Sunday, April 13, 2014

Move 'em on, head 'em up

Head 'em up, move 'em out,
Move 'em on, head 'em out Rawhide! 
Set 'em out, ride 'em in, 
Ride 'em in, let 'em out, cut 'em out, ride 'em in Rawhide. 

Wow. That sounds chaotic. And fun.

This photo featured on Drudge fills my heart with joy.


Not solely because it is righteous, because Cliven Bundy prevailed, for now, but because I love this scene of moving cattle. It is the coolest thing ever.


I see the scene all over the place and it gets me every time, even in Google Earth looking through photos of central Africa on the opposite side of the horn where it pokes in, where all the green starts, those photos can be lifted right off ancient tombs it seems. One remarkable photo of a man moving cattle down a red dirt road I thought I could return to easily but now I cannot find it. It was perfectly Egyptian.  Like this except a dirt road:


This famous scene is from the tomb of Ti, also Tiye, apparently Nubian. Great royal wife of Amenhotep III, mother of Akhenaten, so grandma to Tutankhamun.

Images: [fording the river queen ti]


A total fox in her day.


The thing is, this scene has a touching element easily overlooked. It is a theme repeated in other tombs, a vignette if you like, say, like Santa Claus with a child on his knee, you recognize that right off and know what is going on, any portion of the vignette will do to convey the whole idea of presents on Christmas, childlike wonder and all the rest. Here a calf is carried across water too deep for it to wade, it turns and brays for its mum who answers, there is eye contact depicted in the carving, you could draw a dotted line between the calves eyes and the eyes of the center cow.

I carved away the background of this picture using a dental tool, my Cherry Creek dentist gives me their old tools sometimes when I ask because they like me and they like what I'm doing. It tickles them. Then I scratch in the detail and round out the figures. 

I have no idea what I'm doing. I just do it.

I carved it for myself. Glued it onto fibrous Japanese paper, and that onto black mat. Double black mat window. Bronze metal frame. 

Nice.

I had moved and lacked furniture and art and such things as needed on walls so I carved this for myself, for my new apartment. It pleased me. I admired the picture a long time, and now I own it. A nice one too.

Right off the bat a friend came in, saw my new picture and wanted it. He wanted to buy it. So I priced it out of bounds but he paid my price anyway. Stuck! And there went my brand new favorite picture just like that. 


14 comments:

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Cattle futures.

Chip Ahoy said...

That video had auto play, I just noticed. So I changed it.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Thanks. I don't mind but other might.

Titus said...

Dear Lord Mary-succint please. Try and you will be rewarded.

Less is more. Now focus Helen.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

"Others" might.

I remember looking up the red sox box scores on the newspaper the day after a game and wondering who was this "other" batsman I never watched take a swing, during a broadcast.

Others.

Chip Ahoy said...

Titus, I urge you to skip all my posts. At any rate your advice is rejected.

MamaM said...

After the calves eyes and imaginary dotted line, my next favorite part is the water and the thousand transparent zigs.

KCFleming said...

Well I loved the post, and would have wanted to buy the art myself, though actually asking seems a bit rude. OTOH, my son has his art all over his apartment and wants to sell all of it, so it depends.

deborah said...

It's intriguing that the artists captured such a charming detail. They must have been very intelligent and subtle people.

edutcher said...

Somewhere, Mr Favor is smiling.

Christy said...

I like it! So what medium did you carve? I also like all I learn from your posts.

Chip Ahoy said...

Mama, that is what I liked too. I might do it again. Better this time.

The medium is plaster. And it is hard, dusty and makes a huge dusty mess.

It occurred to me drywall is a lot lighter. Possibly manufactured with tiny air bubbles, it seems to me. Maybe a the paper can be peeled off one side and the whole thing a lot easier. I haven't tried that.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

This is good news, but it is just a temporary reprieve for Bundy. Government thugs working for Dingy Harry will not be denied.

Christy said...

This reminds me of, not cattle, but wild ponies. Every year the volunteer firemen of Chincoteague herd the wild ponies of Assateague Island across the channel. The wild ponies get a health care check-up and a few get auctioned off. A few days later the horses return to their island.