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KOS Art Expo!

by Tortmaster for KOS Art Expo

Community

(This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday, Jul. 04, 2024 Thursday, Jul. 04, 2024 at 10:00:23am PDT

Ralphdog just finished this one of Niagara Falls, it is the view from the Maid of the Mist boat on the river.

Welcome to the July the 4th, 2024 KOS Art Expo! Please come in and see the Art and the Music and the Poetry lovingly created by your friends here at Daily Kos. You will be amazed!

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Works by A Pagan In Arizona

Sympathetic Magic, acrylics on natural bone. 2024.

This is my most recent painted skull. I painted this to resemble green and blue turquoise. Sympathetic magic involves using a small amount of a certain thing to aid in manifesting more of it. In the American southwest turquoise has long been considered symbolic of water, as well as being used as a protective amulet. Turquoise has tremendous cultural and spiritual significance for Indigenous people throughout this region, and is cherished for it's beauty by nearly everyone.

The one below was created for a friend. Who only asked that I use shades of blue, her favorite color. I wanted it to resemble lapis lazuli and labradorite.

Untitled, acrylics on natural bone. 2024.

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Photographs and Miscellany from Angmar

TOAD IN ORANGE

What are you looking at? Oh, This is Toad in Orange. It’s proper name is Toad in Orange. Can you think of a better name for a photograph of a Toad in Orange than “Toad in Orange.”

CLOUDS IN BLUE

The same principle applies here. Can you think of a better principle?

Mt. HOPE CEMETERY IN WINTER

Sure, you could just call this “Spooky Photograph,” but to be clear, it is Mt. Hope Cemetery in Winter.

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WATERCOLORS BY LAUREL IN CA

So here’s the back story for my pieces:

Our granddaughter and I love to draw and paint together. When we were in Ashland for the Shakespeare festival a few years ago, we started to write our own story, which we didn’t finish. But I had fun doing some little illustrations in pen-and-ink and watercolor.

Here are two of them: The Willow Woman explains to Ursula (yes, “Little Bear”, which becomes relevant later in the story) what she needs to do.

Later in the story, Ursula has been taken captive by the Bear People, and she is visited by a Raven.

The third entry is not from this story, but rather is a collection of little drawings that may lead someone else to make up a story. The little footprints show just one of many possible paths through the 9 thumbnail illustrations (9! = 362,880 possible sequences if you use each illustration exactly once.)

So here’s the back story for my pieces: Our granddaughter and I love to draw and paint together. When we were in Ashland for the Shakespeare festival a few years ago, we started to write our own story, which we didn’t finish. But I had fun doing some little illustrations in pen-and-ink and watercolor. Here are two of them: The Willow Woman explains to Ursula (yes, “Little Bear”, which becomes relevant later in the story) what she needs to do.

The third entry is not from this story, but rather is a collection of little drawings that may lead someone else to make up a story. The little footprints show just one of many possible paths through the 9 thumbnail illustrations (9! = 362,880 possible sequences if you use each illustration exactly once.)

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HORN CONCERTO BY GAS

While you enjoy walking up and down this virtual museum of the beautiful and the curious, we recommend that you listen to this magnificent Horn Concerto from our friend GAS (GLEN SWARTS):

YouTube Video

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Three Easy Pieces by MollyBloom

These two poems were written as companion pieces. They are as inseparable as the pair sharing their stories.

Entremet

Late afternoon. Tectonic thoughts seep through the spaces between words. Chill in bed or step out and enjoy the last luscious hours of this delicious day?

Honeycombed leaves crunch underfoot. Their naked jewel-toned bodies weave a thick Persian carpet that leads deep into the wood. His gray eyes glow with the colors of Fall.

There are always surprises. A clearing with a crystal pond half encircled by a thicket of late fruiting blackberries. Soon our fingers, lips and tongues are stained dark purple. So sweet. Sweet as sugar. Sweeter than wine.

Abandoned orchard. Apples and pears. I pick a plump windfall from the ground. He bites – and bites again. The Devil in his smile.

Back on the trail trees release their night-rising scents. Smoky cedar, juniper, pine. Cheeky squirrel transporting a fat walnut in his mouth scampers across our path. He pulls up short and regards us suspiciously before burying his treasure in a scrubbed over patch of dank earth. I wonder will he recover it come Winter? Will a rival claim it first? Or a chipmunk? A deer? A moose?

Almost there. Front porch of the Inn is enrobed in the golden rainbow hues of the swiftly setting sun. Our private cottage with its weathered lilac door beckons. Slowly, softly our hands entwine.

Blackcurrant cocktails fireside. Amber embers. Wrapped in Moravian quilts and silence, our hearts sing to one another.

Full circle. Autumn romance tastes sublime. But Autumn Love is near Divine.

Nightfall

Indian Summer, not a cloud in the sky.

You arrived with cool grace and passed me right by.

But good friends and good cheer found us soon side by side,

a hellion rose and a world-weary guy.

Thought something was there but I sure couldn’t tell

we’d be under Love’s ineluctable spell

by Nightfall.

We took it real slow – dinners, walks in the park.

A long weekend away sharing Truth in the dark.

Stripped down buck naked before that first spark

ripped through our bodies, tore open our hearts.

Nothing hidden, held back, no doubts or regrets

to dampen the force of those sweet breathless breaths

come Nightfall.

Sometimes I still wonder how we soft-landed here.

Was it Fate or dumb Luck? The answer’s not clear.

One thing I do know is having you near

makes every burnt Autumn the best vintage year.

Yeah, there’ve been ups and downs, hurt pride and ego,

but we learned how to laugh and wrap up the show

before Nightfall.

Well, I’m only human. I’ll always want more.

Not content with just enough, I crave an encore.

But all things end in the worn exit door

that hovers so close to Life’s neighboring shore.

Truth be told, I’ve never been a more gladhearted man

than with you beside me now, holding my hand

at Nightfall.

Test your code-breaking skills. Kmail me with your answer to receive your virtual prize! Translation will be published in the Occult and Psychical Sciences post on July 12th. Good Luck!

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DRAWINGS AND A PAINTING BY DESERT SCIENTIST

River Came is a pen and ink drawing by Desert Scientist. He drew it in Mesilla Park.

River Cane is a pen and ink drawing. All three of the pieces were drawn in Mesilla Park from our back yard several years ago. I have always loved drawing plants and our backyard was a great place for inspiration.

Grass in Winter is a drawing made by Desert Scientist using a narrow marker.

Grass in Winter was done with a narrow marker.

Flanders Poppies is a watercolor and ink created to show off the beauty of Mesilla Park, New Mexico.

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Painting by boran2

Below is my painting of Springwood, FDR’s home in Hyde Park, New York. It is painted in acrylics on a 5x7 inch canvas board.

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Cartoons by Matt Z

I’m Matt Zimmer and I have my own online comic book called Gilda And Meek And The Un-Iverse. It’s totally free, has 67 issues on the site (and counting) and over 3000 pages (with no ads)! Archive is here:

gildaandmeekandtheuniverse.blogspot.com/…

Usually during the Kos Art Expo I focus on different characters and themes, sometimes comedy, sometimes action (I’ll get to drama one of these days. I swear). But one of the fun things about The Un-Iverse is some of its weird tertiary characters I’ll share three in the exhibit and some more in the comments.

This is Spring-Chicken. One of the leads of my Superhero title Lace Doilies. Why is a Superhero team named the Lace Doilies? Because Marvel and DC trademarked all the good names.

Spring-Chicken has superpowers (her telepathic whammy can drop a fool at 50 yards) but because she's animal whose dialogue is not translated, she’s kind of a dramatically useless character anyways. But the design makes me laugh, so she’s in.

The Guy With The Mouthful Of Tube Socks from UnComix One-Shots and Gilda And Meek

This is The Guy With The Mouthful Of Tube Socks. As far as character designs go he’s bland as heck. But his nonsensical gimmick is pretty funny. Because it makes no freaking sense. He can be found as a supporting character (a mute one, natch) in back-up stories in both UnComix One-Shots, and Gilda And Meek.

One of the most fun supervillain designs from Lace Doilies HAS to be Unibrow, a Mutated Animal Unicorn with magical powers. I sort of went over-the-top with muscles on this guy but it’s really the name and the eyebrows that are the draw.

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Photos by gizmo59

Here are a few photos I’ve taken this year thus far:

And now for the kitsch. In the town where I live, there are a few people, mostly Latino, who make their living by driving ice cream trucks around the neighborhoods. As far as I can tell, they are running independent businesses, but their trucks are decorated by every cartoon character you could dream of. These trucks are copyright lawsuits waiting to happen, and I just imagine that no Hollywood attorney has ever set foot here. Anyway, one particular truck had a pairing of images that sent me over the edge, and here it is:

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Enoch R0ot - Mathematical Art

These are from 2004, when I was messing around with a program called Ultra Fractal.

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PAINTINGS BY RALPHDOG

Amazing painting by Ralphdog. He wrote this about it: This small forest waterfall is actually on our land; it is an impressive torrent after a heavy rain but slows to a trickle in a dry summer.

This small forest waterfall is actually on our land; it's an impressive torrent after a heavy rain but slows to a trickle in a dry summer.

Magical painting by Ralphdog. He had this to say about the piece: Painted from photos and sketches of a moody sunrise from Monhegan Island, Maine last August. The clouds cast striking shadows on the sea. The little speck right of center in the light is a lobster boat; they seem big enough up close but they are tiny things on the scale of the ocean.

Painted from photos and sketches of a moody sunrise from Monhegan Island, Maine last August. The clouds cast striking shadows on the sea. The little speck right of center in the light is a lobster boat; they seem big enough up close but they're tiny things on the scale of the ocean.

Absolutely stunner of a painting by Ralphdog. He wrote this about it: Last autumn, the view down the hill about a half mile from my home in mid-morning light. The fall color here was gorgeous for the first time in several years.

Last autumn, the view down the hill about a half mile from my home in mid-morning light. The fall color here was gorgeous for the first time in several years.

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Ceramic Arts by MEL in PGH

Hello art friends!

This time I have only one piece to show but it is a fun one. This origami bowl is glazed with something I call “Neo Lavender.” Others call a similar formulation “Apparently Lavender.” Basically, it is a clear glaze base with neodymium oxide (Nd₂O₃) as a colorant. Under various light sources, the glaze color shifts from blue to lavender to pink as seen below. Enjoy!