Feb 18 2024 - Stolen Children's Art on Fine Art America

 

My website points to the Fine Art America page that I have.  Fine Art America is probably the largest website platform for artists.   It is a print-on-demand art platform with all kinds of products available - not just prints on paper, metal and so on, but printing on fabric for t-shirts, mugs, tote bags, towels and jigsaw puzzles and so on. Today's Globe and Mail is a fraud lawsuit brought against a Quebec school teacher who has posted over a thousand images of his students' work on Fine Art America. The lawsuit is currently for $1.4 million.  The Globe is a little behind - the story has gained international attention and has already made news headlines in Australia, the U.K., and the United States.  I can't imagine the work effort involved - each item has to be uploaded, named, tagged, and so on.   While the artist page and portfolio is gone from Fine Art America, the remnants can be found in google searches.

What great images - a children's collective page would be a wonderful idea.  Too bad he was stealing rather than showcasing all this great talent.  You can see the Fine Art America images interspersed with the News story images.    Koi fish swimming in a circle return us to a more normal realm of images.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

A Moment

This feels like moments before Autumn arrives.  But that could not be the case as "Moments Before" is a term used for photos of people in their moments before death.  And we aren't about to embark on a haunting tale of how summer ended the planet. This seems to be another expression usurped by google search.  That's likely because it is compelling to click, rather than being the most common usage of a term.  Moment turns out to be used in so many idiomatic expressions as well as being a scientific term in physics, engineering, mathematics and so on. It is one of our time expressions - defined with respect to a fixed reference point. Archimedes' discovery of the operating principle of the lever is its starting point in the sciences. The evolution of the term 'moment' in the difference branches of science is unclear. Wikipedia explains moment in mathematics: "In mathematics, a moment is a specific quantitative measure of the shape of a function.  It is used in both mechanics and statistics. If the function represents physical density, then the zeroth moment is the total mass, the first moment divided by the total mass is the center of mass, and the second moment is the rotational inertia." It is clear to me I have little knowledge of mathematics when I read this. Looking at the idiomatic expressions, there's a great selection of terms: Kodak moment live for the moment magic moment man of the moment moment of truth moment of weakness never a dull moment not a moment to spare not a moment too soon not for a moment We can go to Kodak Moments - they are alive and well and publish a photo of the day called Kodak Moments.  All the pictures seem to involve people (ok there's one of two dogs). Taking pictures of Koi fish is capturing them in 'the moment' - where there is beauty in the way they curve, etc.  What do you think of this Koi, with its little black marks that seem to say '12'.

Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Jan 5 - Looking Back at Last Year...In Words

What about last year's word of the year - the Oxford Word of the Year in 2018 is toxic.    "The Oxford Word of the Year is a word or expression that is judged to reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the passing year, and have lasting potential as a term of cultural significance. In 2018, toxic added many strings to its poisoned bow becoming an intoxicating descriptor for the year’s most talked about topics. It is the sheer scope of its application, as found by our research, that made toxic the stand-out choice for the Word of the Year title". The statistical analysis indicates that there was a 45% rise in the number of times it has been looked up on oxford dictionaries.com.  What was it used to describe?  Here is Oxford Dictionaries' Top 10 ‘toxic’ collocates in 2018 by absolute frequency: Chemical Masculinity Substance Gas Environment Relationship Culture Waste Algae Air The article HERE describes how this word occurred in the the year's events - from the nerve agent poisoning of a former Russian intelligence officer and his daughter, to the spread of toxic waster from hurricanes, to businesses and people with harmful workplace environments and sexual harassment, to Brett Kavanagh's behaviour that got attention and the label of toxic masculinity. The shortlisted words prove to be intriguing.  I had to read the article to find out what most of these words mean.  It is very interesting - find the article HERE. gaslighting incel techlash gammon big dick energy cakeism overtourism orbiting  We're looking at a few more aquarium pictures today.

Swims Across Lake Ontario

Swims across Lake Ontario I remember the first person who accomplished the feat of swimming across Lake Ontario.  Marilyn Bell did it in 1954.  I didn't realize that there is a current in the Lake - the first person who swam against the current from north to south was Diana Nyad in 1974.   What makes Lake Ontario water change colour?  It was a wonderful Caribbean blue the other day, with darker sections towards Toronto.  An answer hasn't popped up in my searches, so maybe you know the answer.  I'd assumed it has to do with temperature of the water.

Colour Combinations

Colour Combinations I thought these two images had a similar composition and colours.  The first comes from the Beamsville Fairgrounds and displays the scratches and rust on another transport truck.  We saw the earlier pictures in the shocking red. Of course, the second is of Koi swimming.  These were at the Portland Japanese Garden a few years ago.  I didn't know how to eliminate all the background elements in the water then.  When I saw it this week, I realized it could be an interesting picture.  I was drawn to the metallic colouring and shine that contrasted with the oranges.  This picture will join the series 'Koi, The Living Art'. I've included the Redbubble pictures of the series.

Koi, The Living Art

This portfolio on Redbubble and Fine Art America explores the beautiful lines of Koi.  These are the new additions today.

Finding Koi who will swim slowly turns out to be simple.  Botanic gardens generally have ponds in their conservatories where the Koi are used to people visiting every day.

Koi, The Living Art

Today's theme is Koi, the Living Art.  Here is a selection of images taken over the last few years.

Koi, The Living Art…Circle of Life

Hi everyone,

It seems to take hundreds of images to get one good one of Koi.  They swim this way and that and get in each other's way.  And then, at one moment, a perfect circle is formed.  So it seems to always be worth the hundreds and hundreds of shots.  

Koi, The Living Art

These are more images in the Series - "Koi, The Living Art".  These were taken at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario.