Category Archives: Jazz Age

The Butterfly Charmer

Posted in 1920s, Art, Creativity, Inspiration, Isle of Adelle, Jazz Age, Jazz Musicians, Vintage, watercolor painting by

The Butterfly Charmer by Cindy Adelle Richard

Agatha did not discover her love for the cello until she reached her twenties. She had always been extremely active as a young child and participated in lots of sports; the thought of slowing down to play an instrument never crossed her mind. In college, Agatha’s music theory class took a field trip to a museum, and as part of the experience, the students got to try out lots of different instruments. For some reason, the cello just clicked with Agatha. She had no idea how to play it yet, but it just felt right resting against her body. With the support of her music theory professor, Monsieur Lamb, Agatha found a good cello instructor and started taking lessons in the afternoons after classes.

One day when Agatha and her cello instructor, Mr. Kim, were practicing, they decided to go outside to play because it was too warm inside. By this time, Agatha was quite proficient and could play lovely songs on the cello. As she played, butterflies started to swirl around her – first one, then two, and by the time she finished, there were about 20. Mr. Kim had never seen anything like it. The next day, they came back to the field to play, and the same thing happened. Out of curiosity, Mr. Kim played his cello to see if the butterflies would gravitate toward him, but they just fluttered away. From then on, he referred to Agatha as the butterfly charmer. Whenever she performed outside, day or night, butterflies appeared and fluttered lazily about enchanting everyone present. Agatha loved this spectacle because she had always been fascinated by butterflies. It always made her happy to see that the butterflies enjoyed her music, and she kept them in mind when she started to compose music.

To bring Agatha and her butterflies home with you, visit Etsy

The Swan Keeper

Posted in 1920s, Art, Creativity, Imagination, Isle of Adelle, Jazz Age, Vintage, watercolor painting by

 

The Swan Keeper

The Swan Keeper by Cindy Adelle Richard

Yuuma, the swan keeper, is known for breeding swans of an unusual size. She is currently the keeper of a family of swans with a female (Pixie), male (Beau), and two babies (Bobby and Lucky). Yuuma works at the bird sanctuary, and her lake and cottage are attached to it via a bridge. She is good friends with Birdie, the manager of the bird sanctuary. One of their favorite pastimes is taking long, quiet strolls through the sanctuary together while sipping tea and discussing the birds. Yuuma is also a ballerina for the local ballet company. She is obsessed with Swan Lake, and spends countless hours creating variations of it during her spare time. She creates one new interpretation each year and stages one grand performance for the citizens of the Isle of Adelle. They look forward to it all year because her productions are truly spectacular to behold. They all admire her wonderful talent, quiet tenacity, and gentle perfectionism.

This poem was created in Yuuma’s honor:

Stillness

White feathers flow

yoked to a graceful form

drift slowly by.

To bring Yuuma and her swans home with you, please visit my Etsy shop.

Nora’s Stitches

Posted in 1920s, Art, Creativity, Imagination, Jazz Age, poetry, Vintage, watercolor painting by
Nora's Stitches

Nora’s Stitches by Cindy Adelle Richard

Nora is an exceptional seamstress that Adelle recruited to join the art colony some years back. Nora said she would come on one condition – her home and shop needed to have an unobstructed view of the sea, and Adelle granted her wish. Unlike the hustle and bustle of Paris, Nora loves hearing the gentle swaying of the waves and seeing the boats headed to wondrous destinations. She likes imagining the places they might be headed, and her imaginings often make their way into her creations in subtle ways. For example, this yellow dress for Marigold, a perky harpist who has a flair for the dramatic, came about because Nora imagined that she was attending a night out at the opera in Venice. The gloves became a necessity because what Diva wears a dress without gloves.

People often say that Nora’s creations fit like a dream. She takes great pleasure in seeing her customers try on their outfits for the first time – when they swing, sway, and sashay in front of the mirror while professing their love for her clothing. Could there be anything better? Nora doesn’t think so.

One of her satisfied customers created this poem to honor her:

Satin Gloves

Shaping a fabric’s fate

her needle mimics the waves

making golden gloves sing.

This painting, Nora’s Stitches, is available as an original and prints via Etsy

The Umbrella Man

Posted in 1920s, Art, Imagination, Jazz Age, poetry, Vintage, watercolor painting, Writing by
The Umbrella Man by Cindy Adelle Richard

The Umbrella Man by Cindy Adelle Richard

Wade believes in making rainy days more amenable by adding joyful surprises inside each of his umbrella – surprises like pops of bright color, lights, glitter, and clouds. No matter what is happening in the sky, when his customers look up, they only see images that make them happy. There is something special about having joyful umbrellas to make it through a wet weather event. People order Wade’s umbrella’s from far and wide, and he will customize each one to match the personalities of his customers. How? Wade has developed a set of 5 profound questions to figure out all that he needs to know about a person (they are top-secret of course).

I created a brief poem to accompany Wade’s mini-story:

Idiomatic Umbrellas

The rain taps lightly above.

Inside their dome

people gaze up

happy to be home.

Umbrella Man is now available on Etsy 

Hats of the Horoscope Calendar

Posted in 1920s, Art, Creativity, Horoscope, Jazz Age, Vintage by
Fancy hats showcasing the personality and color for each sign of the zodiac

Hats of the Horoscope Calendar by Cindy Adelle Richard

I finished my 2019 Hats of the Horoscope calendar just before Christmas, but I am just getting around to sharing the news.  I also wanted to provide a little background about the inspiration behind the calendar. In case you had not noticed, I have a thing for hats. I have been collecting images of hats for years on Pinterest and I am known to regularly sport hats whenever I get the chance. I am also fascinated by natal astrology (the one that based on calculating our exact birth dates, times, and locations to provide us with snapshots of our whole life). I combined the two in order to create something unique, and I am thrilled with the results! To keep things manageable, I decided to pick out hats that match one particular personality trait from each of the signs and to depict it in the color denoted for each sign. I included the interpretations below so you will be able to see what each one means.

Hats of the Horoscope Explanations

Hats of the Horoscope Explanations

I hope you enjoy reviewing each month. These calendars are also available for purchase on my Etsy shop.

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The Dream Maker

Posted in 1920s, Art, Dreams, Imagination, Inspiration, Jazz Age, Self Knowledge, Vintage, watercolor painting, Writing by
The Dream Maker by Cindy Adelle Richard An African American Woman with floating feathers and a hummingbird

The Dream Maker by Cindy Adelle Richard

Esme always had an affinity for birds – feathers, nests, eggs, and birdhouses in particular. Her favorite bird was a hummingbird because of its diminutive size and feisty spirit. She collected all of her avian treasures as a child in a little fort in the back yard, and old garden shed that her parents no longer used. Esme made it cozy with green walls, white bedding, and lots of shelves lined with bird treasures. She put three birdhouses just outside the door, each with different types of bird seed to attract different birds.

Esme’s friends would often come to visit, and there was one visit from her friend Carrie that would prove to be life changing. Carrie accidentally knocked over the contents of one shelf and all the feathers landed in a pile on the floor. Before she could bend down to pick them up, they started floating under Esme’s gaze, surprising them both. They swirled slowly in a circle as if held together by an invisible globe. Esme fell into a sort of trance, and she saw Carrie as an adult performing as a trapeze artist at a circus and loving all aspects of circus life. Carrie gasped because she had never told anyone about her secret daydreams for fear that they would think she was silly, but it thrilled her to think that what her friend said might come true. From that day forward, Esme asked her friends to choose the feathers that spoke to them and then she would make them float, go into a trance, and tell them the most vital parts of their future. Then she would give them a feather to keep as a good luck talisman to ensure that they would always remember their dream and that it would come true.

Over the years, Esme’s abilities grew to the point that she could alter the visions to fit some of the desires expressed by her clients, but only if they were in line with their big dream – their destiny. Over time, she came to be known as the Dream Maker, and was respected and beloved in her community.

This illustration is available on Etsy

The Milliner

Posted in 1920s, Art, Creativity, Imagination, Jazz Age, Vintage, watercolor painting, Writing by
The Milliner by Cindy Adelle Richard a woman dressed in vintage clothes and a hat with a hat shop as a backdrop

The Milliner by Cindy Adelle Richard

Sayuri has always loved hats. She had the good fortune to be born to an exceptional milliner and his wife in a small Japanese village during the early part of the 20th century. Her father learned his craft from his grandparents and he passed along everything he knew to Sayuri, his only child. Her mother functioned as his assistant, helping the customers and managing the hat shop with the utmost care.

Even as a young child, Sayuri wore the finest hats with confidence and finesse. Because of her confidence, she was never teased for wearing hats – instead, they became her signature. Sayuri worked in her parents’ shop when she was not at school, and nothing made her happier. She enjoyed every part of hat making – picking the materials, stitching the hats, displaying them just so to appeal to customers.

Once Sayuri grew up, moved away, and established her own shop, she truly realized the power of her sartorial gifts. For you see, she can take one look at a customer, and know exactly what hat will suit them – the style, colors, and lifestyle. She is able to intuit their personality and preferences without them saying a word. For this reason, she tends to make custom hats. She has some hats on display just for show, but the real magic happens when she creates a hat just for the person who orders it. Each time she sees one of her hats out and about and perched just so on top of her clients’ heads, she smiles to herself and feels satisfied.

This illustration is available on Etsy

The Fastest Boater

Posted in 1920s, Art, Creativity, Imagination, Inspiration, Jazz Age, Simplicity, Vintage, watercolor painting by
Watercolor Painting of a Man in a Boater Hat with a Canoe

The Fastest Boater by Cindy Adelle Richard

Will moves so fast that anyone watching from the shore would only see a blur when he glides by in his trusty canoe. He canoes early in the morning before others get on the lake so he can go as fast as he chooses to go. He is not interested in competitions; he just enjoys being out on the lake slicing his canoe through the water as dawn breaks just beyond the pine trees. While he is moving, he does not think about anything – he just enjoys the quiet, calming sounds of nature.

The Accompanist

Posted in 1920s, Art, Imagination, Jazz Age, Vintage, Writing by

The Accompanist by Cindy Adelle Richard

This painting really came about because I wanted to do a piece featuring a Victrola. I am still on the hunt for the perfect one to add to my vintage collection, and I am hoping to score one at the Brimfield Antique Fair that I will be attending in September. I hope you enjoy this little story and the painting:

Lily had a tough week at work. But now, among the hedges, Lily sets up stool in her favorite spot to relax – the one where the birds gather and complement her playing. She does not play a normal instrument – instead she plays a Victrola given to her by her Grandma Esther. This Victrola doesn’t even have a place for records or a needle, for the music comes from within Lily. She simply holds the Victrola close to her body, closes her eyes, and lets what she thinks and feels flow through the Victrola. Lily is partial to jazzy tunes, but sometimes she’ll play classical music. No matter what she chooses, the birds always seem to know and cheerfully accompany her. This is Lily’s definition of a perfect, relaxing afternoon. 

This painting is available on Etsy: adellecirca1920.etsy.com

I Am a Story Artist

Posted in 1920s, Art, Creativity, Dreams, Imagination, Inspiration, Jazz Age, Reading, Self Knowledge, Writing by

A practice painting of Bonnie Bennett by Cindy Adelle Richard

I have been taking a little hiatus from social media to do some deep thinking  about my brand and my art business. I seem to think best by writing by hand with no interference from technology, and I used my time journaling and reflecting on my vocation productively.  The series of practice paintings I posted today are based on characters from THE VAMPIRE DIARIES. Rewatching six seasons of the show and creating these paintings helped me to realize how much I love art that tells a story. I finally found something I can happily do for the rest of my life without getting tired of it. However, these paintings were based on photographs, and I decided I really want to create original art using my favorite stories as inspiration instead.

Practice painting of Damon Salvatore and Elena Gilbert by Cindy Adelle Richard.

One of the big revelations for me while going this process was the role I came up with for myself – being a Story Artist. The two pastimes that have occupied my time throughout my life have been stories and art. From the time I was three years old, I have been obsessed with reading, and my favorite events were book fairs, weekly trips to the school library or the bookmobile, and story time in my classrooms. Eventually my love of stories expanded into movies, television shows, plays, operas, and ballets. I also started to pay attention to the arts as I grew up – painting, playing the drums, and dancing specifically. During the years that I was in college and building a career as a young person, I had forgotten how important these art forms were to me, and I am grateful that I have reconnected to my love of stories and art over the past ten years.

Practice painting of Damon Salvatore by Cindy Adelle Richard.

I have decided to use my favorite stories in various forms and genres as the starting point for the watercolor paintings I produce. This blog will be about my life behind the stories – my life as a Story Artist. In addition to creating and sharing my art, I am still in the process of writing a novel set in the 1920s, so you will still see content based on my discoveries from that glorious era. I am truly excited about this new direction my art and writing are taking, and I hope you will stick around to be a part of my creative journey. Thank you for reading and supporting this blog, and I look forward to sharing more story art and content with you.