Art

I like art. Paintings, sculpture, quilts, music, architecture, landscaping, colors, patterns, - oh, I could go on...

Am I an artist? Well, I dabble in lots of artsy things. I am neither gifted nor savant about art, but I like it. I like doing it, creating it. I hold no degrees in art, but I like to study art and artists. I love museums! A while back I was meandering through art posters in a store. I kept coming back to one which was a print of a Modigliani painting:

Madame G. Van Muyden, 1917

Why do I like this? When I got home after seeing the poster of this painting, I looked up Modigliani and perused his work. (I only recognized the Modigliani name from some childhood I Love Lucy episode. Sesame Street's got nothing over some of those old TV shows!) Anyway, to use that humorous phrase, the works "spoke to me". And I think they spoke to me because, I am sorry, Amedeo, but I think I could paint something like this. And I don't think that's a BAD thing, at all.

Years ago, in another season of my life and in another city, I was the "Picture Person" for the local elementary school. My job, as volunteer art cheerleader, was to acquaint students K-5 with art. Each week I would pick out an artist, aquire prints, posters, whatever, to show the elementary kids the works and tell them stories about each artist. Picasso, Degas, Neiman, Monet, Pollock - I made it a point, each week, to tell the kids, "You can do this, too!" I wanted them to know that each of them can create. I wanted them to know that there are no wrong answers in creativity.

I just wanted to urge them to create.

There's more to come on that note,
but right now I would just like to share some of Modigliani's work!

Kariatide, 1913

Portrait of Jeanne Hebuterne in a Large Hat, 1918

Tete de Femme