Patsy's last artwork~

Hey, I did something interesting last night and it got me to thinking. [This is art related, BTW.]

I was throwing away an old oil painting brush, and I decided to snap it in two parts so it wouldn't pierce my garbage bag. It was about the size as the one used in the garrote.

I thought, hm...why didn't I ever try this before? Probably because these brushes are quite expensive. So this, I thought, is a good opportunity to try this out.

I looked at it and said to myself, "Self, the brush was broken in two places, with the brush end intact and the pointed end missing. The middle section remained, found on the handle. So, Self, why don't you make one break at the brush end first?" Which I did. and it snapped right off, easy as pie, where the METAL connections were.

"Self, why don't you now snap off the pointed end?" Which I did. And voila! IT SPLINTERED BADLY UP AND DOWN THE BRUSH WITH A LONG JAGGED END.

Here's a pic of the garrote. If you blow it up, it has uneven ends, where it broke like that: http://www.acandyrose.com/garrote1.jpg

OH, wait! It wasn't an oil painting brush, was it? It was a Japanese-style brush, wasn't it? http://www.acandyrose.com/garrote3.jpg This would have been thicker than the brush I broke.

So now I'm looking at the paintbrush handle on the garrote and wondering if a nine year old child could have broken a brush like that. It didn't take a lot of strength, but why would a child even think of it? I didn't know if I could do it at first. Think about it: why use the paintbrush instead of a pencil or writing utensil? There were plenty in the upstairs area where the note was written. Why not a tool from a tool box? A butter knife from the kitchen? How many convenient items about that size could have been used? WHY THE PAINTBRUSH?

I know it is believed, and I believe, it was used for the molestation. I believe that was done to coverup the prior vaginal injuries. Did the perp not want LE to figure out the brush was used for the vaginal penetration that night? The TIP is still missing, and that is where the blood would have been. But the perp couldn't have known that a tiny sliver from the brush would remain in the vaginal vault.

My old paintbrush: the varnish and paint was sloughing off the wood.

So the perp used the paintbrush for its FUNCTION: to hide the prior injuries. Then the perp thought, gotta' get rid of the end because it has blood on it and that will be detectable. I don't want LE to know a paintbrush was used, because I WANT LE TO THINK THAT AN INTRUDER MOLESTED HER."

This also indicates to me that the person who did this wasn't Burke, because a nine year old child wouldn't know that, would he? He'd just wipe it off and think it was clean.

But again, why a paintbrush for the garrote? Because the perp didn't want to move around the house looking for stuff? Make noise? Use what was right there in the basement so the neighbors wouldn't see lights moving around?

Oh. The Maglight. The note was written in the dark, wasn't it? Or was it written by the sconce lights near the spiral stairs? Or with the Maglight? Remember the neighbor who saw the strange lights, said that the usual ones weren't on in the Ramsey home? Was that in Thomas' book, or Schiller's? What time of night was it that the neighbor noticed that? Gosh, it's been so long since I read it, I can't remember. But if it's true that the usual house lights were off, then did Patsy and John notice that, or are they claiming the perp went around cutting lights off and on, as well as all the other fantastic things he's supposed to have done? I know they were asked, and I do remember Patsy saying the sconces were on at the spiral stair when she came down and that's how she read the note. There was some funny business with the outdoor lights as well, though I'm not recalling that exactly either right now.

OK, it's late and I'll try to hunt some of this down tomorrow.

 

Hey, does anyone else around here paint? Because just looking at a blow up of this paint tray...again...and there are some awfully SHORT brushes in there. Like the blue one. And another one with about the same diameter, shape and fiber is also quite short, if you notice.

Wonder if LE noticed lots of "broken" brushes in that tray? I don't remember seeing brushes like that in the store, so thick but so short. Could be I just never saw them or used them, but thought I'd ask.

Here's a good close-up of the tray: http://www.acandyrose.com/179paint-tote.jpg

Here's a longer shot to get a perspective on the size of everything: http://www.acandyrose.com/178paint-tote.jpg That's a regular sized-paint tote. I have one much like it myself.

 

You beat me to it, but I was going to add that perhaps the broken paintbrush was already broken and in the tray; just picked up to utilize for the crime.

While it certainly may have been broken that night, it also might have just been one of the broken paintbrushes already available

We just don't know if the "perp" broke the paintbrush themselves or just took the opportunity of an already broken brush

I guess we'll never know for sure, like everything else in this dastardly and insanity provoking case :banghead:

Off to the still.....still a little 'shine left before everyone else wakes up for their morning swig. Already dipped into the crack

 

Hey, does anyone else around here paint?

I do. Long handled brushes are used so the artist can stand farther away from the canvas to get a better perspective of the work. The end of the handle is gripped so the action of the movement of the brush becomes part of the process of how the paint is laid onto the canvas. My teachers would say, "You are'nt drawing or graving, you are painting". The tendency is to get up close to the surface to be more exacting, but it is better to be a little farther away to be more suggestive. Both methods are used of course and sometimes the up close is needed. But with a long handle at least you have the option. We snobs see the short brushes as craft tools rather than an artist's tool.

The perp turned to the material she was familiar with at the time it was needed. I think the choice was not just practical, it was symbolic too; creativity.

 

Some of the brushes are watercolor brushes, used to brush on a background, a "wash," not do detail work. Those are the ones with thick, short handles and a much larger brush. There are also several brushes at the top of the tote that look like cheap, child-size brushes that one gets at the dollar store so a child can paint with watercolors or something.

Didn't Patsy work mostly in watercolors?

 

I'm going to have to work on this post a bit, as my online service keep going in and out and I don't want to lose what I'm posting. So stay tuned....

This is from Patsy's interview in '98 with Haney, regarding the paintbrushes and paint tray. I'm going to highlight a few things: one, a very interesting answer by Patsy about telling the maid to take the paint tray TO THE BEDROOM; that's odd. I'll have to double-check the NE book to see if that's what they heard, as well. Which bedroom, and did it ever get to the bedroom, are my questions if that is right.

[The transcriber typed in "paint tree" several times, but I THINK that was "paint tray" BTW.]

So what's up with THAT? From the bedroom to the basement--without so much as a follow-up question from the interviewers. Later, they return to the paint tray and some paintings Patsy did, but now the bedroom is left completely out:

Next, we have Patsy's description of the paint tray and brushes, where she says she started with oils but then went to acrylics. Notice how she's so clear on details of things in this interview, where things were in the butler's kitchen, etc., but when it comes to the paint tray and brushes, it's like she has no idea...back to "I don't know".

When Patsy starts "forgetting" things, I always pay attention.

Now notice when Patsy is asked about BROKEN BRUSHES--PLURAL--she has no idea, they were ALL NEW, she just threw out old brushes. But the QUESTION is ASKED in the plural, so did LE find MORE THAN ONE broken brush in the tray?

I have to tell you, looking in that tray closely, it wasn't all that equipped for painting. Like you said, there is a set of children's brushes. The mop brushes that are very short may be for watercolor, but if not, then why would they be that short? As Paradox said, oil brushes are very long, which can be used with acrylics, and acrylic brushes are long, as well. There isn't much paint in the tray, either. Just a few tubes. Maybe Patsy had used up most of it and hadn't restocked. But oil/acrylic brushes are expensive and tools you don't throw out after a few small paintings. And the mop brushes don't look like oil brushes to me, at any rate. Maybe Patsy was painting with JonBenet in watercolor. I was also thinking that the brush used in the murder weapon was for some other kind of painting, like Japanese. I can't remember where I saw that, though. Maybe I am confused. Ah heck, of COURSE I'm confused. How can you NOT be confused when trying to follow Patzilla?

 

1 PATSY RAMSEY: Paint and brushes and

2 probably -- I don't know.

Probably what? Would it be unusual for a small roll of shoestring cord be in a paint tray?

That is strange that she first said the tray was moved to the bedroom, and then changed it to the basement.

 

And not on the subject of paintbrushes, but Patsy tells the interviewers "It's a Southern thing" and refers to a magazine, Southern Living. Now that's using your good old Southern common sense, isn't it?

 

Why, you're just a regular Renaissance man, aren't you, Paradox?

 

Okay, back to the paintbrushes:

Now I see what my problem is with the short, thick brushes in the paint tray: no ferrule. That's the short metal part of a brush that holds the bristles or hair of the brush.

Here is a good illustration of various types of brushes an artist would use: http://www.realcolorwheel.com/mybrushes.htm

Here again is Patsy's paint tray: http://www.acandyrose.com/179paint-tote.jpg

Looking at the bright color of those handles, I wonder if these, too, weren't children's brushes?

Let's see if I can find some online without the ferrule.

Aha. Here are some similar brushes for children. But in the pic of the paint tray, the brush head seems more tapered than these:

http://store.1st-quality-school-supplies.com/cobr.html

http://store.1st-quality-school-supplies.com/colossal-brushes.html

Here is a full set, and considering the ten years that have passed since those in the paint tray were bought, I can see where the bright colored, short brushes might have been for JonBenet. We can compare the smaller water color brushes in length with those thicker brushes with no ferrule in this set, then those in the paint tray:

http://store.1st-quality-school-supplies.com/ck-5180.html

The length of the colored brush with no ferrule is a bit longer than the children's paint brushes, when you measure them. Now I want to know if the bright colored brush might have been a brush for painting Japanese-style pictures. I found this one, and I guess I'm thinking of something like this, with a clear ferrule: http://www.kolinskyartbrushes.com/brushes/ks_mops.shtml Here's another closer to what I was thinking, but this is bamboo and obviously not the same, but has a ferrule you can't see: http://cgi.ebay.com/LOT-OF-4-CHINES...mZ220139201108QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting.


But the broken paintbrush used in the murder does have a ferrule, which you can barely see as its narrow edge is facing the camera in this picture, I believe. You can't actually see the hair on the brush head, as it's lying at a downward angle into the shadows of the tray. Am I looking at this right?

What do y'all think?

 

Yeah, every time Patsy STOPS in mid-thought and changes directions, she's hiding something, IMO. It's her tell, when she's lying. She does this often when asked questions about the evidence that are critical and very important, you'll notice if you read her interviews carefully.

Shoestring cord could be found in any house in any number of places in American homes, particularly with kids.

 

The short-handled brushes look like natural hair brushes, NOT used for oil painting. They are too soft for oils, plus the chemicals in the paint can cause the bristles to fall out of the brush. For watercolor washes of paint, they are perfect - you can lay down a lot of color because the brush holds a lot of color and your paper already is wet so the color spreads out. Maybe Patsy didn't want JonBenet to use acrylics or oils (totally sensible, unlike Patsy) so she bought some watercolor brushes and perhaps one of those little Prang sets with different colors in it, so JonBenet could paint along with Mommy. That's all I could imagine...No, you don't throw out brushes, and actually, good watercolor brushes are EXTREMELY expensive, so these are probably cheaper ones. Brushes used for oils aren't cheap, but not as expensive as natural hair brushes.

Edit: I see we are on the same track, sort of. I think JonBenet's brushes were mixed in with Patsy's, all mumble-jumble, just like the whole house.

I thought some of Patsy's paintings were in watercolor, maybe I was hallucinating?

 

It looks like there are a couple of watercolors by Patsy at the Patsy P. Ramsey Memorial Aviation Fuel Foundation site. The ones completed in 2000, 2002, before someone apparently chained her to the easel, based on the flurry of paintings completed in 2006.

 

How right you are. There are four watercolor prints available to help John and his private plane needs.



One of the prints (finished in 2002) is called:

"The Goddess"

Anyone want to analyze THIS?

 

It looks like an in class study, a classic piece of furniture for a class and a classic pose. It might be from part of an existing painting but the background doesn't fit so I doubt if it's a copy of an original. The background also doesn't look like anything that would be put up in a studio. Most of the time it's just the wall of the room or a strung up blanket or sheet or tapestry. It looks like Patsy got distracted by the background and it competes for the viewer's attention, that's a no no. The regular rhythm of the geometric forms could be presented as a counterpoint to the irregualr curves of the body, but not so drastically. My conclusion from this work matches her other work; attention deficit disorder.

 

I noticed this painting as well, Cherokee. One thing that jumps out about the Goddess: No face. A faceless Goddess. A symbol of feminine beauty which has no identification, other than being put upon a pedastal.

But the background, as you point out, Paradox, is very interesting as a point of the psychological study of Patsy: it's the same Harlequin pattern in her former pageant costume, which she repeated in JonBenet's Harlequin costume.

So, we have a faceless beauty with no identity, imposed upon an overwhelming background of the Harlequin pattern. A pattern used by Patsy in BEAUTY pageants spanning two generations.

Of course, the easy pop reference is the "Harlequin romance novel" genre. That's the bodice rippers, right? I can't say as I ever read one, but something similar possibly, though I don't recall anything. Maybe I've just seen the ubiquitous references.

Then there is the actual Harlequin character in theatre and literature, the fool or clown...or something else if you go back in history. In the King's Court, the Fool was his wisest advisor in Shakespearean plays, always making humorous observations that exposed the pitfalls of life and weaknesses of humans.

Jump in the water is steaming:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlequin

Ah: the Devil, romance, passion. Now I'm wondering what was the direct inspiration for the original costume Patsy wore. Did her pageant coaches choose it? Or did she?

 

Teddy Lloyd painted Eunice in her harlequin outfit in the book 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie"

 

Why THANK YOU, Cranberry, you just answered my last question, which I edited in while thinking about this: what was the inspiration for Patsy's Harlequin costume?

Remind me which character was Eunice? Was she one of the students who had an affair with Teddy? Sorry, my mind is about 5 minutes long now.

Teddy was an artist in the story. Miss Brody spoke endlessly of the classical influences in life and art, as well. Since the story takes place in England, I think, the Italian influences of the great masters would have been undoubtedly studied by both characters. So we ARE into the Italian figure of Harlequin and its symbolism.

So if Patsy chose the Harlequin costume, was it for her talent monologue from The Prime of Miss Jean Brody?

 

She was one of the Brodie set, a swimmer and gymnastics

 

But not the one who had the affair with Teddy?