Annoyed.

Vala is the very picture of annoyed right now, she wants to paint. None of this silly marker business, where she has to stay off the paper, can’t eat markers, and the biggest annoyance of all, no leaving lovely little drops and streams of piss all over everything.

© C. Ford.

Singerie.

Allegorie der Tulipomanie [Allegory of Tulip Mania], by Jan Brueghel the Younger, 1640s. A satirical commentary on speculators during the time of “Tulip Mania”, an economic bubble that centered around rare tulip bulbs. — Source.

Singerie — from the French for “Monkey Trick” — is a genre of art in which monkeys are depicted apeing human behaviour. Although the practise can be traced as far back as Ancient Egypt, it wasn’t until the 16th century that the idea really took off and emerged as a distinct genre. Some of its most famous champions include the Flemish engraver Pieter van der Borcht (whose 1575 series of singerie prints were widely disseminated), Jan Brueghel the Elder, and the the two Teniers brothers, David Teniers the Younger and his younger brother Abraham Teniers. Into the 18th century the genre saw great popularity in France, particularly in the guise of the “singe peintre” (monkey painter), which offered up a perfect parody of the art world’s pomposity. With monkeys, along with apes, being our closest cognates in the animal world, they proved the perfect medium for the satirising of society, which so often thinks itself “above” the animal kingdom.

Kwakzalver [Quack], by Pieter van der Borcht (I), ca. late 16th century. A charlatan doctor sells a cure (seemingly for hangovers, though perhaps for hair loss) — Source.

You can see much more Singerie at The Public Domain.

Toy Thievery.

Yesterday morning, I was playing around with my lab putty, and had to leave the studio for a couple of minutes. I came back to the lid of the tin, but no lab putty anywhere in sight. Fortunately, Vala’s desk stash was as far as it went. Neatly recovered, with only a few bites taken out. :D

© C. Ford.