Happy first Friday of 2012, fabulous friends, and welcome to the Open Mic! If you’ve never stopped by before, we’re so glad you’re here and we look forward to meeting you in the comments!
I realized this morning to my surprise that although we’ve talked about books and music here, we haven’t given much time to visual art. How did this happen?! It’s my handicap, of course; I have an odd relationship to museums and to capital-A Art in general. Nevertheless, I have my loves… and I know you do too.
Please share a piece of visual art that amazes, provokes, or moves you. It doesn’t have to be highbrow or even famous, and if you’re having trouble choosing among the hundreds, relax — give us two or three, and we’ll assume these are only samples among the countless. 🙂 Here are mine:
Chiura Obata: Dawn, Knights Ferry, Stanislaus County (1930)
René Magritte, L'Empire des lumières (Empire of Light), 1953-54.
Can’t wait to see yours in the comments! Happy weekend!
Lovely choices – here’s mine –
http://singlemaltmonkey.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/314061_113334295435547_
I hope this works !!
I love Mondrian …..and then an unashamed plug for Anna’s work who has been inspirational this year.
Well. One did.
I was such a doofus to forget we can’t embed images in comments. ;b (At least, not easily. Maybe it’s possible with HTML. Let’s see…
Hey, what do you know!! It worked! Now… rats, how do I explain how I did this without the code just generating another embedded image?
Explanation here: http://www.mediacollege.com/internet/html/image-tag.html
Also, is that tree Mondrian?!
Another go…at Anna’s work.
Ooh, what fabulous colors. Am I being dense? Which Anna is this?
The tree is Mondrian. An early work on the way to what would become.
No, you’re not being dense, you’re not to know. Anna Martin is our contemporary artist friend who gave us so much inspiration in Spain this year. We think her work is excellent.
http://www.annamartin.co.uk/
Beautiful paintings Anna
The tree reminds me of one of my favorite Van Gogh paintings, Blossoming Almond Tree:
And yes to Anna’s work — so vibrant.
Lisa, my favorite painting is The Garden Parasol by American painter Frederick Carl Frieseke. It is in the permanent collection at the NC Museum of Art in Raleigh. We were strolling through the museum one day when we came upon this painting and it just made me so happy! The way he painted the sunlight shining through the colors on the parasol — made me feel like dancing…..I tried to figure out how to post it here, but, alas, my computer skills are sadly lacking. Tutorial anyone?
That’s a lovely painting. Such a delicate treatment of light. I love that.
It really is a lovely painting. It reminds me of so many other luminous things, Venetian glass being the first that comes to mind. Now why does it look so familiar… have you mentioned it to me before, or has the painting been on tour recently (could I have seen it in SF)?
Thank you, Lisa! I was sure you would know how to get the image here. I guess it’s possible that this painting has been on a trip. We only get to the museum every few years, so if it’s been away from the collection I wouldn’t know. Too, maybe it has been used on a calendar or some such thing. It is interesting to me that in reproducing it the colors vary so much. In some the entire painting is much more vibrant. In the above the parasol almost stands alone. There is a Rembrandt show at the museum right now that we want to see. I’ll have to visit my picture and see how it is doing. And get ready to do the happy dance!
I have a strong feeling of having seen it in person, but it’s very likely I’m thinking of something else. I know what you mean about reproductions. I’m thinking it’s probably best to see everything in person, as much as possible… I should make that a goal, to visit more art. 🙂
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I LOVE that tree painting – the way he balanced the colors and strokes of the sky and ground with the tree. I saw a Monet painting of just looking up at the sky through branches of a tree – saw it once in SF and have been hunting for it since.
When I was a small girl my mother took me to watch Obata paint . He leaned down and asked me what do you want me to paint little girl? I said a bunny rabbit. With a few brush strokes he sketched a rabbit and gave it to me. I still have it in it’s original wonderful muted red frame.
Oh my goodness, Carla, what a wonderful Obata story!!! I’d love to see a photo of his rabbit if you ever take one.
It’s somewhere not in my apartment right now but when I see it hopefully I’ll remember to take a photo. He (or she) is a beautiful rabbit.
I can only imagine!!