Posted in Little Known Facts, Trivia, tagged Birds of America, flamingo, John J Audubon, Wild Turkey on April 26, 2015| Leave a Comment »
American Flamingo, John J Audubon
Wild Turkey, John J Audubon
Born on this day in 1785, John James Audubon is recognized for his detailed study of American Birds and his watercolors and drawings of them. Read more about his fascinating life here.
His book, Birds of America (1827-1839) is considered the finest ornithological work ever written. He identified 25 new species. Take a minute to click the link to Birds of America or his life above and enjoy his wonderful work. Happy Birthday JJA!
Posted in Little Known Facts, tagged Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci on April 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »
da Vinci’s Last Supper, 181″x 346″, tempera, 1494-1498
On this day in 1452 Leonardo da Vinci was born. He is often considered the most diversely talented person who ever lived. He was a painter, sculptor, writer, architect, musician, engineer, cartographer, inventor, and more.
Study Sheet with Cats, Dragons and other animals, Leonardo da Vinci
“His genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance Man, a man of “unquenchable curiosity” and “feverishly inventive imagination”. (from Wikipedia)
Learn more about Leonardo da Vinci here and here. And see his works here.
Posted in Little Known Facts on April 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Picasso’s Cat
Picasso’s Goat
On this day 43 years ago (1973) Pablo Picasso died. He was a Spanish painter and sculptor who spent the majority of his life in France. (Learn more about him here.)
Recently there have been a variety of news stories involving his granddaughter, Marina Picasso, selling off his art. There are many reasons for selling art – the most obvious is to make money however she seems to be selling to get revenge. It’s an interesting story. Take a look here. It’s fascinating.
Posted in Little Known Facts, tagged Van Gogh, Vincent Van Gogh on March 31, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Van Gogh, Coquelicots et papillons, 1890
Yesterday was the birthday of Vincent Van Gogh in 1853. I didn’t want to let the day pass without recognizing him. While he never achieved fame during his lifetime for his paintings, now almost everyone recognizes his works…and they are quite amazing. Click on this link to enjoy his many paintings.
Posted in Little Known Facts, tagged Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on March 25, 2015| 1 Comment »
Photo from Gizmodo- 3/18/15
Twenty-five years ago this week the largest art heist in history took place in Boston. You may remember that I posted about it a couple of years ago. (Read that here.) I have visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum several times and get an eerie feeling every time I come across an empty frame.
There are many theories about what happened to the art valued at $500 million and this interesting article in Gizmodo lays out a few. Take a look here.
What do you think happened to it?
Posted in Little Known Facts, Serendipity, Trivia, tagged American Modernism, Guy Wiggins, John Marin, lecture on modern art on March 18, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Guy Wiggins, Snow on Wall Street
John Marin, Related to St Pauls
Last Tuesday evening I attended the first in a series of lectures at our library about American Modern Art. (Read that here.) Last night was the second lecture in the series. The subject was “The Modern Metropolis” and the focus was New York City. This very interesting series is an eye-opening for those of us attending about the drastic differences that emerged in the art world in the early 1900′. It’s fascinating to see the same subject matter depicted by different artists of the same time. Here is a great example: one by Guy Wiggins and the other by John Marin’s during the same time period and basically the same subject matter. What a different view! Art was taking a distinct turn!
Posted in Little Known Facts, Serendipity, tagged American Modernism, Samuels Public Library, Stieglitz on March 11, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Steerage, Alfred Stieflitz
Last night at Samuel’s Public Library in Front Royal I attended the first of several lectures on American Modernism by Ben Glenn II, an art historian and writer. This is a four-part series and last night he discussed 1900-1917 and spoke about many artists of that time period including John Marin, Arthur Dove, Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz.
We spent time looking at many pieces of art of that time period and he discussed the importance of Alfred Stieglitz and the gallery (291) that he helped establish. It’s a fascinating time. Read more about Stieglitz here.
The next lecture is Tuesday, March 17th at 6:30. Check out the series here.
Posted in Little Known Facts, tagged Renoir on February 25, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Renoir painting in later years with brushes tied to hand
Luncheon of the Boating Party, oil, 51″ x 68″, The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
** Pierre Auguste Renoir was born February 25, 1841 in Limoges, France. He was a French painter and one of the central figures of the impressionist movement (a French art movement of the second half of the nineteenth century whose members sought in their works to represent the first impression of an object upon the viewer). His work is characterized by a richness of feeling and a warmth of response to the world and to the people in it.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, (1841-1919)
“Girl with a Watering Can”
oil on canvas
41”x29”
Painted in 1876
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
His early works were typically Impressionist snapshots of real life, full of sparkling colour and light. By the mid-1880s, however, he had broken with the movement to apply a more disciplined, formal technique to portraits and figure paintings, particularly of women.
Renoir was so passionate about painting that he even continued when he was old and suffering from severe arthritis. Renoir then painted with the brush tied to his wrists.
** This information from “The Complete Works” website. Click on Renoir’s name above to read and see more.
Posted in Little Known Facts, tagged Bob Ross, trees on February 17, 2015| 2 Comments »
It’s always a good day when I turn on the TV in the morning and hear Bob Ross talking about “happy little trees”.
Many of you have heard my story before but I started painting by watching Bob Ross on TV. I have always said that his gift was that he can make anyone think they can paint. He makes it look so easy. I love it that he is still on TV to inspire others to begin painting. You can catch him on CREATE channel and enjoy his happy trees and happy clouds. 🙂
Posted in Little Known Facts, Serendipity, Trivia, tagged Paul Gauguin, record breaking sale on February 7, 2015| Leave a Comment »
‘Nafea faa ipoipo’ (When will you marry?, 1892) by French painter Paul Gauguin
” The 1892 oil painting by the French post-impressionist, Paul Gauguin, of two Tahitian girls called Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?) was sold by the private collector Rudolf Staechelin, a retired Sotheby’s executive and has broken the record for the world’s most expensive single work of art. While Mr Staechelin didn’t name the buyer it was thought to be the state-financed Qatar Museums that purchased it for $300 million. The Gulf nation had set the previous record in 2011 when it paid $259 million for The Card Players by Paul Cezanne, and has spent millions more on Western modern art in recent years.”
Read more of this interesting story from the Telegraph here.
The Studio 