Create Your Own Egyptian Jewelry

A reader requested more Egypt projects so I thought now would be a good time to post this. The ancient Egyptians used semi-precious stones and gold to make many types of jewelry, like these bracelets. You’ll notice that blue and orange/brown were especially common colors. Today, create your own jewelry inspired by the ancient Egyptians.

Supplies Needed:

Old magazines or colored construction paper
Glue Stick
Scissors
Paintbrush
Pipe Cleaner or Yarn
Mod Podge (optional)

Choose magazine pages with a lot of blue or orange on them. If you don’t have any old magazines, use construction paper instead. Make sure to get permission before you cut any magazines. Cut thin, triangular strips of magazine or construction paper. I used some aluminum foil, too. I like the way the metal shines.

Flip a strip over so that the colorful side is down. Beginning at the wide end of the triangle, roll your strip of paper around the end of your paintbrush. (A pencil will work instead of a paintbrush.) Put a little glue on the thin end of the strip so your bead doesn’t unravel.
If you want your beads to last, brush them with a thin coat of Mod Podge. This will also give your beads a nice shine. Allow your beads to dry.

Thread your beads onto a pipe cleaner or a piece of yarn.
Enjoy your ancient Egyptian jewelry!

If you’re interested in ancient Egyptian art, check out these previous posts:

Ancient Egyptian Paintings

Ancient Egyptian Carvings

Ancient Egyptian Sculpture

Amarna Art

Fayum Portraits

Draw Like an Egyptian

Create Your Own Ancient Egyptian Mask

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Create Your Own Bodegon

When you think of still lifes you probably picture paintings of fruit bowls. You may have created one before. The bodegon, as you may remember, was a certain type of still life that artists created in Spain during the Baroque period. Today, create your own bodegon like Juan Sanchez Cotan did.

Supplies Needed:

Paper
Crayons
Black pastel
Pencil

Go into your kitchen (get permission first) and collect some fruits and vegetables. Be careful not to drop them. You'll still want to eat those veggies later! Arrange the fruits and vegetables on a clean table so that they don't touch each other. Did you notice that Cotan's veggies never touched each other?

The next step is to draw what you see. Start with pencil. When you're happy with your drawing, color in the fruits and vegetables with crayons.

Finally, fill in the background with black pastel. This will give your bodegon that dark, shadowy background. Remember that pastel can smudge and smear if you wipe at it. If you wish, use a tissue to get an even color. Be careful not to wipe your hand across the pastel, though.

Enjoy!

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Baroque

The Baroque period began in Rome in the late 1500s. At this time, the Catholic Church was very focused on spreading their beliefs to others because the Protestants were working hard to spread their beliefs. The Catholic Church decided that art was a great way to do this. Even people who couldn’t read (which was most people at the time) could understand pictures. The Church wanted a lot of paintings of biblical scenes that average people could relate to.

The Baroque style continued where the Renaissance left off. You may remember that Renaissance painters created a lot of portraits and religious paintings. Baroque painters did the same, as you read about last week. In order to make their biblical scenes familiar to people, artists such as Ribera used real people as models for their religious figures.

Baroque artists wanted to show life the way it really it was. In my opinion, there is no better example of this than Velazquez’s Old Woman Frying Eggs (below).
Finally, Baroque painters often painted scenes that took place in bright light against dark backgrounds. This is especially noticeable in Cotan’s bodegones you saw yesterday. To refresh your memory, Quince, Cabbage, Melon, and Cucumber is shown below.
The Baroque period ended in the late 1700s.

And now I would like to ask a question of you readers who have been following this series of posts. Do you like it better when I write about artists and then tell you about the period during which they painted (like this past week) or do you prefer when I tell you about the period first and then about the artists? I would love to hear your opinions!

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Juan Sanchez Cotan

Juan Sanchez Cotan, as I told you yesterday, is remembered for his bodegones (still lifes). He was born in Spain in 1560 and painted during the Baroque period.

Cotan worked as an apprentice and then opened his own workshop. He painted in Toledo for about twenty years.
Like most Spanish painters of the time, Cotan painted many religious paintings. Religious paintings make up the bulk of his work. Critics agree, though, that his religious paintings are not special. His bodegones, however, were unlike anything that had been painted before and unlike anything else being created at the time.
In his bodegones, Cotan painted fruits and vegetables against black backgrounds. The food was always very well lighted which allowed Cotan to paint every detail. This helped the fruits and vegetables look real. You’ll notice that some of the food is hanging on strings. This is because people used to hang their produce so it wouldn’t go bad as quickly.

In 1603, Cotan decided to become a Carthusian monk. He stopped painting bodegones, preferring to paint religious scenes instead. He was still a popular artist when he died in 1627.

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Bodegones

The last couple of days we have been looking at painters of the Spanish Baroque period. On Wednesday, I’ll write more about the Baroque period but today I wanted to tell you about a specific type (genre) of painting that was popular in Spain during this time: bodegones.

Bodegones are a certain type of still life painting. They show food, drink, and animals that have not yet been prepared as food. In Spanish bodegones the food is usually not cooked. The paintings are often dark and serious. They do not include people and they do not hint at a celebration to come.
I did not show you any examples of bodegones last week but Zurbaran painted some. For example, look at the painting above.

Velazquez often combined bodegones with another genre. He liked to paint peasants in kitchens or taverns like in Old Woman Frying Eggs, shown below.
The painter I’ll tell you about tomorrow is known for his realistic bodegones. His name was Juan Sanchez Cotan and he painted Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber, shown below.
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