Visual Nocturne, Musical Nocturne

The last little while I've been really inspired by this painting by James McNeil Whistler.
It's called Nocturne in Black and Gold : The Falling Rocket.
It's an impressionist piece depicting fireworks and the resulting smoke lingering over the Thames.

Also, this website will create a reproduction in any size starting at about $150. Hello. If I had any money, this would be on my wall. ANd I would stare at it while listening to this:

Super Secret Photographer, Double-Oh Sarah

I would love to have one of these. From the Photojojo Store.

I love candid shots, and I would especially love to use this with those charming nephews of mine... for those moments when they are not so happy about being in pictures, and thus a tad less charming than normal. Ooh, or a cousin on my dad's side of the family who refuses to let her picture be taken (she's incredibly gorgeous, I don't know what the problem is). Ha! She'll never even see it coming!!

The lens is basically just a fake, and there is a hole in the side (see above) which has a mirror placed juuuust so... which sends the image into the image sensor to be recorded. So, you can take a picture of anything that is at a ninety degree angle from where the front of the lens it pointed.

There's a short video on the Photojojo store page if you want to see it in action.

Maybe I'll buy one for myself when I sell my house. Then I can take pictures on my people watching adventures in Paris and no one will be the wiser.

Plus, I think it would just be cool to say, "Hey, So-and-so, I'm going to head out and take some pictures with my Super Secret Spy Lens. Don't be jealous."

The Art Snob and The Poster List: A Confession in Two Parts

Part One: I am an art snob.


It's true. I am very opinionated about art that I do and don't like, and I would rarely consider actually paying for art that someone else has created.

There are two reasons for this:

Reason #1. I am not independently wealthy, so I can't just buy all of the paintings I have posted about here. Believe me, if it were financially possible, there is nothing that would stop me from owning them and creating the World's Most Amazing Abstract Painting Gallery with Some Impressionist Works to Boot. (And I would definitely call it that, too.)

Reason #2. I see something someone else has made and I use that as inspiration in creating my own paintings. Even though I know a lot of talent and hard work (and TIME) goes into the things other people create, I just can't justify spending $1300 on a painting. That's two house payments, for crying out loud. Plus I just love to paint.

Considering these two reasons, it may not surprise you to hear that I rarely hang art in my house that I didn't make myself. Enjoying the process+refusing to buy others' works = lots of fun+random art that changes every so often (unless I really like a painting I've done, I won't keep it intact when I feel the need for change. I'll just paint straight over it).

The nice thing about being a cheapskate art snob is that I can make things I like--with exactly the right color, texture, pattern, etc. And if I don't like it when I'm finished, I can just cover it up and start over.




Part Two: I'm not a poster person.

That's probably because the only posters I ever owned were 1) posters of famous paintings which I never got frames for (and which, frankly, just didn't hold as much appeal when they lost the texture of the actual painted surface) or 2) tweeny posters that I tacked onto my walls next to all of my chalk pastel drawings when I was 13. (I need to find those old school artistic endeavors o' mine.*)

Having admitted this to you**, I am now going to do a complete about-face and tell you how much I love some of the offerings at The Poster List. Definitely frame-worthy, and definitely things I would put on my own walls if I had the space and wasn't moving. And considering my art sobbishness, the fact that I'm actually willing to spend money on these is a big deal to me.

I've been to their site before (don't remember how), but Jessica at How About Orange is holding a contest on her blog this week where you can win TWO awesome posters of your choice. Details here.

My personal faves are (from L-R) Lonely Flower, Gotcha, Shoe Fetish, and Kisses (not shown).



So, if you want to win a couple of grown-up posters, go to Jessica's blog. If you just want to buy some, check out their shop. Right now they've got two 12x18" posters for $20. Not bad, considering they don't feature Hannah Montana.




*Would you be interested in seeing them if I found them?


**There's no shame in the tweeny posters, right? I think everyone goes through that phase. And apparently my art snobbery has been a part of me for a lot longer than I remembered initially.

I'll Take One... in White... in July 2009. Thank you.

I want to buy a Beach Cruiser soooo badly. Except that I have no money. And it snowed today, which isn't really helpful to riding around on a cute beachy bike. Winter is officially on its way. Maybe I'll just get one next year when I'm back from Paris and don't have a car.

This one from beachbikes.net is only $180. I hate mint green, so I would get it in white and add a basket on the front. I'm pretty sure you have to assemble it yourself, though... so... maybe not.

Waiting Games

So, I officially applied to the Sorbonne today.

I hope I get accepted!! I should know within the next week and a half, although from everything I've read I would be shocked if I didn't get accepted. (No, I don't have a super-inflated ego... I just think they basically accept anyone who will pay them who shows up with a visa. I'm not going to start a Master's program, just some language and civilization classes specifically designed for foreigners.)

You know, this whole process is kind of crazy. It's kind of a Catch-22 at any given second, because you need to make important decisions without complete information being available, and some decisions (and payments) have to be made with nothing but hope that it will all work out. More on that later.

In a matter on months, I could be studying here. Hmmmm. Kind of skews the concept of what a University library should look like, doesn't it? Absolutely gorgeous. It reminds me of one of those rooms in an old house-turned-museum that is roped off but perfectly set up and preserved. You know, the one where the tour guide gives everyone a sarcastic once-over as they all lean in over the rope as far as is physically possible and wish they had lived 400 years earlier...

Photo from the Spirit of Paris. Merci, Michel!

"Untitled" - a.k.a. I Love Luis Feito

Well, I love his paintings, at least.


His most recent ink on paper works are interesting, but not as textured and captivating as his older stuff.


These two are my favorites, though I pretty much like everything I've seen of his older works.


They are both "Untitled." Which, if I'm going to be honest, might make me like them better. Coming up with a title for every painting seems like it would be a pain (though the artists probably spend enough time with their medium and each work that they have the time to mull over it a while). I think leaving things without titles allows the audience to take a little more ownership of their reaction to the work itself.

(Plus, I think I would rather own a cool painting that is untitled than one that is called "Blue background with white hatch marks" or "Black and Grey blobs," etc.--wouldn't you?)

Aren't they incredible? The first is mixed media on paper, and the second is sand and oil on board. Breathtaking, and both in private collections. Wow, I want so much to be a rich art collector.

James Judge - Contemporary Painter

I would buy these two paintings if I had money and a house big enough to have an art gallery.

James Judge seems to create abstract landscapes for the most part, which I'm not a huge fan of. Landscape paintings very seldom appeal to me. But the two shown below, 'Echo' and 'Watermark' respectively, are just un-landscape-ish enough for me to love the mixing, blending, splashing and bleeding of the colors.

I would really love to be able to paint like this. Maybe some day.

Click on the paintings to see a larger version via the Adam Gallery website.