More Fine Art, fun art, music and lots more

Link to my website: Claude Lyles Art Works  , recently updated.

My only social media is Instagram. I use it to keep track of all the wonderful art being created every day, all around the world. You can see a more current version of my comings and goings, art in progress, friends visiting SW Florida, etc. 

Reminder that you can click on photos to enlarge and pinch open even further. And, if you are curious about possibly purchasing a piece, contact me and I will quote you a price either framed or unframed. They are surprisingly affordable. 

Fun TV from CBS Sunday Morning for all you 50's survivors. I admit, I did a number of these Paint By Numbers in my youth. This link should work for you...There is a "skip ad" box in the lower right corner.
https://youtu.be/sE-ygbBQ0nU

New Art:

Gouache from live model class, about 12 x 12

Gouache and pencil from live model session; 20 x 14"

Oil on canvas pad; 12.5 x 10"

Gouache and ink on watercolor paper; 8 x 10"

Took this photo Easter Sunday in mother-in-law's housing courtyard. Turned out kinda neat if you ask me.

    New Art Purchased:

Found some pieces in Chesterdale's consignment shop in N Naples. Priced reasonably. All Signed. The pencil work of the young girl looks like it was signed in 1948.  The Florida watercolor is the work of a local, popular artist, Phil Fisher, teacher, and who has a gallery in Naples; represented in Michigan as well. The last piece is a unique watercolor in great detail and smaller size than normal. I suspect it may be gouache.  Most watercolors make use of wide washes and they leave white or light areas free of paint to emit the glow of light. This uses white on top of paint. I like the capture of light on the subjects and through the trees. My photo picked up a little bit of reflection. Sorry.

Pencil 8 x 10"

Watercolor 6.25 x 9.25"

Riders Watercolor 8 x 5.5"

Old Art:This week was the drop-off from works created in earlier live model classes. I entered pure drawings, below, which you have seen in earlier blogs.

Following are some of the entries from my peers, as you can see, many used the class to paint from model or portrait. They are on exhibit at the Bonita Springs Performing Center on Bonita Beach Rd through the month of June.

Music:

Listening new (to me) - Lord Huron; Purchased a Chase and Status song Blind Faith feat. Liam Baily. Saw them on Jules Holland show. Give it a listen.    Chase and Status "Blind Faith" live
 (Ed. note) I had to look up the lyrics due to his heavy British accent/Caribbean beat. Nevertheless, it should get you up out of year seat. Great sound. Purchased Hard Place by H.E.R.  Great sound, you want the long version - from I Used To Know Her: Part 2 - EP 4:32. Here is a You Tube link: Hard Place There is a short ad before the video begins.

Reading:

A. Saw this in a Suzanne Venker blog, she writes from Saint Louis. Link to click on to read more of  the  The Feminist "Fixer"   

From her latest blog: Are Your Sons and Daughters Relationship Material?  (3 parts).  If you see imbedded an Oprah episode with young women reading their list of "gotta haves" when looking for marriage material, the list and Steve Harvey are hilarious.  I don't agree with everything she writes on the relationship between the sexes; however, her thoughts are contrary to current popular culture, and certainly re-frame some of the misconceptions we have accumulated over the past, say, 30 - 40 years. 

B. Read an article in the Smithsonian on a family that has genetic pain blocking genes.  The primary subject in the study is a doctor and she said something important..."To me the most important thing is taking our condition and make something good of it". Seems like that could apply to all of us, right now, right here. 

C. And, in Reader's Digest there was a reprint of an article informing of a woman who was biking and was run over by a semi...all the wheels on one side of the truck. She was in a coma for months and discussed how she could hear and feel and sense the presence of others in the room from time-to-time. In therapy she had a mental turnaround when she remembered what laureate Jody Williams said, "Emotion without action is irrelevant." That started her on a long, painful journey to heal. 

"There has to be a reason I'm still alive. All this wasted emotion feeling miserable for myself needed a direction. The direction I chose was gratitude. (Gratitude came up multiple times in the Aging Spirituality class I took a while back and discussed in prior blogs.) I thought of all the people who had saved my life, the strangers who ran to my side after the truck hit me; the doctors and nurses who brought me back from death more than once; the (therapy) staff who doggedly helped me walk again and relearn basic tasks. The strangers who donated 78 units of blood, and the 25 bags of plasm and platelets, more than 125 people. " It spurred her to do her part for recovery and she raised money later to purchase adaptive bikes for disabled athletes as one byproduct of her sense of gratitude.

D. Yes, Florida takes its high school football seriously, we are in Spring Football season as they prep for next fall. 

Watching: Last Florida Rep of the 2018-19 season was Native Gardens. 90 minutes of chuckles, stale stereotypes, but good acting by the 4 primary roles. Came out of a Cincinnati premier from last year. Boomers vs millennials, white vs Latino, Native plants vs natural foliage. Lead boomer actress I remember from an episode of L&O Criminal Intent. Her professionalism overwhelmed the cast but the others were fun. Next season looks promising. Always fun and usually above average presentation. Over the years they have received 8 or 9 glowing reviews from Terry Teachout of WSJ.

For my friends in Saint Louis - Cindy Preszler took her buyout and landed in Fort Myers on the local Fox affiliate. Matt Sczesny who left KMOV returned to News Channel 5 in Palm Beach. Who's next to FLA?

Correction: In my last blog I referred to Newt 360 - it should have been Newt's World. His line-up in which he discusses historical figures I found to be very, very interesting. Give it a try. Julius Caesar was the best, for me - Episode 5 under the top line heading Productions.

"In this week's episode of my Newt's World podcast, I look at the life and legacy of Benjamin Franklin and discuss what we can learn from his leadership today." That was a great one, also. I enjoyed the latest conversation with a woman from, I believe, Cleveland who has served the Vatican in PR capacities since moving to Italy after college. She talks about every Pope since and including John XXIII. Having been to Rome numerous times, her stories and locales resonated with me. Link to click on to Listen for free here>> .  When they pause for commercial breaks, you might have to het the start button again. 

Words From Our Founders:

"It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors".    George Washington 

And, some things remain the same... During his Second Inaugural Address, Thomas Jefferson shared this prescient observation of a malignant media (that would be newspapers back then) that had plagued (in his mind) his first term: "During the course of administration, and in order to disturb it, the artillery of the press has been leveled against us, charged with whatsoever its licentiousness could devise or dare. These abuses of an institution so important to freedom and science are deeply to be regretted, inasmuch as they tend to lessen its usefulness and to sap its safety." So, today, hardly anyone believes what they read, hear, or watch when it comes to our "news" providers. They've done it to themselves, in my opinion.

So, why do people pay money for this (stuff) ? Well, maybe less and less are buying it? The NY Times apologized twice, so far, for printing a cartoon.

The political cartoon in question showed Trump, wearing a pair of sunglasses, being led by a dog, depicted as Netanyahu. The dog had a Star of David collar. The cartoon appeared in the paper’s opinion section next to a column penned by Thomas Friedman, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Disgusting.
"Freedom of the press !"
You could do something vs you should do something...

Meanwhile, I am guessing that your paper or news said nothing about black-on-black shooting I n Baltimore the day after the synagog shooting...8 people shot, one died. What is going on with the press? Politicized, maybe?

There Goes The Neighborhood: Caught this guy the other night as we returned home from the Rep...