… death, by Jan Van Hemesson

Vanity, c. 1535-1540, Jan Van Hemesson. Image from Wikiart
…posters, by The World Health Organization
Because it seems like a good message for today.

Immunization Poster by The World Health Organization, from their 2014 World Vaccination Week campaign.
… the nude, by Balthus
Balthasar Klossowski de Rola (February 29, 1908 – February 18, 2001), known as Balthus, was a Polish-French modern artist. He is known for his erotically charged images of pubescent girls, but also for the refined, dreamlike quality of his imagery. (wikiart)
I was looking at cat art when I found this, and the posture of the woman is so feline-like it spoke to me. Also, the cat is smiling.

Nu au Chat, 1949, Balthus. Image from Wikiart
… impressionism, by Mary Cassatt
Cassatt is an American artist best known for her portraits of mothers with their children. She was 15 when she began to seriously study art but became disappointed with her education in America and moved to Paris with her family. The Paris art scene was brimming with the new impressionistic style at that time, and Cassatt found that it suited her talents and sensibilities.

Summertime, 1894, Mary Cassatt. Image from Wikiart
Hekuni Cat, I don’t have your address. Please sent it to the Affinity address linked in the sidebar.
Some fun with Pokémon. the kids in school always love my Pokémon themed attire, be it the mask, the pencil case or the T-shirts.
Umbreon and Espeon. I made matching earrings, just simple studs, but they do have a tendency to get lost in bed…
The next set will go out to a friend as a belated birthday present. We’ll meet in a park today to go for a walk. Distance and sunshine and fresh air…
These are two brass rings separated by rhinestones. The top one has flowers in it, the bottom one gold leaf.
The next ones are fairly simple, but I do love them. All unicorny and shiny.
And last but not least:
People, miracles do happen! As you may remember, my relationship with my mother is best described as “difficult”. To not put too fine a point to it, she was abusive. One of her tactics was to be never satisfied with what I did. I got an A-, best grade in class? Why isn’t it an A+? We were recently talking about the kids and she mentioned that while #1 was smart as me and also chaos incarnate like me, she wasn’t ambitious like me. I later thought “well, maybe that’s because you only loved me when I was the best”. This tactic extended to my hobbies. She’d never have a kind word or even praise, just a lot of non-constructive criticism.
Well, last week I gave my sister a set of Strawberry earrings and necklace and she asked me for a pair of earrings in brown with a bit of gold and when I gave them to her yesterday she actually liked them and thanked me and I was like “Lady, I don’t know who you are and what you did to my mum, but I really like you and you can stay.” Apparently an old dog can learn new tricks…
… animation, by Walt Disney Productions. Music: Tocatta and Fugue in D minor by Bach, performed by The Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski, in pioneering Fantasound.
(I need a few unicorns and flying horses today)
Avalus has been taking lots of photos to chronicle the arrival of spring. In this picture, he’s marking the breakup of ice.
…really comically broken ice. I don’t know why but I really find it funny.
… illustration, by Kay Nielson
This illustration is from The Book of Death, a series of drawings exhibited in London but never published in book form. Nielson went on to work for Disney Studios and was the art director for Fantasia, one of my favourite pieces of animation.
Avalus has a penchant for finding interesting things to photograph on his way to work. Here are a few colourful birds, and he says,
… a flock of birds I encountered on my way to work. Again, I have no idea what kind of bird they are.
It’s been a while since we had a degupdate, and to be honest, for a long time I couldn’t bear to look through my phone for pics, because I would keep coming upon pics of sweet Gracie. Even though I know logically that I didn’t do anything wrong, and a veteran degu keeper assured me that so far they always lost animals when socialising new animals, it still broke my heart.
But Candy and Estelle are very happy together. Candy is a very dominant character (and Gracie was as well, which I think doomed the whole thing from the start), while Estelle is a very gentle character and they fit together well without hardly ever even having a mild fight. Now that spring is here it’s time to start feeding them fresh greens, which has to be done carefully, because after a winter of hay and dry feed, switching them to large amounts of fresh green would make them sick. So for the last two weeks or so they have gotten a few leaves of dandelion each day and they agree that its the Best. Thing. Ever.
The pics are all of Candy, because Estelle still is camera shy.
Candy doesn’t know what shy means. She also doesn’t know what holding still means. Now that they’re fully grown, the differences between the two of them become more visible, at least to their human family. Candy is lighter in her colouration, the ears and feet are sand colour, while Estelle’s are darker.
And here’s a video of Candy. You can hear the little one in the background doing her “degu voice”.
Well, Spring isn’t exactly here yet (we still have lots of snow), but it’s arrived in Germany, and Avalus is sharing and giving me hope.
Japanese Woodblock prints, by Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Kuniyoshi is considered a master of ukiyo-e (woodblock prints), and his favourite subject was cats. He was obsessed with cats, and his studio was often overrun by them. He often portrayed them as well-loved characters from stories or as part of kabuki theatre. His art is inventive and often playful, and it quickly became popular and well respected, lifting him out of the poverty of his early life.
