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Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

The Regatta

Posted in Travel, tagged , , on June 10, 2012| Leave a Comment »

While in Newport recently I ran across this little Regatta on Saturday.  Got some nice shots of sailboats to paint.  As a daily painter I am always gathering photos for my reference file.

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Figure – Fabric – Fantasy

Posted in Travel, tagged , on May 22, 2012| 1 Comment »

YSL-Refined Sportive (designs by Yves Saint Laurent) by Kenneth Paul Block, American 1925-2009

Figure * Fabric * Fantasy is another of the extraordinary shows that I saw recently in Boston at the Museum of Fine Arts.  It featured drawings of ready-to-wear that appeared in fashion magazines.  Photography gradually pushed out the sketches.  But check out the skill of the artists who depicted the drape and texture of the fabric.  They are certainly works of art.

Geometric Patterns mid-1970″s (design by Hurbert de Givenchy) by Kenneth Paul Block

The sketches in the show dated from the 1940’s – 1980’s and were intended for print publications.  

Formal Ball Gown, late 1950’s by Jack Potter for Ayres Department Store, Indianapolis, IN

Bathing Beauties, autumn 1965 by Larry Salk, American 1936-2004

Joan Crawford in tailored sheath with matching coat, 1955, for Paramount Studios, by Grace Sprague; and Model in red plaid by Teed, 1946

  The wonderful thing about fashion art is that it does more than illustrate the garments…it also show the social life of the time. 

 You’ve gotta love these!

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Wine Festival in Front Royal

Posted in Small Town Life, Travel, tagged , on May 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »

If you are in the Front Royal, Virginia area today you want to be sure to come downtown for the Wine Festival.  It’s a huge festival that takes up Main and Chester Streets with wonderful vendors and wineries not  to mention specials at the stores along the streets.

Stop by Delilah’s at 105 E. Main where everything is on sale today.  We will also be having a tent sale out front and there will be artists demonstrating their work there most of the day.  Stop in and say hello.

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A Newport Home View

Posted in daily painter, Travel, tagged , , , , , , on May 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »

While in Newport last week I took loads of great photos for my reference file.  This was one of  my favorites.  I couldn’t wait to paint it.

Here is the start of the painting.

 

 

I love the way this building looks with all the blooming trees around it.  Still planning to touch up a few more things on it and then it’s done.  I really like this one.

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More Impressionism from MFA-Boston

Posted in Travel, tagged , , , , on May 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Monet, Grainstack (Snow Effect), 1891, oil on canvas

Renoir 1841-1919, Girls Picking Flowers in a Meadow, oil on canvas

Renoir, Grand Canal Venice, 1881, oil on canvas

Monet, Grand Canal, Venice,1908, oil on canvas

Monet, Ships in a Harbor, about 1873, oil on canvas

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Impressionists – Hasty Impressions

Posted in Travel, tagged , , , on May 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Claude Monet’s Field of Poppies near Giverny, 1890, oil on canvas.

 Of course, one of the favorite galleries I visited at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston recently was the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist.  In 1874 a group of young  painters including Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cezanne, and Pissarro, organized in Paris an exhibit to demonstrate their independence from traditional  painting.  They were criticized because much of what was on display was unfinished canvases based on “hasty impressions of nature” and the group was dubbed Impressionists.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Seine at Chatou, 1881, oil on canvas

This Renoir is a great example of this period.  This radiant landscape on the Seine just west of Paris shows distinct feathery brushstrokes from long to short, thick to thin.  Renoir wrote to a friend at the time of the painting, “I’m struggling with trees in flower, with women and children, and I don’t want to look at anything else.”

This is what happens when painters begin to work outside in “plein-aire”.  You begin to see everything differently and can’t wait to get out there and try to capture it on canvas.   

Monet’s Poplars at Giverny, 1887, oil on canvas.

Renoir, Rocky Crags at L’Estaque, 1882, oil on canvas

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Paper Zoo

Posted in daily painter, Travel, tagged , on May 5, 2012| Leave a Comment »

There were so many interesting exhibits at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston last week.  One was called Paper Zoo.  It was a variety of prints, drawings, and photographs of animals dating from about 1500 to the present. It featured about 35 pieces by Rembrandt, Audubon, Picasso, and more. 

Porcupine, Leonard Baskin (American, 1922-2000), 1951, woodcut.

Toad, Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973), 1949, Lithograph on Zinc Plate. 

 American Flamingo, Robert Harell, Jr. (English) based on a water-color by James Audubon, 19th century, Etching and aquatint, handcolored.

Top, Prowling Cat, Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen (French 1859-1923), Pastel and black chalk.

Bottom, Cats, Gerhard Marcks (German 1897-1969), 1921, woodcut.

 It was very interesting to see so many different artists take on the same animal.  And there were many children looking at this particular exhibit.  I could see why it was so popular. 

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Art in Bloom

Posted in Travel, tagged , , on May 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »

While in Boston last week at the Museum of Fine Arts I got to see several terrific exhibits.  One of the most fascinating ones was called “Art in Bloom”.  All throughout the museum there were about 75 floral arrangements that had been provided by international and regional designers who had been invited to interpret specific works of art.  It was interesting seeing them setting in front of beautiful paintings and sculptures.

There were small ones.

 

 

 

 

 

And some really huge ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I kept running across groups from the Garden Clubs who had designers who had been invited to participate and they were sharing information with their members about the floral works of art.  It was fun to watch and hear.

There is always something interesting going on at museums.  So lucky that I was there on one of the two days that the arrangements were on display.

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A Day of Waiting

Posted in daily painter, Travel, tagged , , , , , on May 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The least fun part of a great vacation is the trip home.  Yesterday I had several hours to wait at the airport.  Luckily I had packed my travel watercolor kit so while I waited at the cafe with my tea I worked on a little sketch of a photo I took in Newport of the “Trees by the Chinese Pavillion”.

This is the photo I used for the sketch.  The challenge was looking at the little screen on my phone, which was where I had the photo.  And of course, the phone screen kept timing out so I had to continually press the button to refresh.  Ugh!

But I kinda like the end result.  It was fun and kept me occupied for a couple of hours so the time at the airport went by pretty quickly.

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Art.in Many Forms

Posted in Travel, tagged on May 1, 2012| Leave a Comment »

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We visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston
yesterday.  The building itself is art.  She built it to house her amazing collection of art – sculptures, tapestries, paintings, books.  So much to see.  But this center garden was my favorite.

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As we were leaving the museum we saw these dancers posing for photos.  Never did find out exactly why but the poses and lines were lovely so I had to take a few photos to try to paint.

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You never know what you might run across that may make a lovely painting!

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