Posted in Sculpture, Travel, tagged Bad Dog sculpture, Orange County Museum of Art, Richard Jackson on February 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Richard Jackson’s “Bad Dog”
It’s not every day that you see a giant dog peeing on a museum. But that is exactly what is happening right now at the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach thanks to Richard Jackson’s sculpture “Bad Dog”. Check it out here. I love dog art and have collected it for years but I think this giant piece would be frowned upon in my neighborhood. 🙂 And I’m sure this is something my Jed would NEVER do.
Posted in Travel, Trivia, tagged O'Keeffe, poppy, St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Art on February 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »
O’Keeffe, Poppy, 1927
O’Keeffe, Grey Hills Painted Red, 1930
While visiting Florida last week I got to see St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Art. It was a wonderful museum with a nice variety of art. I was drawn to the Georgia O’Keeffe paintings especially after my kids had just painted an O’Keeffe the week before. (See that here.) You can learn more about the poppy painting by clicking here. You can learn more about the St. Petersburg Museum by going to www.fine-arts.org .
Posted in Little Known Facts, Travel, Trivia, tagged impressionism, Landscape, MFA St. Petersburg, Monet, Museum of Fine Art St Petersburg, oil painting, St Petersburg, Travel on February 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Monet’s “Road to the Village of Vetheuil, Snow”
Monet’s “Springtime in Giverny”
One of the best things about going to Florida to visit my friend, Linda, was that she loves art. So we visited many art venues while I was there. And I loved every minute. Right before boarding the airplane
to come home yesterday we stopped in at the Museum of Fine Art in St. Petersburg and what a lovely museum they have! There was a nice Monet grouping there. The winter and spring paintings were hung side by side so you got a nice idea of the versatility of his work and how he viewed seasons and color. But the most interesting was the “House of Parliament”, Effects of Fog, oil on canvas, painted in 1904. Monet did 19 canvas of the same size of the Parliament scene. He did them depicting different seasons and times of day. (Click here to see more info on series paintings by Monet.) He started in 1900 painting the scene of Parliament from his hospital room. He painted most of the 19 canvases though in his studio at Giverny changing the colors and tones of canvas to explore different times of day and seasons. This is one way that artists improve is by exploring light and color. Monet was the master!
Posted in Small Town Life, Travel, tagged mailbox, mailboxes on February 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Riding around the neighborhood where I was staying this weekend on my visit to Florida I saw some interesting mailboxes. Here are a few of the really different ones.
Posted in Travel, tagged oranges, peppers, strawberries on February 11, 2013| Leave a Comment »
One of the most wonderful parts of my visit to Florida this weekend has been the gorgeous fresh fruit and vegetables.
Not only are they delicious but I have been able to add some interesting reference photos to my file for painting in the future.
But we didn’t always eat healthy. We got in a little munchy bar food down by the beach while soaking up some rays and listening to some really good beach music.
Posted in Small Town Life, Travel, tagged Arcadia, FL on February 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »
We went to a wonderful art festival yesterday that celebrated the Peace River in Arcadia, Florida. And while we saw many really nice paintings what caught my eye was the vendors set up outside with the community vendors. One was promoting their wildlife farm where you could see alligators. This little guy was their ambassador.
There was also a vendor who featured skunks! That’s right, you heard me-skunks! And it was a rescue group that was looking to rehome the little stinkers as pets. Anyone want me to bring one back for you?
Posted in Travel, tagged Edward Hopper, Phillips Gallery, Tampa Museum of Art on February 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »
I am enjoying a quick visit to Florida to see my painting friend, Linda. She picked me up at the airport and less than an hour later we were at the Tampa Museum of Art viewing a lovely show that was on loan from the Phillips Gallery in DC. It included this Edward Hopper called Sunday. Learn more at Tampa Museum of Art
Posted in Travel, Trivia, tagged Alexander Calder, Calder, mobiles, National Gallery of Art on February 1, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Travel, Trivia, tagged Henri Matisse, National Gallery of Art, Paul Gauguin on January 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Henri Matisse, Odalisque Seated with Arms Raised, Green Striped Chair, oil on canvas, 1923
Every time I go to the National Gallery I see something new even though I must have been there a couple dozen times now. And over the years my taste in art has developed and changed. I am drawn to post impressionism more and more. And Matisse has become a very favorite so I always enjoy seeing his use of color and space. And then I discovered a Gauguin painting of Peonies (my favorite flower) that I had never seen before. What a treat!
Henri Matisse, Still Life with Apples on a Pink Tablecloth, oil on canvas, 1924
Paul Gauguin, Still Life with Peonies, oil on canvas, 1884
Posted in Travel, Trivia, tagged Benvenuto di Giovanni, National Gallery of Art, NGA, Washington DC on January 30, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Benvenuto di Giavannis
One fascinating thing I love to see at the National Gallery of Art when I visit is the work they are doing to restore and maintain the beautiful art. Sunday while visiting I ran across this painting group. It was five panels framed together (you see two of them here) that was painted by Benvenuto di Giovanni, an Italian painter (1436-1517) and is a depiction of five scenes in Jesus’ life. The panel on the right is called Christ Carrying the Cross, painted in 1491. It is tempera on panel board measuring around 16″x18″. You can see how much brighter this panel is than the one on the left. The right panel has been removed and cleaned. You can clearly see the difference in the cleaned panel compared to the one that still needs cleaning. What drew me to this grouping was that one of the panels was missing and this sign was in it’s place:
It says: “Benvenuto di Giovanni’s Christ in Limbo, usually installed here, is currently in the Painting Conservation Lab for treatment. Each of the five panels in this series will be cleaned in turn.”
How cool is that?
If you want to see “Christ in Limbo”, the piece that is being cleaned, click here.
The Studio 