Saturday, November 28, 2020

"Wild Things" The Animal Art & Plein Air Landscapes of Kathleen Dumphy

 

~Wild Things~

The Animal Art & Plein Air Landscapes of Kathleen Dunphy

A Facebook Live Virtual Event

Friday, December 11 @ 4pm PST

https://www.facebook.com/KathleenDunphyFineArt

Turbulent 2020 Inspires 'Wild' Virtual Gallery and Facebook Live Show Dec. 11 

 




Nov. 20, 2020 Murphys, CA -- In the midst of a still surging pandemic that has caused nearly every business to pivot and shift to innovative, flexible ways of connecting and conducting business, nationally acclaimed artist Kathleen Dunphy has created a COVID-19 free way to share her works -- and the backstories of what inspired them -- directly with the public.

 

Timed just ahead of the winter holidays, her 2020 solo show is entitled "Wild Things: The Animal Art and Landscapes of Kathleen Dunphy." The virtual gallery show opening and an interactive Q and A with the artist will be live-streamed to the public on Facebook Live Friday, Dec. 11 at 4 p.m. PST at https://www.facebook.com/KathleenDunphyFineArt, where it will remain available, post-event for folks to view at their leisure.

 

Although the Northern California-based painter is represented by several galleries across the country, due to Covid cases on the rise and protocol restrictions, Dunphy chose to create and stage her 2020 show near her home in the picturesque Sierra Foothills. The event will feature animal art, including several of her much sought-after bird paintings along with soulful, light-filled plein air landscapes of northern California scenes, many from the artist's favorite off-trail hiking spots she visited over the past months.

 

Among her larger works in oils (see attached) is "Scram!" in which a gaggle of life-sized, frenzied Canada geese are erupting in all directions across a 48 by 72-inch canvas, seemingly attempting to escape the frame; their movements a flurry of necks, beaks, wings and feet. 

 

"'Scram!’ evolved into a symbol of my feelings about the COVID-19 pandemic,” Dunphy says. "As the virus spread, it felt to me as though all the color had been leached from the world and we were all teaming up to fight the enemy. These Canada geese hissing and flapping and chasing the badness away to me summed up our universal struggle against the virus.”

 

The gallery event is being hosted by Ironstone Vineyards, located near historic downtown Murphys. The Calaveras County ranch on which it sits, owned by the Kautz Family for four generations, houses a winery and Gold Rush museum built in the shape of a gold stamp mill. Dunphy's show will be hung in the beautiful Heritage Room, adjacent to the museum and tasting room.  

 

The show will kick-off with the Facebook Live interview featuring Dunphy and local journalist Tori James during which viewers will have the chance to ask the artist questions about her paintings through Chat and see the framed paintings from various angles.

 

This new way of viewing art can be even more convenient than pre-pandemic trips to galleries, according to Dunphy. “I feel like what’s missing from the art world right now is the opportunity to speak directly with artists and to put your nose right up to paintings in a gallery. But fortunately, technology has allowed us to bring the art to the collector in a new and different way. You can see my work from any place in the world and interact much like being there in person.”


If Covid protocols permit, interested collectors and other members of the public may be able to view the show and meet the artist in the Heritage Room Friday, Dec. 11 through Saturday, Dec. 12. Those interested may call ahead to request a specific personal time-slot. For more details, please call (805) 459-8723 and leave a message with your name, requested time and best phone number for a call back.  

Saturday, November 21, 2020

ThanksGiving

Ironstone's Heritage Museum celebrates with you this

2020 Thanksgiving.  


Thanks for all our friends and families, thanks for supporting us during these trying times. Thanks for your friendly and sincere words of encouragement as we try to follow the Covid regulations so we can stay open for all of you.  It has not been easy and sometimes most unpleasant. But through it all we would not still be here but for all of you, our guests, our family and our friends.  Thank you. 


Ironstone will be celebrating Thanksgiving by giving staff Wednesday and Thursday off.  So, we will be closed Tuesday & Wednesday as usual and again on Thanksgiving day.   Stay safe, relax, be kind and spread some love this holiday season. 

Come visit us this coming weekend and enjoy the colors of fall at Ironstone's beautiful gardens. Sincere thanks to Larry, Ironstone's Master Gardner for his astronomical efforts in creating this color wonderland for you to enjoy. 







Saturday, November 14, 2020

Spring Obsession Art Show 2021

 Ironstone will be moving forward with it's 24th Annual Spring Obsession Art Show & Competition.

Entry forms are available either on the page tabs at the top of this post or by emailing cgomez@ironstonevineyards.com.  Please put in the Subject line "Spring Art Entry forms" and you will receive both the Theme Division and Open Division forms.

Coming soon you will also be able to enter the show by going to www.ironstonevineyards.com and clicking on the Art Show tab.  All works will be juried prior to acceptance into the exhibit. 

Theme Division entries will be due January 1st. 2021 with OPEN Division entries due January 31st, 2021.

Please refer to the entry forms/prospectus for complete details and rules.

We will notify all entrants of any complications arising out of the Covid19 situation. As we all know, this has been a touch and go situation for everyone.  Here at Ironstone we have in place all the regulated safety precautions and will continue to do so.  Lets all stay safe and hope we can be back to our regular activities come this next year. In the meantime, paint paint paint!



Friday, September 18, 2020

Petrified Wood

Ironstone Vineyard's Heritage Museum now features and outstanding collection of petrified wood.

Visit free of charge, the collection is located just outside the Heritage Museum & Gift Shoppe.




PETRIFIED WOOD COLORS

M.P. Hunerlach, 2016




Which minerals produce the colors found in the petrified wood?

Red and Pink colors are produced by the presence of hematite, a form of oxidized iron - Fe2O3. The intensity of the color depends on the quantity of hematite present in the petrified wood.

Ø  Process: Iron dissolves in ground water when no oxygen is present. The ground water becomes re-oxygenated as it moves though the tree trunks causing oxygen to bond with the iron. The iron then precipitates to produce a solid form of iron called hematite. This hematite is incorporated into the log's cell walls. The same process occurs when iron stains porcelain sinks. The soluble iron in ground water becomes oxidized into a solid form when it comes in contact with air, causing a reddish stain.

Yellow, Brown and Orange colors are produced by the presence of goethite - HFeO2 and Fe2O3. Goethite is a hydrated iron oxide that is derived by weathering from iron bearing minerals. It crystallizes into tablets, scales, needles, radial and concentric aggregates.

Green colored petrified wood is produced by pure reduced iron that is a magnetic, malleable mineral. The chemical composition is Fe. Referred to as native iron, it is quite rare in terrestrial rocks but common in meteorites. Native iron combines with chlorophyll to give tree leaves and plants their green colors but rarely attaches to wood cells.

White is produced by pure silica - SiO2. Since silicon, Si, and oxygen, O, are the two most abundant elements in the earth's crust. Silica group minerals are common worldwide. Free silica, SiO2, referred to scientifically as silicon dioxide, occurs most commonly as quartz. Quartz is the principal element of glass. In many respects quartz is the most interesting of all minerals. It has a larger number of distinct varieties with wider differences than any other mineral. Petrified wood, also referred to as silicified wood, is a common illustration of a quartz pseudomorph - wood is slowly replaced, cell by cell, by silica, until not a trace of the original material remains.

Ø  Process: The structural arrangement of silicon and oxygen creates an open bonding structure that permits other ions such as various forms of iron to occupy interstitial positions in the molecule and bond to it, thus producing variations in color.

Organic carbon or pyrite - FeS2 (iron sulfide), the most abundant and widespread sulfide mineral, produces Black. Because it was mistaken for gold it is often called "fool's gold." Pyrite, translated freely, means "fire mineral", a reference to the sparks given off when struck.

Ø  Process: The wood was affected as hydrogen sulfide from decaying organic matter interacted with iron forming pyrite.

Purple and Blue are produced by manganese dioxide - MnO2. This is a secondary material formed when water leaches manganese from igneous rock and re-deposits it as a concentration of manganese dioxide. As a result, it occurs more often as coatings on other minerals than as large crystals. Manganese is very important in the manufacture of steel.

Tan indicates silica dioxide is the predominate replacement mineral. This color is most often seen in permineralized wood. In permineralization, the wood's cell structure is better preserved, giving it the appearance of real wood. It should be noted that not all petrified wood is permineralized. Permineralization also transpires when wood is preserved with calcite rather than silica.  

Ø  How the very fine detail of the cell structure is preserved is not well understood. It would appear that less than cell sized gradients in acidity created very small re-precipitation gradients, replacing the wood on almost an atom by atom basis.

Good Information on the Formation of petrified Wood:

http://www.geo-logic.org/Minerology/Petrified%20Wood1.htm

http://geology.com/stories/13/petrified-wood/

 

 

Monday, September 14, 2020

Cuff Links for the Sportsman

Crafted for the avid Sportsman, Designer Chris Chaney has created the Winchester line of fine jewelry.  Officially Licensed by Winchester, an icon of the Gold Rush Era, each of these pieces speaks fine craftsmanship and an eye to detail.
  
This particular pair of cuff links is cast from a 12 guage bullet end in 14k yellow gold fitted with a genuine diamond center. Total weight of the 2 diamonds is 0.40 cttw.  We only have one pair available originally offered at $2995.00. Now through November, we are marking this piece 25% off. There is only one left, so do call soon to make it yours.

For those of you who prefer Sterling Silver, we do have this same style available cast in Sterling Silver with no diamonds listed at $199.00. Stop by and check them out.





In addition to the cuff links, the Winchester line features pendants and earrings. Stay tuned for more on these fun pieces.

Moving into the holidays, put your best foot forward with these eye catching pieces.  

Saturday, July 25, 2020

Vintage Coins now available

Ironstone Heritage Jewelry Shoppe now has a nice collection of vintage coins available for sale.  Stashed away for several years this collection originally came in as part of an auction lot that Mr. Kautz, Ironstone owner, purchased.  He had his eye on a few vintage tokens for the Museum section which were immediately put on display.  The rest of the lot has remained boxed up and stashed in a corner till #CoronaCleaning brought it back to the surface.  If you are looking for anything specific, drop us an email here at Ironstone and we will get back to you.   In the meantime, enjoy.

Most of the coins are US coins, some quite old and many more recent.  All in very good condition. 

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Meet Australian Gold Nugget "Fair Dinkum"

"Fair Dinkum" is a nugget found in Australia in 2014. As the story goes, seasoned prospector Mick Brown was a couple of weeks into giving up smoking and was getting grumpy so his wife told him to leave the house for some fresh air.

Six inches beneath the surface, Mr. Brown hit the top of a gold nugget with his detector. "I thought bugger me, it is, it's bloody gold", Mr. Brown said. "I just dug it up, 87 ounces of the good stuff".

The name "Fair dinkum" came about as people left its weight and said, "fair dinkum this is huge".

Mr. Brown finds his nugget quite attractive and says it has "good grooves and moves".  He thought is was silly to be secretive about his nugget and thought it better to let people have a hold. "What am I supposed to do, 'yeah I've found a nugget but you can't look at it'", he said. "It's cool and it's given everyone a good little rev up."

As a result, many replicas have been created to give everyone a chance to see what a great nugget it is.

Come out to Ironstone's Heritage Jewelry Shoppe and take a look at one of Mr. Brown's exact replicas.

Truly as beautiful as Mr. Brown declares.


Sunday, May 24, 2020

Missed it!

Ended! Missed this one. Keep an eye out for our next daily special....
Today Ironstone Heritage Jewelry Shoppe is featuring a Hand Crafted piece created by Pottery Artist June Vaughn.

Vaughn #310063 345  $100

This fun piece is a very stylistic turtle. Fired ceramic, this creative piece is hand painted set with tiny beads.  The necklace is adjustable to fit between 15" - 25".  If you are interested in this piece, you may purchase from Ironstone Vineyard's website or give us a call today from now till 3:30pm.  We will offer free shipping if you call today for this piece.

209-728-1251 extension 47