Curio: Lisa Brawn's Woodcuts

Alexa from Pop Elegantiarum here with your weekly arts and crafts.

Recently I came upon these woodcut paintings by Lisa Brawn. Lisa carves detailed portraits into wood, generally beams of salvaged Douglas fir. Usually artists carve into wood in order to make prints from the resulting block; instead, Lisa paints the carved block itself to create one-of-a-kind portraits. She looks to pop culture for inspiration, and finds "suitably rustic and rugged subjects" in tough guys like Steve McQueen, but notes that "Sophia Loren holds her own anywhere". I think her chosen medium is perfect, since it calls to mind Christian wooden icons; it's like she's made pop culture devotionals (Saint Bullitt and Saint Sophia, natch).

Here's a selection.

It Was a Sort of Madness, Honey © 2008

Jake © 2009

You're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat © 2008

Bullitt © 2009

Actress Italian-Style.

Jose here.



As I was watching The Story of Adele H. yesterday it struck me how Isabelle Adjani is still one of the few actresses to have been Oscar nominated more than once for performances in a foreign language.
Only twelve actresses have received Best Actress nominations for non-English speaking roles (the Academy usually waits for them to work in Hollywood and then reward them...see Simone Signoret, Juliette Binoche, Ingrid Bergman and Penélope Cruz) and out of these ladies, only three have repeated; Adjani (75 and 89), Liv Ullmann (72 and 76) and Sophia Loren (61 and 64).
Out of them only Ms. Loren won.

This bears repeating and celebrating today, more than any other time, because it happens to be her birthday.
She was born, wait for it, 76 years ago in Rome where she spent her childhood dancing, playing the piano and migrating to the country after she was injured during an attack in WWII.
A shrapnel during a bombing hit her chin forcing her parents to leave the city to protect their daughter.
Shallow intermission but can you imagine if something else had happened to her face?
She became to be known the world over as a sex symbol and one of the most beautiful women that ever lived. Guess things happen for a reason huh?

Besides her blessed physiognomy Loren is also a phenomenal actress. Did you know she's the most awarded actress in history next only to Meryl Streep?
Watching Sophia play earthy characters and vamps is always a treat but I guess my favorite performance of hers is in the movie version of Verdi's Aida. She has never seemed more vulnerable and larger than life for me.



Take a look at her legendary face and tell us what's your favorite Sophia Loren film?