Kings, Queens, and Horses

Close up of "Queen of Hearts" mixed media

This beauty was a printed canvas my husband bought for me at the art supply store. In the pack it came with two pieces one with the queen of hearts and the other with the king of hearts. I used a variety on this as usual. From colored pencils, to water color pencils, ball point pens, and felt tipped pens. I just basically colored it, painted, high lighted, and then re-did the black. It took awhile to do both but it was worth it but now all I have to do is get them in frames.

"Queen of Hearts" mixed print media on canvas.

"King of Hearts" mixed print media on canvas.

Quick little sketch inspired by the "Dolce & Gabbana fashion show on Capri". Ink sketch with Prisma markers.

"Spotted pony love" ink sketch with Prisma markers.

I hope you all enjoyed my art work hopefully I will have more coming soon.
~Lizzie~

Isabella d'Este Marchesa of Mantua

Isabella d'Este Marchesa of Mantua done in watercolor pencil and colored pencil. I recently fell in love with Isabella and her sister Beatrice in one of my new favorite novels "Leonardo's Swans" by Karen Essex. Isabella was a leading lady in The Italian Renaissance. She was a avid art collector and benefactor to many of the artist that had made the Italian Renaissance. I was moved not by her deeds but by her life. Like many of the strong leading women of history I love, Isabella's life was filled with turmoil and tragedy. Considered a great beauty of her times she was also a very well educated woman that excelled in trying new things. She was also politically savvy and played a major role in the Italian Wars that had also involved her sister The Duchess of Milan. I was truly inspired by a bust that I came across on the web of Isabella. Beautiful does not even describe this bust and yet I am saddened by the history that the Nazi's had stolen it during WWII. Luckily for me and the future generations of the world The Monuments Men had a very intriguing story of how the bust was recovered. It is sad to think that the bust could have been lost forever and I never would have even seen it had they not found it. This is my ode to Isabella and the insight she had brought to the start of a art revolution that even today continues on. She is gone but will never be forgotten.

"Isabella d'Este (18 May 1474 – 13 February 1539) was Marchesa of Mantua and one of the leading women of the Italian Renaissance as a major cultural and political figure. She was a patron of the arts as well as a leader of fashion, whose innovative style of dressing was copied by women throughout Italy and at the French court. The poet Ariosto labeled her as the "liberal and magnanimous Isabella", while author Matteo Bandello described her as having been "supreme among women". Diplomat Niccolò da Correggio went even further by hailing her as "The First Lady of the world".

She served as the regent of Mantua during the absence of her husband, Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua and the minority of her son, Federico, Duke of Mantua. In 1500 she met King Louis XII of France in Milan on a diplomatic mission to persuade him not to send his troops against Mantua.

She was a prolific letter-writer, and maintained a lifelong correspondence with her sister-in-law Elisabetta Gonzaga. Lucrezia Borgia was another sister-in-law; she later became the mistress of Isabella's husband". -Wiki

Attributed to Gian Cristoforo Romano, Italian (c. 1465– 1512)

Portrait of a Woman, Probably Isabe!a d’Este, c. 1500 T erracotta, formerly polychromed

21-3/8 x 21-1/2 in. (54.3 x 54.6 cm) 

"This summer, the Monuments Men Foundation and Kimbell Art Museum in Ft. Worth, Texas announced that a Renais- sance portrait bust in the Kim- bell collection had been stolen by the Nazis during World War II and was one of thousands of works of art found in the Al- taussee Salt Mine in Austria.

This incredible discovery oc- curred in conjunction with an unrelated project. In the fall of 2009, while researching the missing albums containing photographs of the works of art destined for Adolf Hitler’s Linz
Museum, we came across a war- time photograph of the Steinberg salt mine in Altaussee, Austria. In early May 1945, during the closing days of the war, the Monuments Men were in a race against time to locate the last great Nazi repository of stolen works of art. A key tip led them to the Steinberg mine. They arrived to discover that a Nazi plot to destroy the salt mine and its priceless contents, including more than 6,000 paint- ings, had only hours before been thwarted, a harrowing story recounted in The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest
Treasure Hunt in History.

Hidden inside the mine were many of civilization’s greatest artistic mas- terpieces including Michelangelo’s Bruges Madonna, Jan van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece, and two Vermeer paintings (The Astronomer and The Artist’s Studio), to name just a few. Of the many photos taken inside the salt mine, we had not come across the photo above before. The photo shows the Kimbell's terra cotta bust of Renaissance art patron Isabelle d'Este being removed from the mine. We recognized the sculpture imme- diately and knew it had to be the Kimbell's version and not a copy be- cause of the vertical firing-line cracks on the sculpture's front. We were aware that the Kimbell’s provenance for the bust made no mention of be- ing in Hitler's art hideout. 

When the Monuments Men discovered the cache of artwork in the Altaussee salt mine, they had to remove the art as quickly and as carefully as they could from a narrow mine shaft. The artworks were then taken to the Munich Collect- ing Point, which was housed in the former Nazi party head- quarters in Munich, as it was one of the largest buildings left standing after the war. Upon the arrival of the works of art in Munich, the Monuments Men created property index cards for each object. In researching those cards we discov- ered the “smoking gun”: Altaussee inventory card number 1246, which documented the arrival in Munich on June 28, 1945 of the terra cotta bust of Isabelle d’Este, which at the time was “attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.” The back of the inventory card revealed that the sculpture was returned to the Netherlands on June 3, 1946". -Monuments Men Foundation

For more on Isabella d'Este Check out the other good reads on her:
Light on Lucrezia by Jean Plaidy
The Duchess of Milan by Michael Ennis

~Lizzie~

My Lovely Peacock

My most recent watercolor pencil piece. This as usual is a mixed media piece, water color pencils  colored pencils, and silver felt markers. My favorite set of watercolor pencils on Amazon.
~Lizzie~

Gothic in Blue

Done completely in color Prisma color pencils "Gothic in Blue" is maybe 5x7.

~Lizzie~

My Art Work: Pony Tail Red Head

This time around I did things a bit differently because I just could not help myself. Even though it literally kills my hands to do this I made this one completely with Prisma color pencils. No water color this time and this time the picture is completely un-edited. So this is the work in all of its natural glory. It  is a pretty good size too being 11 x 10. I figure as always I live my life in color so the more color the better. I hope you all enjoy her.
~Lizzie~

Lizzie's Rocker Girl

This one was a random one but thought I would share just for fun. This is what happens to when you listen to Aerosmith and paint.

With a editing filter.

 With no editing

The whole picture with the same filter as above.

The original made completely in watercolor pencils.

Here is what started it all: Aerosmith Cryin'

~Lizzie~

Boy and his Pig

"The Boy and His Pig", originally I did this one to apply for a job as a childrens book illustrator. I never heard back from them but at least I have this work out of the whole thing. It was suppose to be "whymsical" which I think it is. I love this pig I branded her a girl I guess and you can click on the picture for a larger image.

I made this one in my typical way of water color pencil with ink and some pastels after it all dried. In reality it is 11 inches by 17 inches which is pretty big I think.

~Lizzy~

Pony Dreams

As many of you have noticed I have been busy updating the site lately and I really have been working hard making sure my portfolio is up to date. I went through all my art work including the ones I stole back from my mother and scanned each and everyone just for your viewing pleasure. Horses play a huge part in historical fiction and I have to admit horses have always been my first love. I had horses as a kid and grew up being around them. Many of these drawings are very close to my heart because they are pictures I have drawn of my own horses and horses I dreamed of.

The best part of these pieces is they are done in a style that not that many people do. It is called pointillism or stippling, for more information on it go here. The reason not that many people like the style is it is VERY hard and time consuming.

I usually start out with a pencil sketch of what I want with a very vague outlines, pretty much like the three horse picture above. Then the fun begins by taking a .001 micron point felt pen and just dot dot dot away. Some of these have taken a week or two but keep in mind these ones are very old and I did them back in high school which is why some of the proportions are off. Either way I love them and I hope you all love them too.

Draft horses

Arabian named "Rozhemere" because my Rozh used to love to run away from me.

Saddlebred show horse

Arabian in a show halter

This one below I got from my mom and realized it was not finished. I finished it this month and wow what a difference.

Before

After

This one below has a very long history with me, it is of my horse Rozhemere. Rozh was a beautiful white Arabian with brown freckles. He was a stinker and what I now think was a goofball. I started this piece when I was 18 years old because I had no pictures to hang on my walls in my first place. Really long story short four moves later and 4 years later I finally finished it. Yes it really did take that long. I think it is 11 by 17 inches so it is not exactly a small piece like the Rozh above.

 Rozh in all his beautiful glory

My favorite portion of this piece

A close up shot of the hair

 "Fluterby" I just put in for fun she is from the children's author Stephen Cosgrove and Robin James

 

 

Amazon: Stephen Cosgrove and Robin James

 
~Lizzy~