The 80's Are Back

The 80's are back and I don't mean Big Hair and Power Ballads. After some comfortable days in the 70's it is warm for a while. Attended a version of Christmas Carol at the Florida Rep. Preparing the house for visits from Dom and Greg. An Edison Ford trip coming up in January to Miami art and culinary district.

Remember, you can look at a majority of my work on my website: claudelylesartworks.com
If you use your phone, the hamburger square in the upper left will open the menu where I have my works grouped. I usually have my MOST current works in this blog. And click on any photos you want to enlarge. All photos and works enjoy my copywrite.

I anticipate that this will be my last blog until the new year. Hope you have a wonderful holiday season. I am going to be braver than The Art Alliance here who wished me a Merry. Yes, they couldn't say it...Merry Christmas. They actually stopped after Merry...on purpose. They said they did not want to offend anyone (except Christians and Santa groupies, I suppose). I emailed them and told them what I thought of their timidity. 

New Art:

30-minute pastel in Wed class

 Some 1 - 3 minute quick poses.

 15 minute pose

 Last two are 30 - 50 minute poses. All in pastel or conte' crayon.

8 x 10 oil on canvas, Xanten, GR villa

Working on two acrylics, have not used that media for a while, sourcing from my Key West photos.

Old Art:

This piece was retouched to better define the tree depth. I call it finished. It was a canal scene from our visit to Amsterdam. 

Listening To:

Duke Ellington, Count Basie and His Orchestra, Alabama's Greatest Hits, Thin Red Line soundtrack.

Travel:

On December 1 I joined the Edison Ford Estate Directors Tour to Flamingo Gardens outside of Miami, Sea Watch Restaurant on the beach in Ft Lauderdale, and the Bonnet House, an interesting 35-acre carve out right in the middle of Ft Lauderdale on Highway 1. The gardens included animals, birds, and botanical. Bonnet House is a restored 1920's mansion with great architecture, art, and on this evening, a Big Band style jazz concert. I actually enjoyed the bus ride, it was smooth, I did not have to deal with Miami traffic, being elevated I had a good view. Returning at night, 10:30 PM arrival, motoring through the streets for Fort Myers, kind of like returning with the team after a win, smooth, quiet, pedestrians wondering who's in the bus - all we needed was the police escort like we had when we traveled with the Rams from our Scottsdale Westin hotel to the stadium and back to the airport.

Sea Watch restaurant

Central court in Bonnet House

Tiles in breakfast room

On The Motor coach returning

And, Thursday I was able to attend a Day of Recollection at the Venice FL Our Lady of Perpetual Help retreat center. 9:30 to 2:30 with two conferences (talks) with opportunity to ask questions, luncheon, and finished with Mass. Good way to get involved with the Advent season. Enjoy some shots on the Myakka River, and the grounds.

Book Review: 

Bureau of Spies: The National Press Building at 14th and F Streets in DC was built in 1927. It is still  the venue for almost all Washington press bureaus, domestic and foreign. Especially during WWII from their desks at the NPB, foreign "reporters" once spied and spread lies for their home countries. Yes, Fake News. American newspapers ran stories sourced from these foreign papers and contacts. As we all know, news gathering and dispersing today is decentralized, and cyberspace is a better way to spread fake news. Today, everything has to be parsed, doesn't it?

Photo from Bureau Of Spies

Finished Endurance, the story of Scott Kelly, the astronaut who remained in space for a year, one of 4 trips. Interesting to hear about the effects on his body and mind. Not sure a trip to Mars is possible with today's technology. We'll see.

Humor:

The photo below is from our Key West trip, we stopped at the Truman southern White House, visited by almost all of the Presidents since his term. In this photo I think I was asking Jim Acosta to leave the press session. And, I don't think I'm crazy. 

October in Saint Louis and Florida

New Art: 

My entry in the Alliance For The Arts contest
Did not win but at least accepted by the Jurors 

Working on multiple canvases, hope to finish by Thanksgiving.

And, Class at the Bonita Springs Art Center starts on the 14th, it is drawing with a model. Have not done this in about 38 years. Should be fun. 

Listening To: 

Eric Clapton double album with hits, live, out-takes, and b-sides; Stone Temple Pilots, 90's #1's.

Reading: 

3 chapters in. Just as divisive then as now

Finished

And, still working on 12 Rules For Life by Jordan Peterson. This clinical psychologist is a lot smarter than am I, so I have had to go back and read each chapter 2-3 times. About half way through. Love chapter/Rule 5 Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them. In essence, you love your children, if you don't like their behavior, think how the rest of the world will view them/disassociate themselves from them since they don't love them like you do. You need to give them a chance to succeed in a tough, cruel world. 

From Days Of Old: 

I was sitting on a park bench several weeks ago waiting for my sister Val to join me at a restaurant in downtown Punta Gorda and looked over at my car. Hard for me to believe it is 11 years old. Looks pretty good, doesn't it?

When I reported to UMB in downtown Saint Louis I was stationed in the lobby on 8th. The other lender (Greg) and I had English writing desks. Unfortunately the leather was worn/torn. I was given the charge to contract with a restoration company that replaced the leather top and gold embossing around the perimeter. Back in the day someone would sit on each side, they both have drawers and the desk was large. Found this article recently which reminded me. Crosby Kemper had the townhouse style building fitted with colonial fixtures, Brazilian Teak herringbone pattern plank floors, custom rugs, and early American Art - expensive early American Art. 

The September before we were married, Linda threw a surprise birthday party. Clearly I was surprised as you can tell by my clothes (Stanford t-shirt, flip flops) as I entered her back yard. Family and friends were there, live music.

SURPRISE!!!

Trips:

In October I had a chance to visit Saint Louis to see family, friends, and attend my annual retreat at the Jesuit White House.

view of my favorite chapel, seats about 90

composite of the grounds and a small chapel, overlooking the Mississippi River

We are joining two couples in Gainesville to watch the Tigers vs. Gators this weekend so I wanted to get this blog out. Did this four years ago with the Tampa chapter of the MU alumni association and also saw them a couple of years ago vs. Minnesota at the Citris Bowl in Orlando.

Then, later in November we will take our first trip to Key West for a long weekend. Will use the Key West Express, a boat that stops in Naples and reduces the trip to 3 hours from 6 by auto. Looking forward to it. 

Humor: 

Funny (but scary) thanks to Amazon

Yesterday was Halloween: 

Had a scary visitor...

Thanksgiving heading to Christmas

Hope you enjoy. You can see all of my current work at my website - claudelylesartworks.com.

And for a good phone app, ArtLoupe.com to buy and sell art. go to Browse, Discover, and Buy to view. Move the slide from artworks to Artists and then look me up. You can see what pieces are still available. I will cover my latest trip to Ft Lauderdale and Miami with the Edison Ford Estate and more new art. 

New Art:

Two 8 x 10 oil on canvas pieces: View in Estes Park as you drive in past the large lake.

Xanten, Germany, from our August Rhine River  

Cruise.

Classwork:

I am taking a studio drawing class, have not done that since late 70's when I had access to models. There are 8 or 9 of us who meet on Wednesdays at the Bonita Springs Center For The Arts. In addition I signed up for a number of 2-hour demos where we just observe and ask questions; meet other artists. So, in this class there are the traditional 1, 3 - 5 minute warm-up sketches. We then have 30 to 60 minute poses. From my first class:

one-minute drawings

30-minute drawings

 I attended a two-hour demonstration on acrylic painting - Jane Slivka is the teacher.

Instruction

not quite complete

start

Finished

Old Art:

Still one of my favorites: 17 Mile Drive at Pebble Beach, CA. Acrylic on canvas

Listening To:

Between The Lines - Live,  STP; Love Runs Out, OneRepublic;  a couple of Tina Dico songs;  Los Lobos - Bootleg from their Quiero Creedence album.

Reading:

Finished Endurance the experiences of astronaut Scott Kelly who spent a year in space, plus other trips. He overcame a strong case of ADD. Decided to try for the space program from the opening of Tom Wolf's The Right Stuff. Right before he left the space station where he lived for a year he called Tom to tell him. You can read about the inglorious part, the physical pain, mental strain, family issues, study study study test test test, and real life and death risk. Physically, Mars does not seem realistic. 

Starting Secrets of the Savanah about 23 years in the African Wilderness and The Man In The Glass House, the architect Philip Johnson's bio.

Did You Know?

Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood were both born in 1930 (and only two years younger than my father); Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump graduated from college the same year, 1968 (our image of them in office is of different ages, isn't it?)

Humor:

Someone lost their lunch...must have set it on their roof or trunk to load the car before heading to work.

Travel:

Key West long weekend, 3 hours by boat from here. First visit. Rain for some of the time.

Gallery:

Photos of two of my pieces shown for sale in The Wynbrier LTD. Wildlife Gallery in Estes Park, CO: