Artsy Picture of The Week: More Nail Art!

Hi Everyone! This week I decided to show you more nail art that I created recently. These are some of the designs I did:

The sample nail on the far left is a tribal design, and the one in the middle is a yin yang design.  The nail on the far right was really easy to create. What did I used to get the really cool lines on it??? DENTAL FLOSS! Yes that's right, dental floss. I used the hand held little flossers that little kids use other than the regular floss you get in a little container. I find that using the hand held ones are easier. All you do is brush some nail polish on the piece of floss and run it over your nail. Easy as that!
I hope you enjoyed this artsy picture post! Have a great week!

Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan was a famous Portuguese explorer. He was born in 1480 in Portugal. Unfortunately at only ten years old he was orphaned. He was able to grow up in the royal court and later join the royal navy.

For roughly eight years he was busy with participating in battles. He did get injuries and one of them did give him a permanent limp. After some battles were over he did end up saving his friend Serrao during a conspiracy. Serrao was the one who got Ferdinand interested in exploring. Later, his friend decided to go explore the Spice Islands. He was successful and ended up staying there and sending letters to Ferdinand telling him how amazing that place was. That got Magellan interested.

When Magellan was in Portugal he decided to ask the king of the land permission to lead his crew to explore new areas. Unfortunately, he got denied by the king. This made him decided to leave for Spain to find new opportunities for exploring.

Ferdinand asked the king of Spain for permission to lead a crew through his journey. Because of the Treaty of Tordesilas the normal route to India for his exploration was now closed off to Spain so they would have to go all the way around Africa instead of taking the easier route.

King Charles then agreed to fund Ferdinand’s journey. Now that Magellan got that confirmed he got to work with finding the best route to go through with.

He left with his fleet in 1519. About 270 started the journey with Magellan. The goal that Ferdinand wanted was to find the best route to India traveling west.

When they left on their journey Ferdinand discovered a new passageway through the bottom tip of Africa. This is now known today as the Straits of Magellan.  After they got through that path it took them into another ocean, Magellan called in the Mar Pacifico. That ocean is now known today as the Pacific Ocean.

Ferdinand then landed in the Phillipines. He was warmly welcomed there. But, during a battle, where Magellan was defending the Phillipines , he was killed. So, what was left of his men (115 men), they returned to Spain without him.

With just two ships left, they completed their journey to the Spice Islands. They reached their destination on November 6^th 1521.

On their way back home they decided that one ship go directly back to Spain, and the other ship take the route all the way around back where they came from. The ship that went the way they came got captured by the Portuguese. Under their command, they got shipwrecked in a storm.

So, there was only one ship that made it all the way through the journey.  It took them about three years to complete the whole trip. They got to Spain on September 6^th 1522. They started out with 270 men but they got back to Spain with only 18 men left that survived.

Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus was a man who brought change into the scientific world. He made a model of the solar system different from all the rest. Scientists before Copernicus like Ptolemy looked at the solar system as the Earth is in the center and all the other planets are revolving around it. This was called the geocentric theory. But during the Renaissance a new idea came to mind by Nicolaus Copernicus.

Copernicus was born in 1473 in Poland. When he was younger he did receive good education and took part in many subjects such as, science and math. While he was learning he also had many jobs outside of school.

He later created a manuscript explaining all about his new theory. He showed all of the people he knew. Copernicus’s theory states that the Earth is not at the center, the sun is the center of the solar system and all of the other planets revolve around it. This was called the heliocentric theory.

Nicolaus decided to get his manuscript published. Unfortunately, during the process of getting it published he suffered paralysis and internal bleeding. This happened in 1543 before his magnificent theory was published.

This is the difference between the two theories:

Ptolemy's Theory

Copernicus's Theory

Unfortunately, there was some controversy on Copernicus’s theory. Not many people believed in his idea. But a man named Galileo did believe in his new theory. Because Galileo was following in the footsteps of Nicolaus, he got put under house arrest. Sooner or later they did agree with Copernicus that his theory was correct.

Artsy Picture of The Week: Easter Nail Art!

Today I decided to do some Easter nail art for this great holiday! I already had my nails done so I used some sample nails to do this nail art. This is what the both of them look like:

The nail on the left is supposed to look like a cute homemade painted Easter egg. The nail on the right is suppose to look like a little chick in an egg. I thought both of these came out super cute so I decided to show you all! 

I hope you have a great holiday! Happy Easter!

Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo

Leonardo da Vinci was a very famous artist and he is still greatly remembered to this day. He was born in Florence, Italy in 1452. He was not just interested in art but also in mathematics, science, and even mechanics.

When Leonardo was 20 he was a master in the Guild of St. Luke which was dedicated to doctors and artists. Leonardo was known for many of his paintings but the first creation that he was known for was his pen and ink drawing of the Arno Valley. This drawing was very detailed and beautiful. But, his most known painting is the Mona Lisa. He worked on this painting for such a long time. He did so well on it that it looks like an old photograph instead of a painting. Unfortunately, no one knows exactly who the woman was that he painted. He worked many, many years to make this painting perfect.

He was a genius in many other ways besides his paintings. Leonardo also worked on mathematic and scientific projects. He later died in 1519. He is still remembered as an amazing man of the Renaissance period.

Another great man was Michelangelo. He was an artist as well as a sculptor. He was born in 1475 in Caprice, Italy. He did have a chance to learn all about grammar when he was sent to Florence but found no interest in that subject. Michelangelo had more interest in drawing.

His most famous creations were his statue of David and his painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. At first the statue of David was an unfinished project. But, Michelangelo was the one who got to finish it. The statue represents Florence freedom. In the middle of the painting on the Sistine Chapel represented nine scenes from the book of Genesis. But, the whole painting took him about four years to fully complete.

Michelangelo also became an architect. Just before he passed he designed St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Unfortunately he died before he could see the whole thing completed but it did influence many other buildings that were made.

Both of these artists were unique in their own way and were very successful. No other person in that time created just as great paintings as these two artists did during the Renaissance period. They are greatly remembered.

Artsy Picture of The Week: Art Fun!

This past weekend I spent some time with my cousin and we decided to do some art together! I unfortunately did not get a picture of her masterpieces but I did take a pic of mine! This is what it looks like:

I used a stencil to create the flowers on the bottom. I also used some scraps of old music paper and glued that down with Mod Podge.

This tag was super fun to create because I just took out my box of craft scraps and got to it! The background which is just yellow was made a long time ago and I just never ended up using it. The words on the tag say:

Love 

Trust

Joy

Hope

Peace

Faith

Hope you enjoyed this Artsy Picture of The Week post!

Ferdinand and Isabella's Spain

Ferdinand and Isabella both ruled Spain. Even though they were both King and Queen of Spain they ruled different areas independently. They did unite later on and were known as the Catholic Monarchs. They were given that name because they only accepted people who were in the Catholic religion. They had some controversy with the other religions.

Lots of different developments were made during this time in Spain. Ferdinand and Isabella wanted to bring back royal authority in their land. So, to follow through with that goal they established their own court system and police force. They wanted to do this because they wanted to be respected. They would also roam throughout Spain keeping tabs on all of the areas.

At this time (1469) Ferdinand and Isabella decided to get married. This unification made the two separate areas that they ruled form into one large region (Ferdinand ruled Aragon and Isabella ruled Castille). In 1492 they soon included the city Granada to be in the large region.

Ferdinand and Isabella were still very against the other religions. So they decided to sign a decree stating that the Muslims and Jews had to leave Spain or convert to the Catholic religion. For the Jews, they were commonly kicked out of most of the areas because the Catholic religion was spreading greatly in Europe.

Ferdinand and Isabella sponsored a great exploration journey done by Columbus. Unfortunately Columbus got denied from many areas to sponsor him so now at his last resort he came to Ferdinand and Isabella. They were advised to not go through with financing Columbus but they did end up doing it for him. It ended up not being such a mistake. They became very wealthy in their kingdom. This made them one of the great powers of Europe.

Isabella still wanted peace throughout her kingdom even after she reigned so she was determined to make that happen. So, she arranged all of her daughters’ weddings (there were five daughters) so that their kingdom would have connections with other lands. This made ties with, England, Portugal, Wales, the H.R.E. (Holy Roman Empire), and the Hapsburg Dynasty. This was a great success for Isabella.

Overall the year 1492 had a lot of turning points and impact in history. The Jews and Muslims had to leave Spain, but most importantly they also helped Columbus complete his journey in finding the New World. That event by itself influenced history greatly.