Vuillard at the Jewish Museum

Today I went to the Jewish Museum jewishmuseum.org where a wonderful exhibit featuring the French artist Edouard Vuilllard who painted during the 19th - 20th centuries.  He was part of a group of artists known as Nabis....known for their somewhat abstract style, flat painting and pattern.  I was not very familiar with his work and enjoyed the visit tremendously.  He was a painter of people in their everyday surroundings.  As he said, he painted people, not portraits.  One can learn much more about an individual surrounded by their own possessions doing everyday things than someone sitting stiffly facing the artist.  I hope you take a look at the site.

A visit to Monet's Garden at the NY Botanical Garden

Today I paid a visit to the NY Botanical Garden in the Bronx to view a new exhibit which is a recreation of Monet's Garden in Giverny.  It was a beautiful display featuring many different flowers,  a  palette of deep, beautiful colors and an inspiration to anyone who appreciates nature.  I now understand why Monet became a painter of flowers and spent many happy years in Giverny creating this masterpiece of a garden.

Iron

One of the recent weekly themes in my class was "iron".  Most of my fellow students chose to create a collage incorporating the appliance "iron".  I did not.  I checked the thesaurus and among the synonyms were words like strong, hard etc.  With that in mind I decided to use metal screws and nails and decorated a box that I first painted silver.  I then thought of using an action hero and placed him in the box as my little twist on a more serious piece.  I call it "Strong Box."

The Affordable Art Fair

"Dream State"  (Sold piece)

Saturday, the day of the fair started out damp and wet but improved dramatically as the day wore on.  The show had 25 exhibitors with varied work such as photography, collage, painting, pottery etc.  I thought that the quality was very good, but unfortunately the attendance was smaller than expected I think due to the lack of advertising.  However many of my friends came to support me and I did sell one of my pieces.  I also think the troubling economic condition gave people pause before plunking down money for artwork.  However, I am really glad to have had that experience and I especially want to thank Chloe, Sophie and Jennifer for sticking it out and offering me a lot of help and advice on setting up the show.  I am now ready to enter more art shows and get my work out there.