content of this gallery may not be appropriate for all visitors
Today I had a tremendous headache after a day of computer tedium at work (it's not bad, but it is repetitive, and there's a lot of it to do), so I finally finally did what I had been telling myself I would do ever since I got this job, and went straight to the Museum of Fine Arts after work.
It's right down the street, literally. Not quite walking distance for me at this time, but very much in the neighborhood. I probably could walk home, too, if the construction on the streets were finished.
Anyway.
So I went to wallow in John Singer Sargent some more, but frankly that gallery is tiny and I could only wallow so much before I walked on seeking other bright shinies within the museum.
So it turns out that there's a HUGE Alice Neel exhibition in the other building. I went right up as soon as I figured out where it was. (The museum has a maze-like quality to it in some areas.)
Holy cow, it was brilliant. [And the subject line for this entry is text from the sign posted at the entrance to the gallery.]
Alice Neel's portraits are amazing - brutal, and beautiful, and terribly moving. The canvases are large, and mostly the people fill them up, and the paint is often thick, but wonderfully expressive. At times it was creepy, even, standing there staring at these people who are often staring just as boldly back. I was really impressed by some of her nudes - the pregnant ones are amazing. She doesn't pull any visual punches, and the use of color is so interesting, the way she renders skin in a rainbow of patches yet it all pulls together and somehow works. It was stark to compare those to her cityscapes, which were by comparison relatively colorless, all lines and corners and angles and shadows and confined spaces.
Truly her work makes me want to paint, in the best inspirational way. She makes me think of things like color and proportion in ways that I usually don't, and that is always a good thing. It's easy for me to get bogged down in a quest for realism that isn't really necessary to portraiture or illustration.
I also walked through the store ogling expensive books that I can't buy (yet) for myself, and contemplating expanding my magnet collection.
Mom and Dad went to a book signing by Jim Butcher on Tuesday at Murder by the Book and apparently found him quite personable, funny, and very very patient as they were some of the last to get to the table. I'm only on Book 7 so I try to avoid spoilers when they gush about it, but the Dresden Files are another one of those Family Series - everybody's read them, we've all seen the TV show, it's become part of the family lexicon.
I am SO CLOSE to being finished with my craft project. I have to do a repair, and then the final finishing bits, and then the final photos and then into the mail with them! And then once they have been received the photos can all by published! Yay!
In other news, I am SUPER EXCITED about the new Doctor Who!! Has anybody else seen The Eleventh Hour already? Did you like it? I did! FYI, the BBC America premiere is the 17th!
It's right down the street, literally. Not quite walking distance for me at this time, but very much in the neighborhood. I probably could walk home, too, if the construction on the streets were finished.
Anyway.
So I went to wallow in John Singer Sargent some more, but frankly that gallery is tiny and I could only wallow so much before I walked on seeking other bright shinies within the museum.
So it turns out that there's a HUGE Alice Neel exhibition in the other building. I went right up as soon as I figured out where it was. (The museum has a maze-like quality to it in some areas.)
Holy cow, it was brilliant. [And the subject line for this entry is text from the sign posted at the entrance to the gallery.]
Alice Neel's portraits are amazing - brutal, and beautiful, and terribly moving. The canvases are large, and mostly the people fill them up, and the paint is often thick, but wonderfully expressive. At times it was creepy, even, standing there staring at these people who are often staring just as boldly back. I was really impressed by some of her nudes - the pregnant ones are amazing. She doesn't pull any visual punches, and the use of color is so interesting, the way she renders skin in a rainbow of patches yet it all pulls together and somehow works. It was stark to compare those to her cityscapes, which were by comparison relatively colorless, all lines and corners and angles and shadows and confined spaces.
Truly her work makes me want to paint, in the best inspirational way. She makes me think of things like color and proportion in ways that I usually don't, and that is always a good thing. It's easy for me to get bogged down in a quest for realism that isn't really necessary to portraiture or illustration.
I also walked through the store ogling expensive books that I can't buy (yet) for myself, and contemplating expanding my magnet collection.
Mom and Dad went to a book signing by Jim Butcher on Tuesday at Murder by the Book and apparently found him quite personable, funny, and very very patient as they were some of the last to get to the table. I'm only on Book 7 so I try to avoid spoilers when they gush about it, but the Dresden Files are another one of those Family Series - everybody's read them, we've all seen the TV show, it's become part of the family lexicon.
I am SO CLOSE to being finished with my craft project. I have to do a repair, and then the final finishing bits, and then the final photos and then into the mail with them! And then once they have been received the photos can all by published! Yay!
In other news, I am SUPER EXCITED about the new Doctor Who!! Has anybody else seen The Eleventh Hour already? Did you like it? I did! FYI, the BBC America premiere is the 17th!