annual alphonse mucha

it has become a christmas tradition that my mother sends me the latest and lushest calendar featuring artwork of the Master, Alphonse Mucha. this year was no exception. my marvelous mom came through with a real sweet one. the cover of it was lovely... and even though it's not yet January, i couldn't resist putting it up. i tacked it up right beside my little zen-computer pad on the floor. and this image, (one of my all-time Mucha faves) is the picture for January. i have actually been lucky enough to have seen some of his originals in person, like, at a museum in Raleigh several years ago. it was like a religious experience for me... to know that i was looking at the materials he actually touched. i even got close enough to see some pencil or charcoal erasures. jean-lucien said he looked at this painting when he was teaching himself how to successfully render 'ribbons' and 'streamer' shapes in his cutting. i love the colors, i love the composition, there's nothing i don't like about it. he really was the best at what he did. he created a certain style that has since been ripped off like, nine thousand ways. (google 'alphonse mucha' and see how many tattoos you see.) beautiful stuff.