Robert Bateman - Majesty on the Wing-Bald Eagle,

Robert Bateman has many wonderful paintings of Bald Eagles.  I hope you enjoy this lovely one.  I like how you can see all his feathers in action.   

Majesty on the Wing - © Robert Bateman

* A reader pointed out that the following link was not working.  I reset it for public viewing so hopefully it will work for you now.  Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused anyone....  
 Following is a link to our  Picassa Web Album of Robert Bateman Paintings.  These will be the paintings we will be viewing this summer.  Though they are copyrighted we have been given permission to copy them for educational use.  
Books of paintings by Robert Bateman 
 
This is the last week I will be featuring The Creation oratorio by Franz Joseph Haydn -  of course you can take as long as you'd like or come back to it at any time, but next week we will move on to more of his music. I found this full length version of it if you would like to listen to it in it's entirety while you work on other projects: The Creation in English

Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8omYmytYvlo&feature=related
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S03cwGuw43s&feature=related  there are two places with nude artwork that you may want to minimize the screen for and just listen, from 04:28-05:15 and 06:33-06:48.  
Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=JYvdjGzlNYc
Part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=ucr4VikNxQw
Part 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=WFs18ayIg5Y
Part 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=-ul_KX2AV1U
Part 7 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fQ0_HnJYuc
Part 8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=JZFeA-INyV4 (Part 8 does include lots of nude artwork depicting Adam and Eve from about 00:32-04:15. You may want to minimize the screen and just listen.  Also footage of a Lion attacking a Wildebeast which might be too graphic for young or sensitive children - you could minimize when the lions start stalking at about 07:45 and continue to listen until this part is past- about 08:12).
Part 9 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRlL_0rTgsM&feature=related
Part 10 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKIYumIqvBQ&feature=related  (01:55-02:12 includes a piece of artwork of a person without clothes)
Part 11 http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=5lhp86YCQUQ (Part 11 from minute 06:52-08:05 focuses on a drawing of Adam and Eve without clothes - if this bothers you, just minimize for that minute....)
Part 12 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJXb2H4J268&feature=related


 I wasn't able to find who S. M. the young African painter was - if any of you have information, please let us know.  It would be fun to see some of his work.  Phillis Wheatley brings it alive in words....

To S. M. A Young African Painter, On Seeing His Works

By Phillis Wheatley

         TO show the lab’ring bosom’s deep intent,

And thought in living characters to paint,

When first thy pencil did those beauties give,

And breathing figures learnt from thee to live,

How did those prospects give my soul delight,

A new creation rushing on my sight?

Still, wond’rous youth! each noble path pursue,

On deathless glories fix thine ardent view:

Still may the painter’s and the poet’s fire

To aid thy pencil, and thy verse conspire!

And may the charms of each seraphic theme

Conduct thy footsteps to immortal fame!

High to the blissful wonders of the skies

Elate thy soul, and raise thy wishful eyes.

Thrice happy, when exalted to survey

That splendid city, crown’d with endless day,

Whose twice six gates on radiant hinges ring:

Celestial Salem blooms in endless spring.

Calm and serene thy moments glide along,

And may the muse inspire each future song!

Still, with the sweets of contemplation bless’d,

May peace with balmy wings your soul invest!

But when these shades of time are chas’d away,

And darkness ends in everlasting day,

On what seraphic pinions shall we move,

And view the landscapes in the realms above?

There shall thy tongue in heav’nly murmurs flow,

And there my muse with heav’nly transport glow:

No more to tell of Damon’s tender sighs,

Or rising radiance of Aurora’s eyes,

For nobler themes demand a nobler strain,

And purer language on th’ ethereal plain.

Cease, gentle muse! the solemn gloom of night

Now seals the fair creation from my sight.

 
Seraphs are celestial beings having three pairs of wings.

se·raph·ic

səˈrafik/

adjective

adjective: seraphic - characteristic of or resembling a seraph or seraphim.  Synonyms:  blissful, beatific, sublime, rapturous, ecstatic, joyful, rapt.

"Damon" - Greek Legend - Wikipedia 

"Aurora" - Goddess of the Dawn, Wikipedia on Aurora in mythology