My Custom Mug!

You may recall that I love mugs and that I broke a mug I bought from Rachel Akin earlier this year. I saw Rachel at the Plaza Art Fair. Although she had changed up her style a little bit she offered to remake the mug I broke. It arrived a couple weeks ago and I have happily added it back into the morning mug rotation. It is not exactly the same as the one I purchased at the Brookside Art Fair, but it is a wonderful substitution. Now I just need to be careful with this one! Don't want another freak accident in the kitchen.

Wizards V Machester United

Manchester United is one of the best teams in the world and they came to KC! Well, let's be honest, they didn't play their best players. It was a great time. We started out tailgating and then headed into the new Arrowhead. There we watched the Wizards win! Yes, that's right. We won! The final score was 2-1. It was a great fun!

After the game we headed back into the parking lot for another beer and hot dog while we waited for the traffic to clear out. It was Legendary! Thanks Nan for planning a great day!

The Nelson Revealed Part 4

The feature exhibit at the Nelson right now is a collection of photographs (vintage prints) by Edward Steichen. This collection is from the time that Steichen took photographs for Vogue. There are many famous people in these photographs a few of whose name I recognized. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take photos of the exhibit so you'll just have to go see it for yourself. (This was the one photo I took before getting reprimanded...you'd think they'd post that info) Only at the Nelson until July 25th!

"Take good photographs and the art will take care of itself"

Edward Steichen

The Nelson Revealed Part 3

She's here!!

2,300 Year Old Nobel Woman Meretites

(Well she's not actually here. Her mummy is actually missing but we have the inner case, outer case, and a protective apron)

Go check her out! She's pretty cool!

The Nelson Revealed Part 2

I'm a huge Van Gogh fan. I want to visit New York City to see Starry Night. And I want to visit Amsterdam, not for the reasons of most Americans who visit, but to see the Van Gogh museum. I learned something new about Van Gogh at the Nelson. Most people think of Van Gogh as a crazy guy who cut off his ear, but apparently he was very professional when it came to painting. When he could he bought the best paints, just like Monet, whose colors would stand the test of time and not fade. AND... he used tons of brushes! Instead of wiping a brush and going from one color to another, like I do, he would have a different brush for each color. You can see the distinct colors in this close up.

Van Gogh, you may have had a tough life, but you got one thing right...Painting!

The Nelson Revealed Part 1

At the Nelson this summer they are looking carefully at Monet's Waterlilies. This is one of the Nelson's prized paintings. They are doing the work right in the gallery because the painting is too big to move into the conservator's space. (This also happens to be the same gallery I saw Steve Martin in earlier this year)

Here the conservators x-rayed a portion of the painting. The lead white paint shows up in the x-ray so we can see the underpainting. This tells us that Monet reworked and shifted some of the waterlilies. This painting is a triptych which means Monet meant for it to be seen all together. But don't be sad that the Nelson only have the right piece because the other two are coming! That's right folks, the entire piece is going to be together again in April. This hasn't been done since 1979.

The best part of the gallery talk was the question and answer section. I could listen to these people talk for a long time. I learned about how Monet was rather good at marketing his paintings and make the most money out of all the impressionist. At the time we painting these waterlilies he was quite well off and therefore had the money to buy good paints, which he was rather particular about. He wanted to use paints that wouldn't color shift. This was a big problem for artist as colorists were coming out with new colors. The colors are blended with something, but sometimes the pigments fade leaving just the gray substance it was blending with. Here I knew exactly what the curator was talking about because I have been reading Color by Victoria Finley. Haven't read the whole book yet, but very fascinating about where pigments originate from.

Not a poolside read, but have really enjoyed picking it up occasionally and reading about a color.

Back to the Nelson. I also learned that Monet didn't even want to use varnish because he was afraid of the yellow tint it might give his painting as the painting aged. So if you see a Monet with varnish applied it is very possible to an art dealer applied it later. Monet wanted his paintings out there therefore let the dealers do want they may. This may be why the three paintings were separated in the first place.

Another interesting fact. In the bottom left corner there appears to be Monet's signature. False! It's actually a stamp! The dealer would stamp it with Monet's signature so he could sell his paintings.

More tales from the Nelson to come!

Pancakes!

CHEESE! Oh, wait, PANCAKES!

Since Mary and I finished with face to face classes we, along with her baby Peirce, met for the best pancakes in town, Crackerbarrel! I know, your surprised, but they really are fantastic! It made for a great morning. So if you have a hankering for pancakes Crackerbarrel is the place to be. I think Pierce would agree. Yea for summer!

Celebrate!

To celebrate the end of week long classes I met Carrie and Lisa for a much deserved pedicure. We had a great time chatting while our feet were scrubbed and made beautiful. And of course we all choose bright colors and opted for the extra flower on out toes. Now they look great while sitting at the pool. (Which I plan to do a lot know that I only have my online class to finish)

Thanks girls for the great afternoon!