The Breakers: Newport, Rhode Island

Tags

architecture, Breakers, doors, Norm 2.0, ornate, Rhode Island, Stone building, Thursday Doors

Side gardens and entrance to the Breakers

This week I’m sharing my photos of the Breakers in Newport for my Thursday Doors post. While I love taking pictures of so many parts of fancy houses and buildings, I’m quite enchanted by doors. I’m so grateful to have found some like minded people who also like to share photos of doors. I hope you enjoy my tour of this “cottage.”

Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. It is hosted by Norm 2.0.

“The Breakers is the grandest of Newport’s summer “cottages” and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family’s social and financial preeminence in turn of the century America.

Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877) established the family fortune in steamships and later in the New York Central Railroad, which was a pivotal development in the industrial growth of the nation during the late 19th century.” from the Newport Mansions Preservation Society.

This house had so many beautifully crafted features. Each room had magnificent doors and the views from one set of doors into the other rooms was very interesting. Some of the rooms had very distinctive styles. The first floor was extremely ornate. The second floor was comparatively simple, but probably my favorite rooms were there. The bathrooms were fantastic. I would love to have such a bathroom today! Here are the doors and doorways of the first floor.

The second floor doors were simpler.

There were secret doors that the servants could use to unobtrusively go about their business. There was a servant who’s job it was to go throughout the house and close and open window shades and shutters as the day progressed. That was the whole job, but I’m sure it kept him super busy! Old fashioned air conditioning. The pantry and the closets were amazing.

These are the rooms of the first floor. The details amazed me. The skylight is by Tiffany and it is so beautifully framed by the staircase. One of the rooms had portions of the wall “painted” with platinum. The floors and ceilings were all exquisite.

I really loved the comparative simplicity of the bedrooms and bathrooms. The kitchen was a wonder. It was fascinating to see how they used materials and design to make the work of the kitchen more efficient. The zinc and marble were utilitarian rather than a matter of style.

There was one tree on the grounds that I found particularly beautiful. I’m not sure what kind of tree it is.

I hope you have a beautiful day. For more door photos check out Norm 2.0.

 

Paper Blossoms

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art journal, Art Journal Every Day, flowers, gratitude, paper collage, paper flowers, pink, Zentangles

I have been keeping a gratitude journal for years. About 4 years ago I started doing it in art journal format using altered books. Not long after that I started this blog as a record of that journal and has blossomed into so much more. Recently I started a professional art blog. I will continue to maintain both blogs for as long as possible.

This is my first time using a mixed media sketchbook as my gratitude journal and I’m really enjoying it. I have been exploring acrylic paints and that exploration is reflected in my journal. I also us it to experiment with different media. For example, the flowers in the upper left page were experiments for my Mandala 41 with Rhododendron painting. I didn’t like how they looked with the mandala but I really enjoy them in my art journal and I’m going to use my “plaid” paper in a large mandala I’m currently working on, I think. Stay tuned…

I’m continuing to explore the Zentangle® Method. The tangled squares use a pattern called Paradox that I’m really enjoying. The text and images document what has happened with whom in the last few days and weeks. I had a really long conversation with a dear friend who is fighting cancer. I used a new to me pen to start her drawing and it didn’t work quite how I wanted, but I’m so grateful to include her in my journal. The new pens are from a spiritual doodling class that I’m taking at my Unitarian church.

This week I have been making lots of cards for various people. One of my sons has a birthday coming up and I have a few other friends who are also fighting cancer. All of my cards have had something that uses Zentangle® tiles or inspired art.

I hope you have a beautiful day.

New post on my other blog!

Tags

collage, flower collage, Mixed Media, Sunflower, Zentangle Inspired Art, ZIA

I have submitted a collage to an upcoming exhibit. See the details on my professional blog Jeanette Clawson Art.

I hope you have a beautiful day.

 

Mandala 41 with Rhododendron

Tags

100 Mandalas, collage, flower collage, Flower of the Day, Mandala, paper collage, paper flowers, Rhododendron, zentangle, Zentangle Inspired Art

Here is the metamorphosis of my collage.

I added some layers of paper and paint and was getting happy about it.

I’m not super happy with what happened with the Dr. Ph. Marten’s watercolors, but I’m enjoying the collage. What I have learned from my other attempts is that I need the background to be more monochromatic for the mandala to show up clearly. So I added some white with leaves as a mask.

This is something I quite enjoy so I created my mandala on tissue paper.

I played with different colors on the paper and shading on the tissue paper. I am very happy with the result. Putting them together is always tricky.

I developed some tears in the mandala and I had been thinking about adding some flowers to cover the watercolor blobs, too. So I played around with making different paper flowers. A few rejects ended up in my art journal. I was happy with how my rhododendrons turned out so I put them together. I’m not thrilled with the final product, but I’m really happy with my learning curve and I’m going to put it on Esty and FineArtAmerica. So feel free to buy it or a print of it!

Thank you Cee for your flower photography reference!

I hope you have a beautiful day.

 

Thursday Doors on Friday: Back to Rhode Island

Tags

migraine, Norm 2.0, Rhode Island, Thursday Doors

Yesterday I had a cavity filled and trips to the dentist are major migraine triggers for me. Also, last week it was cool enough to sleep under the down comforter and this  week we are pining for our window air conditioners. My computer is a desktop and it is located in the upstairs room that is becoming my studio. The heat is also a migraine trigger for me so I’ve been either packed in ice in bed or in a camping chair in the basement to make it through the day. In any case I wanted to give you a peak at the Breakers, one of the Newport, RI mansions we visited on our trip there.

This is the gate to the house. Pretty fancy. Here is the description from the Newport Mansions Preservation Society.

“The Breakers is the grandest of Newport’s summer “cottages” and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family’s social and financial preeminence in turn of the century America.“

While I love the doors and textures and interesting architectural features, I have to say that this one kind of bothered me. The Buddhist teacher Atisha said, “Always meditate on whatever provokes resentment.” I wasn’t sure it was resentment I was feeling, but to have doorknobs like these kind of seems like such conspicuous consumerism that I feel a little bit nauseated. On the other hand, its pretty.

The door itself is so lovely, too. Next week when the air conditioner is in and I’m feeling physically and emotionally better I will post the loveliness that is The Breakers, but for more beautiful door photographs without the emotional baggage see Norm 2.0.

I hope you have a temperate and beautiful day.

Diva Challenge 316

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DC316, Diva Challenge, Diva's Challenge, Punzel, tangle patterns, Tangles, Zentangles

The Diva challenged us to use stripes as our string. Usually I kind of do stripes, but they are all circles. It was interesting to do some straight ones. I love the tangle pattern Punzel and started with that. I tried to alternate straight lines with curves and added a little drama here and there.

If you want to see more Zentangle® fun check out the Diva’s blog.

 

Back to Gratitude and Paint

Tags

acrylic paint, art, art journal, Art Journal Every Day, grateful, gratitude, gratitude journal, Zentangles

I have been working on layers in my art journal and have been so busy with Zentangle® classes and art, but here is the page layout of the buildup to the CZT27 and planning our trip to Connecticut and Rhode Island.

I included my first Zentangle® tile from the seminar and my dinner coupon for the first evening. The meals at the Providence Biltmore were fabulous. They were awesome in their skill in accommodating gluten free and special dietary needs. There were quite a few of us at the seminar and I got some good tips on that too! They made some gluten free brownies that everyone loved!

You can also see some random flowers I drew/painted on scraps of paper. They turned out pretty well. I’m still playing with cutting painted paper and using layers in my art. I feel like things are coming together, so to speak.

The background of all of these pages were from my Lenten painting marathon. They have been great fun to work on. I should probably get back to them so I can continue to have art journaling backgrounds ready! I played with more layers and tried out new pens and tangle patterns during and after the seminar on these pages. I’m also working on a mandala that I’m going to submit to a show out here and I’m a little nervous. This is a different market from Wisconsin! I’m learning about combining inks and acrylic paints and pens and gel pens with interesting, and sometimes smeary, results. The daffodils are from a napkin from a pot luck dinner I participated in at MUF (Morristown Unitarian Fellowship).

There is also a quote from The Buddha Walks Into a Bar by Lodro Rinzler.

“One way to think of this dignity is to equate when you are on the path with unraveling a ball of yarn. You have wound your sense of self so tightly that it’s hard to be anything other than you, a big ball of yarn. That’s just who you are, not string, or threads, but a ball of yarn.”

The thing about living with daily migraines is it has helped me see the threads in myself, not just the ball of yarn. Don’t know if that will mean anything to you, but it gets me through a lot of my days.

Oh! And I have Zentangle® classes scheduled to teach! And my professional art website is getting going! Check it all out here!

I hope you have a beautiful day.

 

Narragansett, RI: Thursday Doors and WWC

Tags

Atlantic Ocean, bridge, Cee's Photo Challenge, Narragansett, Norm 2.0, Ocean, Rhode Island, Thursday Doors

Here are my doors from Narragansett. They are to share in Norm 2.0’s Thursday Doors Challenge.

These are the doors to the towers. The first picture is the entry to the visitor’s center for the town.

Most of the houses in Narragansett range from multi-million dollar mansions to little bungalows that look like they’ve been here for a while. This old house  was about a block from the Crazy Burger Restaurant and I really loved it. The house was abandoned a while ago and this has to be some valuable real estate and here was an overgrown mystery.

Our hotel in Narragansett was right across from the beach. I’m almost reluctant to share, because it was such a wonderful little gem. But here it is.

Here is the path to the beach.

I got the beach in a few different kinds of light. I was looking forward to our sunrises, but they were so foggy and dark and not photogenic. It was lovely in the evening.

I love the variation in textures and colors. This was the view from our bed. Not too much traffic this time of year, so it was lovely.

The path to the beach and this bridge to Newport are my entries to Cee’s Which Way Challenge. The fog was present more of the day than I expected. I’m learning the ways of the Atlantic Ocean. It has been beautiful where ever we have seen it.

I hope you have a beautiful day.

Narragansett, RI

Tags

Atlantic Ocean, birds, Cee's Photo Challenge, gluten free, Narragansett, Rhode Island, seagull, Shore, Stone building

I’m in love. With Narragansett, RI. I’m sure I’m saying this about somewhere after each trip we have taken to some new corner of the East Coast, but this place really resonated with me. And it had a fantastic restaurant with lots of gluten free options! We went there for 2 meals in the 2 days we were in town! We loved the Anchor Hotel, right across the street from the shore – I have some photos of that which will be included in my Thursday Doors post.

A lovely shoreline.

A seagull (or gulls) who insisted on posing for photos in the atmospheric setting and on the hilarious sign (with edits) Click on photo above to read the sign. I thought Cee would like this sign and the benches.

It is funny how my blogging friends come with my on vacation now, even when I don’t go online. I’m saving some door photos for Thursday Norm.

The most distinctive thing about Narragansett was the tower!

I hope you enjoyed your virtual vacation.

Diva Challenge 315 and another Mother’s Day Card

Tags

Card, Diva Challenge, Diva's Challenge, Greeting Card, molygon, Mother's Day, Zentangles

The Diva challenged us to use Molygon, which is a tangle I don’t really love. I have been wanting to try Drawings and I thought they would go together, but then it got too busy after I added some Fescue, Msst, and Well. I wasn’t happy with how this tile turned out, but I liked Drawings and Molygon together enough to put them on my mother’s day card for my mother. I tried to keep the Molygons larger and that seemed to help.

I hope you have some time this week to share some love with your mother or a mother you know and love. To see other Zentangle® Art check out the Diva’s blog.  Have a beautiful day!