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A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.
Some wall paintings are painted on large canvases, which are then attached to the wall (e.g., with marouflage). Whether these works can be accurately called "murals" is a subject of some controversy in the art world, but the technique has been in common use since the late 19th century.
HISTORY
Murals of sorts date to Upper Paleolithic times such as the paintings in the Chauvet Cave in Ardèche department of southern France (around 30,000 BC). Many ancient murals have survived in Egyptian tombs (around 3150 BC), the Minoan palaces (Middle period III of the Neopalatial period, 1700-1600 BC) and in Pompeii (around 100 BC - AD 79).
During the Middle Ages murals were usually executed on dry plaster (secco). In Italy, circa 1300, the technique of painting of frescos on wet plaster was reintroduced and led to a significant increase in the quality of mural painting.
In modern times, the term became more well-known with the Mexican "muralista" art movement (Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros, or José Orozco). There are many different styles and techniques. The best-known is probably fresco, which uses water-soluble paints with a damp lime wash, a rapid use of the resulting mixture over a large surface, and often in parts (but with a sense of the whole). The colors lighten as they dry. The marouflage method has also been used for millennia.
Murals today are painted in a variety of ways, using oil or water-based media. The styles can vary from abstract to trompe-l'œil (a French term for "fool" or "trick the eye"). Initiated by the works of mural artists like Graham Rust or Rainer Maria Latzke in the 1980s, trompe-l'oeil painting has experienced a renaissance in private and public buildings in Europe. Today, the beauty of a wall mural has become much more widely available with a technique whereby a painting or photographic image is transferred to poster paper or canvas which is then pasted to a wall surface (see wallpaper, Frescography) to give the effect of either a hand-painted mural or realistic scene.
TECHNIQUE
In the history of mural several methods have been used:
A fresco painting, from the Italian word affresco which derives from the adjective fresco ("fresh"), describes a method in which the paint is applied on plaster on walls or ceilings. The buon fresco technique consists of painting in pigment mixed with water on a thin layer of wet, fresh, lime mortar or plaster. The pigment is then absorbed by the wet plaster; after a number of hours, the plaster dries and reacts with the air: it is this chemical reaction which fixes the pigment particles in the plaster. After this the painting stays for a long time up to centuries in fresh and brilliant colors.
Fresco-secco painting is done on dry plaster (secco is "dry" in Italian). The pigments thus require a binding medium, such as egg (tempera), glue or oil to attach the pigment to the wall.
Mezzo-fresco is painted on nearly-dry plaster, and was defined by the sixteenth-century author Ignazio Pozzo as "firm enough not to take a thumb-print" so that the pigment only penetrates slightly into the plaster. By the end of the sixteenth century this had largely displaced the buon fresco method, and was used by painters such as Gianbattista Tiepolo or Michelangelo. This technique had, in reduced form, the advantages of a secco work.
MATERIAL
In Greco-Roman times, mostly encaustic colors applied in a cold state were used.
Tempera painting is one of the oldest known methods in mural painting. In tempera, the pigments are bound in an albuminous medium such as egg yolk or egg white diluted in water.
In 16th-century Europe, oil painting on canvas arose as an easier method for mural painting. The advantage was that the artwork could be completed in the artist’s studio and later transported to its destination and there attached to the wall or ceiling. Oil paint can be said to be the least satisfactory medium for murals because of its lack of brilliance in colour. Also the pigments are yellowed by the binder or are more easily affected by atmospheric conditions. The canvas itself is more subject to rapid deterioration than a plaster ground. Different muralists tend to become experts in their preferred medium and application, whether that be oil paints, emulsion or acrylic paints applied by brush, roller or airbrush/aerosols. Clients will often ask for a particular style and the artist may adjust to the appropriate technique.
A consultation usually leads to a detailed design and layout of the proposed mural with a price quote that the client approves before the muralist starts on the work. The area to be painted can be gridded to match the design allowing the image to be scaled accurately step by step. In some cases the design is projected straight onto the wall and traced with pencil before painting begins. Some muralists will paint directly without any prior sketching, preferring the spontaneous technique.
Once completed the mural can be given coats of varnish or protective acrylic glaze to protect the work from UV rays and surface damage.
As an alternative to a hand-painted or airbrushed mural, digitally printed murals can also be applied to surfaces. Already existing murals can be photographed and then be reproduced in near-to-original quality.
The disadvantages of pre-fabricated murals and decals are that they are often mass-produced and lack the allure and exclusivity of an original artwork. They are often not fitted to the individual wall sizes of the client and their personal ideas or wishes can not be added to the mural as it progresses. The Frescography technique, a digital manufacturing method (CAM) invented by Rainer Maria Latzke addresses some of the personalisation and size restrictions.
Digital techniques are commonly used in advertisements. A "wallscape" is a large advertisement on or attached to the outside wall of a building. Wallscapes can be painted directly on the wall as a mural, or printed on vinyl and securely attached to the wall in the manner of a billboard. Although not strictly classed as murals, large scale printed media are often referred to as such. Advertising murals were traditionally painted onto buildings and shops by sign-writers, later as large scale poster billboards.
SIGNIFICANCE OF MURALS
Murals are important in that they bring art into the public sphere. Due to the size, cost, and work involved in creating a mural, muralists must often be commissioned by a sponsor. Often it is the local government or a business, but many murals have been paid for with grants of patronage. For artists, their work gets a wide audience who otherwise might not set foot in an art gallery. A city benefits by the beauty of a work of art.
Murals can be a relatively effective tool of social emancipation or achieving a political goal. Murals have sometimes been created against the law, or have been commissioned by local bars and coffeeshops. Often, the visual effects are an enticement to attract public attention to social issues. State-sponsored public art expressions, particularly murals, are often used by totalitarian regimes as a tool of mass-control and propaganda. However, despite the propagandist character of that works, some of them still have an artistic value.
Murals can have a dramatic impact whether consciously or subconsciously on the attitudes of passers by, when they are added to areas where people live and work. It can also be argued that the presence of large, public murals can add aesthetic improvement to the daily lives of residents or that of employees at a corporate venue.
Other world-famous murals can be found in Mexico, New York, Philadelphia, Belfast, Derry, Los Angeles, Nicaragua, Cuba and in India. They have functioned as an important means of communication for members of socially, ethnically and racially divided communities in times of conflict. They also proved to be an effective tool in establishing a dialogue and hence solving the cleavage in the long run. The Indian state Kerala has exclusive murals. These Kerala mural painting are on walls of Hindu temples. They can be dated from 9th century AD.
The San Bartolo murals of the Maya civilization in Guatemala, are the oldest example of this art in Mesoamerica and are dated at 300 BC.
Many rural towns have begun using murals to create tourist attractions in order to boost economic income. Colquitt, Georgia is one such town. Colquitt was chosen to host the 2010 Global Mural Conference. The town has more than twelve murals completed, and will host the Conference along with Dothan, Alabama, and Blakely, Georgia. In the summer of 2010, Colquitt will begin work on their Icon Mural.
WIKIPEDIA
Seen whilst aboard a boat on Kunming Lake. Scanned from a negative.
The Summer Palace or Yiheyuan, literally Garden of Nurtured Harmony, is a palace in Beijing, China. It is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (60m high) and the Kunming Lake in the foreground. It covers an expanse of 2.9 km², 75% of which is water. In the 70,000m² of building space, there are a variety of palaces, gardens, and other classical-style architectural structures.
The Summer Palace started out life as the Garden of Clear Ripples in 1750. Artisans reproduced the garden architecture styles of various palaces in China. Kunming Lake was created by extending an existing body of water to imitate the West Lake in Hangzhou. The palace complex suffered two major attacks - during the Anglo-French allied invasion of 1860 (with the Old Summer Palace also ransacked at the same time), and during the Boxer Rebellion, in an attack by the eight Allied powers in 1900. The garden survived and was rebuilt in 1886 and 1902.
In 1888, it was given the current name, Yihe Yuan. It served as a summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi, who diverted 30 million taels of silver, said to be originally designated for the Chinese navy (Beiyang Fleet), into the reconstruction and enlargement of the Summer Palace.
The Summer Palace was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1998, being declared "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.
Some wall paintings are painted on large canvases, which are then attached to the wall (e.g., with marouflage). Whether these works can be accurately called "murals" is a subject of some controversy in the art world, but the technique has been in common use since the late 19th century.
HISTORY
Murals of sorts date to Upper Paleolithic times such as the paintings in the Chauvet Cave in Ardèche department of southern France (around 30,000 BC). Many ancient murals have survived in Egyptian tombs (around 3150 BC), the Minoan palaces (Middle period III of the Neopalatial period, 1700-1600 BC) and in Pompeii (around 100 BC - AD 79).
During the Middle Ages murals were usually executed on dry plaster (secco). In Italy, circa 1300, the technique of painting of frescos on wet plaster was reintroduced and led to a significant increase in the quality of mural painting.
In modern times, the term became more well-known with the Mexican "muralista" art movement (Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros, or José Orozco). There are many different styles and techniques. The best-known is probably fresco, which uses water-soluble paints with a damp lime wash, a rapid use of the resulting mixture over a large surface, and often in parts (but with a sense of the whole). The colors lighten as they dry. The marouflage method has also been used for millennia.
Murals today are painted in a variety of ways, using oil or water-based media. The styles can vary from abstract to trompe-l'œil (a French term for "fool" or "trick the eye"). Initiated by the works of mural artists like Graham Rust or Rainer Maria Latzke in the 1980s, trompe-l'oeil painting has experienced a renaissance in private and public buildings in Europe. Today, the beauty of a wall mural has become much more widely available with a technique whereby a painting or photographic image is transferred to poster paper or canvas which is then pasted to a wall surface (see wallpaper, Frescography) to give the effect of either a hand-painted mural or realistic scene.
TECHNIQUE
In the history of mural several methods have been used:
A fresco painting, from the Italian word affresco which derives from the adjective fresco ("fresh"), describes a method in which the paint is applied on plaster on walls or ceilings. The buon fresco technique consists of painting in pigment mixed with water on a thin layer of wet, fresh, lime mortar or plaster. The pigment is then absorbed by the wet plaster; after a number of hours, the plaster dries and reacts with the air: it is this chemical reaction which fixes the pigment particles in the plaster. After this the painting stays for a long time up to centuries in fresh and brilliant colors.
Fresco-secco painting is done on dry plaster (secco is "dry" in Italian). The pigments thus require a binding medium, such as egg (tempera), glue or oil to attach the pigment to the wall.
Mezzo-fresco is painted on nearly-dry plaster, and was defined by the sixteenth-century author Ignazio Pozzo as "firm enough not to take a thumb-print" so that the pigment only penetrates slightly into the plaster. By the end of the sixteenth century this had largely displaced the buon fresco method, and was used by painters such as Gianbattista Tiepolo or Michelangelo. This technique had, in reduced form, the advantages of a secco work.
MATERIAL
In Greco-Roman times, mostly encaustic colors applied in a cold state were used.
Tempera painting is one of the oldest known methods in mural painting. In tempera, the pigments are bound in an albuminous medium such as egg yolk or egg white diluted in water.
In 16th-century Europe, oil painting on canvas arose as an easier method for mural painting. The advantage was that the artwork could be completed in the artist’s studio and later transported to its destination and there attached to the wall or ceiling. Oil paint can be said to be the least satisfactory medium for murals because of its lack of brilliance in colour. Also the pigments are yellowed by the binder or are more easily affected by atmospheric conditions. The canvas itself is more subject to rapid deterioration than a plaster ground. Different muralists tend to become experts in their preferred medium and application, whether that be oil paints, emulsion or acrylic paints applied by brush, roller or airbrush/aerosols. Clients will often ask for a particular style and the artist may adjust to the appropriate technique.
A consultation usually leads to a detailed design and layout of the proposed mural with a price quote that the client approves before the muralist starts on the work. The area to be painted can be gridded to match the design allowing the image to be scaled accurately step by step. In some cases the design is projected straight onto the wall and traced with pencil before painting begins. Some muralists will paint directly without any prior sketching, preferring the spontaneous technique.
Once completed the mural can be given coats of varnish or protective acrylic glaze to protect the work from UV rays and surface damage.
As an alternative to a hand-painted or airbrushed mural, digitally printed murals can also be applied to surfaces. Already existing murals can be photographed and then be reproduced in near-to-original quality.
The disadvantages of pre-fabricated murals and decals are that they are often mass-produced and lack the allure and exclusivity of an original artwork. They are often not fitted to the individual wall sizes of the client and their personal ideas or wishes can not be added to the mural as it progresses. The Frescography technique, a digital manufacturing method (CAM) invented by Rainer Maria Latzke addresses some of the personalisation and size restrictions.
Digital techniques are commonly used in advertisements. A "wallscape" is a large advertisement on or attached to the outside wall of a building. Wallscapes can be painted directly on the wall as a mural, or printed on vinyl and securely attached to the wall in the manner of a billboard. Although not strictly classed as murals, large scale printed media are often referred to as such. Advertising murals were traditionally painted onto buildings and shops by sign-writers, later as large scale poster billboards.
SIGNIFICANCE OF MURALS
Murals are important in that they bring art into the public sphere. Due to the size, cost, and work involved in creating a mural, muralists must often be commissioned by a sponsor. Often it is the local government or a business, but many murals have been paid for with grants of patronage. For artists, their work gets a wide audience who otherwise might not set foot in an art gallery. A city benefits by the beauty of a work of art.
Murals can be a relatively effective tool of social emancipation or achieving a political goal. Murals have sometimes been created against the law, or have been commissioned by local bars and coffeeshops. Often, the visual effects are an enticement to attract public attention to social issues. State-sponsored public art expressions, particularly murals, are often used by totalitarian regimes as a tool of mass-control and propaganda. However, despite the propagandist character of that works, some of them still have an artistic value.
Murals can have a dramatic impact whether consciously or subconsciously on the attitudes of passers by, when they are added to areas where people live and work. It can also be argued that the presence of large, public murals can add aesthetic improvement to the daily lives of residents or that of employees at a corporate venue.
Other world-famous murals can be found in Mexico, New York, Philadelphia, Belfast, Derry, Los Angeles, Nicaragua, Cuba and in India. They have functioned as an important means of communication for members of socially, ethnically and racially divided communities in times of conflict. They also proved to be an effective tool in establishing a dialogue and hence solving the cleavage in the long run. The Indian state Kerala has exclusive murals. These Kerala mural painting are on walls of Hindu temples. They can be dated from 9th century AD.
The San Bartolo murals of the Maya civilization in Guatemala, are the oldest example of this art in Mesoamerica and are dated at 300 BC.
Many rural towns have begun using murals to create tourist attractions in order to boost economic income. Colquitt, Georgia is one such town. Colquitt was chosen to host the 2010 Global Mural Conference. The town has more than twelve murals completed, and will host the Conference along with Dothan, Alabama, and Blakely, Georgia. In the summer of 2010, Colquitt will begin work on their Icon Mural.
WIKIPEDIA
The Summer Palace (Chinese: 頤和園), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing, China. It serves as a popular tourist destination and recreational park. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山) and Kunming Lake (昆明湖), it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometers (1.1 sq mi), three-quarters of which is water.
Longevity Hill is about 60 meters (200 feet) high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometers (540 acres), was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.
In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".
The origins of the Summer Palace date back to the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in 1153, when the fourth ruler, Wanyan Liang (r. 1150–1161), moved the Jin capital from Huining Prefecture (in present-day Acheng District, Harbin, Heilongjiang) to Yanjing (present-day Beijing). He ordered the construction of a palace in the Fragrant Hills and Jade Spring Hill in the northwest of Beijing.
Around 1271, after the Yuan dynasty established its capital in Khanbaliq (present-day Beijing), the engineer Guo Shoujing initiated a waterworks project to direct the water from Shenshan Spring (神山泉) in Baifu Village (白浮村), Changping into the Western Lake (西湖), which would later become Kunming Lake. Guo's aim was to create a water reservoir that would ensure a stable water supply for the palace.
In 1494, the Hongzhi Emperor (r. 1487–1505) of the Ming dynasty had a Yuanjing Temple (圓靜寺) built for his wet nurse, Lady Luo, in front of Jar Hill (瓮山), which was later renamed Longevity Hill. The temple fell into disrepair over the years and was abandoned, and the area around the hill became lush with vegetation. The Zhengde Emperor (r. 1505–21), who succeeded the Hongzhi Emperor, built a palace on the banks of the Western Lake and turned the area into an imperial garden. He renamed Jar Hill, "Golden Hill" (金山) and named the lake "Golden Sea" (金海). Both the Zhengde Emperor and the Wanli Emperor (r. 1572–1620) enjoyed taking boat rides on the lake. During the reign of the Tianqi Emperor (r. 1620–27), the court eunuch Wei Zhongxian took the imperial garden as his personal property.
Qing dynasty
In the early Qing dynasty, Jar Hill served as the site for horse stables in the imperial palace. Eunuchs who committed offences were sent there to weed and cut grass.
In the beginning of the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735-1796), many imperial gardens were built in the area around present-day Beijing's Haidian District and accordingly, water consumption increased tremendously. At the time, much of the water stored in the Western Lake came from the freshwater spring on Jade Spring Hill, while a fraction came from the Wanquan River (萬泉河). Any disruption of the water flow from Jade Spring Hill would affect the capital's water transport and water supply systems.
Around 1749, the Qianlong Emperor decided to build a palace in the vicinity of Jar Hill and the Western Lake to celebrate the 60th birthday of his mother, Empress Dowager Chongqing. In the name of improving the capital's waterworks system, he ordered the Western Lake to be expanded further west to create two more lakes, Gaoshui Lake (高水湖) and Yangshui Lake (養水湖). The three lakes served not only as a reservoir for the imperial gardens, but also a source of water for the surrounding agricultural areas. The Qianlong Emperor collectively named the three lakes "Kunming Lake" after the Kunming Pool (昆明池) constructed by Emperor Wu (r. 141–187 BCE) in the Han dynasty for the training of his navy. The earth excavated from the expansion of Kunming Lake was used to enlarge Jar Hill, which was renamed "Longevity Hill". The Summer Palace, whose construction was completed in 1764 at a cost of over 4.8 million silver taels, was first named "Qingyiyuan" (清漪園; "Gardens of Clear Ripples"").
The design of the Summer Palace was based on a legend in Chinese mythology about three divine mountains in the East Sea, namely Penglai, Fangzhang (方丈) and Yingzhou (瀛洲). The three islands in Kunming Lake – Nanhu Island (南湖島), Tuancheng Island (團城島) and Zaojiantang Island (藻鑒堂島) – were built to represent the three mountains, while the lake itself was based on a blueprint of the West Lake in Hangzhou. Besides, many architectural features in the palace were also built to resemble or imitate various attractions around China. For example: the Phoenix Pier (鳳凰墩) represented Lake Tai; the Jingming Tower (景明樓) resembled Yueyang Tower, Hunan; the Wangchan Pavilion (望蟾閣) resembled Yellow Crane Tower; the shopping streets were designed to imitate those in Suzhou and Yangzhou. The centrepiece of the Summer Palace was the "Great Temple of Gratitude and Longevity" (大報恩延壽寺). There was also a Long Corridor more than 700 metres long which was furnished with artistic decorations. As the palace was not equipped with facilities for long-term staying and daily administration of state affairs, the Qianlong Emperor hardly lived there and only remained there for the day whenever he visited it.
As the Qing Empire started declining after the reign of the Daoguang Emperor (r. 1820–1850), the Summer Palace gradually became more neglected and the architectural features on the three islands were ordered to be dismantled because the costs of maintenance were too high.
In 1860, the French and British looted the Summer Palace at the end of the Second Opium War and on October 18, 1860 the British burned down the nearby Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan). The destruction of the palace was ordered by Lord Elgin, the British High Commissioner to China, and was undertaken in response to the torture and killing of two British envoys, a journalist for The Times, and their escorts. The destruction of large parts of the Summer Palace still evokes strong emotions among some people in China.
Between 1884–95, during the reign of the Guangxu Emperor (r. 1875–1908), Empress Dowager Cixi ordered 22 million silver taels, originally designated for upgrading the Qing navy (the Beiyang Fleet), to be used for reconstructing and enlarging the Summer Palace to celebrate her 60th birthday. As the funds were limited, the construction works were concentrated on the buildings in front of Longevity Hill and the dams around Kunming Lake. The Summer Palace was also given its present-day Chinese name, "Yiheyuan" (頤和園), in 1888.
In 1900, towards the end of the Boxer Rebellion, the Summer Palace suffered damaged again when the forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance destroyed the imperial gardens and seized many artifacts stored in the palace. The palace was restored two years later.
Post-Qing dynasty
In 1912, following the abdication of Puyi, the Last Emperor, the Summer Palace became the private property of the former imperial family of the Qing Empire. Two years later, the Summer Palace was opened to the public and entry tickets were sold. In 1924, after Puyi was expelled from the Forbidden City by the warlord Feng Yuxiang, the Beijing municipal government took charge of administrating the Summer Palace and turned it into a public park.
After 1949, the Summer Palace briefly housed the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China. Many of Mao Zedong's friends and key figures in the Communist Party, such as Liu Yazi and Jiang Qing, also lived there. Since 1953, many major restoration and renovation works have been done on the Summer Palace, which is now open to the public as a tourist attraction and park.
In November 1998, the Summer Palace was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Towards the end of 2006, the Chinese government also started distributing commemorative coins to celebrate the Summer Palace as a cultural relic of the world.
The entire Summer Palace is centred around Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake, with the latter covering about three quarters of the area. Most of the important buildings were built along the north–south axis of Longevity Hill, which is divided into the front hill and the back hill. There are three small islands within Kunming Lake: Nanhu Island, Zaojiantang Island and Zhijingge Island. The West Dam of Kunming Lake divides the lake into two. The East Dam was constructed during the reign of the Guangxu Emperor. The attractions in the Summer Palace may be divided into six different sections or scenic areas: the Halls, Longevity Hill, Kunming Lake, the Farming and Weaving Picture Scenic Area, the Long Corridor, and the Central Axis area.
Dragon boats at Summer Palace.jpg
Front Hill
Eastern Palace Gate (东宫门): The main entrance to the Summer Palace. The two bronze lions on either side of the gate are preserved from the Qianlong Emperor's time while the Cloud Dragon Steps in front of the gate are relics from the Old Summer Palace. The three Chinese characters "Yiheyuan" on the sign above the gate were written by the Guangxu Emperor.
Hall of Benevolence and Longevity (仁寿殿): The hall where court sessions were held. It was called "Hall of Good Governance" (勤政殿) in the Qianlong Emperor's time but was given its present-day name by the Guangxu Emperor. The well north of the hall is called "Year-Prolonging Well" (延年井) while the rockery behind the hall was designed to imitate the Lion Grove Garden in Suzhou. The stalactites are relics from the Old Summer Palace.
Hall of Jade Billows (玉澜堂): Located west of the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity. It was the living quarters of the Qing emperors. The Guangxu Emperor was once confined here by Empress Dowager Cixi.
Yiyun Hall (宜芸馆): Located north of the Hall of Jade Billows. It was originally a library in the Qianlong Emperor's time, but became the living quarters of Empress Longyu in the Guangxu Emperor's time. It housed a collection of stone carvings of calligraphy written by the Qianlong Emperor.
Dehe Garden (德和园): Houses the three-storey Great Opera Hall (大戲樓), where opera performances were staged.
Hall of Joy and Longevity (乐寿堂): The living quarters of Empress Dowager Cixi.
Long Corridor (长廊): Stretches from the Hall of Joy and Longevity in the east to Shizhang Pavilion in the west. The entire corridor is 728 metres long and contains artistic decorations, including paintings of famous places in China, and scenes from Chinese mythology and folktales, The Twenty-four Filial Exemplars and the Four Great Classical Novels.
Hall of Dispelling Clouds (排云殿): Situated on the centre of the central axis of Longevity Hill. Originally the Great Temple of Gratitude and Longevity (大報恩延壽寺), it was renovated in 1892 and became a place for Empress Dowager Cixi to receive guests, host grand ceremonies, and celebrate her birthday.
Buddhist Temple at Summer Palace.jpg
Tower of Buddhist Incense (佛香阁): Located right in the centre of the front hill of Longevity Mountain. The tower was originally meant to be a nine-storey Buddhist pagoda built to resemble the Yellow Crane Tower. The Qianlong Emperor ordered the construction to be stopped just after the eighth storey was built. The tower was built on a 20-metre-tall stone base, measures three stories and 41 metres in height, and is supported by eight ironwood pillars. Empress Dowager Cixi visited the tower to offer incense and pray.
Sea of Wisdom (智慧海): Located on the peak of Longevity Hill. It was built from coloured glass and houses over 1,000 statues of Buddhist figures. It was partially damaged during the Cultural Revolution.
Stele of Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake (万寿山昆明湖碑; Wànshòushān Kūnmínghú Bēi): Located east of the Hall of Dispelling Clouds. The stele bears six Chinese characters written by the Qianlong Emperor.
Pavilion of Precious Clouds (宝云阁): Located west of the Tower of Buddhist Incense. It was originally called "Bronze Pavilion" (銅亭) and was built in 1755. The doors and windows were stolen by soldiers from the Eight-Nation Alliance in 1900. In the 1980s, they were purchased by overseas Chinese and donated back to the Summer Palace.
Stone Boat (石舫): The Stone Boat is 96 metres long. The original wooden boat was burnt in 1860 and has been replaced with a marble copy with western style paddle wheels.
Oriole-Listening Hall (听鹂馆): Located west of Longevity Hill. It used to be where Empress Dowager Cixi watched opera performancees. The hall is now converted into a restaurant specialising in Qing imperial cuisine.
Huazhongyou (画中游): Located west of Longevity Hill.
East of the Front Hill (前山东部; 前山東部): Has many pavilions and halls.
West of the Front Hill (前山西部): Has many pavilions and halls.
West of the Long Corridor (长廊西端; Chángláng Xīduān): There is a "West Four Hall" (西四廳) located north of Shizhang Pavilion. The Guangxu Emperor's Consort Zhen was confined in the hall by Empress Dowager Cixi. It used to be the west entrance into the Summer Palace during the Qianlong Emperor's time.
Back Hill
Suzhou Street (苏州街): In 1762, after returning from touring the Jiangnan region, the Qianlong Emperor ordered the construction of a shopping street resembling Shantang Street in Suzhou. The street was destroyed by the British and French in 1860 and was only restored in 1988.
Garden of Harmonious Pleasures (谐趣园): Located in the northeast corner of the Summer Palace. In 1751, when the Qianlong Emperor toured the Jiangnan region, he was so impressed with Jichang Garden in Wuxi that he ordered a Huishan Garden (惠山園) to be built in the Summer Palace and modelled after Jichang Garden. Huishan Garden was renamed "Xiequ Garden" in 1811.
Four Great Regions (四大部洲): Located on the centre of the central axis of the back hill. It was designed to resemble the Samye Monastery in Tibet, and houses statues of Bhaisajyaguru, the Buddha and Amitābha. It was destroyed by the British and French in 1860 but was restored later.
Flower Pavilion and Glass Tower (花承阁琉璃塔): Located east of the back hill. It was destroyed by the British and French in 1860; only the Glass Tower remains. During the Cultural Revolution, the Buddhist statue at the bottom of the tower was disfigured by the Red Guards.
Former Location of Gaichunyuan (赅春园遗址): Located west of the back hill. A small garden was built there during the Qianlong Emperor's time and the emperor also had his personal study room there. Gaichunyuan was mostly destroyed by the British and French in 1860.
Former Location of Qiwang Pavilion (绮望轩遗址): Located west of the back hill beside the lake. A small garden was built there during the Qianlong Emperor's time.
Eastern Dam
Zhichun Pavilion (知春亭): Located on the east bank of Kunming Lake at the south of the Hall of Jade Billows.
Wenchang Tower (文昌阁): Built to resemble a city gate. It served as an important entry point into the Summer Palace from the east and south during the Qianlong Emperor's time. The Wenchang Hall (文昌院) beside Wenchang Tower displays cultural artefacts from the Summer Palace.
Kuoru Pavilion (廓如亭): Situated in the middle of the eastern dam, east of the 17 Openings Bridge. It covered an area of 130 square metres.
Bronze Ox (铜牛): A bronze statue of an ox built in 1755.
Yelü Chucai Shrine (耶律楚材词): A shrine built by the Qianlong Emperor to commemorate Yelü Chucai, an influential statesman in the Mongol Empire. It was closed down after 2003 and its front section was converted into a souvenir shop.
Nanhu Island
17-Arch Bridge (十七孔桥): Has 17 different types of arches on it. It incorporates features of the Precious Belt Bridge in Suzhou and the Lugou Bridge in Beijing. The entire bridge is 150 metres long and eight metres wide.
Dragon King Temple (龙王庙; 龍王廟o): A temple built to worship the Dragon King.
Hanxu Hall (涵虚堂; 涵虛堂): Located at the north of Nanhu Island, directly facing the Tower of Buddhist Incense on the north bank.
Western Dam
Lake Dividing Bridge (界湖桥; 界湖橋): The bridge that separates Kunming Lake from the northern lake.
Jade Belt Bridge (玉带桥; 玉帶橋)
Binfeng Bridge (豳风桥; 豳風橋)
Jingming Tower (景明楼; 景明樓): It was destroyed by the British and French in 1860 and was restored only in 1992. It was designed to imitate Yueyang Tower.
Mirror Bridge (镜桥; 鏡橋)
White Silk Bridge (练桥; 練橋)
Willow Bridge (柳桥; 柳橋): Located most south of the western dam.
Farming and Weaving Picture Scenic Area (耕织图景区; 耕織圖景區): Built during the Qianlong Emperor's time, it was designed to bring to life a scene from the daily lives of peasants. This area was excluded from the Summer Palace after it was renovated by Empress Dowager Cixi. In 1949, the area was occupied by the People's Liberation Army and a paper-making factory was built there. In 2003, the area was incorporated back into the Summer Palace and some old buildings were restored.
from Wikipedia
For centuries, Japanese Zen masters have cultivated gardens of harmoniously arranged rocks and white raked gravel - creating silent havens for peaceful contemplation. By cultivating a miniature Zen garden - reducing for a moment the day’s problems to a few waves of sand against the rocks - one may come away feeling as if the rest of life has become simpler.
I started a small Zen Garden on our deck a few weeks ago. It is very peaceful drawing patterns and arranging rocks in the small box full of sand. The only problem I've had is keeping the cat out of the sand.
Macro Monday Minimalism
Nestled in the heart of Kyoto, this picturesque street scene captures the essence of Japan's timeless beauty. The focal point of the image is a meticulously preserved traditional wooden building with a gracefully sloping tiled roof, a quintessential element of classic Japanese architecture. The intricate wooden latticework and earthy tones of the structure evoke a sense of nostalgia and reverence for the past. This building, likely a historic teahouse or a traditional inn, stands as a proud reminder of Kyoto’s rich cultural heritage.
Adjacent to this historical gem are contemporary buildings, including a recognizable international coffee shop chain. This juxtaposition of old and new highlights Kyoto’s seamless blend of tradition and modernity, where centuries-old structures coexist harmoniously with modern conveniences. The clean, well-maintained street, lined with stylish lampposts, adds to the aesthetic appeal and invites visitors to explore further.
Walking through this street, you can feel the soul of Kyoto, a city that honors its history while embracing the future. The traditional wooden building stands as a testament to the architectural ingenuity of the past, showcasing elements such as shoji screens, tatami mat flooring, and intricate wooden carvings. These features not only add to the visual appeal but also tell a story of craftsmanship and cultural significance.
Kyoto, once the imperial capital of Japan, is a treasure trove of historical sites and architectural marvels. The harmonious coexistence of traditional and contemporary elements in this street scene is a microcosm of the city’s broader landscape. Whether you’re a history buff, an architecture enthusiast, or simply a traveler looking to immerse yourself in the culture, this street in Kyoto offers a glimpse into the delicate balance of the past and present.
Explore the captivating blend of old and new in this vibrant corner of Tokyo. The scene captures a harmonious mix of modern architecture, traditional influences, and the lively energy of daily life. The rust-toned building on the left exudes a retro charm, a reminder of mid-20th century urban design that contrasts beautifully with the sleek, minimalist gray structures nearby. This juxtaposition is quintessential Tokyo—where history coexists with the future at every turn.
Notice the lush greenery in the background, hinting at Tokyo's ability to seamlessly integrate nature into its urban fabric. This area is an ideal spot for those who appreciate the subtleties of Japanese city planning, where wide pedestrian-friendly sidewalks invite exploration and thoughtful details like umbrella-covered benches create spaces for relaxation.
On the right, a vibrant green sign advertising matcha sweets beckons visitors with the promise of traditional Japanese flavors, a reminder of the city’s deep culinary heritage. Shops and stalls like these are scattered throughout Tokyo, offering everything from artisanal snacks to modern takes on classic recipes.
Whether you're here to stroll the streets, savor authentic matcha treats, or simply observe Tokyo’s unique rhythm, this area encapsulates the city’s spirit: a dynamic blend of innovation, tradition, and community.
Step into the serene ambiance of a traditional Japanese Shinto shrine. This image captures the essence of spiritual Japan with a stone torii gate standing proudly at the entrance. The gate, a common symbol in Shintoism, marks the transition from the mundane world to a sacred space. Its weathered stone texture and robust structure evoke a sense of timeless reverence.
Just beyond the torii gate lies a small shrine building with a gracefully curved tiled roof. The roof's design isn't just beautiful; it efficiently channels rainwater, highlighting the practical wisdom embedded in traditional Japanese architecture. The entrance to the shrine is adorned with lanterns and shimenawa (sacred ropes), which signify purity and protection.
Surrounding the shrine, lush greenery and pine trees enhance the peaceful atmosphere. The natural setting frames the shrine beautifully, adding to its serene and spiritual ambiance. The nearby building hints that this sacred space is embedded in a residential area, illustrating the harmonious blend of everyday life and spiritual sanctuaries in Japan.
This shrine scene isn't just picturesque; it offers a glimpse into the spiritual heart of Japanese culture. The details, from the stone torii gate to the shimenawa and lanterns, embody the deep-rooted traditions and reverence that characterize Shinto practices. This space serves as a tranquil retreat for reflection, spiritual practice, and a moment of calm amidst the hustle and bustle of daily life.
The modern house that the young couple built in the village is very beautiful. Its modern architecture contrasts with the traditional houses of the village, but in a harmonious way. The orange color of the walls adds a touch of joy and vivacity to the house. The tiled roof is a traditional element that integrates into the village landscape.
It is important that young couples like this decide to settle in towns in the interior of Portugal. Their presence helps to counteract the aging of the population and to keep local traditions and customs alive.
The modern house they built is a symbol of hope and a future for the village. It is a sign that there are still people who believe in the potential of inland towns and are willing to invest in them.
This young couple's initiative is an example to follow. It is important that all of us Portuguese do our part to avoid "forgetting" the interior towns. We can do it in several ways:
Visiting these towns and consuming their local products;
Supporting local development initiatives;
Encouraging young people to settle in these regions.
Only in this way can we guarantee that the towns in the interior of Portugal continue to be vibrant and lively places.
Some of the advantages of living in towns in the interior of Portugal:
Lower cost of living: The cost of living in towns in the interior of Portugal is generally lower than in large cities.
A quieter and safer environment: Villages in the interior of Portugal are generally quieter and safer than large cities.
A closer contact with nature: In towns in the interior of Portugal, it is possible to have closer contact with nature and the environment.
A calmer pace of life: In towns in the interior of Portugal, the pace of life is generally calmer than in large cities.
It is important that all of us Portuguese do our part to avoid "forgetting" the interior towns. We can do this in several ways: visiting these towns and consuming their local products, supporting local development initiatives and encouraging young people to settle in these regions.
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Text & Photography: ©MárioSilva
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Gilded in the oak savanna.
In the leaning hills, where the summer sun turns the grassland to tinder, the savanna is a wind chime, rustling a harmonious lullaby like a new deck of cards in nimble fingers. Grasshoppers and mayflies and the chaff of newly dried seed catch in the sun. A dry, hot blizzard in an amber streetlamp.
The Arastradero Open Space Preserve is home to rattlesnakes, coyotes, and mountain lions and innumerable flavors of insects and birds, yet it is the trees that bring me here time and again. Before the axe and the wheel came to this land, enormous oak savannas like this one stretched across the midwest, the southwest and here along the west coast.
But the axe and the wheel did come and the savannas left. I like to think of the craggy and twisted forms that remain as wounded but unbent descendants of the stalwart soldiers who resisted the blade and the advance of civilization to hold the dusty California soil to the ground and to provide shade for the coyotes and mountain lions and rattlesnakes that weave through the tall grass of the American Veldt. As these sentinels slowly march from mother to child up and down the wind-tousled steppe, we flit about the outskirts of this preserve as insects, building and gnawing and living and dying. I hope that’s all we’ll ever do.
I came to the Arastradero preserve to connect with a particularly beautiful oak I’d passed (and photographed) on hikes before. I found her on the hillside as ever, arms outstretched, singing in the late evening breeze, fluttering fingers of bright green.
As I stood for a while here on the hillside, gilded in the afternoon, alone with my thoughts but for the oak and the whisper of the breeze and the hum-drum clicks and tweets of grassland animals, I thought, “I’ve been away too long,” and was reminded of Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree, and I’ve been thinking about it since.
I came back to the preserve to reconnect with a spot where I’d taken an old photo. Only now do I realize that same photograph was made nearly a year ago to the date. Oliver (who now runs and speaks and laughs) was with us then, asleep as an absolutely tiny three-month-old infant.
The change over the last year in Oliver provided, for me, a stark contrast with the constancy of the natural world, of these stalwart trees. How little they’ve changed. How little indeed will they change over the next century. Long may they roam on these hills and long may they feed my heart.
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In the leaning hills.
I’ve cared a great deal about taking photographs for a long time. When people ask me how long I’ve been “into” photography, I often don’t have an answer. I can vividly remember becoming interested in my father’s camera when I was a kid. No idea how old.
In point of fact, my mother was cleaning house recently and asked that I sort through some old papers of mine. Tucked in a bunch of junk were loads of old prints made with a Vivitar point and shoot given me by my parents sometime while I was in fifth grade. The landscape/candid ideas are all there, but the execution was a long way from developed (and often still is)!
I found a renewed passion for image making when I was in college and then again in graduate school, although if truth be told, it’s been relatively steady for most of my life and those moments of renewed energy are likely just an interpretation of mine in hindsight.
I often return to the question of “Why?” Why should photography feel a bit like breathing and why should I derive so much satisfaction from it? I have loads of standard answers that you see on photoblogs and photo news sites ad naseum, revolving around physical/emotional enjoyment and the risk/reward of creativity and sharing, but these are pretty unsatisfactory.
I’ll tell you that the social networking and community aspects of photography are not what drives me to carry a camera to beautiful places. Neither is building a portfolio of images what puts my feet out the door. Although I run this blog and make every effort to post frequently, I often find myself going to great lengths to make images I find interesting and then leaving them on the hard disk at home for months or years at a time.
This isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy every part of the process, from shooting to publishing; it’s just that, if those weren’t a feature of the photography/photoblog world, I would still shoot.
There is something about images and cameras that has always spoken to me, something in the process of making an extraordinary image that drives me across states and out of bed at strange hours. Images lie at the boundary between real and surreal, between ordinary and fantastic. They can tell the truth, they can lie, but good ones never let you know which. I find it thrilling to compare the different truths of the reality and the image made after. I like to imagine for a moment that the world is as strange as photographs make it seem, then I realize it’s far stranger.
I photograph because that’s who I am, it’s an authentic expression of myself. I mean authentic in the existential sense—that I am doing what comes naturally and being true to who I am. Sometimes explanations and reasons are trite and you just have to accept that you are what you are. Simply put, photography is.
Of course, existentialism takes for granted that, to the mind, the material world presents itself as incongruous and absurd. And maybe that’s what I find so damned rewarding about photography; the world is messy and strange and absurd, but there is a great harmony and undeniable humanity in standing amongst the nodding, tawny, and wind-threshed grain, catching on a wafer of silicon a few trillion photons that have spent eons bouncing around the interior of our sun, all the while inundated with the smells of flowering plants and buzzing insects, luring one another to sex and death in the burning heart of the afternoon, in the leaning hills.
Like to see the pictures as LARGE as your screen? Just click on this Slideshow : www.flickr.com/photos/reurinkjan/sets/72157624932250006/s...
Woodcarved in a tree pillar of almost one meter across in the Nyingmapa Yazer Gonpa monastery.
This is a popular Tibetan scene which is often found as wall painting in Tibetan religious buildings and represents an elephant standing under a fruit tree carrying a monkey, a hare and a bird on top of each other. The scene refers to a Buddhist legend which tells that four animals were trying to find out who could be considered as being the oldest. The elephant said that the tree was already fully grown when he was young, the monkey that the tree was small when he was young, the hare that he saw the tree as a sapling when he was young and the bird claimed that he had carried the seed from which the tree grew. So the bird was recognized by the other animals as the oldest, and the four animals lived together in harmony, helping each other to enjoy the fruits of the tree.
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.
Some wall paintings are painted on large canvases, which are then attached to the wall (e.g., with marouflage). Whether these works can be accurately called "murals" is a subject of some controversy in the art world, but the technique has been in common use since the late 19th century.
HISTORY
Murals of sorts date to Upper Paleolithic times such as the paintings in the Chauvet Cave in Ardèche department of southern France (around 30,000 BC). Many ancient murals have survived in Egyptian tombs (around 3150 BC), the Minoan palaces (Middle period III of the Neopalatial period, 1700-1600 BC) and in Pompeii (around 100 BC - AD 79).
During the Middle Ages murals were usually executed on dry plaster (secco). In Italy, circa 1300, the technique of painting of frescos on wet plaster was reintroduced and led to a significant increase in the quality of mural painting.
In modern times, the term became more well-known with the Mexican "muralista" art movement (Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros, or José Orozco). There are many different styles and techniques. The best-known is probably fresco, which uses water-soluble paints with a damp lime wash, a rapid use of the resulting mixture over a large surface, and often in parts (but with a sense of the whole). The colors lighten as they dry. The marouflage method has also been used for millennia.
Murals today are painted in a variety of ways, using oil or water-based media. The styles can vary from abstract to trompe-l'œil (a French term for "fool" or "trick the eye"). Initiated by the works of mural artists like Graham Rust or Rainer Maria Latzke in the 1980s, trompe-l'oeil painting has experienced a renaissance in private and public buildings in Europe. Today, the beauty of a wall mural has become much more widely available with a technique whereby a painting or photographic image is transferred to poster paper or canvas which is then pasted to a wall surface (see wallpaper, Frescography) to give the effect of either a hand-painted mural or realistic scene.
TECHNIQUE
In the history of mural several methods have been used:
A fresco painting, from the Italian word affresco which derives from the adjective fresco ("fresh"), describes a method in which the paint is applied on plaster on walls or ceilings. The buon fresco technique consists of painting in pigment mixed with water on a thin layer of wet, fresh, lime mortar or plaster. The pigment is then absorbed by the wet plaster; after a number of hours, the plaster dries and reacts with the air: it is this chemical reaction which fixes the pigment particles in the plaster. After this the painting stays for a long time up to centuries in fresh and brilliant colors.
Fresco-secco painting is done on dry plaster (secco is "dry" in Italian). The pigments thus require a binding medium, such as egg (tempera), glue or oil to attach the pigment to the wall.
Mezzo-fresco is painted on nearly-dry plaster, and was defined by the sixteenth-century author Ignazio Pozzo as "firm enough not to take a thumb-print" so that the pigment only penetrates slightly into the plaster. By the end of the sixteenth century this had largely displaced the buon fresco method, and was used by painters such as Gianbattista Tiepolo or Michelangelo. This technique had, in reduced form, the advantages of a secco work.
MATERIAL
In Greco-Roman times, mostly encaustic colors applied in a cold state were used.
Tempera painting is one of the oldest known methods in mural painting. In tempera, the pigments are bound in an albuminous medium such as egg yolk or egg white diluted in water.
In 16th-century Europe, oil painting on canvas arose as an easier method for mural painting. The advantage was that the artwork could be completed in the artist’s studio and later transported to its destination and there attached to the wall or ceiling. Oil paint can be said to be the least satisfactory medium for murals because of its lack of brilliance in colour. Also the pigments are yellowed by the binder or are more easily affected by atmospheric conditions. The canvas itself is more subject to rapid deterioration than a plaster ground. Different muralists tend to become experts in their preferred medium and application, whether that be oil paints, emulsion or acrylic paints applied by brush, roller or airbrush/aerosols. Clients will often ask for a particular style and the artist may adjust to the appropriate technique.
A consultation usually leads to a detailed design and layout of the proposed mural with a price quote that the client approves before the muralist starts on the work. The area to be painted can be gridded to match the design allowing the image to be scaled accurately step by step. In some cases the design is projected straight onto the wall and traced with pencil before painting begins. Some muralists will paint directly without any prior sketching, preferring the spontaneous technique.
Once completed the mural can be given coats of varnish or protective acrylic glaze to protect the work from UV rays and surface damage.
As an alternative to a hand-painted or airbrushed mural, digitally printed murals can also be applied to surfaces. Already existing murals can be photographed and then be reproduced in near-to-original quality.
The disadvantages of pre-fabricated murals and decals are that they are often mass-produced and lack the allure and exclusivity of an original artwork. They are often not fitted to the individual wall sizes of the client and their personal ideas or wishes can not be added to the mural as it progresses. The Frescography technique, a digital manufacturing method (CAM) invented by Rainer Maria Latzke addresses some of the personalisation and size restrictions.
Digital techniques are commonly used in advertisements. A "wallscape" is a large advertisement on or attached to the outside wall of a building. Wallscapes can be painted directly on the wall as a mural, or printed on vinyl and securely attached to the wall in the manner of a billboard. Although not strictly classed as murals, large scale printed media are often referred to as such. Advertising murals were traditionally painted onto buildings and shops by sign-writers, later as large scale poster billboards.
SIGNIFICANCE OF MURALS
Murals are important in that they bring art into the public sphere. Due to the size, cost, and work involved in creating a mural, muralists must often be commissioned by a sponsor. Often it is the local government or a business, but many murals have been paid for with grants of patronage. For artists, their work gets a wide audience who otherwise might not set foot in an art gallery. A city benefits by the beauty of a work of art.
Murals can be a relatively effective tool of social emancipation or achieving a political goal. Murals have sometimes been created against the law, or have been commissioned by local bars and coffeeshops. Often, the visual effects are an enticement to attract public attention to social issues. State-sponsored public art expressions, particularly murals, are often used by totalitarian regimes as a tool of mass-control and propaganda. However, despite the propagandist character of that works, some of them still have an artistic value.
Murals can have a dramatic impact whether consciously or subconsciously on the attitudes of passers by, when they are added to areas where people live and work. It can also be argued that the presence of large, public murals can add aesthetic improvement to the daily lives of residents or that of employees at a corporate venue.
Other world-famous murals can be found in Mexico, New York, Philadelphia, Belfast, Derry, Los Angeles, Nicaragua, Cuba and in India. They have functioned as an important means of communication for members of socially, ethnically and racially divided communities in times of conflict. They also proved to be an effective tool in establishing a dialogue and hence solving the cleavage in the long run. The Indian state Kerala has exclusive murals. These Kerala mural painting are on walls of Hindu temples. They can be dated from 9th century AD.
The San Bartolo murals of the Maya civilization in Guatemala, are the oldest example of this art in Mesoamerica and are dated at 300 BC.
Many rural towns have begun using murals to create tourist attractions in order to boost economic income. Colquitt, Georgia is one such town. Colquitt was chosen to host the 2010 Global Mural Conference. The town has more than twelve murals completed, and will host the Conference along with Dothan, Alabama, and Blakely, Georgia. In the summer of 2010, Colquitt will begin work on their Icon Mural.
WIKIPEDIA
The Blue-grey Tanager (Thraupis episcopus) is a strikingly beautiful bird found in the tropical and subtropical regions of Central and South America, from southern Mexico to western Panama and parts of Colombia and Venezuela. True to its name, this tanager has a soft, blue-grey plumage that covers most of its body, with hints of turquoise and pale blue on the wings and tail, creating a lovely, harmonious appearance. It’s a common sight in forested habitats, as well as in gardens and plantations, where it feeds primarily on fruits, seeds, and occasionally insects. The Blue-grey Tanager is known for its cheerful, melodic song and its social nature, often seen in small flocks. Its vibrant color and calm demeanor make it a popular bird among birdwatchers, adding a splash of color to the tropical landscapes it inhabits.
The Grand Place (Grand Square) or Grote Markt is the central square of Brussels. It is surrounded by opulent guildhalls and two larger edifices, the city's Town Hall, and the King's House or Breadhouse building containing the Museum of the City of Brussels.
The square is the most memorable landmark in Brussels. It is also considered as one of the most beautiful squares in Europe and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998.
On 13 August 1695, the bombardment of Brussels set the Grand Place on fire and flattened the majority of it and the surrounding city. Only the stone shell of the town hall and a few fragments of other buildings remained standing. That the town hall survived at all is ironic, as it was the principal target of the artillery fire.
The square was rebuilt in the following four years by the city's guilds. Their efforts were regulated by the city councillors and the Governor of Brussels, who required that their plans be submitted to the authorities for their approval. This helped to deliver a remarkably harmonious layout for the rebuilt Grand Place, despite the ostensibly clashing combination of Gothic, Baroque and Louis XIV styles.
By the late 19th century, a sensitivity arose about the heritage value of the buildings. Under the impulse of mayor Charles Buls, the Brussels' authorities had the Grand Place returned to its former splendour, with buildings being reconstructed or restored.
A Gingerbread House of Victoria, BC's Chinatown, on display at the 11th Annual Gingerbread Showcase.
I am happy to show you an image from the Christopher Spiller Pollinator Garden in Clarks Hill, South Carolina. Prepare to be astounded by this extraordinary sanctuary, a genuine marvel of nature that unveils a breathtaking explosion of vibrant colors, stretching as far as the eye can behold. As you meander through this enchanting field, a captivating array of wildflower species will envelop you, ranging from delicate daisies and cheerful sunflowers to majestic lavender blooms and fiery poppies. The air is filled with an intoxicating fragrance, a symphony of floral scents that transports you to a realm of pure bliss.
This haven not only nurtures the wildflowers but also provides a sanctuary for a multitude of butterflies and birds, creating a harmonious ecosystem that feels like stepping into a fairytale. Imagine being captivated by the beauty, tranquility, and sheer awe-inspiring magnificence of this hidden gem in nature's tapestry. It is a place where nature's wonders unfold before your very eyes, leaving you spellbound and in awe.
The Christopher Spiller Pollinator Garden is a testament to the power and resilience of nature, a testament to the intricate dance between flora and fauna. It is a place where the delicate balance of life is celebrated, where every petal and every winged creature has a purpose. This garden is a testament to the importance of preserving and cherishing our natural world, a reminder that we are mere guests in this vast tapestry of life.
So, prepare yourself for an extraordinary journey into a world of vibrant colors, intoxicating scents, and harmonious melodies. Step into the Christopher Spiller Pollinator Garden and let yourself be swept away by its bold and captivating allure. It is a place where dreams come alive, where nature's symphony plays its enchanting tune, and where the wonders of the world are laid bare for all to behold.
The intentional blurring of rice fields in Ubud, Bali bring a vibrant and harmonious sense of peace to an image.
Designer unknown (佚名)
2004/2005
Establish a cultured city, construct a harmonious Dongcheng - Humanity, thoroughly enjoy and experience
Chuangjian wenming chengqu, goujian hexie Dongcheng - Renwen, jinxiang huanle ganshou (创建文明城区， 构建和谐东城 - 人文，尽享欢乐感受)
Call nr.: BG E15/599 (Landsberger collection)
More? See: chineseposters.net
"When you look at Japanese traditional architecture, you have to look at Japanese culture and its relationship with nature. You can actually live in a harmonious, close contact with nature - this is very unique to Japan."
Tadao Ando
Have a great day!
The Anderson Stuart Building (formerly known as the "Old Medical School") is a superb example of neo-gothic architecture located next to the main quadrangle.
The building, carved out of beautiful golden Sydney sandstone - exhibits many gargoyles, superb stained glass windows and carvings. It was designed by James Barnet, with additions by Walter Liberty Vernon and then Leslie Wilkinson. It is on the Heritage list and has recently undergone substantial renovations.
The building has been in continuous use as a medical school, the purpose for which it was originally designed, since 1889. The Medical School is closely associated with the work of Professor T P Anderson Stuart who supervised every aspect of its development from 1884 until his death in 1920. The site, quality of design, materials and workmanship of the building gave visible proof of the respectability and dominance of medicine as an academic discipline. This dominance was an important feature of the organisation of the University as a whole for a prolonged period. The building is a fine example of organic growth with harmonious extensions to the original.
Sources: Sydney University website and Sydney Architecture website
Mist Valley
Mist Valley Estates is an innovative and vibrant residential community that redefines modern living. Nestled amidst lush greenery and scenic landscapes, Mist Valley offers a perfect blend of serenity and convenience. Boasting a range of thoughtfully crafted homes, from cozy townhouses to spacious family villas, our community caters to every lifestyle and aspiration. Residents will enjoy numerous amenities, including an engaging community center, a sparkling community pool, and beautifully landscaped parks perfect for relaxation and recreation. Experience a harmonious life where community spirit thrives and every day feels like a new adventure. Welcome to Mist Valley Estates, where your dream home meets a vibrant, connected community.
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”These pulsations are not harmonious – in fact they may be violent – but their value lies in their capacity to reawaken in us the pleasure of making oneself disappear in the mirror.” M. Walsh
Gilded in the oak savanna.
In the leaning hills, where the summer sun turns the grassland to tinder, the savanna is a wind chime, rustling a harmonious lullaby like a new deck of cards in nimble fingers. Grasshoppers and mayflies and the chaff of newly dried seed catch in the sun. A dry, hot blizzard in an amber streetlamp.
The Arastradero Open Space Preserve is home to rattlesnakes, coyotes, and mountain lions and innumerable flavors of insects and birds, yet it is the trees that bring me here time and again. Before the axe and the wheel came to this land, enormous oak savannas like this one stretched across the midwest, the southwest and here along the west coast.
But the axe and the wheel did come and the savannas left. I like to think of the craggy and twisted forms that remain as wounded but unbent descendants of the stalwart soldiers who resisted the blade and the advance of civilization to hold the dusty California soil to the ground and to provide shade for the coyotes and mountain lions and rattlesnakes that weave through the tall grass of the American Veldt. As these sentinels slowly march from mother to child up and down the wind-tousled steppe, we flit about the outskirts of this preserve as insects, building and gnawing and living and dying. I hope that’s all we’ll ever do.
I came to the Arastradero preserve to connect with a particularly beautiful oak I’d passed (and photographed) on hikes before. I found her on the hillside as ever, arms outstretched, singing in the late evening breeze, fluttering fingers of bright green.
As I stood for a while here on the hillside, gilded in the afternoon, alone with my thoughts but for the oak and the whisper of the breeze and the hum-drum clicks and tweets of grassland animals, I thought, “I’ve been away too long,” and was reminded of Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree, and I’ve been thinking about it since.
I came back to the preserve to reconnect with a spot where I’d taken an old photo. Only now do I realize that same photograph was made nearly a year ago to the date. Oliver (who now runs and speaks and laughs) was with us then, asleep as an absolutely tiny three-month-old infant.
The change over the last year in Oliver provided, for me, a stark contrast with the constancy of the natural world, of these stalwart trees. How little they’ve changed. How little indeed will they change over the next century. Long may they roam on these hills and long may they feed my heart.
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In the leaning hills.
I’ve cared a great deal about taking photographs for a long time. When people ask me how long I’ve been “into” photography, I often don’t have an answer. I can vividly remember becoming interested in my father’s camera when I was a kid. No idea how old.
In point of fact, my mother was cleaning house recently and asked that I sort through some old papers of mine. Tucked in a bunch of junk were loads of old prints made with a Vivitar point and shoot given me by my parents sometime while I was in fifth grade. The landscape/candid ideas are all there, but the execution was a long way from developed (and often still is)!
I found a renewed passion for image making when I was in college and then again in graduate school, although if truth be told, it’s been relatively steady for most of my life and those moments of renewed energy are likely just an interpretation of mine in hindsight.
I often return to the question of “Why?” Why should photography feel a bit like breathing and why should I derive so much satisfaction from it? I have loads of standard answers that you see on photoblogs and photo news sites ad naseum, revolving around physical/emotional enjoyment and the risk/reward of creativity and sharing, but these are pretty unsatisfactory.
I’ll tell you that the social networking and community aspects of photography are not what drives me to carry a camera to beautiful places. Neither is building a portfolio of images what puts my feet out the door. Although I run this blog and make every effort to post frequently, I often find myself going to great lengths to make images I find interesting and then leaving them on the hard disk at home for months or years at a time.
This isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy every part of the process, from shooting to publishing; it’s just that, if those weren’t a feature of the photography/photoblog world, I would still shoot.
There is something about images and cameras that has always spoken to me, something in the process of making an extraordinary image that drives me across states and out of bed at strange hours. Images lie at the boundary between real and surreal, between ordinary and fantastic. They can tell the truth, they can lie, but good ones never let you know which. I find it thrilling to compare the different truths of the reality and the image made after. I like to imagine for a moment that the world is as strange as photographs make it seem, then I realize it’s far stranger.
I photograph because that’s who I am, it’s an authentic expression of myself. I mean authentic in the existential sense—that I am doing what comes naturally and being true to who I am. Sometimes explanations and reasons are trite and you just have to accept that you are what you are. Simply put, photography is.
Of course, existentialism takes for granted that, to the mind, the material world presents itself as incongruous and absurd. And maybe that’s what I find so damned rewarding about photography; the world is messy and strange and absurd, but there is a great harmony and undeniable humanity in standing amongst the nodding, tawny, and wind-threshed grain, catching on a wafer of silicon a few trillion photons that have spent eons bouncing around the interior of our sun, all the while inundated with the smells of flowering plants and buzzing insects, luring one another to sex and death in the burning heart of the afternoon, in the leaning hills.
Gilded in the oak savanna.
In the leaning hills, where the summer sun turns the grassland to tinder, the savanna is a wind chime, rustling a harmonious lullaby like a new deck of cards in nimble fingers. Grasshoppers and mayflies and the chaff of newly dried seed catch in the sun. A dry, hot blizzard in an amber streetlamp.
The Arastradero Open Space Preserve is home to rattlesnakes, coyotes, and mountain lions and innumerable flavors of insects and birds, yet it is the trees that bring me here time and again. Before the axe and the wheel came to this land, enormous oak savannas like this one stretched across the midwest, the southwest and here along the west coast.
But the axe and the wheel did come and the savannas left. I like to think of the craggy and twisted forms that remain as wounded but unbent descendants of the stalwart soldiers who resisted the blade and the advance of civilization to hold the dusty California soil to the ground and to provide shade for the coyotes and mountain lions and rattlesnakes that weave through the tall grass of the American Veldt. As these sentinels slowly march from mother to child up and down the wind-tousled steppe, we flit about the outskirts of this preserve as insects, building and gnawing and living and dying. I hope that’s all we’ll ever do.
I came to the Arastradero preserve to connect with a particularly beautiful oak I’d passed (and photographed) on hikes before. I found her on the hillside as ever, arms outstretched, singing in the late evening breeze, fluttering fingers of bright green.
As I stood for a while here on the hillside, gilded in the afternoon, alone with my thoughts but for the oak and the whisper of the breeze and the hum-drum clicks and tweets of grassland animals, I thought, “I’ve been away too long,” and was reminded of Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree, and I’ve been thinking about it since.
I came back to the preserve to reconnect with a spot where I’d taken an old photo. Only now do I realize that same photograph was made nearly a year ago to the date. Oliver (who now runs and speaks and laughs) was with us then, asleep as an absolutely tiny three-month-old infant.
The change over the last year in Oliver provided, for me, a stark contrast with the constancy of the natural world, of these stalwart trees. How little they’ve changed. How little indeed will they change over the next century. Long may they roam on these hills and long may they feed my heart.
------------
In the leaning hills.
I’ve cared a great deal about taking photographs for a long time. When people ask me how long I’ve been “into” photography, I often don’t have an answer. I can vividly remember becoming interested in my father’s camera when I was a kid. No idea how old.
In point of fact, my mother was cleaning house recently and asked that I sort through some old papers of mine. Tucked in a bunch of junk were loads of old prints made with a Vivitar point and shoot given me by my parents sometime while I was in fifth grade. The landscape/candid ideas are all there, but the execution was a long way from developed (and often still is)!
I found a renewed passion for image making when I was in college and then again in graduate school, although if truth be told, it’s been relatively steady for most of my life and those moments of renewed energy are likely just an interpretation of mine in hindsight.
I often return to the question of “Why?” Why should photography feel a bit like breathing and why should I derive so much satisfaction from it? I have loads of standard answers that you see on photoblogs and photo news sites ad naseum, revolving around physical/emotional enjoyment and the risk/reward of creativity and sharing, but these are pretty unsatisfactory.
I’ll tell you that the social networking and community aspects of photography are not what drives me to carry a camera to beautiful places. Neither is building a portfolio of images what puts my feet out the door. Although I run this blog and make every effort to post frequently, I often find myself going to great lengths to make images I find interesting and then leaving them on the hard disk at home for months or years at a time.
This isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy every part of the process, from shooting to publishing; it’s just that, if those weren’t a feature of the photography/photoblog world, I would still shoot.
There is something about images and cameras that has always spoken to me, something in the process of making an extraordinary image that drives me across states and out of bed at strange hours. Images lie at the boundary between real and surreal, between ordinary and fantastic. They can tell the truth, they can lie, but good ones never let you know which. I find it thrilling to compare the different truths of the reality and the image made after. I like to imagine for a moment that the world is as strange as photographs make it seem, then I realize it’s far stranger.
I photograph because that’s who I am, it’s an authentic expression of myself. I mean authentic in the existential sense—that I am doing what comes naturally and being true to who I am. Sometimes explanations and reasons are trite and you just have to accept that you are what you are. Simply put, photography is.
Of course, existentialism takes for granted that, to the mind, the material world presents itself as incongruous and absurd. And maybe that’s what I find so damned rewarding about photography; the world is messy and strange and absurd, but there is a great harmony and undeniable humanity in standing amongst the nodding, tawny, and wind-threshed grain, catching on a wafer of silicon a few trillion photons that have spent eons bouncing around the interior of our sun, all the while inundated with the smells of flowering plants and buzzing insects, luring one another to sex and death in the burning heart of the afternoon, in the leaning hills.
Four harmonious friends, a partridge, a hare, a monkey, and an elephant, are depicted on a Buddhist mural at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Shigatse, Tibet, China October 24, 2010. Photo by Tim Chong
A 1/350 scale model of the Shangri-La, an Essex class aircarft carrier.
The ship:
Theres no reason for copy&paste. The story can be found here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Shangri-La_%28CV-38%29
The model:
I build the Shang as Essex class carriers (not all of course) look like during the time of corean war in the early 1950ies including the airwing.
That means, this ships has recieved all major upgrades and refitings which were done to several ships of this class.
The name:
Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. Hilton describes Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains.
It has been said that the Elves' love of nature and pursuit of living harmoniously with it lead to their unparalleled mastery of "directing growth," influencing plants to grow in ways beneficial to the Elves.
Elvish Growth Directors long ago found the species "Plant Leaves 6 x 5" to be quite versatile and unusually flexible, taking advantage of this ability to sculpt magnificent trees and buildings of every imaginable shape. However, it wasn't until elves with spacefaring ambitions were looking for a way to make a uniquely elvish impression on the galaxy did anyone think perhaps Plant Leaves 6 x 5 could be used to form the structure of a vehicle. While this wasn't without its challenges, it did present numerous advantages...
Unlike most elements used by sentient beings to build rovers and space ships, Plant Leaves 6 x 5's flexibility allows for unique and surprisingly durable geometries which are seldom possible otherwise. The elves' Botanical Rover takes full advantage of this, twisting and bending the leaves to form its distinctive tube-frame structure which is far more durable than it looks. The elves additionally find that Plant Leaves 6 x 5-based vehicles bring the natural beauty of their homeworld wherever they go, alleviating homesickness and making a statement about their cultural values when making contact with extraterrestrial civilizations. Overall, this makes the use of Plant Leaves 6 x 5 in rovers and ships a point of pride for elves, a unique innovation which to their knowledge they were the first to make use of.
The harmonious interior equals the exterior in its incomparable beauty. Stunning tracery windows create an ethereal lighting effect in the sanctuary. The cathedral has more than 1,800 square metres of stained-glass windows dating from the 13th to the 20th centuries. The oldest windows are the rose windows and those in the middle choir chapels. Also notice the magnificent 15th- to 16th-century choir stalls, which were carved by Flemish craftsmen. On the north side of the cathedral is a beautiful cloister in the Plateresque style, built in the 14th century and altered in the 16th. The frescoes in the cloister were created by Nicolás Francés. The cathedral museum collection is arranged in the rooms around the cloister. One of the most extensive collections of its kind, the museum displays many exceptional treasures of religious art. Highlights include a 10th-century edition of the Bible, the Castilian and Flemish triptychs, and the assortment of Romanesque art, with around 60 sculptures from the 12th and 13th centuries.http://www.planetware.com/tourist-attractions-/leon-e-castl-leon.htm
The Cathedral’s interior is a summary of the Medieval theologians’ concept of the world, presided over by the Creator’s Blessing. The windows illustrate three conceptual levels: typical vegetable motifs such as oak and vine leaves; heraldic subjects (windows of the triforium) and Saints, Kings and Prophets. www.leon.es/Visit/Monuments_of_the_City/The_Essentials/Ca...
The Government House (Raj Niwas) is a harmonious blend of French and Indian style of architecture. Formerly the Palace of the French Governor of Pondicherry, it is now the Lieutenant Governor’s residence. It is not open to the general public except on certain national holidays like Republic Day on 26th January, when it is adorned with lights. One can however get a glimpse of the grandeur within, through the tall imposing gates, which are guarded by red ‘kepi’ adorning police guards.
Nestled in the heart of Tokyo, Pierre Gagnaire offers a culinary journey that transcends the ordinary, and this exquisite appetizer is a testament to the restaurant's commitment to excellence. This dish is a visual and gastronomic delight, meticulously crafted to tantalize the senses. The appetizer features perfectly cubed cheese, adding a creamy and slightly tangy element to the dish. Accompanying the cheese are delicate dollops of a smooth, white sauce, which provide a rich and luxurious texture. The vibrant green leaves with striking red veins not only add a pop of color but also bring a fresh, earthy flavor that balances the richness of the other components. The base of the dish is a luscious sauce, likely infused with herbs and spices, creating a harmonious blend of flavors that dance on the palate.
The presentation is nothing short of spectacular, with each element thoughtfully placed to create a visually stunning plate. The intricate design of the appetizer showcases a harmonious blend of colors and textures. The cracker provides a delicate crunch, while the edible flowers and herbs introduce a burst of fresh, aromatic flavors. Each bite is a symphony of taste, with the subtle sweetness of the flowers complementing the savory notes of the herbs. This appetizer not only tantalizes the palate but also captivates the eyes with its natural beauty.
The use of seasonal, locally-sourced ingredients ensures that every element of the dish is at the peak of its freshness. This appetizer exemplifies the artistry and innovation that Pierre Gagnaire is renowned for, making it a must-try for any food enthusiast visiting Tokyo. The combination of high-quality ingredients, expert technique, and creative presentation ensures that this dish is not only a feast for the eyes but also an unforgettable culinary experience. Whether you're a seasoned foodie or a curious traveler, this appetizer is sure to leave a lasting impression and set the stage for an extraordinary dining adventure at Pierre Gagnaire.
In this ultra modern office/den, we see how steel and glass are harmoniously fused to create a one of a kind interior. Built for a woman with an active lifestyle, this room uses a monochromatic theme of russet combined with shades of black and off-white. Automotive white paint is used for the walls and ceiling in order to achieve that glossy yet chic look. There is a collage of glass as different kinds of it are used all over the room.
An area of the room is treated with raised curved flooring that echoes to the ceiling. This detail is meant to delineate the den from the office, making the room more organized. Inspired by the letter G, the modern Oh-G loveseat is done in white leather, incorporating russet and black accents. This particular furniture piece has a classy and refreshing take, highly inviting to lounge around on those lazy afternoons. During working hours, a very stylish yet functional table in glass and steel was designed to partner with the equally tasteful Anne’s hand chair. It’s trendy yet good enough to do some serious office work.
The design is central the individual who lives here … it is meant to reveals her personality … strong, driven, composed, and full of life
…A creative and energetic woman of the new millennium.
Known for great steaks and seafood, the Mastro's restaurant group brings Mastro's Ocean Club to Crystals shopping center at CityCenter. With mouthwatering tender cuts of beef, a two-foot tall seafood tower and fresh seafood, Mastro's Ocean Club offers an elegant place for land and sea lovers to dine harmoniously.
Specialty martinis served with dry ice and butter cake are two more reasons to give Mastro's a try after a long day of shopping. If you like to be entertained, sit in the Ocean Club's piano lounge with live music daily. Or, dine in the tree house, a wooden structure that serves as functional art.
from Wikipedia:
The chapel combines harmoniously a variety of styles: the Norman architecture and door decor, the Arabic arches and scripts adorning the roof, the Byzantine dome and mosaics. For instance, clusters of four eight-pointed stars, typical for Muslim design, are arranged on the ceiling so as to form a Christian cross.
Saracen arches and Byzantine mosaics complement each other within the Palatine Chapel
The Palatine Chapel (Italian: Cappella Palatina[1]) is the royal chapel of the Norman kings of Sicily situated on the ground floor at the center of the Palazzo Reale in Palermo, southern Italy.
The chapel was commissioned by Roger II of Sicily in 1132 to be built upon an older chapel (now the crypt) constructed around 1080. It took eight years to build and many more to decorate with mosaics and fine art. The sanctuary, dedicated to Saint Peter, is reminiscent of a domed basilica. It has three apses, as is usual in Byzantine architecture, with six pointed arches (three on each side of the central nave) resting on recycled classical columns.
The mosaics of the Palatine Chapel are of unparalleled elegance as concerns elongated proportions and streaming draperies of figures. They are also noted for subtle modulations of colour and luminance. The oldest are probably those covering the ceiling, the drum, and the dome. The shimmering mosaics of the transept, presumably dating from the 1140s and attributed to Byzantine artists, illustrate scenes from the Acts of the Apostles. Every composition is set within an ornamental frame, not dissimilar to that used in contemporaneous mosaic icons.
Other remarkable features of the chapel include the Carolingian throne, a low stage for royal receptions, and a balcony which allowed the king to view religious processions from above. In addition, the muqarnas ceiling is spectacular. The hundreds of facets were painted, notably with many purely ornamental vegetal and zoomorphic designs but also with scenes of daily life and many subjects that have not yet been explained. Stylistically influenced by Iraqi 'Abbasid art, these paintings are innovative in their more spatially aware representation of personages and of animals
The Four Harmonious Friends........
A popular Tibetan scene which is often found as wall painting in Tibetan religious buildings and represents an elephant standing under a fruit tree carrying a monkey, a hare and a bird on top of each other.
The scene refers to a Buddhist legend which tells that four animals were trying to find out who could be considered as being the oldest. The elephant said that the tree was already fully grown when he was young, the monkey that the tree was small when he was young, the hare that he saw the tree as a sapling when he was young and the bird claimed that he had carried the seed from which the tree grew. So the bird was recognized by the other animals as the oldest, and the four animals lived together in harmony, helping each other to enjoy the fruits of the tree.