February 2024
The big excitement for February was a trip to London! Holy smokes. I’m in love. Without a doubt, one of the most civilized, polite, mannerly cities we’ve visited. They don’t drive like maniacs, they walk down sidewalks politely, giving each other space. Lovely, brilliant, good evening, just nice and respectful towards one another. Loved every minute and cannot wait to go back.
Our main purpose was to … well, you can probably guess … SEE ART! Duh. The Philip Guston retrospective was on view at Tate Modern and it was out of this world. I don’t know anyone who likes Philip Guston’s art. I love it. People say his work is weird and/or cartoonish. And it’s funny because on the flight home I finished reading, “Get the Picture,” a book about understanding modern/contemporary art and the writer talks about people who describe art as “weird.” You have to spend time with nonrepresentational paintings to understand them. It takes time because the meaning is subjective and not always immediately obvious. But let me try and help. Take this painting for instance:
This painting says so much. A few things about the artist: he was Jewish and shoes represented the Holocaust. He was a chain smoker. He had trouble sleeping. He thought a lot about his mortality. He thought a lot about hatred in the world. Now, I’ve never gone to bed with a cigarette and a plate of cheese, but I constantly struggle with sleep. It’s also the time of day when the chickens come home to roost. I lie awake thinking about all kinds of things that bother me. I problem solve paintings, think about how to lead a tour at the museum, what to include, and how to engage visitors. I think about my dad. I think about what I’m going to paint the next day, how to teach ellipses to my students. And I think about what I need to do, want to do before I kick the bucket. My father died when he was 58 years old. I’ll be 58 this year. It’s hard to *not* think about it.
I also don’t go to bed holding my paint brushes, but there isn’t a night I go to bed when I’m not thinking about painting or something art related. So, yes, Philip Guston’s work (and thoughts on painting) resonates with me in a big, big way.
Years ago I started a wish list of art museums to visit, and each year we hit one or two. On this trip, we ticked off three: Tate Modern, National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery. The National Gallery completely blew my mind. It was like opening my art history book from Agnes Scott and seeing everything we studied. Turn the corner and there’s Velasquez. Around the next corner Jan Van Eyck. A few more steps and there’s Vigee Le Brun and on and on and on. I got choked up several times, which I understand is called Stendhal Syndrome. I remember my art history professor talking about Stendhal Syndrome because she almost passed out when she saw The Winged Victory of Samothrace for the first time. We laughed at her that day in class, but now I understand.
Scott got to visit one of his bucket list places, too: Dukes Bar!
Dukes is the epitome of service and tradition. They’ve been stirring up ice cold martinis since 1908. Ian Fleming, Princess Diana, even the Queen Mother were all big fans of the Dukes Martini. Due to the history and tradition of English gin, I was nervous about ordering a vodka martini (much less a dirty martini!), but they were very accommodating. Even brought over my own carafe of olive brine and a glass filled with extra olives. A 5-star experience for sure!
SAN DIEGO
Scott was in San Diego for a work conference, so I flew out and met him so that we could enjoy several days together. We stayed at the Hotel Del Coronado, and every afternoon we scored a front row seat with a glass of rosé and a sunset that is second to none. Each sunset was different - more red one night, pinks and oranges, the next, blues and violets the next. Photographs never do it justice. I think it’s the best sunset view in the US.
We also ventured “off campus” and hit some of the shops and restaurants along Orange Avenue. It’s such a cute little town!!! My favorite restaurant was Little Frenchie and we really liked Parakeet Cafe.
Got lots of sketching in this month, too! You can see more on Instagram: @airportsketcher
PAINTING AND DRAWING
My Drawing Fundamentals course at Acworth Arts ended on February 14 and picked back up again on February 28. They’re such a motivated, positive, engaged group. Every week they blow me away with the work they do between classes. They want it, and that makes me even more fired up to teach them.
I also got some exciting news that I’ll be teaching Drawing Fundamentals at Binders in Buckhead starting March 25! This is such a full circle moment! I took my first drawing class at Binders in 2013. Here I am, 11 years later teaching in the very room where it all began.
One of my interior design friends is working on a big project and invited me to submit a big group of paintings for a gallery wall. This is still very much in the works, so I can’t say too much about it right now. More to come. (Hopefully!)
I submitted two paintings to the Southeastern Pastel Society for consideration for their upcoming show. Submitting pastels is always so nerve wracking because I’ve never taken a class in pastels and I have no idea if what I’m doing is “right.” All I know is that I like the way it looks. We’ll see what happens. There is also a Booth Artists Guild call. Not sure if I’ll submit for that or not. I’m doing fewer and fewer of these calls because my calendar is so hectic right now, just not enough time to pull everything together.
A few of my artist friends are on a big group text. We take turns providing reference images, we paint, then we share what we painted on a text chain. SOOOOOO much fun. It is fascinating to see the different interpretations of the same image. It’s also fun to come up with challenges.
POTTERY
Oh, the highs and lows of pottery … LOL. Had my first fracture in a bowl, certainly won’t be the last. So far nothing has blown up in the kiln, but surely that’s gonna happen, too. Learned how to glaze this week. I am excited to see how that all turns out next week. Glazing was fascinating because the colors of the glazes do not match what I pictured in my head. For example, I wanted to put a dark gray/black-ish color glaze on a coffee mug and when I went to open that container of glaze it was iron oxide red. HUH??? Baffling, but of course, this is all chemistry and that’s not my strong suit. But I tell ya, it’s just one more example of how important it is to learn STEM based concepts. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a million times … if I’d known how much science is involved in art, I probably would’ve chickened out.
And speaking of Pottery, the Hear Me Now exhibition is UP at the High Museum. Oh my, what an exhibit. I get goosebumps every time I walk through it. The show highlights the works of Dave the Potter and Poet who was enslaved on a plantation in Edgefield, SC. If you’re interested in the exhibition and haven’t read Carolina Clay, go read it. Like, right now. Amazing.
READING
I read Get the Picture on the flight over and back from London. Laughed out loud through the whole book. So funny, well written and I love that the author actually worked in so many of the roles of the art world - from gallerina to artist assistant and even museum security guard. Heck of a book! I have a few more pages to read of All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me. Another easy, fun, educational read. And I’m about 100 pages into Jenkins of Mexico: How a Southern Farm Boy Became a Mexican Magnate.
Of course, I’m still giving docent tours as well as helping with Olmsted Plein Air 2024.
MARCH
On tap for March: a weekend in Highlands, more pottery, more teaching, and a painting workshop!
OTIS and JULIUS
Otis has been jumping up to the tops of the kitchen cabinets lately. I swear, I think he’s trying to tell us he’s still got the moves. Last night that little monkey brought up 5 or 6 woobie deliveries in the middle of the night and just about wore me out with the squawking . He cannot deliver a woob without announcing it. Every time I fell asleep, he woke me up with meows and a fresh woob. Insert lots of eyerolls here. He’s a proud hunter :)
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