Art of Samuel Loren Schmucker

Another one of the Christmas Card Artists I highlighted after Christmas was Samuel Loren Schmucker.

For almost 10 years Samuel created postcards for the John Winsch Company and the Detroit Publishing Company, two of the largest postcard Publishers in America.  When the postcard craze slowed down he went on to paint designs for candy boxes and candy wrappers. He also did pen and ink sketches for the Philadelphia Daily Press fashion plates.

Samuel studied drawing and painting the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and at the Howard Pyle Institute at Drexel where he met fellow classmate Maxfield Parrish. 

His wife Katherine was the model for most of his postcard work. 

But what is most amazing is that Samuel contracted Polio as a small child and it left his right arm and hand partially paralyzed. He learned to grip a brush and use his shoulder and back to move his hand around to paint and draw.

This week enjoy the art of Samuel Loren Schmucker. 

Maude Humprey Bogart

On March 30, 1868 in Rochester, New York a baby girl was born. Her mother, Frances Churchill Humphrey and her father John Perkins Humphrey named her Maude.

She studied art at the Art Students League of New York when she was 18 and then in Paris at the Julian Academy.

She entered a competition sponsored by Louis Prang and Company to design a Christmas Card. She won and soon began working for the Publisher F.A. Stokes as an illustrator. Not only did she illustrate cards but calendars,

 post cards, fashion magazines,

                 Cover of Delineator magazine, April 1917. Color illustration by Maud Humphrey

and story books 

but she would paint portraits of children.

In 1898 Maude married Belmont Deforest Bogart and shortly after that Humphrey Deforest Bogart was born. 

                                    Maud and Humphrey

Better known as Humphrey Bogart. 

                                      Humphrey age 2

                                    

Maude signed her art Maude Humphrey and sometimes just M. H.   

This week, enjoy the art of Maude Humphrey Bogart. 

Artists and Christmas Cards

I was going through an old basket of items from my Father’s childhood looking for a particular old letter my dad wrote to his mom one summer while he was staying with his grandmother. He calls himself Sammy in the letter and my brother was amused. I was going to do something creative with it and give it to him for Christmas. I never found the letter he wanted but I did find some old vintage cards. One was a Christmas card. It was a small work of adorable art.

I got to thinking about the artists behind these cards and so I started hunting for vintage Christmas cards where the artist could be identified.

                      Ellen Clapsaddle she has signed the card on the bottom left and it went to print that way. 

This week enjoy Artists and Christmas Cards! 

The Art of Christmas Morning

Christmas Morning.

We wait for it all year with excitement, anticipation, anxiety, dread, fear, joy, hope and over a thousand other emotions and thoughts.

Things march across my mind. Will there be snow? Will Santa stop by?  Are my girls going to get along or emotionally bash each other as sister can so expertly do? Will I have enough Champagne? (For my secret stash in my room as well as the family.) Will my cat stay trapped in the right bedroom so she has access to the litter box?

This week we look at Christmas Morning.

                                                         Henry Mosler - Christmas Morning

I will confess I am a little sad it will soon all be over.

Ornament Reflection

As I was waiting for inspiration to land on my shoulder and whisper in my ear I was looking at my Christmas tree.

Some ornaments are frosty, matte, 

sparkling like a disco ball. 

Some are crystal stars,

 glittering pine cones

 and a few have a mirror like sheen. I could see myself in reflection.

There it is, she whispered. Find artists who have painted a Christmas ornament and included a reflection.

This week I present Ornament Reflection.

Enjoy!

Journey To Bethlehem

Caesar has ordered a census. Everyone twelve years or older must go to their city of origin to register and pay taxes.

                                                 A painting of Bethlehem by Vasily Polenov, 1882

Joseph is descended from the line of David and so he must go to Bethlehem. His very,  pregnant fiance Mary is also from the line of David so she must also go to Bethlehem.  They live in Narzareth, Bethlehem is over 65 miles away. It will take five days to walk the distance. 

                                 Bethlehem
The terrain is a varied landscape, hills, forests, valleys where  lions, bear and boar roam freely . Bandits and robbers would have been lying in wait, ready to grab at any of the passing people traveling by. 

This week enjoy Journey To Bethlehem.

Bringing Home the Tree

Every year, when we were not living half-way around the world, we would go to my Granny’s house for Thanksgiving.  My Grandpa grew Christmas trees on several of his acres. 

We would always go out on Sunday after lunch and cut one down to take home.

Driving the winding roads of West Virginia back to our home with a tree securely tethered to our car roof was an adventure all by itself. Stopping every so often so my parents could re-secure the ropes, watching stray branches flap around outside our window and cheering my dad on as he bundled the tree in through the back door.

Putting up my tree today has me thinking about that wonderful tradition and memory of my childhood.  I have chopped down and dragged out my own trees several times in my adult life creating adventures for my own children.

As you reflect on some of your own Christmas Tree adventures enjoy this week’s Bringing Home the Tree.