Inspiration all around

       Plantings have experienced a drought this August, but my heart soars with the inspiration in my painting world. Tomorrow, I will enjoy a members' look at the Obama portraits which have arrived at the MFA BOSTON. Last weekend, Joe and I made a rare 5-minute run into Harvard Square to see two major big portraits at the Harvard Art Museum, free on Sundays: See below: Kehinde Riley and Kerry James Marshall were a major surprise. The sculpture in a surrealism show and a new Jacob Lawrence series were a treat as well (click to enlarge photos)

       On-line I read an essay by Kerry James Marshall "I Paint Pictures Too" which led me to the Cezanne show at the Art Institute of Chicago, closing.  Picasso famously said that  Cezanne is the father of us all. Here, Marshall and other artists were explaining why. I wanted more details, especially since a classmate of mine was reporting as well. Rich. I found the catalog Cezanne on-line. Then I spotted the Still Life tome on our Harvard jaunt and was struck by the novel ways objects around us in the house and yard can be expressed freshly by Australian artists.  Of course a major treat will be a run to NYCity to see the Robert Colescott show at the New Museum. I got to meet him one day in Soho, and he is a favorite artist. The catalog is well written. All three books have super illustrations. I keep them out on the dining room table.

Let it Snow...we've a playground inside

    My house is a giant playground to me, my husband and grandchildren. More books than I will ever read, more art supplies than I will use up and wood cutting tools. Nevertheless, I loved trotting into the Museum of Fine Arts on Wednesday evenings. Paula Pitman Brown set up still lifes and we painted in acrylics or oil...or any other subject we wanted to work on. Every so often, I enjoy the structure and routine of a class, camaraderie of students and looking at things in a new way.

    My out-of-class painting happened one night when I forced myself to paint at home. The tv reports of the Paris bombings came on so I just started painting Bones who was hanging by the easel. Then I wanted to add an eiffel tower on canvas with red, white and blue flowers, hopefully growing off the easel canvas. Toward the end of the paint sketching, President Obama was on tv in Antalya, Turkey, addressing the  G20 Summit re the terrorist attacks. I caught in paint, a few days in time. It needs more painting, but I am stopping. I will paint the differently next time in oils.

 

    Two of my class still lifes are the bird in frame, painted mostly in green,  and houses w violin, painted predominantly in browns made up of colors other than browns or blacks. A good visual exercise!

    In the meantime there was Thanksgiving. I suggested that Hannah paint a tree on poster board and cut out leaves for people to add what they were grateful for. She outdid herself and it was a worthy endeavor. Later when I told Joe she would like a light box (SHHHHHH), he made her one for under the tree. Note: he sprayed clear acrylic we had on hand with white paint for opacity and got a 40 watt specialty long bulb. You don't need wood but could create with a sturdy box.

    And last, but not least, Erika told Joe she wanted to make something and rummaged through his wood strips to shape a birdhouse which he and she built together. She is still painting on it but may now be finished. She painted with nylon brushes and those bottles of liquid acrylic paint one finds at a craft store.