Art Imitates Art

Art © Ellen Blonder

Brush handmade by Isabella Kirkland

One of the most unusual gifts I have ever received is this hand-made brush made by the extraordinary artist Isabella Kirkland. The startling thing about it is that the hairs of the brush are taken from her cat Dandelion's shed fur. The brush is even named "Dandy #12" since it's the twelfth brush she has made in this series.

The hairs are aligned precisely and glued in place on the black bamboo handle; when the brush is dipped in liquid the brush comes together in a beautiful fine point. It feels much softer against paper than a sable brush but holds a surprising amount of paint. 

To finish off what was already an incredible amount of meticulous work, Isabella hand-lettered the name on the side of the brush and topped it off with a perfectly sized carnelian from a local beach.

I tried it out in my watercolor sketchbook on a sketch of olives; then I painted the brush itself. It felt like making art imitate art. 

Thank you, Izzy. I will treasure this always.

Olives

© Ellen Blonder

A friend once let us harvest a bagful of olives from a tree on his property. He told us we could cure them by simply layering them with coarse salt in a container, then leaving them alone--hm, about three weeks, if I remember right. I was skeptical. In that time, though, the salt turned oily and the olives dried out a bit and softened, with a pleasantly bitter tang. They made a great addition to a pizza topping.

This acrylic study, painted on an 8 x 10 canvas board, is of some of the branches we were also given that day.