I've always been somewhat creative... I love to draw, paint, play music...
When I went to Santa Fe back in August, I visited the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. Her work is beautiful...
Georgia O'Keeffe
For most of her Life, she lived in and around Sante Fe, New Mexico... among my favorites of her are her 'Cloud' series...
The clouds in the skies in New Mexico really do look like this.
Some of her work in her later years became more sexual in nature...
Another one of my favorite artists is Walter Anderson... he was a Mississippi Gulf Coast Artist...
Walter Anderson
He may well be my most favorite artists... you all know how I am about declaring 'favorites'... I tend to be all over the place when it comes to 'favorites'... His most favorite subject seemed to be that of Horn Island... a barrier island about 9 miles off the Mississippi Gulf Coast... He had this small boat, and he would row/sail out... spend several weeks at a time there drawing and painting. He also liked to make linoleum block prints. He would go to Ingalls Shipyards at Pascagoula, MS... they would give him the linoleum that came off the floors of the naval vessels that they were over-hauling.
Linoleum Print...
He loved painting watercolors of his environment...
He suffered from emotional issues... He was quite difficult to live with... he would go away for weeks at a time to work... and at times, he would lock himself away in a room at his home in Ocean Springs... and wouldn't allow anyone to enter... he always kept the door locked... and no one entered the room until after his death...
I remember once upon a time when I was married, we had traveled down to visit "Shear Water Pottery"... a business owned and operated by his family... and this little woman asked us if we would like to see his house... "Of COURSE!!"... and she led us next door to this...
Of course, it didn't look like this when he lived there... one could see his boat still tucked up under the far side of the house... and the little woman opened this one door and showed us this...
... and this...
... and this...
... and this...
He had painted the ceiling... the floor, the walls... the doors... it was his "home"... this is where he spent most of his time... in his "place"... I remember we were taken aback by all of this...
I asked the little woman... how do you know so much about all of this? All of his history?? and she replied...
"... child, I was married to him..."
WOW! We had just been given a tour through this man's Life by his wife!!!!
If you like art, and aren't familiar with these artists... look them up... I think you will be pleasantly surprised...
On another note, I found another artist who's work I like... her name is Kacie... and this has this fabulous site, Pistols and Cupcakes ... I was browsing through her site and found this...
... and thought... "I'VE GOT TO HAVE THAT!!!"
It now currently resides at the Casa de Red Shoes... anyhoo... there is some great talent here in blogland... and I encourage you to check it out!!!
A special word to my Mom... Thank you for what you did for me a bunch of years ago today... I love you so!!!
~shoes~
;-D I thank your Mom too...
ReplyDeleteKacie is my future daughter-in-law, did you know that? Yep... the girl's got some talent!!!
As for Walter Anderson... I was introduced to his art not that many months ago - and I found during one of my most peaceful of moments that you can look at his prints and see all kinds of things other than the obvious...
I would LOVE to see that house!!! I could be entertained for DAYS looking at it all!
You're my favorite...
*giggle*
xoxoxoxo
gobbles
Damn ! and I thought I was goin' nutz with the decor in MY house !
ReplyDeletemy new favorite piece of art, pretty much ever:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.shorthandedstudio.com/the-united-plates/washington-dc/
I admire people who look at our world and are able to transfer it to another surface and make it beautiful. The medium doesn't matter. It is a gift. I think that maybe the real gift is the way that they see things. I look at something and see one thing and they look at the same thing and see something totally different. What they see is amazing while I see something ordinary. That is a gift.
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing story! Those walls are absolutely gorgeous! Thanks so much for the art lesson, I really enjoyed it!!
ReplyDeleteI love that he painted every inch of his little corner of the world. So cool.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, and I'm not just saying that cause I'm in it haha
ReplyDeleteAmazing artists, and that house....oh my gosh how cool is that?! Just gorgeous and all around awesome!
Thank you soooo much again, I'm so happy that painting went to a good home =)
Hope you're having a wonderful week!
OH, man. Walter Anderson is one of my favorites! His work is so graphic and unique. I think they took those walls from that house and put them in a museum which I went to about 6 years ago. I heard it got damaged in Hurricane Katrina.
ReplyDeleteThere was this rumor about Mr. Anderson, that he tied himself to a tree during a hurricane to see what it was like...but that's probably just a kid's rumor.
What's up Shoesies ?
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize that you are an artsy-fartsy type of guy !
But I do find it interesting that you decided art wasn't going to make you money so instead you decided to become a professor. My professors always bitched about their incomes. They certainly weren't in it for the money.
@ Gobbles... That house was amazing. As Holly pointed out, a few years ago, that room was detached from the house and moved to the Walter Anderson Museum there in Ocean Springs. It is located next door to a great community center in which he did some beautiful murals.
ReplyDeleteMy Mom was a special woman... :o)
@ Heff... I would LOVE to see the decor in YOUR house... Hahahahaha...
@ Magnolia... I LOVE art and artists!!! That image... is it a silk screen, or a painting??
@ Robin... you are EXACTLY right. I often wonder what it is that allows some artists to perceive things the way that they do. I am SO glad they do... I enjoy viewing their interpretations of Life...
@ Anything Fits... The room was something to see in person... as are the murals that I mentioned earlier...
@ Tulpen... I KNOW!! I would love to know what Muse inspired him to paint that room? It must have offered him some kind of escape.
@ Kacie... I am enjoying the painting! Thank YOU so much!!
@ Holly... The Memphis Academy of Art used to sponsor one-week and two-week trips to Horn Island for students to go down and have a 'Walter Anderson Experience'. His work, I think, it VERY unique!! And like most artists, he was not appreciated for his talents during his lifetime... he didn't establish any real notoriety until after his Death...
I think that the story about his having lashed himself to a tree was documented. It is also said that after the storm passed, he rowed back to the mainland, got his bike, and followed the storm towards Biloxi and Gulport. I love his perception of Reality!
@ Senorita!!!! Yes, I AM an artsy-fartsy type!! Are you surprised?? :oD
I didn't set out to become a professor... I worked with my family in the our scrap metal processing business.... maybe I need to post about metal recycling sometime... and then for about five years after that, I was a stock broker. I don't think I really found my 'place' though until I started teaching. I can't even begin to express how much I love it!
~shoesies~