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.