Faerie Enthroned

John Duncan — Faerie Enthroned

Aiofe

John Duncan — Aiofe (pronounced eefa) — ca 1915

Whine Whine Whine

I'M REALLY getting distracted from my work at hand, and have REALLY got to buckle down to make some deadlines for next week. So I need to not blog for a few days, or prep for it, or think about what I'll prep or do next. As Pappy sez, over on Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine: "Blogging is more work than the job I retired from". Only I ain't retired and never will be!

SO, I'll be back sometime next week, with fun stuff.

BUT, I'm not going to leave you empty handed. I'm going to put up five more posts over the next few hours that should give you some pleasure. I could put them all into one post and be done with it, but these will be so beautiful that each one deserves its own place in the spotlight.

Maybe you've seen 'em before, and mebbee you hev'int, but I'm impatient to show more of John Duncan's work . . .

Excalibur

John Duncan — The Taking Of Excalibur — ca 1897

Merlin and the Faerie Queen

John Duncan — Merlin and the Faerie Queen

Vibrant and Fanciful

The original early 20th century Metropolitan Magazine seemingly had many vibrant and fanciful covers, running for a number of years, and was a great venue for Pogany and Armstrong. The image on the header of this 'blog was originally one of its covers. But I've yet to see more than just a few collected here and there. Another coffee table book waiting to happen.

Willy Pogany — August 1916

Rolf Armstrong — August 1918

Rolf Armstrong — January 1919

A Life of Fantasy

Front and back covers of an extremely limited edition (25) memorial to Hannes Bok printed in 1969, containing little tribute essays by some of SF's greats:

Autumn Interlude

The only way I can keep up with posts right now is to jump around from subject to subject, with no theme in mind. Please bear with me.

The Brothers Robinson, that family of illustrators, are phenomenal—this image from early 1900s by Charles Robinson, is entitled Autumn Interlude.

The Secret of Life . . .

. . . is a beautiful photograph of a beautiful woman . . .

Laspata/DeCaro — Faith Hill

One of my favorite songs is The Secret of Life, performed by Faith Hill, written by Gretchen Peters. Many songs lyrics are obscure, many songs lyrics are inane. This song's lyrics are full of Zen, yet comprehensible, wisdom. One of the lyrics validates something I've known for years: The secret of life is gettin' up early, the secret of life is stayin' up late.

On CMT's version of Faith Hill's music video, when she sings 'Marilyn stares down from the barroom wall', there's a picture of Marilyn on the wall, but in the YouTube video version there is no picture, it's gone. What's with that? Something to do with the Monroe estate?

My wife knows that Faith Hill is a woman I'd run off with in a moment's notice, but it's something my wife doesn't worry about for even a moment. 'The secret of life is to find the right woman'—I got that one covered.

Scheherazade

Okay, I think some of you are falling asleep out there over my posts. This'll wake you up.

From Georges Barbier, a master of the exotic and erotic, Scheherazade, as only he would envision:

Leonardo's Dream

So, one day I got to thinking that Leonardo, being 'only human', must have obsessed enough with the dream of flight, that he actually would have dreamed about it. I did a preliminary drawing with the intent of painting it, but as with most of my personal work, it had to be set aside for paying commissions. Below is just one small section of that really large panorama drawing that includes a number of surrealistic details outside of this zoomed frame.

I have a dream of one day painting this, but it'll probably have to be a triptych, because the actual layout is so wide.

© 2008 Thomas Buchanan — Leonardo's Dream

Leonardo Was So Weird

A cool illustration of Leonardo by Joost Swarte, from a January 2005 New Yorker article that helped put Leonardo into perspective while reviewing several contemporary books about him.

One New York Afternoon in 1953

Charles Addams — The New Yorker — October 10, 1953

Wings to the Human Spirit

Here I'm posting the very My Book House story that I read as a boy, about Leonardo, and the inspiration it stirred in me is still evident today. Without giving anything away (assuming and hoping you will read this story), this is what it says at the end:

There was always something exciting in the workshop of Leonardo. (They) not only learned to paint there, but they learned to think and inquire and investigate the universe.

Without consciously adhering to that, our studios have somewhat followed suit—brimming with project overflows; sketches and paintings pinned and mounted everywhere; mannequins with ever-changing costumes; studio props; camera equipment of varying sizes; of course books everywhere; but above all—the aura of problem-solving and research into the mysteries of the universe. We certainly don't share Leonardo's genius, but we do share his curiosity and passion for knowledge.

Many of our projects entail interpretive graphics, meaning that we need to study and understand the subjects that we endeavor to explain visually. Over the years we have developed interpretive exhibits and murals about Egyptian, Chinese, Aztec and other assorted cultures; prehistoric animals and dinosaurs; current ecosystems; historical persons and events; space exploration and modern technologies; various branches of science; children's interests and issues; and currently just finished an up-to-date graphic portrayal of the origins and evolution of our planet earth. We are illustrating two books, as we speak; developing content graphics for two visitor centers in magnificent areas of the country; and creating portraits of very interesting people.

All of these projects require so much research and spill their contents through our brains and into hundreds of sketches and finished art pieces that fill our studios and our lives. Our daughter is majoring in theatrical stagecraft, which brings another magical dimension to our mix.

In addition, my personal interests push deep into the esoteric regions of science and philosophy, involving the mysteries of Time, Space, Dimensionality and the Human Condition. I don't have the conceit to think I could contribute substantially to the subjects, but curious, I am so curious.

Leonardo has always been close to my heart, and it started with this very story:

Donn P. Crane made so many drawings of so many subjects.

Prodotto D'Italia

Leonardo DaVinci has been a hero to me since I was a boy. The item below is the best commercial use of his art that I can recall. It's not a book or magazine, it's the side of a cardboard shipping box that I keep some special stuff in. And the wine was pretty good too.

Candle-Lightin' Time

I am smitten by the design of this 1901 cover by Margaret Armstrong. Her interior art nouveau decorations accompany the African-American dialect poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, the son of former slaves, who earned international acclaim as a poet.

Love, Desire & Death

Sounding for all the world like a Woody Allen movie, this drawing is entitled Love, Desire & Death—by Georges Barbier.

My Book House Faust

I'm glad to take requests, here and there as I can, and the request came in for more of Donn Crane illustrations—specifically from Goethe's Faust, as retold for children in the My Book House series. These scans are plucked from that particular article that began with a telling of Goethe's life and penchant for fantasy that led to his lifelong work of the full tale of Faust's deal with the devil, and then Crane went on to illustrate the tale itself.

Under the Influence

Sir William Russell Flint was 'guilty' of Drawing Under the Influence of Mucha, here with this portrayal of Clotho—one of the classic Three Fates of ancient Greek mythology. Here she is spinning the thread of human life.

This image is from The Thoughts of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, edition published in 1909.

Willingly give thyself up to Clotho,

allowing her to spin thy thread into

whatever things she pleases.

Four Seasons Panneaux

Many of us have often seen Mucha's finished art for the Four Seasons, but his unused designs and sketches for the panels are a bit more obscure. As always, I admire an artist's sketches as much as finished art, full of vibrant energy, and Mucha's art is always fabulous.

Magic

A great modern master of magical illustration—Kinuko Craft:

The Scent of Magic

I'm tied up for a while, working on a few spells myself.

See you again in 48 hours or so.

For What Ales You

Um . . . I'll have what he's having, please . . .

Philip Castle

Passions and Debauchery

Hey kids, daylight savings time is kaput, and I hope you didn't forget and miss Sunday School, cuz today's subject was Sodom and Gomorrah, where we learned that passions and debauchery exploded in history's most wicked city . . . and we had visuals!

Robert Maguire's classic cover portrayal of Asherat, ancient goddess who ruled Palestine before arrival of the male God Jehovah

Jim Silke shows Bettie as Asherat in a lovely homage to Maguire

ADs, Take Note

Magazine art directors, take note: If magazines these days came out with covers displaying the aesthetic of this one from 1915, I would be buying multiple copies of multiple issues, instead of the close to none that I do now. And there would be many many more people doing that than just myself.

Those were the days, my friends.