Monday, July 30, 2007

Spoon Collector

My spoon collection I used to collect airline silverware..
Didn't everyone?
Did you?

Wayne Thiebaud illustration for the Chez Panise cookbook AirFrance still makes a very nice travel spoon. I've moved on to cafe spoons, even though I don't drink much coffee.
These ink spoon sketches by Wayne Thiebaud are so casual and easy looking.
Spoons are a natural in still life paintings.They act as vectors or arrows and they add rhythm and movement to a watercolor.

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen's Spoonbridge and Cherry giant sculpture at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
 
Last week JoyfulArtist Jan wrote me about

sculpture in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.
This spoon is
29 ft. 6 in. x 51 ft. 6 in. x 13 ft. 6 in.!
This spoon is my Mecca - I have to see this!
Spoons, as I mentioned before add shine and maybe a touch of whimsey. And they hold things nicely like candy or macarons.
from Chardin's The Jar of Apricots
The master spoon painter is Chardin.
The MASTER STILL LIFE painter of all time.
This cup is so inviting and everyday and yet so painterly.You would never mistake if for a photo.
There's a terrific collection of Chardins grouped together at the Louvre where Louis XV gave him a studio and living quarters. Nice.
 
Alison was saying that spoons are hard to paint. Not really - spoons have anatomy just like the figure.
There's the bowl or head of the spoon. Then the neck and then the tip or tail of the spoon.
Each influences the other.
But Spoons are eating utensils.  They've been around for ages - since Paleolithic times.
Shells, certainly clam shells were used as spoons, as well as containers for holding paint.
What would we do without spoons?
You can't eat ice cream with a fork?
Most still lifes would be much improved if a spoon was added in my opinion.
Feeding Desire exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum

25 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:15 AM

    I can't believe my eyes! I have this link since April, nearly sending it when macarons reappeared here... take a look:
    http://www.artmatters.ca/blog/index.php?/archives/134-Chardins-Almond-Macaroons.html

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  2. kow that Chardin painting is in Toronto..another MEcca to go to...
    Lucky you KRIS!
    You can visit EVERY DAY!

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  3. Anonymous9:29 AM

    Yesterday, on "Sunday Morning," they featured the "Feeding Desire" exhibit and I was wishing I could go. Great post!

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  4. Anonymous10:23 AM

    Only you can make one want to start collecting spoons. ;-) But they do add whimsey to a painting and you do them so well. Love the Chardin painting and yours of course.
    One never knows what your going to feature come Monday Morning. ;-)

    Cris in OR

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  5. Anonymous11:15 AM

    Confession: I steal cafe spoons from restaurants. It all started at Les Deux Garcons in Aix-en-Provence last winter .... I always boost the tip by a couple extra bucks when I "boost" a spoon!

    I've added my heisted spoons to the collection I started with spoons I purchased from Cafe Richard two years ago. They are essential for eating ice cream and yogurt, bien sur!

    A la prochaine,
    Marsi

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  6. Hello Carol!!! I LOVE it!!! GURLS!!! And... you live on the right coast!!! We just have to find those easy doors between!!! I love finding you and your watercolors and your humor and the joy that leaps from my computer screen as I visit! You must travel to Minneapolis and see the spoon... I've seen the spoon and touched the water and it is wonderful! I will look forward to seeing what you do with that dream come true!

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  7. i have an affinity for tiny, delicate salt spoons...perfect little treasures...blessings, rebecca

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  8. Anonymous3:17 PM

    So many different special spoons to play with...I LOVE spoons!
    Annie

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  9. Hear hear. I love a spoon although very aircraft I go on these days has plastic ones. Fearful that we spoon each other to death?
    You paint a beautiful spoon I think.

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  10. Anonymous4:21 PM

    You? Stealing spoons? I don't believe it. No. :-)
    Your painting with spoons are beautiful... Are they new?
    I only eat yogurt with my Gelato spoons. (plastic)

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  11. I have an entirely different outlook on the spoon as an object after reading this. This post was magical.

    I particularly love the reflection both in the concave and convex part of the bowl . The distortion is always interesting.

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  12. HA!
    But I've paid for every spoon.
    I bought the coffee and the airplane ticket!

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  13. Anonymous8:11 PM

    I'm such a sucker for nice table settings--linens, dishes, silver, etc...I just like it all to look nice...my mom and my grandmother's influence, I'm sure...they'd be happy to see me fixing things up. Your things looked beautiful.

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  14. I'm enjoying your spoon and cherry series. I do have a spoon collection, however not from the airlines.

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  15. Anonymous11:07 PM

    Heaven!

    I go away for a long weekend and come back to find that your paintings are now embedded in your RSS feeds so that I can see them INSTANTLY and not wait to click through.

    Thank you so much!!! Didn't think you could make your near-perfect blog better, and then you went and did it.

    What a treat.

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  16. Spoons!
    I have a beginner's collection of one special silver spoon, given to me by a friend. Seven years ago. Poor little chap is waiting for company. ;-)
    Love your paintings, always noticed the spoons. Here in Vienna, the spoon is always served on top of the glass of water that comes with your coffee, in a very, shall we say attractive pose, the back of the spoon catching the light (miss that when drinking coffee elsewhere).

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  17. Anonymous3:45 AM

    We, readers, are "spoon-fed"... and spoiled through this post !

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  18. Anonymous3:54 AM

    spoons! carol, t'es trop forte.

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  19. I too love beautiful spoons.............
    blessings
    Love all that you post.
    Love Jeanne

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  20. Anonymous7:24 AM

    Je te découvre grace a la Fille du consul et j'avoue que je craque complètement pour tes magnifiques aquarelle, bravo !

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  21. I have MS which is similar to lupus in that it causes chronic and extreme fatigue. The Spoon Theory (pdf) is often used to explain this symptom to our friends and family. This blog post resonated with me because of that. Thank you.

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  22. hello
    i've never payed attention to spoon in paintings or drawings, now I will ;) I love your cherries too...
    As for the Billet magazine, you can order them from New York u know !

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  23. Spoons have anatomy just like the figures...That's so true!

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  24. In my life I've only ever stolen one... from Cafe Florian in Venice. I couldn't resist! Thanks for posting about something as simple as a spoon.

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  25. Lovely spoons! I admire your work.

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