ITALIAN REMEMBRANCE

"For us to go to Italy and to penetrate into Italy is like a most fascinating act of self discovery....back, back down the ways of time. Strange and wonderful chords awake in us and vibrate again after many hundreds of years of complete forgetfulness."-D.H. Lawrence


I made a book for a friend as a holiday gift this year to celebrate a trip we took in 2006. I used various "doodads" that we found and photographs that we took. It was a similar idea to the one I made for my husband (a few posts back) but very different in design. While I tried to create a more "rugged" look for his, this one I wanted to feel like candy....eye candy.

The cover is a photo of a favorite Murano glass chandelier we saw, covered by a chandelier piece found in a Rome flea market.




She actually LIKES to do laundry....hence the Venice clothesline.


Our workshop classroom in Cortona, before we got started and a vintage photo of Cortona on the back cover.

" I love the language, that soft bastard Latin which melts like kisses from a female mouth and sounds as if it should be written on satin with syllables which breathe of the sweet south." -Byron

WHAT IS ART?...another trip to New York

"My role in society, or any artists or poets role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all".-John Lennon

On Wednesday, I spent a great day in New York with Susanna from Susannassketchbook. We met up on an early train and the wind and gloriously warm weather and sunshine, took us around to various locations in the city, to see some great art.........and some not so great art, depending on your point of view. It was truly a thought provoking and inspirational day.

Susanna, a wonderful photographer, opted not to bring her camera, because we were supposed to have a rainy day, so I insisted we share mine. Some of these photos are hers.



First stop.......Tinsel Trading Company. Penn Station drops you off in the "garment district", there was NO WAY we were not going to stop into one of the trim shops and check out the doodads!



Second stop......MOMA, the Museum of Modern Art. Stopped in to see the Lucien Freud etchings and paintings and the Martin Puryear sculpture show. That's Susanna entering the Freud exhibit and me staring up at who knows what next to the sculpture.

I am a big fan of much of Freuds work. He brings his subjects down to their least common denominator......you are under a magnifying glass, if are one of his subjects.



Puryear is a genius with wood in it's simplest form.



Third stop.....Chelsea gallery district. Inside and outside of the infamous Chelsea Hotel
"the rest stop for rare individuals".



Now here is where the "what is art" question really made us think. "The Cat" was in an enormous gallery full of "cartoon characters". Even if I don't "get it", I will go further in my exploration and step up to the piece and check out the craftsmanship, the brush strokes, etc. I didn't see any redeeming qualities here. The other piece is from a wall outside. WOW!! Now this I can sink my teeth into.


Girls gone wild in Chelsea.
We stepped in and out of various gallery spaces and either shook our heads in wonder or were transformed by the beauty of it all.



The highlight was coming upon the Jack Shainman gallery on 20th. We looked in the window and I saw the same work I had seen in Venice hanging from the side of the Palazzo Fortuny. The work of El Anatsui.....this time in smaller versions. WOW, WOW, WOW. It opened on January 4th and he has sold every piece!.....starting at $200,000.

His inspiration comes from African history and tapestries. He uses rigid materials, like TIN CANS and BOTTLE CAPS to create seemingly soft cloth-like structures. BEAUTIFUL!!!

Detail
Detail

"There are artists that transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, thanks to their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun." -Pablo Picasso



Onto our next stop, ABC Carpet and Home....first stop and take a break.


What floor would you like?......the elevator buttons.
Always great stuff for sale. Did you say "SALE".....HA!......this tray is only $695!!!!

"Vintage" sofa -$3500



A great day......thanks Susanna!

"True art takes note of not merely form, but also what lies behind". - Mahatma Gandi

RELAX, THE HOLIDAYS ARE HERE

"I just put my feet in the air and move them around" - Fred Astaire

That's an oil pastel/charcoal and colored pencil drawing I did. You may be asking yourself, "self, why is she showing us a drawing of feet?" This should be about the holidays!!
Well, I'll tell you.........yesterday, "husband Bob, had his left foot operated on. Nothing too serious , but he is on crutches for 10 days. My feet............not bare this time (see last post)........are VERY BUSY. Any of you ever had a male of our species to take care of ? Need I say more????

I've been hearing more and more on TV and the radio what a stressful time of year this is.....not that I needed to be told. New studies prove that statistically, not only are Mondays a prime heart attack day, but the months of December and January are the top months. I say......HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I"M STILL SMILING , but does anyone have any ideas how we can all calm down and make it less commercial???

"Once again, we come to the holiday season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes in his/her own way, by going to the mall of their choice." -Dave Barry



I suppose I'm giving away my age a bit here by showing this photo of little OLD me sitting on Santas lap....no I didn't photoshop it into black and white! Pretty cute, huh? Now THERE is a Santa I can live with. He looks pretty authentic. The ones I see at the mall these days are pretty lame in comparison.

I had a mixed religious upbringing. So I will leave you this time with a HAPPY HANNUKKAH greeting. and some history.



The History of Hanukkah:

Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days and nights, starting on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar (which is November-December on the Gregorian calendar). In Hebrew, the word "Hanukkah" means "dedication."
The holiday commemorates the rededication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem after the Jews' 165 B.C.E. victory over the Hellenist Syrians. Antiochus, the Greek King of Syria, outlawed Jewish rituals and ordered the Jews to worship Greek gods.
In 168 B.C.E. the Jews' holy Temple was seized and dedicated to the worship of Zeus.
Some Jews were afraid of the Greek soldiers and obeyed them, but most were angry and decided to fight back.
The fighting began in Modiin, a village not far from Jerusalem. A Greek officer and soldiers assembled the villagers, asking them to bow to an idol and eat the flesh of a pig, activities forbidden to Jews. The officer asked Mattathias, a Jewish High Priest, to take part in the ceremony. He refused, and another villager stepped forward and offered to do it instead. Mattathias became outraged, took out his sword and killed the man, then killed the officer. His five sons and the other villagers then attacked and killed the soldiers. Mattathias' family went into hiding in the nearby mountains, where many other Jews who wanted to fight the Greeks joined them. They attacked the Greek soldiers whenever possible.

Judah Maccabee and his soldiers went to the holy Temple, and were saddened that many things were missing or broken, including the golden menorah. They cleaned and repaired the Temple, and when they were finished, they decided to have a big dedication ceremony. For the celebration, the Maccabees wanted to light the menorah. They looked everywhere for oil, and found a small flask that contained only enough oil to light the menorah for one day. Miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days. This gave them enough time to obtain new oil to keep the menorah lit. Today Jews celebrate Hanukkah for eight days by lighting candles in a menorah every night, thus commemorating the eight-day miracle.

A NEW SEASON

" I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape-the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show".
-Andrew Wyeth

In reality, I prefer those warm, sultry summer days. This quote evoked the proper image and I identified with it , so here it is for you to enjoy. If you think about Andrew Wyeths paintings, you can really hear him saying this.

The morning after Thanksgiving, our weather suddenly changed to what it was supposed to be this time of year, COLD. I went downstairs for my coffee, looked outside, grabbed my camera and without putting on my shoes and socks, I walked in my bare feet to take these pictures. Sometimes I just have to see what it REALLY feels like.



I am thankful for my ice cold feet and for all of you wonderful people I have met in Blogland
............among many other things.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!!




"Herbs" Woodcut by Karen Cole (1970's)

A TEA PARTY AND MORE.........

Detail from a clay platter by Karen Cole -Terracotta, slips and oxides


"The first cup moistens my lips and throat. The second cup breaks my loneliness. The third cup searches my barren entrail but to find therein some thousand volumes of odd ideographs. The fourth cup raises a slight perspiration - all the wrongs of life pass out through my pores. At the fifth cup I am purified. The sixth cup calls me to the realms of the immortals. The seventh cup - ah, but I could take no more! I only feel the breath of the cool wind that raises in my sleeves. Where is Elysium? Let me ride on this sweet breeze and waft away thither." ~Lu Tung, "Tea-Drinking"


Yet another delightful journey. Once again I'll try to be short on words and long on photos.

The photo above is from a fabulous lunch that I was treated to at the Huntington Museum and Library in Pasadena , California. They have a lovely tea room in the rose garden that is more than just tea....yes, I"M STILL FULL!

The best part of it all was meeting two wonderful, artistic women and fellow bloggers, Kristen Robinson and Ruth Rae.

I was out there attending the wedding of the son of a dear friend and decided that what better way to spend my free time than to meet up with some fellow artists and bloggers. I can't recommend it enough.


We toured the museums. There is an incredible collection of original manuscripts and books from the 15th century and on........ and an art collection that is quite extensive. Below are just a few things that caught my eye.

Speaking of eyes....... detail from "Portrait of Laura" by George Wesley Monett (American 20th century)

"State Fair" by John Stewart Curry (American 20th century) Loved the colors and all of the action.


Detail from "Caller Waiting" by Kenneth Hayes Miller (American 20th century)
OK- he loved to paint women shopping........do you think she is happy? Is she happy with him? I was wondering if this is just an innocent gesture. What do you think?

We strolled around all of the beautiful gardens admiring everything and taking an occasional break to be silly........ take your own camera, turn it to face you and snap! Sorry about being SO in your face.....but we were having such a good time!


The Japanese Garden and Teahouse.... the bridge is for Constance :-)

The succulent gardens below were my favorite. The textures were simply out of this world.
A pink flower for you know who.


OH...and there was a wedding.....

Dear friends Karen and Barry leading the way (Karens' son is the groom).

Melissa and Stephen.....

May we all live happily ever after......

CAREFREE

This is a VERY OLD portrait I did while in college. See....the paint is already peeling. Definitely NOT archival. Even though I was "young and "CAREFREE" in those days, I still have a fairly serious look about me, don't I? Just trying to look "mature" I suppose.

I'm feeling a bit melancholy at the moment. I just came back from visiting my 93 year old mother. There is definite evidence that in the past few weeks a few more lights have dimmed, for lack of a better term. I'm an only child, it's not easy to watch. I know it is all a part this thing we call life.

Sometimes it helps to see what other people think.......I traveled the net to find some quotes on aging. These are just a few that I wanted to read more than once. It's a mixed bag.

"Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been." ~Mark Twain,

"The first sign of maturity is the discovery that the volume knob also turns to the left." ~Jerry M. Wright

"The great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in seventy or eighty years. Your body changes, but you don't change at all. And that, of course, causes great confusion." ~Doris Lessing

"There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age."

- Sophia Loren

We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations. -Anais Nin


"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?" ~Satchel Paige

My "ODE TO AUTUMN"

"AUTUMN IS A SECOND SPRING WHEN EVERY LEAF BECOMES A FLOWER" -ALBERT CAMUS

Pastel drawing by Karen Cole

Many of you have made some reference to autumn in recent blogs. I took a walk this morning, marveling at the array of color that exists in this landscape and realized that it is far more in tune with my own palette, than any other season.


HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DAY!