by first-hand experience? he’ll be hard-pressed to forget it & can generally pick up new skills/trades much easier than even geralt or eskel. for instance, lambert is actually quite a good smithy/repairer & often does a better job repairing his own equipment than if he were to get a professional to do it.

along w/ this, he’s quite good at remembering personal details of others/things ppl tell him about themselves. he tries to hide how good his memory is in this regard, but for some reason biographical info of other ppl sticks much better in his brain than say a fictitious ballad. non-fiction > fiction, basically. 

physical activity of any kind can usually ground lambert when he needs to focus or wants to meditate/sleep/etc. he might go on a run if he’s stuck on a contract or needs to let out more energy  

has difficulty explaining himself/his actions especially when relating to contracts. he makes wild jumps in logic w/o explanation bc that’s how his brain works (not linearly from A --> B --> C but A --> C w/o the hassle of an extra hurdle). other witchers can usually understand his line of thinking, but when it comes to getting paid for his work... this can be a problem 

also shows passage of time problems but on a much smaller scale. has it been 10 mins or 4 hours since he started meditating? regardless, it’s getting dark now so he should probably stop 

difficult relaxing/always on-edge. drinking and playing gwent can help somewhat, but even if he’s doing something enjoyable, lambert is never really, truly relaxed. [insert image of computer w/ too many tabs open here] it’s something that vesemir noticed when lambert was young and tried to help him find an outlet/hobby to relax him.... which is where fishing ‘the witcher way’ comes in. nothing screams relaxing like throwing a bomb into a lake & diving into freezing cold water to pick up the fish to cook later for dinner, am i right? in vesemir’s defense, he did try & teach lambert to fish the ‘traditional’ way... but that didn’t really keep his attention 

[the-nysh]

and uh sorry but i have to add a really off-topic question. basically, where should i start reading the webcomic from? I got mixed signals on how it holds up to the remake but i got very confused by your recent posts bc i thought it didn't update since 2013 or something and idk if i even should start reading if updates are so rare

Oh no worries! :D It can get pretty confusing for many getting into the series, so I’ll say, the manga starts to diverge/expand stuff beyond webcomic ch53. Like, before then it’s the TTM vs Garou fight, and after that is the Death Gatling & Genos vs Garou stuff…but it proceeds in a completely different way (there’s no tournament arc or shed in the woods kinda stuff either). Before then the manga redrew stuff pretty much 1:1 with the webcomic, but after this point things start proceeding in different ways. And I feel it’s best for readers to see both versions for themselves. (You could start from the beginning of the webcomic too, because it has its own charm and gradually you’ll see how ONE improves over time.) Because some webcomic readers prefer the plot’s brisker pace that’s more streamlined to the point (over some of the more meandering manga arcs), so it’s up to fans to decide which one they might prefer more. (Being aware & up to date with both versions in general is a good thing too, even if it’s to stay on top of spoilers.) The webcomic IS worth it though, especially because all the lead up and resolution to the Garou arc is some of the best in the whole story, and it’s already all completed there. :D It gets very thrilling and cinematic I feel!

The webcomic was on hiatus for a while yeah, because ONE was busy focusing on completing the mp100 manga, the anime adaptations, AND providing Murata with new manga manuscripts to draw (so everything that’s expanded in the manga is still canon because ONE was writing it that way the entire time). You could also look at the manga as ONE’s second chance to edit and re-write the webcomic’s plot in a stronger way (reader mileage may vary) with more character nuance and worldbuilding context.

Currently the webcomic is still ongoing (it just updated the other day for example) and continuing to follow its own plotline where it left off, independent from the manga. There’s no set schedule for it, as ONE chooses to update whenever/however he wants, and tends to drop chs completely out of nowhere without warning. Murata’s way more transparent with his update schedule by giving us a heads up on twitter, while ONE’s known to drop a few webcomic pages every day to a whole batch of chs at a time (even after months apart)! It varies wildly, but that’s why we’re all in this together to stay on top of things! 8D Enjoy and hopefully you’ll find things to appreciate about the webcomic too!  

[witnesstruesorcery]

Celtic Knot Letter - The Cruachan logo

Pencil on a sticky note. I  am not kidding!! :) I wanted to make a  bookmark inspired by the logo of the Irish lads from Cruachan and I just had one of them sticky notes flying around. Here's what came out of it. I quite like it. I use it for my books. It's quite handy too.

The Band

Cruachan is a folk metal band from Dublin, Ireland that has been active since the 1990s. They have been acclaimed as having "gone the greatest lengths of anyone in their attempts to expand" the genre of folk metal.They are recognised as one of the founders of the genre of folk metal. With a specific focus on Celtic music and the use of Celtic mythology in their lyrics, Cruachan's style of folk metal is known as Celtic metal. The band named themselves after the archaeological site of Rathcroghan in Ireland also known as Cruachan.

Rathcroghan (megaliths)

Rathcroghan (Irish: Ráth Cruachan, meaning "fort of Cruachan") is a complex of archaeological sites near Tulsk in County Roscommon, Ireland. It is identified as the site of Cruachan, the traditional capital of the Connachta, a term used to describe the prehistoric and early historic rulers of the western territory. The Rathcroghan Complex (Crúachan Aí) is a unique archaeological landscape with many references found in early Irish medieval manuscripts.

Located on the plains of Connacht (Mag nAí/Machaire Connacht), Rathcroghan is one of the six Royal Sites of Ireland. This landscape which extends over six square kilometres, consists of 240 plus archaeological sites, sixty of which are protected national monuments.

These monuments range from the Neolithic (4000 - 2500 BC), through the Bronze (2500 - 500 BC) and Iron Age (500 BC - 400 AD), to the early medieval period and beyond. These monuments include burial mounds, ringforts and medieval field boundaries amongst others. The most fascinating of these are the multi period Rathcroghan Mound, the mysterious cave of Oweynagat, the Mucklaghs - a spectacular set of linear earthworks, as well as the Carns medieval complex.

There are many interesting historic references to Rathcroghan (Ráth Crúachan) recorded in early medieval manuscripts, including the 12th century Lebor na hUidre. Rathcroghan is recorded as the location of one of the great fairs of Ireland, as well as being one of the island's three great heathen cemeteries. It is also the location for the beginning and end of a national epic tale – an Táin Bó Cuailnge, and the royal seat of Medb (Maeve), Connacht's Warrior Queen.

Uniquely, Rathcroghan possesses an entrance to the Otherworld, described in the medieval period as "Ireland's Gate to Hell", located at Oweynagat (the Cave of the Cats). The cave has associations with the pagan festival of Samhain, Halloween, as well as being described as the "fit abode" of Morrigan, a Celtic Goddess of pre-Christian Ireland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruachan_(band)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rathcroghan

© Borislav Vakinov

[vintageandroid]

Surgery and Worldbuilding

So I just left a comment on someone’s blog where in the tags they were debating whether they wanted their character to be an amputee or paralyzed but were probably going with the latter because the world didn’t really have the technology to amputate a limb.  Here’s what I said: 

jsyk [person], amputation is REALLY ancient and can be performed with minimal actual skill [I meant to say “technology” but I just woke up sue me]. The skill comes in making sure the patient doesn't die of infection because of their amputation happening pre-germ theory, and also in doing it FAST bc unreliable or non-existent anaesthetic. Surgeons in the Civil War, for example, were usually considered amazing not for how many patients survived but for how many limbs they could hack off in an hour.

LET’S EXPAND ON THIS A LITTLE because I like the sound of my own voice.  A lot of my info comes from At Home by Bill Bryson, which is a really interesting read.  I source where I can but a lot of this is crap I remember from reading in the past, so please forgive any srs errors.

Cut for length and because ancient surgery and stuff are gross. 

The American Civil War (1861-1863) is the example I think of first because amputations were very commonplace in field hospitals and were actually pretty well recorded, but they were around for a long time.  A famous surgeon wasn’t one who was particularly gentle or even capable--it was one who was FAST, such as Baron Larrey, who conducted 200 amputations in 24 hours in 1812. . A limb was usually sawed off (literally! This is why Star Trek’s Dr. McCoy is called “Bones”--an old timey slang for “doctor” was “Sawbones”) in under a minute, and then the rest would be sewed up quickly in a “fish mouth” stitch, which pulled the flaps of skin down and left a rounded stump.  Before reliable anesthetic, speedy sawing was the best way to keep your patient from dying of shock right there on the table.  A lot did anyway.  But many survived. (a source)

Victorian anesthetics used were opiates, which can only do so much; alcohol, same problem; and bleeding a patient until they were faint, which obviously could compound the problem.  Ether was actually discovered in the 13th century, and a lot of ancient Chinese documents and various western records talk about herbal compounds used to put patients to sleep but these were used inconsistently in our real-world history, probably due to poor communication and jealously guarding “trade secrets” among private physicians.  (A common medieval/early renaissance solution in England was called “Dwale” and consisted of [quoting Wiki here:]  “bile, opium, lettuce, bryony, and hemlock.”)  You can use all you like in your fantasy novel, though.  Chloroform was used as early as 1847, but chloroform is actually toxic and if you’re don’t know what you’re doing--and not a lot of people in the 19th century did--you can easily kill your patient.  This is also why chloroform is a bad choice for kidnapping people but you’d still never know it from movies.  Please don’t use my post to become a better kidnapper, though.  :( 

Amputation were of course not the only surgeries performed. (Wiki’s article on the subject)  In 1658 Samuel Pepys had a kidney stone extracted in 50 seconds, but had to recover for a month.  At Home quotes a rather harrowing first-person account of a mastectomy performed in 1806 on novelist Fanny Burney, in which she’s given some wine and a cloth to cover her face but witnesses the entire thing.  But surgery is even older than those!  The Mesopotamian Code of Hammurubi describes the compensation of 10 shekels a surgeon if he successfully removes a tumor, or the removal of his hands if he screws up and kills the patient.  There is also a manuscript from 1600 BCE describing the use of sutures to close a wound, and using honey to treat infection--honey is actually antibacterial. 

SPEAKING OF WHICH, yes, germs were the biggest threat in surgery before germ theory became common knowledge.  (People believed in the miasma theory--bad smells caused disease.  That’s the real reason for improved plumbing or sanitation in various eras, and also why plague doctors wore those masks--the beak part was full of flowers to ward off illness.)  Germ theory was suggested in the 1840s, but rejected because doctors were offended by the suggestion that they needed to wash their hands between patients.  So infection is a good way to kill off a guy in your story or to add some tension, but people did have some idea of how to prevent it or cure it even if they didn’t understand how it worked.  There is a 9th century Anglo-Saxon remedy for eye infection that was proven in 2015 to kill some drug-resistant infections.  There are a lot of antibacterial herbs, including lavender, onion, and garlic (which is probably why a lot of home remedies include eating a shit ton of onions) and people did pay attention to the fact that if people used these things when they were sick, they would become less sick.

IN CONCLUSION, your medieval fantasy or ancient historical novel or whatever CAN have an amputee, or surgery to remove an arrow to the knee, or a lady with one eye, or whatever.  Recovery would be much longer, and you wouldn’t want to go to a hospital. 

PS one of my favorite fantasy series is The Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner, which includes a character getting his right arm amputated (and promptly cauterized) and dealing with both the trauma and the physical recovery after the fact.  Polgara the Sorceress also features some discussion of surgery and herbal remedies in a medieval setting.  These are literally the only things I can think of that include a discussion of surgery in a non-modern setting.  

[agosnesrerose]

The Fascinating 150-Year History of the American Watercolor Society

Turning Darkness Into Light

One of our fellow members of the Artist’s Network and editor of The Artist’s Magazine, Maureen Bloomfield, had the honor of speaking at the recent 150th Anniversary celebration of the American Watercolor Society. Her speech was so moving, we wanted to share it with those of you who could not attend the event.

***

Cave of Lascaux

Lascaux | 15,000 B.C.

In a valley in Southern France, in September 1940, four boys were wandering in the woods when their dog vanished. Mystified, they ran to the spot where he’d disappeared. The oldest boy described what happened next.

“Suddenly we found a hole. We moved a few stones to make the opening wider. And because I was the strongest, I was the first to climb into the darkness. I slipped, tried to hold onto some stones, but slid [downward]. When I finally came to the bottom, I was amazed to see the strangest pictures on the walls.”

Wall Art in Lascaux Cave

  What he had discovered were the caves of Lascaux and the more than 2,000 paintings that date from 15,000 BC; those works consist of pigment rubbed onto limestone with blood and water.

A thousand years later, other anonymous artists worked pigment into wet plaster, creating for the Palace of Knossos in Greece, the first frescoes—and this labyrinthine city once the dwelling place of the mythical Minotaur was discovered in 1878, 11 years after the American Watercolor Society’s first exhibition.

Decorative Border from Hall of Knossos, Crete

Hall of Knossos | Crete, 1500 B.C.

From Crete to another island (Ireland), variations on those decorative motifs recur in 800 AD; Columban monks drew designs and ornaments on vellum to illustrate the Four Gospels and, of course, the medium was watercolor.

A writer in the 12th century describes the experience of inspecting the Book of Kells.

Book of Kells, 800 A.D.

  “You will make out intricacies, so delicate and so subtle, so full of knots and links, with colors so fresh and vivid, that you might say that all this were the work of angels, and not of men.”

I have to amend that last phrase, as women—nuns and abbesses— also illumined manuscripts. In fact, in the Claricia Psalter of the 12th century, we find the earliest self-portrait of a woman artist, who drew her own figure, clothed in a nun’s habit, as a diagonal line that differentiates the letter Q from the letter O.

Luminosity

For the past few weeks, I’ve been brooding about watercolor; I’ve come to the conclusion and, alas, it’s not an original one, that its rarest quality and the one hardest to describe is luminosity, from lumen the Latin for light. To illumine is to light up, to shed light on.

I’m not an artist but I spent my childhood and adolescence taking private classes in oil and pastel. Although my mother believed that all lessons were good lessons, I never took a class in watercolor. I think, in retrospect, I knew even then that it would be too hard.

Sheherezade by Betsy Dillard Stroud

  As Betsy Dillard Stroud told me, “You have to be spontaneous—you have to react with alacrity because watercolor is always moving.”

  Apple Blossoms by Joseph Raffael

  Joseph Raffael explains why: “The flow of water is emblematic of a vital force. Watercolor expresses flow, life as transparency, the ineffable, the transient air, motion, life moving. Watercolor itself is a force of nature.”

From the 1800s to the 2000s

Tonight we celebrate the AWS that has been so influential in promoting this medium and in educating artists and collectors of its range and worth since 1866—a year after the conclusion of the Civil War that claimed 620,000 lives.

Bayonet Charge by Winslow Homer

  Winslow Homer was embedded in the Union Army and did drawings on site; his true-to-life etchings, one showing an amputation on the battlefield, appeared in Harper’s Magazine. In that war, New England bled as copiously as the South, and artists were not alone in wanting to escape the tragic waste (the Battle of Antietam alone resulted in 22,700 casualties; so devastating were the losses at Antietam that neither side could claim victory). Given the carnage of war and the darkness of a divided country, it makes sense artists would want to pursue light.

  Hauling Anchor by Winslow Homer

  So in 1866, a call went out to “all American artist and amateurs interested in forming a group devoted to watercolor painting.” To announce the first exhibition, 400 circulars were printed.

In addition, the AWS members, fearful they wouldn’t be able to fill the walls of the National Academy of Design, canvassed local studios, commercial galleries and private collections. Of the 278 pictures in the first show, only half were watercolors.

The 46 regular members of the AWS contributed the bulk of the work, but 109 other nonmember artists were represented including about a dozen foreigners. The opening on December 21, 1867, the AWS secretary called “A brilliant occasion, full of the most exultant camaraderie.”

According to Kathleen A. Foster, the author of the catalogue for the exhibition “American Watercolor in the Age of Homer and Sargent,” now on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art: “The history of watercolor painting in the United States divides neatly into two parts: before the foundation of the AWS and after.”

Before 1866, watercolor painting was not considered a fine art medium and the perverse reason was that it was, in fact, the most popular medium in the country—for illustrators, engravers, architects, engineers, commercial artists, travelers, scientist and naturalists like Audubon, etc., and, not incidentally, for well-bred ladies, students and children. “That changed,” according to Foster, “with breathtaking speed after 1867. By 1881, watercolor was the toast of New York. Within 50 years, many of the most lauded and adventurous American artists were watercolorists.”

From that great crop of “most lauded and adventurous artists,” the first Golden Age, before this one so radiantly on display at this show, I’d like to single out three.

First, Winslow Homer, who was famously reticent but nonetheless managed to say something completely in the spirit of watercolor: “I like painting done without your knowing it.”

Corfu, Light and Shadows | John Singer Sargent

  Second, John Singer Sargent who had two ways of working: one with broad strokes in limpid colors and the other with tinges of pigment; the effect in both is startlingly evanescent.

  Up in the Studio by Andrew Wyeth

  Finally, Andrew Wyeth, who countered Homer’s sensation of light with the most mesmerizing darkness, a darkness that is complicated but, paradoxically, transparent.

In addition to promoting watercolor, the AWS has been a progressive force throughout and before its history. Its precursor, the New York Water Color Society admitted women as members right from the beginning in 1850 (to put that in context: the U.S. didn’t ratify the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote until 1920).

Further, the AWS led the way in expanding the popularity of alternate media, such as charcoal, pastel and “painterly” etching, inclusively exhibiting all types of works on paper, generally until newer groups gained the strength to organize separate shows. “Throughout the 1870s and much of the 80s,” writes Foster, “the society mustered the country’s largest, most diverse survey of progressive work in all the graphic arts.”

Perseverance Through Art

One hundred and fifty years ago, in 1867, coinciding with the birth of this society, Walt Whitman published a new edition of Leaves of Grass and Emily Dickinson withdrew from the world, though she continued to tend her gardens. Both poets had been affected by deaths: Dickinson, having lost in succession her father, then her favorite teacher and then a nephew; and Whitman, having witnessed unbearable suffering as he tended soldiers, as a volunteer nurse, during the Civil War.

In 2017, we find ourselves in a similarly dark and divisive time. Just as the boys at Lauscaux stumbled into a cave, I feel sometimes it would be lovely to find a rabbit hole to descend into; but as artists and writers and lovers of the arts, we know that the only antidote to ignorance and darkness is art.

As Marcel Proust, who was confined to bed for most of his life, wrote: “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

Interior Light by Joseph Raffael

It has been a pleasure and an honor to be with you tonight. I’d like to end by reading parts of two poems. The first is from “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed,” Walt Whitman’s meditation on the loss of Abraham Lincoln, who was assassinated in April 1865, one year before the AWS was founded.

O what shall I hang on the chamber walls?

And what shall the pictures be that I hang on the walls,

To adorn the burial house of him I love?

Pictures of growing spring and farms and homes,

With the Fourth-month eve at sundown, and the gray smoke lucid and bright,

With floods of the yellow gold of the gorgeous, indolent, sinking sun, burning, expanding the air, …

And the city at hand with dwellings so dense, and stacks of chimneys,

And all the scenes of life and the workshops, and the workmen homeward returning.

Finally, a section of a canto by Ezra Pound:

What thou lov’st well remains,

The rest is dross

What thou lov’st well shall not be reft from thee

What thou lov’st well is thy true heritage.

***

We hope you enjoyed Maureen’s touching speech in honor of AWS’ 150-year celebration. Love watercolor? Check out the June 2017 issue of Watercolor Artist, available now!

Book Cited:

American Watercolor in the Age of Homer and Sargent by Kathleen A. Foster, Yale University Press, 2017

The post The Fascinating 150-Year History of the American Watercolor Society appeared first on Artist's Network.

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The Fascinating 150-Year History of the American Watercolor Society

Turning Darkness Into Light

One of our fellow members of the Artist’s Network and editor of The Artist’s Magazine, Maureen Bloomfield, had the honor of speaking at the recent 150th Anniversary celebration of the American Watercolor Society. Her speech was so moving, we wanted to share it with those of you who could not attend the event.

***

Cave of Lascaux

Lascaux | 15,000 B.C.

In a valley in Southern France, in September 1940, four boys were wandering in the woods when their dog vanished. Mystified, they ran to the spot where he’d disappeared. The oldest boy described what happened next.

“Suddenly we found a hole. We moved a few stones to make the opening wider. And because I was the strongest, I was the first to climb into the darkness. I slipped, tried to hold onto some stones, but slid [downward]. When I finally came to the bottom, I was amazed to see the strangest pictures on the walls.”

Wall Art in Lascaux Cave

  What he had discovered were the caves of Lascaux and the more than 2,000 paintings that date from 15,000 BC; those works consist of pigment rubbed onto limestone with blood and water.

A thousand years later, other anonymous artists worked pigment into wet plaster, creating for the Palace of Knossos in Greece, the first frescoes—and this labyrinthine city once the dwelling place of the mythical Minotaur was discovered in 1878, 11 years after the American Watercolor Society’s first exhibition.

Decorative Border from Hall of Knossos, Crete

Hall of Knossos | Crete, 1500 B.C.

From Crete to another island (Ireland), variations on those decorative motifs recur in 800 AD; Columban monks drew designs and ornaments on vellum to illustrate the Four Gospels and, of course, the medium was watercolor.

A writer in the 12th century describes the experience of inspecting the Book of Kells.

Book of Kells, 800 A.D.

  “You will make out intricacies, so delicate and so subtle, so full of knots and links, with colors so fresh and vivid, that you might say that all this were the work of angels, and not of men.”

I have to amend that last phrase, as women—nuns and abbesses— also illumined manuscripts. In fact, in the Claricia Psalter of the 12th century, we find the earliest self-portrait of a woman artist, who drew her own figure, clothed in a nun’s habit, as a diagonal line that differentiates the letter Q from the letter O.

Luminosity

For the past few weeks, I’ve been brooding about watercolor; I’ve come to the conclusion and, alas, it’s not an original one, that its rarest quality and the one hardest to describe is luminosity, from lumen the Latin for light. To illumine is to light up, to shed light on.

I’m not an artist but I spent my childhood and adolescence taking private classes in oil and pastel. Although my mother believed that all lessons were good lessons, I never took a class in watercolor. I think, in retrospect, I knew even then that it would be too hard.

Sheherezade by Betsy Dillard Stroud

  As Betsy Dillard Stroud told me, “You have to be spontaneous—you have to react with alacrity because watercolor is always moving.”

  Apple Blossoms by Joseph Raffael

  Joseph Raffael explains why: “The flow of water is emblematic of a vital force. Watercolor expresses flow, life as transparency, the ineffable, the transient air, motion, life moving. Watercolor itself is a force of nature.”

From the 1800s to the 2000s

Tonight we celebrate the AWS that has been so influential in promoting this medium and in educating artists and collectors of its range and worth since 1866—a year after the conclusion of the Civil War that claimed 620,000 lives.

Bayonet Charge by Winslow Homer

  Winslow Homer was embedded in the Union Army and did drawings on site; his true-to-life etchings, one showing an amputation on the battlefield, appeared in Harper’s Magazine. In that war, New England bled as copiously as the South, and artists were not alone in wanting to escape the tragic waste (the Battle of Antietam alone resulted in 22,700 casualties; so devastating were the losses at Antietam that neither side could claim victory). Given the carnage of war and the darkness of a divided country, it makes sense artists would want to pursue light.

  Hauling Anchor by Winslow Homer

  So in 1866, a call went out to “all American artist and amateurs interested in forming a group devoted to watercolor painting.” To announce the first exhibition, 400 circulars were printed.

In addition, the AWS members, fearful they wouldn’t be able to fill the walls of the National Academy of Design, canvassed local studios, commercial galleries and private collections. Of the 278 pictures in the first show, only half were watercolors.

The 46 regular members of the AWS contributed the bulk of the work, but 109 other nonmember artists were represented including about a dozen foreigners. The opening on December 21, 1867, the AWS secretary called “A brilliant occasion, full of the most exultant camaraderie.”

According to Kathleen A. Foster, the author of the catalogue for the exhibition “American Watercolor in the Age of Homer and Sargent,” now on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art: “The history of watercolor painting in the United States divides neatly into two parts: before the foundation of the AWS and after.”

Before 1866, watercolor painting was not considered a fine art medium and the perverse reason was that it was, in fact, the most popular medium in the country—for illustrators, engravers, architects, engineers, commercial artists, travelers, scientist and naturalists like Audubon, etc., and, not incidentally, for well-bred ladies, students and children. “That changed,” according to Foster, “with breathtaking speed after 1867. By 1881, watercolor was the toast of New York. Within 50 years, many of the most lauded and adventurous American artists were watercolorists.”

From that great crop of “most lauded and adventurous artists,” the first Golden Age, before this one so radiantly on display at this show, I’d like to single out three.

First, Winslow Homer, who was famously reticent but nonetheless managed to say something completely in the spirit of watercolor: “I like painting done without your knowing it.”

Corfu, Light and Shadows | John Singer Sargent

  Second, John Singer Sargent who had two ways of working: one with broad strokes in limpid colors and the other with tinges of pigment; the effect in both is startlingly evanescent.

  Up in the Studio by Andrew Wyeth

  Finally, Andrew Wyeth, who countered Homer’s sensation of light with the most mesmerizing darkness, a darkness that is complicated but, paradoxically, transparent.

In addition to promoting watercolor, the AWS has been a progressive force throughout and before its history. Its precursor, the New York Water Color Society admitted women as members right from the beginning in 1850 (to put that in context: the U.S. didn’t ratify the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote until 1920).

Further, the AWS led the way in expanding the popularity of alternate media, such as charcoal, pastel and “painterly” etching, inclusively exhibiting all types of works on paper, generally until newer groups gained the strength to organize separate shows. “Throughout the 1870s and much of the 80s,” writes Foster, “the society mustered the country’s largest, most diverse survey of progressive work in all the graphic arts.”

Perseverance Through Art

One hundred and fifty years ago, in 1867, coinciding with the birth of this society, Walt Whitman published a new edition of Leaves of Grass and Emily Dickinson withdrew from the world, though she continued to tend her gardens. Both poets had been affected by deaths: Dickinson, having lost in succession her father, then her favorite teacher and then a nephew; and Whitman, having witnessed unbearable suffering as he tended soldiers, as a volunteer nurse, during the Civil War.

In 2017, we find ourselves in a similarly dark and divisive time. Just as the boys at Lauscaux stumbled into a cave, I feel sometimes it would be lovely to find a rabbit hole to descend into; but as artists and writers and lovers of the arts, we know that the only antidote to ignorance and darkness is art.

As Marcel Proust, who was confined to bed for most of his life, wrote: “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

Interior Light by Joseph Raffael

It has been a pleasure and an honor to be with you tonight. I’d like to end by reading parts of two poems. The first is from “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed,” Walt Whitman’s meditation on the loss of Abraham Lincoln, who was assassinated in April 1865, one year before the AWS was founded.

O what shall I hang on the chamber walls?

And what shall the pictures be that I hang on the walls,

To adorn the burial house of him I love?

Pictures of growing spring and farms and homes,

With the Fourth-month eve at sundown, and the gray smoke lucid and bright,

With floods of the yellow gold of the gorgeous, indolent, sinking sun, burning, expanding the air, …

And the city at hand with dwellings so dense, and stacks of chimneys,

And all the scenes of life and the workshops, and the workmen homeward returning.

Finally, a section of a canto by Ezra Pound:

What thou lov’st well remains,

The rest is dross

What thou lov’st well shall not be reft from thee

What thou lov’st well is thy true heritage.

***

We hope you enjoyed Maureen’s touching speech in honor of AWS’ 150-year celebration. Love watercolor? Check out the June 2017 issue of Watercolor Artist, available now!

Book Cited:

American Watercolor in the Age of Homer and Sargent by Kathleen A. Foster, Yale University Press, 2017

The post The Fascinating 150-Year History of the American Watercolor Society appeared first on Artist's Network.

from Artist's Network http://ift.tt/2qdzHcw