STL, Artwork, summer is almost here...

First, an apology to some of you...a couple of the notifications I sent had a defective link to the blog site - I left out the second "L" in lyles. If you were not able to get it, you can scroll down from this blog to the previous, dated May 6.

The link to my website: Claude Lyles Art Works  , recently updated. Best view is on your desktop, tablet, or laptop; if, however, you view on your phone, the menu is in the "hamburger" in the upper left of the opening screen. It will give you several viewing options.

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. It is listed under estudiocieloazul . Follow me.

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. 

New Art: 
I am working on several new pieces, not ready to show, but I did not want to wait too long between blogs so here goes...

Having said that, I did update two from last month, now I can move on. And I went walking and sketching along the canal behind our development.

Lakes Park condos

Harns Marsh #2, Lehigh Acres, FL

Old Art: 
Entered these three pieces in the Punta Gorda Visual Arts Center show, it would be nice to win a ribbon, or even better, sell all three pieces. You have seen them before, two oils and a pastel (on the right).

Sharing Art:

I ran across this wonderful blog entry recently, Dena Peterson - 10 Things I Learned From Vincent Van Gogh you should be able to just click on this link to go there.
If you are doing some art, a great place to crystalize your thoughts.

Travel:
Short trip, towards downtown FtM...The Edison Ford Estate is the only place I had visited over the years before I took the job here with/for fka Reliance Bank. www.edisonfordwintThe Edison Ford Winter Estates and Garden I wanted to live and work in Florida so I took the opportunity when it popped up, sight unseen. I figured we and the Bank would make it work somehow. Retired about 4 years sooner than I had planned, but absolutely no regrets. We love it here. Anyway, today I went over to see a small art exhibit from local artists who created works from around the property. I took plenty of photos, maybe over the next 12 months I can create my own collection of works from their grounds. We'll see how that works out.

Mr Ford statue next to his house, Edison's would be on the left of this shot. 

The property is located on the Calhoosahatchie, that is Cape Coral across the river.

The Wedding:

Had a super week in STL for the wedding of Dominic and Lisa. I was able to catch up with friends, lend a hand, enjoy great food and then participate in a wonderful evening in the Haferkamp's back yard. Took a quick trip over to KC to see my bud Don, and there was a bonus as Ed was also in town. Quick stop to see a friend in COMO, took this photo of Beetle Bailey bronze (Mort Walker is an alum).

Sanford F Conley House on campus

From my school days, an etching (sorry about the cover reflection)

I hope another friend and colleague from my banking days is off/over the Mississippi bridge - At least I made it to the donut shop, had a cake donut and one cheese danish. Lots of other good visits. Peaceful half-hour visit at a STL treasure, the Carmelite chapel in Ladue.

So, here are some wedding pics and collages I put together.

On Florists' Row on LaSalle Street in STL

Family and friends, sorry if I missed some of you. I'll blame it on the rain.

And, from an old STL annual event - remember the Mississippi River Festival? Ahead of its time.

If you pinch open, you might be able to see all of the great performances that summer.

Listening To:
Les Paul and friends. He played his version of about 20 classic pop/rock hits and is accompanied by guest singers. Also has some studio out-takes. The historical nature of the recording of this guitar and recording engineer icon outweighs the performances, but if you are into guitar you will enjoy it.

Also, listening to my catalogue of Doobie Brothers music. With a speaker on each side of me, about 18",  I can hear some of the great engineering they put into their recordings. Don't know if they won awards for it, but it is interesting to try to isolate some of the abstract sounds they throw into their mix. Takin' It To The Streets, Chinatown, Without You, Echoes of Love. And don't forget that NORCO guy my age, Michael McDonald - some say he ruined the Doobies. My first encounter with the DB was Listen To The Music, I remember is a a magical moment; really different than what was being recorded. Sometimes we forget that "it" wasn't always that way, that sound. Before the Beatles, or Santana, or Dire Straits, or Pink Floyd, or...

Watching:
Moreso viewing:

Three pieces in the show.

Reading:

Last blog I mentioned that we rented the DVD for the Neil Armstrong bio, First Man. I was intrigued enough to grab the book from the library. It was easy to pick out the parts the director/screenwriter chose from the book as it was (to its detriment) written more like a class project than a flowing story. A LOT of notes, and direct quotes rather than a flowing journey across his life. One personal sidebar: they mentioned the plane crash at Lambert, actually, and ironically, into a McDonell building that killed two of NA's buddies when they tried to land in a low ceiling fog, coming to STL for training. I did not realize how much time the astronauts spent in STL, but it makes sense. Linda's dad, who worked on some of the Mercury and Gemini capsule design told us about the day of the accident.

And, a related note to our Auburn grad...

Humor: 
Cartoon Man -

If you are a Jordan Peterson fan, or I suppose if you hate him, you'll enjoy this satire from The Babylon Bee.  They nail it (him). Enjoy. Click on this to get the link. If you know America's Got Talent it helps.

https://babylonbee.com/news/jordan-peterson-debuts-as-controversial-judge-on-americas-got-talent

For the record: "It is not fair to accuse [Rep. Rashida Tlaib] of dual loyalty just because she defended terrorists and referred to 'our Palestinian people.' Let's be clear about this: there is no evidence that she's loyal to the United States at all." —Matt Walsh

Some more satire covers from BB that lead into funny articles: 

 Hopefully I will have some new art soon and can publish another blog for your reading pleasure. Claude

Plein Air art, drawing, STL updates, and 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. 

New Art: 

From last Wednesday session for the season in live model class. Pastels on butcher paper, and newsprint (for the one-minute warmup sketches)

Long story, long completion - I started this 8 x 10" pastel in Lakes Park, Fort Myers, FL over a year ago. I let it sit, and then...hurricane Irma blew away all of the small islands in the lakes, upended like frisbee disks , such as the one you see on the right side; the whole topsoil base and trees were tipped on their sides. Fortunately they are coming back and there are new plantings. More fortunately, I had a source photo. I wanted to bring out the pastels for my Wednesday live model class and I picked this up to complete as a refresher before class. I think it turned out kind of neat. 

larger (18 x 24") acrylic - I am still experimenting in style, subject, and mediums

 So this is how it works, usually:

Study in pastel for the Plein Air painting below

Finished state on site before return to studio

Finished in studio 12 x 9" oil on canvas

I am still not accomplished to complete a piece on site, but trying to get there. It's difficult.

No Mas...I have been working on this 9 x 12" oil on canvas board for 6 weeks, from first session with my Friday Plein Air group, this tree is in the Fragrance Garden. I could not find a name tag; however, I don't think the cactus is indigenous to the US. Time to stop tweaking and move on. It did let me explore a different style, more representative the realism. 

Old Art: 

I was never happy with this 16 x 20" acrylic on wrapped canvas. It is Blue and part of my color series after Black (sold) and Beige. Since I had my acrylics out, I decided to take another look at this and made some subtle changes. I like it much better now, I think the movement keeps your eye engaged and it has improved color balance. 

Website and Blog info:

I was reviewing my Go Daddy analytics and found this interesting. My Monthly Blog views have increased each of the last three months. My Website averages 300 views per month...who would have guessed? Primary sources? Beijing, Romania, Montreal, and various US cities. It used to be Russia and the Ukraine but I guess I became too boring for them. Computers are trolling all the time, everywhere and on every body. 

Travel: 
A couple of blogs ago I inserted photos, made of clear plastic, which I purchased during our 2005 visit to London, Paris, Rome, of cathedral windows that I have up on my studio window. Little did I know that a few weeks later, Notre Dame would be in the news. So, maybe I have photos of historical value, they can refer back to these when they rebuild... These are two or three stories tall, maybe even 40 - 50 feet in diameter. 

West Rose

North Rose

Greg is getting ready for his role as Best Man in Dom's upcoming wedding. Putting together his uniform and all that goes with it.

Listening To: 

Thievery Connection - several albums I would describe as a combination of world/electronica. The Cosmic Game is one example.

R.E.M. Automatic for the People - love the album, not so much their politics. That's life, pay your money and use them for what you need. "Andy, are you goofing on Elvis?"

Ned's Atomic Dustbin Not Sleeping Around - lots of musical action.

Another unknown but favorite I like to revisit Bermuda Highway (Live) by My Morning Jacket; and From Album of the Year, Faith No More's Stripsearch and Last Cup of Sorrow; then closing out with Calico's Maybe on Monday. While proofing the blog listening to Best Of BePop Delux 

Reading:

Fun article on amateur racing/time runs in Florida. You too can go a zillion mph, or however fast your Prius will carry you. The Pulse Rally makes use of a 3 mile long runway at Cape Canaveral, NASA, to make the timed runs. It gives rich guys and gals a chance to clean our their carburetors. The McLaren in the bottom photo topped out at 219 mph.

Watching:

Picked up from the library some instructional art videos, a Best of Austin City Limits music DVD, and First Man.

Humor: 

Optimism: 

From this month's Marianist's FamilyOnline newsletter.

The New Ground Movement

Young adult Jews and Muslims in LA rec tently founded “New Ground.” The New Ground Movement brings together young adult Jewish and Muslim adults who pray together in public and work to overcome misunderstanding and prejudice. Among their many activities is to engage together in public prayer. The Marianist Lalanne community invited them to come and talk with their monthly young adult group. A Pakistani Muslim and an American Jew came and talked about their collaboration and various activities to increase mutual understanding and respect among Jews and Muslims. Fr. Ken Templin, Bro. Dave Murphy and Fr. Jim Heftfacilitated discussion. Here is a link to a short video that introduces the New Ground Movement. The link will offer you to go to a YouTube link.

Is It True?:

The Babylon Bee satirical paper reported Ultrasound Shows Unborn Baby Holding 'Keep Your Laws Off My Body' Sign

March 16, 2018
New York, NY

During a routine ultrasound appointment to make sure Maragret Navarro's unborn child was growing perfectly and had no abnormalities that might cause her to consider terminating the pregnancy, the nurse and mother were astounded as they gazed at the medical screen and saw the baby in utero clearly holding a picket sign reading "Keep Your Laws Off My Body."

"I've never seen anything like this," the shocked nurse said, as she called the doctor into the room.

With a knowing glance, the doctor confirmed that she had seen this before. "The fetus is remarking on the current abortion laws of the United States, which allow unborn humans to be killed for any reason, at any time, up until birth. It's also a funny play on words, since, you know, grown women always use the saying 'keep your laws off my body' to protest the anti-abortion movement, knowing full well that a fetus is scientifically a unique human being, separate from the woman, and is certainly not a 'part of their body.'"

The doctor went on to reveal that the previous week she saw an unborn child holding a sign that read "My Body, My Choice."

Anyway, just proceed with the appointment as usual, and if you find any abnormalities, make sure to suggest the option of aborting the pregnancy, per our standard procedure," she added, walking out of the room.

There is a lot of good in this country, a lot, there is a sickness or two, as well.
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Thanks for reading. I always enjoy hearing from you regarding my artwork and other segments of the blog. My only wish is that I could cover it all in person with you. I enjoy my time with friends.