Sunday, May 26, 2013

"The Bronte Sisters", My Nibblefest Art Contest Entry for May's 'PORTRAIT' Theme



My Nibblefest Art Contest entry for May,
"The Bronte Sisters":




"The Bronte Sisters", painted in acrylics on a 3.5 x 4 found, wooden plaque.

Once again, Nibblefest Art Contest Week rolls around, with May's theme being 'PORTRAIT'.... 

Well, anyone who follows this blog surely knows portraiture has to be among my very favorite things to paint.  Regular readers might also recognize this particular piece from a few months ago, back when I was attempting to follow the last '29 Faces Challenge' (as written about in this previous blog post).  Indeed, though I did fail pretty miserably in my challenge bid that time around, managing maybe only half of the 29 Faces during the course of the month (oops), all was not quite lost because I did come up with this particular little painting at the time, with which I was well pleased....


'The Bronte Sisters' tribute portrait, view to the right side


As I'd explained in my earlier post (linked above), I stumbled across this funny, little wood plaque at a charity garage sale years ago.   Unfortunately it never occurred to me to get a 'before' picture -- but please take my word for it that it had originally been painted in such a way to suggest a rudimentary 'slice of bread', complete with those curvy, carved sides.  Well, while I do like to re-purpose the old found frames and plaques that I find around and about town, the size and shape of this particular one had had me sufficiently stumped for ideas -- and so, I put it aside.  For years. 


Quarter for Size Reference

Until it finally occurred to me during the 29 Faces Challenge when I dug it out that the curvy sides looked exactly like ''heads' and 'necks' to me.  And that despite the plaque's petite size, I realized there was room for three separate faces.  It was then that it sprang to mind to paint a tribute portrait of the lovely and talented 'Bronte Sisters' (while painting on all sides, 'in the round' as it were, for a 3D effect).....


'The Bronte Sisters', view to the Left Side



The following is my auction description:  


"The Bronte Sisters"

My piece for this month's Nibblefest Art Contest (NFAC) (~the theme for May being 'Portrait') is an original arylic painting on a small and curvy, found wooden plaque (3.5" x 4").  Complete with painted sides for a 3_D effect (see pictures for details), my entry features a triple portrait of the famous literary sister team of the 19th Century, 
 The Bronte's:  
Anne Bronte:  (17 January, 1820 – 28 May, 1849), author of
'Agnes Grey' and 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall'


Emily Bronte:  (30 July, 1818 – 19 December, 1848), author of
'Wuthering Heights'



Charlotte Bronte:  (21 April, 1816 – 31 March, 1855), author of
'Jane Eyre'


  The Bronte's were a talented lot, but it wasn't exactly an easy life.  Losing their mother at a very young age to disease, losing two elder sisters to more disease, dealing with a troubled alcoholic brother and enduring sexism galore (a cultural norm at the time) in regards to their writing and publishing, they then each went on to get ill in their 20's and 30's and enter into early graves themselves.  But happily not before leaving behind a body of work that remains much beloved and classic reading to this very day.....

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"The Bronte Sisters", a view from the top.....



'The Bronte Sisters', view from the bottom.....



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To see ALL the great 'Portrait'-themed Nibblefest Art Contest entries this month
(with each starting at just .99 cents!),
just click here....