Countdown to Christmas Day 6

By pusheen

Countdown to Christmas Days 2-5

To make up for being absent to continue my countdown here's an extra long post filled with christmas myths.

Saint Nicholas was said to have several companions who helped him with various tasks on Christmas, mostly involving giving out gifts.

Belsnickle-

Belsnickel is a man wearing fur which covers his entire body, and he sometimes wears a mask with a long tongue. He is a rather scary creature who visits children and delivers socks or shoes full of candy, but if the children were not good, they will find coal and/or switches in their stockings instead.

Krampus- According to legend, Krampus accompanies St. Nicholas during the Christmas season, warning and punishing bad children, in contrast to St. Nicholas, who gives gifts to good children.

Zwarte Piet-

The tasks of the Zwarte Pieten are mostly to amuse children, and to scatter pepernoten and candies for those who come to meet the saint as he visits stores, schools, and other places. Zwarte Pieten are often portrayed as mischievous but rarely mean-spirited characters.

Le Père Fouettard-

An Inn Keeper captures three boys who appear to be wealthy and on their way to enroll in a religious boarding school. Along with his wife, he kills the children in order to rob them. One gruesome version tells that they drug the children, slit their throats, cut them into pieces, and stew them in a barrel. St. Nicholas discovers the crime and resurrects the children. After this, Le Père Fouettard repents and becomes St. Nick's partner. A slightly altered version of this story claims that St. Nicholas forced Le Père Fouettard to become his assistant as a punishment for his crimes.

Knect Ruprecht-Tradition holds that he appears in homes on St. Nicholas day (December 6), and is a man with a long beard, wearing fur or covered in pea-straw. Knecht Ruprecht sometimes carries a long staff and a bag of ashes, and wears little bells on his clothes.Sometimes he rides on a white horse, and sometimes he is accompanied by fairies or men with blackened faces dressed as old women.

According to tradition, Knecht Ruprecht asks children whether they can pray. If they can, they receive apples, nuts, and gingerbread. If they cannot, he beats the children with his bag of ashes.

Countdown to Christmas Day 1

Jim Henson

Okay, so I'll admit it. I'm twenty-two as of writing this and I adore the Muppets. I grew up watching the later seasons of the Muppet show and classics like Muppets in Space and Muppet Christmas Carol like any other child of the 60's to 90's.

Though I have to make another confession, there's just something about watching these guys. If I were to watch actors or cartoons performing the same slapstick and puns (except maybe the Three Stooges) I'd probably think it was terrible. There's just something about a pig throwing around other felt and wire puppets in a rampage.

 With the new release of the new muppet movie, it seems the world is just now learning just what a creative genius Jim Henson was. He was a man that just made you want to go 'wow', who inspired countless others to dream and gave generations of children something that the mostly garbage programs we see on most kid networks today could never hope to achieve.

I had never seen Jim Henson's sketches and notes until this year until I came across other blogs and sites, but when I did I poured over every detail. Henson created a world anyone could immerse themselves in, be it the Dark Crystal or Seasame Street.

While I would absolutely love to be able to go to an exhibit, alas, I'm, a poor college student. However, there's hope for all of you out there. In California there will be The Lovers, the Dreamers, and Me - A Jim Henson Tribute Exhibition.

Guest Artist

Today and Tuesday I sat in on lecture over traditional Chinese painting by Li Zhiqiang. It was very interesting to see the concepts behind each style of work. The paintings were also beautiful and wish I had been free to sit in on his demonstration. It was his first time in the U.S. I believe and didn't speak the language, but more than made up for the language barrier by his viewpoints and such.

Mini bio:

Zhiqiang Li, Professor, dean of College of New Medium Art, Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, China. Professor Li is a well-known Chinese modern painter, and he is also a professor of art. He has been explored his ink painting with some of his folk art principles and expertise. He had two one-man shows in China National Art Museum in Beijing during past seven years and it is the only honor for the artist from the city; He had more than fifteen international shows and exhibits in past fifteen years; He has been the director of Chinese Yangliuqing Folk Art Studio for more than ten years; He published few his books and theses in China.


You can follow his blog here: LINK

Poetry Feature

So last year and the year before I've been featured in the Cut-Thru Review that is a collection of art and writings from my community. They finally put up the website and I thought I'd share my poetry that's up here.

little info about the site:
The 2010 edition features an impressive collection of words and images that captures the spirit and scope of contemporary Appalachian literary arts.

Commissions!

Want a personalized piece of art? Look no further! For the first time I've decided to ask for commissions.

I'm in need of money for school ( $2400)and am hoping that I can get something from my art.

examples of my work:

I can do anything from sketches to full on digital drawings like you see here. Anything will be a great help and if you can't afford a commission it would be a great help if you could pass this post along.

Find prices HERE and if you have any questions, please contact me on etsy!