Margret E. Short Fine Arts

Portland, Oregon artist Margret Short - a modern day master of 17th Century Dutch art using the chiaroscuro technique to create still life and floral paintings.

Margret Short

Sneak Peeks from the Pharaohs

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Well, it's time for the big reveal of a few of the initial works completed in the last weeks using  colors from the pharaoh's tombs. As mentioned before this pigment project has been more of a challenge than the Dutch themed one. The most important issue is there are fewer colors and even fewer vibrant ones. This detail below is from … [Read more...] about Sneak Peeks from the Pharaohs

Ready for the Afterlife

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Linen played an important role in mummification and the process was diverse, changing throughout the centuries. After the body and its important parts were prepared, it was wrapped with many layers of linen in varying ways. In the early period each limb, finger, and toe was wrapped individually, coated in resin, and moulded in plaster. During the … [Read more...] about Ready for the Afterlife

Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral?

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I read an interesting tidbit in the Parade Magazine, Sunday Oregonian, April 19, 2009 in the Ask Marilyn column. A reader asked about carbon dating cave paintings made with paint composed of minerals. Marilyn replied that carbon dating can determine the age of artifacts made of organic matter such as cloth, bone, and wood. If painting was done in … [Read more...] about Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral?

Going Upriver

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The Nile has always played an integral role in the lives of Egyptians, and the ancients had a unique way of interpreting stories of the river. It is the longest river in the world flowing 6695 kilometers (4184 miles) from the eastern interior to the Mediterranean Sea. The sources are Lake Victoria in Uganda and Lake Tana, in Ethiopia. The most … [Read more...] about Going Upriver