With some simple black markings that mimic the architecture of the gallery walls and windows, artist Regina Silveira makes visitors feel as if they’re walking on air. In an installation called ‘Depth’ at the Atlas Sztuki Gallery in Lodz, Poland, Silveira applied a large-format, digitally generated image to the flat floor surface to make it [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WebUrbanist/~3/tddduvdtWNE/

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? The name Jaya in Hindi means victorious. And little Jaya Maharaj was just that, when she became one of the smallest recipients of a pacemaker when she was just 15 minutes old.

A team of doctors at Stanford University‘s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital determined the girl born nine weeks premature had only hours to live if they did not perform the surgery.

Jaya, who was diagnosed in the womb with a severe heart ailment, entered the world with a heart rate of 45 beats per minute. A health newborn heartbeat is 120 to 150 beats per minute.

“The only way to save this baby was to deliver the baby right away and then the pacemaker,” said Dr. Katsuhide Maeda, the surgeon whose steady hand stitched the pacemaker’s electrical leads to Jaya’s walnut-sized heart. Stanford announced details of the operation this week.

During a routine prenatal visit, doctors told Leanne Maharaj, 26, and Kamneel Maharaj, 31, that their first child’s heart rate was dangerously low. They learned that their daughter suffered from congenital heart block, in which the mother’s immune system mistakenly attacks the nerve fibers that cause the fetus’ heart to beat.

The prognosis was grim: Doctors would have to induce labor and force the baby to be born as early as possible to correct the ailment before her heart failed. But Jaya grew and gained weight as her parents waited, giving them hope.

“We were worried, but at the same time we were hopeful that she was fighting inside and doing the best she can,” said Kamneel Maharaj, an information technology manager in Silicon Valley.

Dr. Valerie Chock, the neonatologist who counseled the couple, said determining when the baby should be born involves a delicate set of calculations. The baby should be delivered as soon as possible while still allowing her to gestate so her organs develop enough to support life outside the womb.

“Unfortunately, a lot of babies in this position don’t even survive childbirth,” Chock said.

The doctors settled on 31 weeks as the delivery date. About team of about 20 assembled to handle the complex procedure in which both speed and caution were essential.

The delivery of the 3.5-pound baby went smoothly. But Jaya’s heart was beating so slowly that surgeon Maeda decided to open her chest immediately to perform the operation.

Typically in such cases, a surgeon would connect wires attached to a pacemaker outside the body then perform a second surgery weeks later to install a permanent device. Maeda decided to tackle the more difficult challenge of inserting the permanent pacemaker immediately to avoid the second surgery. The whole process took about an hour.

The current pacemaker should last Jaya about 10 years, Maeda said.

Dr. Michael Artman, the chief pediatrician at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., and a neonatal cardiologist not connected to the Stanford operation, described the surgery as an impressive accomplishment that could encourage other children’s hospitals to undertake similar efforts.

“What really distinguishes this is just the fragility of this premature baby and the condition in which this baby was born,” Artman said. He said that while inserting a pacemaker is not itself the most technically challenging kind of surgery, the coordination of the large team needed to pull off the entire procedure poses a major challenge.

Today, at a little less than three months old, Jaya weighs more than 8 pounds and is thriving.

“Whenever we were worried, she would kick from inside and say, ‘I’m here; I’m alive!’” Kamneel Maharaj said. “We thought maybe she was trying to tell us that everything was OK, so we were always hopeful.”

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/surgeons-place-pacemaker-15-minute-old-newborn-020014428.html

modern art watercolor painting portrait painting

Winter has never been my favorite season. I don’t mind the cold as much as I mind losing daylight so EARLY. I came home tonight, paced around the house nervously, ate everything that couldn’t out run me, and then decided I needed to do something “productive” with my time. Which tonight, will be blogging. 

I’ve been playing with works on small little canvases. They all are at risk of being painted over at any second, but I’m trying to let ideas evolve and just have some fun without “wasting” too much time or paint. Above is my caged girl in progress… not sure where this one is going but I’m imagining some little imps, swinging in the branches.Above is an old raven I did after downloading some works of Poe. I know there’s nothing particularly artsy or abstract about it, but sometimes you just feel like you should collage a crow. So there.

And along the same lines, below is a tiny little work I call “Saturday Morning,” which looks more like a “Saturday Morning Bloodbath” but that’s merely coincidental. And the keys? Actually, I had ordered a necklace on Etsy and had just put it on there to remind myself to put it up and I thought it looked neat. I’m pretty certain this painting isn’t long for this world, but I do like the general idea more than the unfortunate outcome. I sure would like some scrambled eggs now, though.

And last but not least is a painting that I really have grown to love, and for me to LOVE (and admit that I love) one of my paintings? is pretty rare. I added more flowers, altered the colors of existing flowers, and put a few finishing touches on to ensure this one is FINISHED. Sometimes you just want to look at something that’s pleasing and not feel like you have to “think” about it.

Okay! I’m off to have “reading time” with the family (which drove my 14 year old into bed at 9:15 to avoid it all together.) I started the Hunger Games series and, despite the teen love/angst, am just devouring the second book.

Renee

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RagtreePolymerClaySculpture/~3/5UqzdUQO0zY/works-in-progress.html

indian art landscape paintings body paintings

by David R. Darrow
8″ x 6″ (20.3cm x 15.2cm)
Oil on Stretched, Washed Denim

SOLD
Collection of David Hansen
Milwaukee, WI ? USA

About This Painting

Not just a couple of peppers. These are peppers from my own vegetable garden in San Jose, CA. And not just a still life on ordinary canvas ? this painting is done on my old blue jeans… unstitched, washed and archivally stretched and glued onto a birch plywood panel, then gessoed with archival-quality, clear gesso.

Peppers on pants: Hot pants!  ?

Source: http://everydaypaintings.blogspot.com/2011/08/hot-pants.html

illustration painting veduta art deco

Once again I?ve been very busy working on the October project, figuring out administrative stuff. It?s going to be worth it when it?s all ready to go though.

In the studio I?ve been busy with Prussian Blue, which is great for creating that faded blue colour of old tattoos. The Emperor has new ink ? two imperial eagles, one on each of his upper arms. I had trouble locating the right hand tattoo properly and had to repaint it to get it to feel as if it is wrapping around the curve of his arm properly.

The hanged man got a glaze of the same colour over the rock that I?ve added to the bottom of the painting. I remember finding this particular prehistoric cup and ring decorated stone in England in May of 2010 when traveling with a group of students in the North of England near a small town called Wooler in Northumberland, England. The location is wonderful, up high on a moorland hillside overlooking a wide valley. We were pressed for time when we went in search of the stone, and I though we would never find it, because it?s flat to the ground and easily missed. When we found it I remember being completely delighted, because I?d read about this particular site a few years ago when I was busy researching prehistoric art and architecture for my PhD, but never imagined that I?d have a chance to visit it. I?ve included it in the painting because I want to get a deeper sense of what betrayal means, not emphasizing personal relationships alone, but also referring to our relationship to the past. We are the product of many generations of our ancestors, and I want to acknowledge my debt to mine by remembering their culture and acknowledging their influence upon the present. The hanged man reaches for a ring that is sitting on a rock that?s carved with symbols from five thousand years ago, associating him with his ancient forebears.

Source: http://gildedraven.com/2012/02/eagle-tattoo/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=eagle-tattoo

oil paintings fresco paintings ink paintings

Happy Halloween, everyone! Halloween is one of my FAVORITE days, but this year I’m kind of bummed because #1) I have to work late tomorrow and will miss the throngs of children that haunt my neighborhood one day a year and #2) I don’t have anything even remotely resembling an excuse to dress up. So I guess my witch hat will just gather some dust until next year.

Tonight I think I was visited by goblins in during my dinner prep. On the menu: sirloin steak and organic brown rice risotto with peas. After weeping my way through onion chopping, I measured my rice into the pan. As you do with risotto, I stirred the dry rice with the onions for a couple of minutes before adding the dash of white wine. But I kept noticing these little black specs that can only be described as miniature mouse droppings. So I kind of freaked out and even Googled “black specs in rice.” Deciding that something was NOT right, I pulled out the bag of rice and poured it into a large glass bowl. At this point I discovered the rice was INFESTED with these tiny black bugs. I have to admit that I’d put so much time in prep to this point that I actually had the split second urge to count them as an extra source of protein and continue, but my better judgement took hold and I dumped the whole pan into the garbage.

If I’m nothing else, I think I’m resourceful so I scoured my cabinets (almost completely bare of because of my quest to eat mostly unprocessed foods) and found a container of steel cut oats. So here is my recipe for steel-but oat risotto (which I honestly think turned out better than a brown rice version would have!)

2 cups uncooked steel cut oats
32 oz. (approx.) chicken stock, warmed in a separate pan
dash of white wine (maybe 1/4 cup? I don’t measure)
1-2 onions
fresh or frozen peas (uncooked)
one lemon
pat of butter
good quality Parmesan cheese
salt (I didn’t need it) and pepper

Melt butter in pan over med-low heat. Add onions and sweat them (you don’t want them brown, just soft) for about 5 minutes. Add oats and stir around for another 5 minutes. Add dash of white wine and stir until it’s absorbed. Start adding broth (about a ladle at a time until it’s absorbed) and stir constantly for about 15-20 minutes. When oats are creamy and al-dente, add peas. Squeeze in half your lemon, grate pepper and grate your cheese (however cheesy you like it.) YUM! I’d say it stands up to arborio rice any day.

I have had a SUPER productive day. I got up this morning and made a huge batch of peppermint and tea tree soap, did my grocery shopping, went for a 2.5 mile run (it was SO beautiful outside,) chopped and froze my weekly supply of veggies (makes cooking easier through the week,) and made tonight’s dinner plus a giant pot of bean soup for tomorrow’s dinner. The one thing I DIDN’T do (yet) is paint. Above is my latest finished painting… yes, I KNOW it is another vase. I’m going to force myself to branch out and at least try to resist the urge to add another vase to my series, but I “see” in shapes and colors and I just keep gravitating back to the same idea. But it’s time to move on. And so I shall.

Okay! I just remembered I forgot my laundry in the washer! I hope you all have a WONDERFUL Halloween and don’t get turned into a frog.

Renee

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RagtreePolymerClaySculpture/~3/2KScQpNJw_k/goblins-in-my-kitchen-and-steel-cut-oat.html

portrait artists modern artists surrealism art

Sometimes I work on a painting and there is this magical “IT’S FINISHED” feeling, at which point I sign it and waste no more fretting on it. Actually, on the rare occasion that a painting flows freely, it is such a euphoric feeling. Other times, I’ll work on a painting for months, never quite “feeling it.” If a painting REALLY stinks, I just paint over it. But those in-between paintings give me the most grief. I don’t want to paint over them, yet something isn’t jiving. Above is just THAT type… I don’t know what to do with it.

There are elements of this painting that I DO like… actually, on their own, I like all of the elements. Somehow, there is a depth that is missing that prevents me from having that relieved IT’S DONE moment. So I’m going to keep plugging away at it, trying to resist the temptation to paint over it. And yes, I signed it prematurely.Above is another painting I’m working on that falls more into the “effortless” category. Somehow, it just all came together (so far) in a way that pleases me. I didn’t plan this one out (as is my norm.) I just squirted some paint on the canvas and smeared it around with a palette knife until I “saw” the city materialize. I took the paint’s guidance and formed more buildings around it. Now I’m not quite sure where I’m going to go with it, but I have a few ideas knocking around in my vacuous noggin. I’m going to try to be better about posting as my works progress, for my own sake. I think it’s beneficial to look back and remember where my work stemmed from. After so many weeks and layers, a painting may totally morph from its infant form and initial concept (not that I hang on too tightly to original concepts, but still.)

Okay! Time to get moving! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Renee

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RagtreePolymerClaySculpture/~3/T3J9q9f6sKg/finished-in-progress-hmmmm.html

paintings rembrandt picasso

Hello, Friends! How are you? My kids have a two-week school break starting today, so we are hatching plans to make the most of it. I think we?ll hang out locally for the first week ? do things like visit the indoor tennis courts and swimming pool. Then hit the road during week two. We?d love to see Stonehenge. Or more of the Loire Valley. Or maybe both! What are your plans for the weekend? Will you be making Valentines?

While we fill out our calendar, here are a few things I?ve been wanting to share with you:
- A gorgeous berry heart. Is it cold enough to make one where you live?
- A little essay about hand-written valentines ? and it?s fun to see all those LOVE stamps from my childhood!
- This week I?m digging patterns in the nursery.
- DIY mugs with romantic quotes.
- This video will make you smile. And feel valentines-y. Via Mara.
- Cute (and cheap!) printables for Valentine?s Day.
- Happy rainbow heart banner.

I also write for Babble. Here are this week?s posts:
- Bring on the patterns!
- This is what I want for Valentine?s Day.
- Designed in Finland. Coveted by me.
- For the next birthday party.
- Baby June wears these every day.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Stay warm! I?ll meet you back here on Monday. I miss you already.

kisses,
Gabrielle