This week’s inspiration on the Inspire Me Thursday website is an unusual one. The challenge is to create one’s own take on the painting “Mademoiselle Caroline Rivière” by French Neoclassical artist Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres.
So, I forced the most painterly strokes I could from my Prismacolor markers and did the closest thing I’ve done to a “painting” since art school.
Here’s Ingres’ 1806 original that currently hangs in The Louvre in Paris.
The current Monday Artday challenge word is “werewolf”.
Albert’s lycanthropy curse was from a bloodline of a mixed marriage. His thirst for blood was equal to his thirst for a double half-caf skinny latte.
This week’s word on Illustration Friday is “frozen”.
Ted Williams was one of the greatest players in the history of professional baseball. Despite his career being interrupted twice for military service, he was a two-time MVP and a seventeen time All-Star. He was the last player with a single season batting average above .400. Nicknamed “The Splendid Splinter”, Ted was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966. The only team he played for, The Boston Red Sox, retired his uniform number in 1984. In his final years, Ted suffered from numerous cardiac problems. He had a pacemaker installed in November 2000 and underwent open-heart surgery in January 2001. He died of cardiac arrest on July 5, 2002 at the age of 83.
After his death, Ted’s children battled over his final arrangements. Teds oldest daughter, Bobby-Jo, wanted to fulfill Ted’s wishes of cremation, with his ashes scattered in the Florida Keys. His children from his second marriage, John-Henry and Claudia, wanted their father to be cryonically frozen in liquid nitrogen at Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona. After a long and brutal struggle involving lawsuits, forged documents and criminal accusations among family, Ted Williams was shipped to Alcor, where his head was removed from his body and the two pieces were separately preserved.
In a 2003 Sports Illustrated article, fired Alcor executive Larry Johnson alleged that the company had mishandled Williams’ head by drilling holes and accidentally cracking it. Johnson also claimed that some of Williams’ DNA was missing. Alcor denied the allegations of missing DNA and explained that microscopic cracking can result as part of the process of freezing the head. Mr. Johnson asserted that, “They had his head in a container that is like a freezer chest … and it was malfunctioning. So, they wanted to move his head into another vessel to lower the temperature down to minus 321 Fahrenheit. So, they got a tuna fish can, and they put it in the bottom of that vessel. They set the head upside-down on top of the can and filled the vessel with liquid nitrogen. Well, obviously, after two or three days of being in that state, the can was stuck to the top of his head. A technician grabbed a monkey wrench, took a swing at the can and missed. He missed the can and hit the head. He drew back again, took a second swing, hit the can and sent it flying across the room.”
Concerned with the safety of his earthly remains and the dignity of his legend, Red Sox fans took action. After a marathon letter-writing and petition-signing campaign, The Red Sox Nation won the guardianship of Williams head. According to a detailed schedule, each fan in the Boston Metropolitan area will be awarded custody of Teds head for a period of three days. During this time, the custodian must keep the head frozen and secure. At the end of three days, the fan will pass the head on to the next designated member of the Red Sox faithful on the list.
The inspirational word this week on Inspire Me Thursday is “wings”.
Dexter was a bit overzealous at the annual Hot Wings Eating Contest.
This week’s challenge at Monday Artday is “jack o’lantern”.
“Mr. O’Lantern. Mr. Jack O’Lantern. Doctor Holiday will see you now.”
The word of inspiration on Inspire Me Thursday is “juice”.
“We can drop a power line on it. There should be enough juice in that line to burn the thing to a crisp.”
Lt. Dave to Steve Andrews in 1958’s The Blob.
Illustration Friday‘s challenge word this week is “flying”.
“I went to the park and saw this kid flying a kite. The kid was really excited. I don’t know why, that’s what they’re supposed to do.
Now if he had had a chair on the other end of that string, I would have been impressed.
Mitch Hedberg
The current challenge on the Monday Artday illustration website is “vampire”.
With the popularity of young, cool vampires as presented in Twilight, True Blood and The Vampire Diaries, veterans like Count Dracula are forced to take on other employment to make ends meet.
Nine-year-old Inger Stensland moved to the the United States from Sweden after her parents divorced. At 18, she worked in New York City’s Garment District and took drama classes with Lee Strasberg of the Actors Studio.
Inger married her agent, Anthony Soglio, who changed her last name to the more American “Stevens.” Their marriage, however, did not last. Inger got work in commercials and episodic television, but she got her big break in Man on Fire with Bing Crosby in 1957. She also began a romantic relationship with Crosby, who was 31 years her senior. Their relationship ended when Inger refused to convert to Catholicism and Crosby married Kathryn Grant. Inger fell into a bout of depression and attempted suicide in 1960. As a result of three days of unconsciousness and an overdose of sleeping pills, Inger was rendered blind for two weeks. She made a miraculous recovery and was soon back to acting, making guest appearances in Bonanza, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and two memorable episodes of Twilight Zone. She also married actor/producer Ike Jones. Their union was kept secret because they felt their interracial marriage would be detrimental to her career and not be accepted by the public.
Inger’s greatest success was her three seasons as “Katy Holstrum” in the ABC series The Farmer’s Daughter opposite William Windom. After ABC canceled the series, Inger returned to film, starring with Richard Widmark in Madigan, Dean Martin in 5 Card Stud and Clint Eastwood in Hang ’em High.
In early 1970, Inger agreed to return to weekly television in a new series by producer Aaron Spelling. On the morning of April 30, 1970, Inger was found lying unconscious in her kitchen by her hairstylist, who was staying at her house. An ambulance was called and Inger was rushed to a nearby local hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival at 10:30 a.m. She had overdosed on Tedral, a drug commonly prescribed in the treatment of asthma and other breathing disorders, washed down with alcohol.
This week’s word of inspiration on the Inspire Me Thursday website is “newspaper”.
I read the news today, oh boy…
