CHINESE CONTEMPORARY FOLK ART

                       KUNG HEI FAT CHOI, 2019, LUNAR YEAR OF THE PIG 

IT IS TRUE: I LOVE THE UNIQUENESS, COLOR AND PRIMITIVE DRAWING FOUND IN CHINESE FOLK ART, I WANTED TO REPOST FROM MANY YEARS BACK, WHAT I SHARED THEN. PLUS SHARING TWO NEW PIECES! 

Many countries share a common love of folk art painting, sometimes known as primitive art.

 The cultures hold many similarities in their art, but also enjoy distinct differences. Generally Folk Art illustrates a specific story concerning the ordinary, every day living of the average person.

Chinese Folk Art is more theme oriented, telling a specific story or moral.

The following contemporary folk art scenes are painted by both men and women.

Embroidery is a long established art form in China.  It is mainly a female activity. The items embroidered are quite diverse and include robes, theatrical costumes, purses, shoes and alter cloths.  Some are so finely stitched that it can take 5-6 women several years to complete a piece.

 Usually a traditional Chinese medicine shop puts its medicines/ herbs in cupboards lined with tiny square drawers.  A dispenser would pull open the drawers to take out medicine according to prescriptions provided by doctors.

Floating in metal tubs the women gather the seeds of the lotus blossom. The Lotus blossom is a very common folk art symbol.

 In Asia many homes are self contained with their gardens, animals, shrines, cooking areas and living arrangements bound by walls.  These wonderful primitive paintings preserve a way of life that is slowly changing.

 A happy celebrating of a wedding in Shanghai.

The household goods are on barges to be taken to the new home.

Neighborhood gatherings watching films.  

I don't think they are selling popcorn...but perhaps fried chicken feet! A true delicacy.

I love the clean, brightly painted, flat perspective of folk art.

No shading or highlights, just flat, bold colors with lots of tiny details. Usually the work is done on paper with paint similar to our gouache.

This is my modern take on Chinese Folk Art.  

ANOTHER MORE RECENT

Heart Thought: you might enjoy sharing these images with your children or grandchildren. Let them make up their own stories, or try their hand at their own folk art incorporating their home and environment.

MAY YOUR NEW YEAR, 2019, GIFT YOU INNER PEACE, JOY IN NATURE, LOVE FOR OTHERS AND FULFILLING A LIFE LONG WISH. 
SHARON

ONE WATERMELON AND THREE CHICKENS

Part II

Last post we left not knowing why the Gardener up and disappeared, leaving her plants, seeds, pots and peat moss. I think I previously shared with you, that the goats and sheep in the next field (where no humans seem to be around) is Always empty.  Oh, yes and the three chickens-----Well originally there were FIVE chickens, each with a distinct name and personality.  So glad I have photos of them when they were sweet blobs of downy feathers, constantly in search of food.

Sad misfortune happened to two of the chicks. It was not a good day.  Just like the vanishing Gardener, they were gone. 
The months rolled on, and the hungry chicks just grew grew grew
grew!

MARY REED, LUCY AND ANNE BONNY

One day the "littles" came to play, feed and cuddle the now sizable chickens. 

The "littles" favorite thing to do was to play in the Chicken Chalet that was draped with magenta-colored flowers; gather speckly brown eggs; and feed them food from the kitchen. Especially fruit. 

And that is when it happened. 

The Littles shared their watermelon, the good parts, the juicy sweet red parts.

Bedlam broke out as Lucy, Mary Reed and Anne Bonny, smelling the sweet fruit, jumped and climbed over one another to be the first to get the prize piece.

They definitely forgot their manners.

Now you wouldn't think I would miss this action and not take their picture and sketch the gobbling. 

Of course that led to more sketches and way more photos.

This is a true tale with a "happy ever after" ending.

The M, L, and A became known as the 

MLA Chooks. 

They started a co-op egg business. They have so many eggs, that they are using the wood shed for storage,  

far away from Mew Mew, the cat.

******************************************************

Oops forgot to give you the update on the vanishing Gardener.

She was last seen, flagging down an Uber, still dressed in her dusty gardening clothes and rubber bumper boots. 

By good luck, I recently read a small article in the Washington Post.

The vanishing Gardener is now the head of Department of Agriculture.

Way to go ladies.  Women rule. 

THE MYSTERIOUS GREEN HOUSE AND THE VANISHING GARDENER.

Each time we go back to DC, we marvel,  how did we ever move away.  WE LOVE DC!  

Lucky us, we now have an incentive to return: our daughter and hubby, dogs Lemon and Dulcita, the cat Mew Mew, and 3 chickens, live in a quiet town just south of Washington, DC. 

They rented a cottage-like home, which included acres and acres of property, ponds and pools of water. Beaver, frogs and who knows what else call this home. Gigantic trees, wild vines, bushes and dancing weeds rim the property. All quite charming, idyllic, old fashioned, nostalgic and a bit worn around the edges. 

Surprises at every turn. Including the mystery of the missing gardener. 

We decided to travel from NC to DC by train. 

Daniel picked us up at the stately Union train station. After 9 + hours on the train, we were eager to see the whole family. 

We pulled into the driveway, dogs barking "welcome," licking, racing all over wanting to show off their new "fields of freedom." 

We weren't there long before something felt like it was watching us. Sheep/goat bleating caught our attention. Over the perimeter of their property was a really run down, derelict set of buildings and 20 or so goats.

They were our second welcoming committee.  Cute and Curious.

Leaving the goats to entertain themselves, we headed for the white clapboard buildings scattered about the property. The dogs led the way, one building to the next.  

Cute was a child's playhouse, roomy a wood storage, big garage for tractors and such, but the piece de resistance was the attached "green house." Oh, my, love the green house...yes I know, it does need a bit of tender care, but it is charming anyway.  

This is where the mystery comes in. 

Years ago, in early spring, a gardener was in the middle of potting her packets of seeds, and most likely dreaming of how beautiful and tall they would become, and obviously where they should be planted. She appeared to be quite content on a warmish spring day. 

Suddenly she dropped her trowel, the tip of it knocking over seeds and egg shells, tripped on a rake carelessly left on the ground, over turned water buckets. She fled.  Never to return.  

A mystery for sure.  

We don't know the ending. 

Inside the building were long ago vacated hornet's nest. 

Did the hornets flee at the same time as the gardener?

Will the mystery ever be solved. It is indeed a strange tale.

And so I leave you at this point in the story.

 I will return to tell you about the chickens: Lucy, Mary Reed and Anne Bonny.  Oh and maybe add a bit about Mew Mew who showed up on the doorstep at night, shivering, wet and cold. 

One last thought.  Just outside the green house is a deepish, slippery, frog filled pond.

Smiles: Sharon

WHEN IS QUEEN ANNE'S LACE A CARROT?

Did you know that Queen Anne's Lace is said to have been named after Queen Anne of England, who was an expert lace maker. The story goes that she pricked her finger on the blossom, a single drop of blood fell onto the lace, leaving the dark purple floret, that is found on the flower's center.  

Driving on very dusty, rural roads, when I happen to see Queen Anne's Lace gracefully dancing along the side of the road,  I pull over, cut bouquets of this favorite delicate flower. Hmmmm many think of it as a weed. I beg to differ.  More recently 

I ran across an article claiming that Queen Anne's Lace is related to the carrot.

I like to imagine, if I had plucked out the roots along with the flower and its stem, I would have found a plump carrot dangling from its end!

(a blue and cream Swedish Dalarna Horse pitcher)

In our smallish town of Matthews, we have a great Saturday Market.  Loads of fun stuff: French pastries to pottery;  starter plants to bouquets of fresh cut flowers in Mason jars half filled with water; every day, ordinary veggies, to the "exotic" varieties.  

 The Matthew's Market is where I saw my first colorful, rainbow hued carrots.  I was quite smitten.

Not too concerned as to how they would taste, I was eager to whisk them off to take photos. 

Spending several days photographing, the poor things grew quite limp and soft.

I was quite curious about carrots that looked like they had tumbled from a rainbow, must taste! 
Due to the hours of photography, the carrots became a bit pale and limp! Nevertheless, I scrubbed them and cut some up for tasting.  Yuck! first bites, I wasn't immediately sure what I thought.  They didn't taste ORANGE.  They were.......Well, I decided I better buy fresh ones before I came to any hasty conclusions.

I  decided to brush up on the history of today's "modern" carrot...you know, as in, Carrot-Genealogy? I headed for Google: I quickly learned that these colorful carrots are NOW officially known as
Heirloom Carrots. 

Further rummaging around Google, I discovered the WORLD CARROT MUSEUM.

 You got to be kidding, a real museum....dedicated to carrots.  Who knew?
Pretty interesting where a bit of curiosity and reading can take you.  Soon I had a new found respect for carrots of all stripes, colors and sizes, limp or not. 

The Carrot Museum is located in  
the UK, but a smaller museum, just for fun, in Belgium.

If you are really curious about the emergence of ORANGE carrots, well any color carrot, 

here is a link.  

Just to give you a heads up, the article is quiet interesting and colorful but it is also LONG and detailed. 

Grab a few facts, invite guests to dinner, prepare carrot soup and carrot-nut-raisin muffins and casually insert a bit of genealogy to impress your guests. 

Hey you might even entertain writing a cookbook...
Carrots One Thousand Ways or Less.  

           

Thanks for visiting and may you never look at the lowly carrot the same way again.  Sharon

THERE IS NO RULE BOOK ON LIFE

Finger painting. Big brush painting.  Losing one's self in self expression.

Childhood Imagination.

There are no rules as to what can make us happier, more cheerful, optimistic and content.

But one place that puts me in that frame of mind...is our front porch.  Not too wide, not too long. Just right. Room for potted plants, palm tree, hanging ferns, containers of seashells and some comfy chairs.  Our tall trees dapple and shade this entire area. Just like youthful Big Brush painting, sitting amongst the blooms, the shade, the fragrance, (and yes bees) is relaxing letting the imagination run wherever it takes you. 

Simple little sketches.

Try some Big Brush or Finger painting,
you will surprised where it takes you. 

Smiles: Sharon