2014 Rejects
I try to keep up a rigorous one image per day schedule. But the results vary. Sometimes, I put in the time for an image, then set it aside, unhappy. Here are some of the rejects: images that, for one reason or another, I remove from the main sections of Philly-Bob
2012 Rejects
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From Colour photography : and other recent developments of the art of the camera (1908)Taking the black-and-white illustrations from a 1908 book on colour photography, and adding digital color to them using the fractal filter at https://gmicol.greyc.fr/ |
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Source: https://archive.org/details/colourphotograph00holm_0 | |
Little Books 1
In the week since my return, I have been somewhat confused as to what I'm doing. One thing I've been doing does not translate well into a web page. I've been making simple 8-page folded books, as shown here and in this YouTube video. A PDF of a draft of one these books, What Artists See in Mirrors, is here. What follows is an attempt to translate this into a web format.
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An artist working for a furniture company is told to create an image of a room for an upcoming catalog. In that imaginary room, there may be a dressing table, a chair, a lamp, perhaps a fashionable lady -- as in the cover. Painting such things does not present an obstacle for a trained commercial illustrator. But also in that imaginary room, the client wants the artist to show a Mirror of a certain shape. Hmm. How will the artist fill in that blank mirror shape? The viewer expects to see a visual reflection of the room's background there. But imaginary rooms do not cast reflections! The artist must imagine a background -- wall, curtains, windows -- that doesn't exist. Certainly not reality -- we're already several steps removed from ordinary reality -- but more a plausible imitation of the visual effects of a reality when not too closely examined. |
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These examples are from a 1928 catalog of steel bathroom cabinets from the Miami Cabinet Company, a public domain document available at archive.org/details/MiamiSteelBathroomAndIroningBoardCabinets. |
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Ravished by RINSO Suds
An advertisement from a 1939 Australian Women's Weekly (Link1), showing two cartoon women in joy because whites are whiter, "colours brighter, silks and woollens like new." Besides, the copywriter says, RINSO is "kind to your hands." The machine font in the dialog balloons is Quick Response (QR) code.
This will be the last philly-bob.net image until early June, as I leave soon on a trip.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1 archive.org/details/The_Australian_Womens_Weekly_02_12_1939
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Illustration from Phrenology Text
During the 19th century, a lot of academics advocated various versions of phrenology, a theory of human types that was usually racist and is now discredited. This is from the 1911 French book Physionomie et caractère, essai de physiognomonie scientifique by Paul Hartenberg. The theory says that you can read character from facial configuration. Anyway, this is a skillfully done chart from that book showing the muscles involved in chewing. Credit where credit is due -- this ink drawing was done by accomplished illustrator Edouard Cuyer. [Note: this is in Plastic Club directory.]
Fip-off alert: Amazon is selling a printed version of this book for 20 euros, when you can download it for free. Not working much on this webpage because I'm facing a travel deadline. I will probably travel without this computer, just with IPad.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1 archive.org/details/physionomieetcar00hart
Friday, May 16, 2014
The Writing Desk
From the 1840 book Les Etrangers a Paris [Strangers in Paris] (Link1), a man sits at his writing desk with pen and paper. The font is Baby-Kruffy by the Font Brothers. This piece marks a major change in my working technique: for a long time I have used a layer created by Gimp's "Gradient RGB" filter to add bright primary colors. But sometimes I found the result a little nauseating, as shown in the right hand image -- especially when they are printed. In the right hand image, I removed that RGB step. My method of producing fractalized color now supplies plenty of color for the black-and-white images I so often work with.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1 archive.org/details/gri_33125008713295
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Anatomy Lesson: The Nose
Back from Greece. Will I continue do these public domain art projects? I don't know. This one, for instance, took an hour to select original images and then another 2.5 hours to do this image. Is it worth it? One takeaway from time spent with fine artists on painting holiday in Greece: they had serious doubts about my use of text, so I am experimenting a little bit.
Anyway, this is an illustration from Thomas Bartholini's 1686 Anatome ex omnium veterum recentiorumque observationibus inprimis institutionibus (Link1) showing the nasal cavities.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1 archive.org/details/gri_33125010543912
Friday, June 6, 2014
A Lady and her Tweaker
From the June, 1927 issue of the theatrical publication Variety, an image of a young woman used to advertise The Tweaker, a scissor-like device for "theatrical women," used to remove unwanted hair from arms and legs. An informative retrospective look at the product appears on the Glamourologist website. Nowadays, the word has different meanings.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1: archive.org/details/variety87-1927-06
Friday, June 21, 2014
Photographic Proof of Spirits
From the 1905 Photographic Amusements : including a description of a number of novel effects obtainable with the camera, a discussion of the "scientific" photographs of the mid 19th century study centered on the study of Spiritualism and Ghosts. Turns out, the author explains, this image was a product of re-using glass in the photographic process: a double exposure. It is hard to believe that anyone could have taken this seriously.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1 archive.org/details/photographicamus00wood_0
Friday, June 21, 2014
Plastic Club Portraits
Every Thursday morning, I go to the still life workshop at Philadelphia's Plastic Club. Everybody does their own thing. Many work from a still life set up by the teacher. I put a mirror behind the still life and grab reflected portraits of my fellow students.
And here's two older ones:
Announcement
I'm going to learn how to write apps/programs for the Android operating system. Right now, I have an Android phone and I intend to get an Android tablet. Since I have some programming background in the language Python, I hope to use the free program QPython. You can follow my progress Android Programming Project. May mark a decline in time spent on art and co-op politics.
Devalued Concepts
In today's America, two ideals that I believed my whole life in have been devalued. Now, Freedom means economic freedom, the right of those with money to do what they want with it, and Education is a method of creating a class of technically-skilled workers, uncritical and indebted, easily controlled. The background image is Janice's snapshot of fireworks. The foreground is one of the "Old School Tattoo" dingbats by skillful but bad-boy Spanish type-designer named Woodcutter. The tattoo shows a chimerical combination of an eagle and a snake. The full set of Woodcutter's Old School Tattoo #1 dingbat font is on the right. Top row is numbers, next three rows are small letters, next three rows are capitals, and final row is various punctuation. Note the antisemitic, pro-Nazi symbol in the center of the upper row, showing a pretty SS-guard holding a Jewish head on a dagger; I looked the image up online and it's a 1950's criminal tattoo from Stalin's Gulag prison camps. (I don't find other Nazi imagery in Woodcutter's work, but I told you Woodcutter was a bad boy -- not given to political correctness.) The text font is Woodcutter's Federico font.
Source: NA
July 4, 2014
Experiment II
Worked a detail from the Spring 1889 Whitnall's illustrated catalogue of seeds, plants, trees, shrubs, vines, tools, etc. into the 1080 pixel wide by 1920 pixel high dimensions of Android Tab 5 phone.
Next to that is a picture of St. Agnes from the 1871 A handbook of legendary and mythological art.
Next, two cards from a draft of a Tarot Deck I'm thinking of making -- image is from the 1891 Mesdames nos ai?eules : dix siecles d'elegances, hard to translate, something like Our Grandmothers: Ten Centuries of Elegance. The picture illustrates a 15th century costume.
After two weeks, some slim signs of progress in my Android Programming Project -- learning how to write apps for Android phones and tablets. Delays and confusion in this process sent me into a deep depression. Sitting around in my underwear until 3 PM -- fleeing to the juvenile bad-boy websites -- wondering Gee, maybe I'm not smart anymore. (In my memory, that sort of conflicting-source highly-complex beta-version technical challenge used to be easy.)
This image is also a PNG file, not a JPG.
Source:
Link1: archive.org/details/whitnallsillustr1889cbwh
Link2: archive.org/details/handbookoflegend00wate_0
Link3: archive.org/details/mesdamesnosaieul00robi_0
June 28-30, 2014
Experiment
Switched from Photoshop to InDesign for this image. Suggests a different style.
June 27, 2014
Window
Variations of ink drawings of window installations from an undated aluminum window catalog. Slow progress because Chromebook arrived, and I've been suffering through yet another slow ascent up a learning curve. Last one, finished July 16.
Source:
Link1:archive.org/details/AdlakeDoubleHungAluminumWindow_544
July 9-16, 2014
Another Combination
From the 1804 Views in Palestine, from the original drawings of Luigi Mayer (Link 1), a picture showing the discovery of the tomb of Joseph of Arimethea. The discovery scene, with the explorer crouched before the empty tomb, is framed in a set of columns and arches by Eugene Delacroix from a 1902 book on the works of Eugene Delacroix (Link 2). Finally, barely visible in the background of the tomb scene, a diagram from the 1911 Singer Instructions for Art Embroidery (Link 3).
Source:
Link 1: archive.org/details/gri_33125008694941
Link 2: archive.org/details/eugenedelacroix00tour
Link 3: archive.org/details/singerinstructio00sing
July 25, 2014
Fashions of A Time
From the 1891 Mesdames Nos Ai?eules: Dix Siecles D'Elegances (My translation: "Our Good-Looking Ancestors: Ten Centuries of Elegance"), a woman dressed in the fashion of Paris in 1855.
Source:
Link 1: archive.org/details/brothersmarisjam00thom
Link 2: archive.org/details/gri_33125012075616
August 5, 2014
Two Women of the European Church
Bottom image is a painting by Matthew Maris titled "Bride of the Church," from the 1907 catalog of the works of the three Maris Brothers (Link1). Below that, with a much longer story, is an image from the 1904 Entwickelungsgeschichte der Modernen Kunst: Vergleichende Betrachtung der Bildenen Ku¨nste, als Beitrag zu einer Neuen Aesthetik (Link2), showing George Minnes' illustration of a scene from Maeterlinck's opera Sister Beatrice, which tells a fantastic story, worth quoting at some length (from this summary:
"Sister Beatrice is about to elope from the convent with Bellidor, and is praying before the Virgin's image. She hears the horses of her lover -- he comes in with costly garments and jewels, and while she has swooned, protesting against his wild embraces, he takes off her veil and mantle. ... As the sun shines into the corridor, the Virgin stirs and comes to life and puts on the dress of Beatrice and ...the Virgin assumes the likeness and duties of Beatrice.... Twenty-five years later, while the last strokes of the matin-bell are heard, the aged Sister Beatrice enters, worn out and in rags, and falls at the feet of the statue, though she has forgotten how to pray. Her mantle and veil, lying where she left them, she puts on. [She] tells how Bellidor ceased to love her after three months, and how she became a prostitute, and how she killed her last child. The Abbess tries to stop her mouth in vain, and tells her she is most holy. They believe that Beatrice has never left them... She cannot understand, but supposes that an angel has taught them to know to pardon all. She sinks back exhausted, and the nuns fall on their knees around the bed."
Source:
Link 1: archive.org/details/brothersmarisjam00thom
Link 2: archive.org/details/gri_33125012075616
August 4, 2014
Private Graphic Language
Coded message to the universe. Font for 665 is Bauhaus 93. Color scheme come from the 1910 Agate House Paints (Link1),
with Pea Green in the background and Bright Red in foreground..
Source:
Link1: archive.org/details/AgateHousePaints
September 2, 2014
Mystery Image
Private image, means something to me, retreating into my private world. Text is 377 and the font is American Horror Story.
The background image is from the 1891 Mesdames Nos Ai?eules: Dix Siecles D'Elegances.
Source:
Link1: archive.org/details/mesdamesnosaieul00robi_0
September 1, 2014
Coin Flip
A lot of changes in my thinking recently, much of it reflected in my other website, zer0sum.net. It's been a rocky road, starting out in a deep 5-day depression. But I came out of the depression with a clear plan, and it's been absorbing. In my programming project, there was one task that I thought would take me five minutes, it ended up taking five days! I just figured it out Friday morning -- I used a reserved word as a variable. The quest to find a solution led me to post a query on an intimidating smart-techy website, www.stackoverflow.com. Anyway, this image represents a number from that programming project, distorted and set against a pastoral image from the 1850 Le Langage des F leurs (Link 1).
Source:
Link 1:archive.org/details/lelangagedesfleu00cort
August 30, 2014
400 on Anatomy
Material behind the digits is a rather grisly illustration from the 1804 Engravings of the Bones, Muscles, and Joints, somewhat obscured for the reader's sake. A cadaver's nose is visible in the upper left corner. The font is Jokerman.
Source:
Link: archive.org/details/56620180R.nlm.nih.gov
September 15, 2014
Sorority Sisters in White Hoisting Glasses
Going back to the Miami University collection of the Frank Snyder Studio photos on Flickr Commons, a 1905 photograph entitled A Toast to the Bride (Link1), placed against a texture composed of two sources: (1) a drawing of building fronts from the Getty Research Institute's 1582 Architectvra, Oder, Bauung der Antiquen Suss dem Vitruuius (Link2) and a strand of grapes from a 1939 seed catalog (Link3).
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1 www.flickr.com/photos/muohio_digital_collections/3195497966/
Link2 archive.org/details/gri_33125009319167
Link1 archive.org/details/1939cataloglates1939bent
Friday, February 14, 2014
Toesies: Homage to Durer
From the American Collection of the Internet Archive, the Getty Research Institute uploaded a scan of the 1892 Albrecht Du¨rer (Book1), a collection of prints and drawings by the master 16th century artist. Here, on the left, is my interpretation of the image on the right, a study on green paper of feet for a painting. Looking at Durer's work, I am reminded of the line from the Catholic Mass of my youth: Domine, Non Sum Dignus (Lord, I am not worthy). My digital manipulations, highlighting the exquisite line and shading of the toes, may be sacrilege on the work of a master, which is why I am highlighting Durer's monogram and centering my own signature in his. But then, such revision of old work goes with the territory of my public domain work...
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1 archive.org/details/albrechtdurer00spri
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Portrait of Two Women
From the Miami University collection on Flickr Commons, an undated photograph (Link1) from the studio of Frank Snyder, probably early in his career, around 1900. It shows two women sitting in a parlor. The background is composite photo, also from Snyder's studio, called a "Ping Pong Portrait of Five Women" (Link2), dated approximately 1933. If you zoom in all the way, there is a curious effect in the "squiggles" in the background of the two women, in which the squiggles are different colors. I like the effect, but I'm not sure I remember how I did it!
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1 www.flickr.com/photos/muohio_digital_collections/3195529996/
Link1 www.flickr.com/photos/muohio_digital_collections/3195533598/
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Young Women on Farm
Another one from the new Miami University collection on Flickr Commons, a photograph (Link1) from the studio of Frank Snyder, a photographer who worked in Ohio from 1897 to 1955 -- mainly between 1900 and 1930 -- labeled simply Two Women with Farming Equipment. I like the women's casual, unglamorous look and the overall composition with the barn, tree, cloudy sky and mysterious farm implement (thresher?),
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1: www.flickr.com/photos/muohio_digital_collections/3196826486
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Victorian Welcome
Also from Miami University of Ohio and its collection of VictorianTrade Cards, two cards combined in one image. One card (Link1) shows a map of Pennsylvania and illustrates various industries, the other card (Link2) from a company that makes a product called Welcome Soap, showing a recently-arrived young woman embracing her hostess. Marking my anxiety about possible snow disruption of my return trip from Florida to Philadelphia.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1: www.flickr.com/photos/muohio_digital_collections/3092840825
Link2: www.flickr.com/photos/muohio_digital_collections/3093855650
Monday, February 10, 2014
Girls Dancing on May Day
Turning to the Flickr Commons Collection from Miami University of Ohio, a 1912 photograph of May Day dancers at Ohio's McGuffey School. The school was presumably named after William McGuffey, originator of the McGuffey Readers. May Day has an unusual history, ranging from ancient pagan Spring ceremony to political/worker's holiday. When my wife worked at Bryn Mawr campus, the school had a beautiful May Day ceremony similar to this scene, with young women dressed in white dancing around a ribboned Maypole.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1: www.flickr.com/photos/muohio_digital_collections/3200537400/
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Another A.G.B. Re-Mix
From the August 1923 issue of the French Art Deco publication Art Gout Beaute (Link1), an advertising illustration (for something called Henne Tinxol Hennextre), placed against a breezy textile design.from the July 1923 issue (Link2) of the same magazine.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1 archive.org/details/artgoutaug1923unse
Link2 archive.org/details/artgoutjul1923unse
Sunday, February 16, 2014
The Coral Necklace Empatterned
A reproduction of the painting The Coral Necklace by Eugene de Blaas used on the cover of the Sept. 1889 Dominion Illustrated (Link1) from Canada. The "female face divine" is then empatterned (a new term I am inventing), subdivided into various levels of brightness, and then superimposed on a crepe de chine pattern from a 1928 edition of the French Art Deco publication Art Gout Beaute (Link2). I will be experimenting with this technique for a while -- transferring a black and white image onto a textured pattern.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1 archive.org/details/dominion_illustrated_sept1889
Link2 archive.org/details/artgoutaug00unse
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
South American Man Reimagined as Flowers
An image from the 1914 La Ciudad de los Locos: Aventuras de Tartarín Moreira (Link1), a book of stories set in South America. It is set against the floral pattern on the endpaper of another book, the 1930 La Mujer Moderna (Link2). Both books were uploaded by the University of Toronto to the Canadian library section of the Internet Archive. The resulting image represents a major technical breakthrough for me -- using a Photoshop action I wrote that divides an image into shadow, middletone, and highlight selections, then taking a background image (like the floral pattern) and using those selections to recolor certain sections.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1 archive.org/details/laciudaddelosloc00soiz
Link2 archive.org/details/lamujermoderna00mart
Monday, February 17, 2014
Shell and Carpenter's Plan
Moving on to the Internet Archive collections of Building and Biological Diversity, and moving away from the "empatterning" experiments, a composition of two images: (1) a seashell from the 1847 Thesaurus Conchyliorum, or, Monographs of genera of shells (Link1) and (2) a plan for an octogonal wooden roof from the 1938 Modern Carpentry: A Practical Manual (Link2). The background is a highly-enlarged detail of the seashell.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1 archive.org/details/thesaurusconchy11847sowe
Link2 archive.org/details/FredTHodgsonModernCarpentryAPracticalManual
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Empatterned Diesel Part
In the foreground, a cutaway view of a turbocharger from the 1944 Army technical manual TM 55-271: Operation of Railroads: Diesel-Electric Locomotives (Link1). The industrial drawing is empatterned with the design from marblized paper used to bind the 1967 The Prints and Photographs collection of the National Library of Medicine (Link2). I rotated the machine part 90-degrees, to make it look like a hypermodern sci-fi building in a storm, but I'm not sure it worked. Going through a personal period of creative angst and dissatisfaction.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1 archive.org/details/TM55-271
Link2 archive.org/details/0114054.nlm.nih.gov
Monday, February 24, 2014
Eros and Time Kama Sutra Marco Polo Leather Fetish WWI Naval Bombardment Lighthouse Fixture II Composition from Building Catalogs Construction and Milk Chute Clams on Flower Zoologist's Daughter Dragonfly Embroidery Lilypad and Talisman of Isis City Taunts Warrior Plastic Club Show Butterfly Lily Ultrablack Berries
A collage of two illustrations from the magazine Pan, Link1, which is a Polish general interest magazine. In the center, a curious composition in which two stylized female figures appear in what seems to be a window frame. This image is used to illustrate an article on (I think) Erotica in Poland. On both right and left side is a image of clocks that was used to illustrate a poem.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1: archive.org/details/MagazynPan71988
The frame was used for the ornate title page of a 1929 reprint of the 13th century The Travels of Marco Polo the Venetian (Link1), with an introduction by John Masefield, from the University of Toronto Library. Polo was Indiana Jones before his time. Inside the frame, a rather fuzzy photograph of a statue of a man and woman coupling, him standing, her with legs wrapped around him, from the famous carvings in Hyperabad, India, used as an illustration for an edition of The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana, dated sometime between 1883 and 1925. I remembered to include my signature logo, this time. If you zoom in to look at it, you'll see it's right next to the original engraver's signature.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1: archive.org/details/marcopolo00polouoft
Link2: archive.org/details/kamasutraofvatsy00vatsuoft
Sunday, January 26, 2014
An assemblage of illustrations from a single book, the 1946 Leathercraft for Amateurs (Link`). In the background, instructions for enlarging a heraldic design using graph paper. In the top foreground, a pelican emblem, below that a decorative triangle, with two examples of leather stitching hanging techniques from the triangle's vertices; and finally, below the pelican, a diagram explaining how to make a five-strand braid. (In my boating days, one of the most difficult tasks was splicing a braided rope around a metal eye.)
...Packing for Florida trip.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1: archive.org/details/leathercraftfora006855mbp
In December, 1914, ships of the Imperial German Navy shelled some English coastal communities. From the Flickr Commons archive of one of those towns, Hartlepool, a photo (Link1) of a little girl holding a child stands next to a shelled building. Next to that is a poster apparently influenced by that photo.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1: www.flickr.com/photos/hartlepool_museum/5633991483/
Link2: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Scarborough,_North_Yorkshire_-_WWI_poster.jpg
Friday, January 24, 2014
Another image from the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées. It shows a classical-style French engraving of some winged god, casually leaning against a chair, holding a laurel wreath talking with a Grecian-garbed goddess gesturing at symbolic tools and implements of industry, such as a wheeled plow, a globe, an anchor, an astrolabe, old books, medical symbols, etc. It's from the same book as yesterday's image, the 1842 Instruction sur L'Organisation et La Surveillance du Service des Phares [Lighthouses] et des Fanaux [Lights] des Côtes de France. The corny engraving is superimposed on two collaged engineering drawings of a lighthouse, all backed by the book's marblized endpapers.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1: archive.org/details/ENPC02_OUV_8_6636_C389_1842
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Put together my five-work submission (by invitation) at the Bob Jackson Gallery in the basement of the Plastic Club. Here's my listing of works. Will deliver them tomorrow.
From one of my favorite collections, the Building Technology Heritage Library: a collage of three images. The underlying image is a series of eight plans showing how to construct a building using the company's "Ready-Cut" lumber, starting with a stone foundation and continuing to the framing of the walls. It's from the 1920 company Gordon-Van Tine catalog (Link1). Superimposed on that, from an undated (but probably 1920's) Hibbard and Co. Plumbing Supplies catalog (link2), a diagram showing the company's "Package and Milk Receiver." (We had one in my childhood home. We called it the "milk chute."). In the middle, from Harris Brothers' 1924 Catalog of building supplies (Link3), five samples arranged vertically of art glass and leaded glass for windows... This is a second-try. I made another attempt at this image yesterday, but it got demoted to the Rejects page because I wasn't pleased with it. I'm not used to the Building Technology Collection's very high-resolution scans; for example, yesterday's rejected image was absolutely huge: 2982 x 5962 pixels -- so large that some of my usual methods didn't work. It was instructive, but this image I reduced to 45%, to 1326 x 2667 pixels.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1: archive.org/details/GordonVanTineHomes19200001
Link2: archive.org/details/HibbardsEtalPlumbingSupplies0001
Link3: archive.org/details/HarrisBrosCatalogNo1880001
Sunday, January 12, 2014
From one of my favorite collections, the Building Technology Heritage Library: the bottom image is composed of a chart in a catalog showing how to construct a building using "Ready-Cut" technology, starting with a stone foundation and continuing to the framing of the walls. It's from the 1920 Gordon-Van Tine Homes catalog (Link1). Superimposed on that, from an undated (but probably 1920's) Hibbard and Co. Plumbing Supplies catalog (link2), a diagram showing the company's "Package and Milk Receiver." (We had one in my childhood home in Detroit. We called it a "milk chute."). Because the Building Technology Collection does very high-resolution scans, the image is absolutely huge: 2982 x 5962 pixes.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1: archive.org/details/GordonVanTineHomes19200001
Link2: archive.org/details/HibbardsEtalPlumbingSupplies0001
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Moving now to the Internet Archives's Biodiversity collection, a collage of two illustrations from nature book. On top are four saltwater scallop shells from the 1913 Atlas de Poche des Coquilles des Côtes de France (Manche, Océan, Méditerranée) Communes, Pittoresques ou Comestibles (Link1). The originals are subtly covered in beige, pink, and light brown -- but I have inverted the colors here to their complements, so they show in various shades of blue. They are placed upon a picture of a pink peony from the 1801 Curtis's Botanical Magazine (Link2).
...
I'm not sure how strong this image is -- it may get moved to the 2014 Rejects folder. But I made a number of technical innovation working on it, mainly learning how to "group" Photoshop layers and organize them around previous selections... Another technical innovation is learning how to handle accent marks in different languages. It is shameful American provincialism that it took me so long to do this. The answer seems to be add a header on my webpage: meta charset="UTF-8"
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1: archive.org/details/atlasdepochedesc00dau
Link2: archive.org/details/mobot31753002719729
Friday, January 10, 2014
Again from the Biodiversity library, an image from the 1864 Harvard Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, illustration for an article titled "Seasonal Depositions in Aqueo-Glacial Sediments," showing someone identified only as "little girl" standing to the right of a man-made cut in a hillside in Hanover, New Hampshire, on the Vermont side of the Connecticut River. The text explains that "progressive thinning" in the cut is caused by the retreat of a glacier. I speculate that the unexplained child is the daughter of article author Robert Sayles (1878-1942) -- or maybe just a passer-by.
The image of the girl standing next to the cut is superimposed on an illustration from an 1801 Curtis's botanical magazine (Link2), who shows a thistle-like plant. (The image is barely visible behind the top image.)
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1: archive.org/details/mobot31753003646202
Link2: archive.org/details/mobot31753002719729
Saturday, January 11, 2014
From the Internet Archive American Library text collection, a design from the 1914 Fine Hand Embroidery (Link1), a monogram design for "miniature photos, handkerchief cases, and book covers," featuring two dragonflies. It is superimposed on an illustration from a 2004 issue of a Belgian magazine on mollusks and seashells (Link2), showing (I believe) the patterns on some seashells.
...
A snow day in Philadelphia. Oatmeal and coffee. The sound of shovels and ice scrapers from the street below....
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1: archive.org/details/finehandembroide00jano
Link2: archive.org/details/novapextrimestri52soci
Friday, January 3, 2014
Background is a study of the delicate tracery of veins in the leaf of a species of water lily known as Nymphaea Gigantae, from the 1905 The Waterlilies: A Monograph of the Genus Nymphaea (Link1). At the bottom is an illustration from
the book of spells, El libro de San Cipriano (Link2), showing "The Talisman of Isis." (A talisman is an object which is believed to contain certain magical or sacramental properties which provide good luck for the possessor.) The text (if my Spanish translation is correct) says that the Egyptian Isis is known as "the good goddess," the patroness of good deeds (bienhechora). Wikipedia says she is a precursor of the Christian Madonna. Anyway, to my ignorant Irish eye, it looks like a four-leaf clover surrounded by indecipherable writing. Now Luck -- there is one four-leaf clover for every 10,000 three-leaf clovers -- Luck I understand. One of my father's favorite sayings was "If you're lucky, you don't have to be smart." He used it to deflect attention from good fortune or the fact that he was smart.
...
Today is the opening of the Plastic Club's New Member Show. I have three pieces in it. Here (in PDF form) is the Artist's Statement I'll be bringing with me. I wish myself Good luck!
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1: archive.org/details/waterliliesmonog00conruoft
Link2: archive.org/details/ellibrodesancipr00surf
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Again from the Universal Library, another illustration from what seems to be a multi-volume series of tales. It shows the defenders of a walled city waving a severed head before a fierce-looking mounted warrior. The book is titled, in Chinese,
????????????(??), or "Mr LEE Cheuk-yan Mr. Shingo criticism Chung Yee The Outlaws of the Marsh (12)" (Link1). I am not satisfied with my treatment of the image, but it is a good illustration, with strong contrast between the burly warrior on a horse and the unarmored, thin city people, hiding behind the parapets. And who does the head belong to? A woman? The warrior's child? ... I still remain an American provincial, unable to display Chinese characters and too lazy to include accent marks.
For maximum effect with my images, click on the image until it is full-size, which may be larger than your computer screen.
Sources:
Link1: archive.org/details/02111784.cn
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Tomorrow I deliver the three images below to the Plastic Club for their annual New Member's show, two of them appearing on the 2013 Archive.
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I think the middle image may possibly sell. How much should I charge? Well, assuming my work time is free, the production costs are $40.20 for the printing from an online printer and $38.06 for dry-mounting on foam-kore, and another $10 for adding wire to attach to wall, for a total of $88.26 for this 35 7/8" by 42 3/4" image. Of course, foam-kore mounting is not professional. There is no glass covering or rigid frame. Foam-kore warps and crushes easily.
If the buyer is content with foam-kore poster mounting, I'll give to them for $300. I think the deal I should offer to a buyer who wants high-end framing is either (1) I will make another print which will be delivered in a mailing tube to you or your framer for $600 or (2) I will make another print and pay for high-end framing for $1100.
What's odd is that the full-size image is available in the archive as a JPEG image. The only advantage to buying it from me, rather than printing from philly-bob.net, is that if you buy it from me you get a better image, the difference between JPEG and TIFF. Maybe if I sell an image for this kind of money, I should add a SOLD watermark on the archived, full-size image.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
From the same book, still recovering from long-lived cold, a recolored flower. Original image (Link1) was Sagebrush Mariposa (Link1). Also calleld Mariposa Tulips or Butterfly Lilies. A huge image.
Sources:
Link1: archive.org/details/NorthAmericanwiIIIcWalc
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Doing unrewarding gruntwork archiving 2013 Philly-Bob.net and preparing for 2014. On fifth day of six-day cold, marked by cough and runny nose, general low IQ and energy. This image is from a 1925 book of North American Wildflowers (Link1). Actually, before radical recoloring, the illustration showed the Western Mount Ash, a relative of the apple tree.
Sources:
Link1: archive.org/details/NorthAmericanwiIIIcWalc
Saturday, December 14, 2013
12/17/2013
