Today I thought I'd share a few statues, sculptures, and a bit of a frieze. Y'know - sticky out or 3-D art. Yes, those are technical terms - didn't you go to art school? Sheesh? (rolls eyes)

Can't remember where we saw this gentlemen. Westminster Cathedral is a likely guess, as this picture was in amongst the photos on the first SD Card I uploaded. For some reason this particular group of photos uploaded randomly. And since it was the first day of two weeks of shooting, my brain got a little saturated and I don't recall the location or signifigance (or in some cases why I was even compelled to take a particular photo) of everything. I do remember that I thought this guy was interesting as he was cast in a black metal instead of sculpted from stone. (Later, I came upon other metal cast sculptures in other colors, including solid silver, which was, honestly, a bit cyborg creepy). He's holding up the key to life, the universe and everything. It opens up Locker #42 at the bus station. Yes? Okay, maybe no. Maybe it's the key to the bathroom. Those are precious in Europe - hard to find a good bathroom when you need one. Alright, I'll stop being silly. So it's probably intended to symbolize the key to heaven.

I thought this cherub's face looked eerily real, like she/he would turn her/his head or start speaking at any moment. And I liked the little.... greenman? scrollman?.... companion as well. Where are these two located? Uhm..... well, I can definitely say somewhere in London.

Now this one I know. This family of satyr-ish figurines is in Hyde Park. They were cleaning and working on the statue while we walked by - perhaps starting it up after being down for the winter? Or maybe they'd just shut it off temporarily to work on some problem. In any case, they were water free while I set up the shot and then WOOSH, playing in the spray just as suddenly. I thought the two adults were getting a bit of bidet action there in the middle.

This is a close up of one of the kids. I'm not sure I'd turn my back on him on the playground. Would you?

Sometimes weathering changes a sculpture. I'm sure this wee one's face was originally very human shaped, but now he has a bit of a Creature from the Black Lagoon thing going on. In a cute, baby creature sort of way.

I really liked this girl and her pet fish. They were in Hyde Park as well. Although I'm not sure that pet fish is the right description. The fish looks as sentient as the girl. I wonder where the symbolism for this piece originates - the story of the woman and the magic fish? Pisces? The Little Mermaid? Probably something I've never heard of as that about does it for my girl/fish references. Anyone?

I'm home from abroad dahlinks! A 24 hour day of travel (no sleep), a day of yawningly walking through my first day back in this timezone, started the long process of uploading my travel pics, visiting with my mom before she goes back home (driving her to the airport this morning) and now hopefully I'll be around in blogsville more often for awhile. Except, there is more travel looming - this time to the middle of a redwood forest. Not a lot of wi-fi spots available in a redwood forest, although there are clearly other rewards of spending time amoungst the cathedral-sized, aboreal giants, including more photo opportunities.

There probably won't be much studio time for awhile yet, but I hope to be able to keep up with regularly posting all the new artful images I've taken in the last few weeks.

We found this amazing piece of work in a metro station in Paris. I think it was on the way out of the shopping mall entrance to the Louvre (yes, there is a shopping mall in the Louvre - I know, I know) and I apologize for not noting the name of the artist(s).

Isn't it gorgeous! I stuck my hubby in the photo to give you an idea of the size of the piece. It could be a very complex set of quilt blocks. It could be painted squares. Or fired tiles. But nope.

It's made entirely of seed beads! Now your jaw is dropping, yes? Who has this sort of patience!? Not me, that's for sure.

Long time since I've posted. I forgot to mention I was off to Paris. Okay, so I might have mentioned it once or twice or ten times. But I mean, I forgot to say I'd left and the blogosphere is empty where my posts usually appeared quasi-regularly. But, I've been literally swimming in art and museums and beauty. It's seeping in to every single pore. I'll have thousands of photos and stories when I return, which will be soon. One more day in Paris tomorrow, another day in London on Sunday, and Monday we return home. Long, cramped plane ride. But I'll spend the time musing on all the wonderful memories we've made.

A bientot!

Art from the Louvre comes in many sizes, from the teeny tiny all the way up to the very, very large.

These little statues would each fit in the palm of my hand.


This fellow wouldn't be able to squeeze inside the walls of my house.


Tiny bits and pieces of Egyptian art.

A life sized lady Godiva - well, I have no idea who she is, but she could be Lady Godiva, yes? Or maybe she's practicing for the roll of Nellie in South Pacific - "I'm gonna wash that man right outa my hair!"

This wee angel was very tiny - I can't recall exactly any longer but I don't think she was much longer from head - er, neck to toe than the length of my hand. What I do remember is she struck such a chord in me - I wanted to take her home with me so I could just stare at her for hours.

I couldn't get close enough to get the details and get her all in one shot, so here's the rest of her - look at the detail of her tiny foot!

And here's one of the most famous inhabitants of the Louvre and one that somehow I'd never managed to hear about before I met her in person. The Winged Victory of Samothrace. There were many, many moving pieces of art but some affected me more than others. It was pretty cool to see the Mona Lisa but the Winged Victory was the work I wanted to linger by for longer than William was happy about. I didn't manage to get a very good photograph of her. To get an idea of her size, check out the tourist photo below.

The Louvre - May 2006

It was pretty apparent by the end of our trip that my camera was having focusing issues in low light. I finally figured out how to deal with this issue with this particular camera this last year. So what did I do? I went out and bought myself a new camera I don't know how to use for my upcoming return to the Louvre. I only have a few days left to practice with it before we leave. Anyway, moving on... or, rather, moving back (in time)....

I'm guessing this is Artemis. She's often portrayed hugging her "dear" friend.

Mercury, the god of communications, so it's interesting to see him apparently popping out of this head. I wonder what the head is trying to communicate? "Help! I seem to have lost the rest of me!" Or maybe "Get the *#!& off my face!" Mercury has been so co-opted by the florist industry, I expect him to be holding a bouquet instead of that sceptre thing.

The Three Muses?

William looking out a window, a fire extinguisher (in case all that marble suddenly starts burning?), a row of heads, and, finally, what I was really taking a photo of - the pattern on the floor. If you're a quilter, you can make this pattern and know it matches a floor in the most famous museum in the world.

Recognize this beauty? Striking resemblance, huh? Y'know, it would have never occurred to me to have my photo taken with the Venus de Milo but we saw other women posing with her so I figured, what the heck.

Here she is without the competition. Snort. And check the beautiful tile (quilting?) pattern beneath her.


A satyr trying to decide between grapes and music. He's not quite as Disney-esque as us Americans are used to seeing, eh?


I don't have the feet quite right - which might be why she (Isis?) manages to draw down the moon while all I could manage was a digital camera with a penchant for fuzziness.

Athena, Goddess of Wisdom. If my first grandson, Joshua, had been a girl, my daughter was going to name her Athena. I found that an interesting symbolic choice for multiple reasons. It would have been appropriate in many ways, but I admit I thought that it would be a difficult name to fill. More specifically, I thought it would be hard to be the mother of an Athena. So, perhaps it was better that it was Joshua who arrived instead. She did give birth to a daughter two years later, who she named Anastasia.

I have a lot more museum photos. Check back, I'll try to get some more up before I'm off to take even more, hopefully sharper, photos. And over on Beach Treasure there are photos of the Louvre's city - Paris.

Those of you who have known me for awhile know that I have this ongoing creative battle between words and images. Or maybe, it's more like a sibling rivalry between them, each one trying to get the most time and attention and love from moi, the mom. I know, I know, why does it have to be a battle? Can't we learn to compromise? Learn to share? Meet everyone's needs? All great ideas in theory. In practice I rarely find time for either, much less both.

Recently I coincidentally found myself, or, if you don't believe in coincidence, then I serendipitously found myself simultaneously reading two books - one on the craft of writing, the second on the lives and craft of visual artists. Usually I don't try to read two books at the same time. The irony wasn't lost on me, even trying to figure out how to share reading time between the two was challenging. The writing book had the edge in my interest level at first. Then I decided to keep track, carefully splitting the time equally and reading one chapter in each book every day. Eventually however I set the writing book aside and gave the art book my full attention. I'm one chapter short of finishing the art book, only a third of the way through the writing book. I'm not drawing any conclusions on the "meaning" of this uneven split except maybe that the art book was more appealing because of all the lovely eye candy, and because I have a lot going on in other parts of my life right now and I didn't want to think in as much detail as the writing book required of me.

In any case, this isn't leading up to any ephiphany, it's just a long path leading to a book review. I bought this book after my first serious attempt at doing a collage ACEO, discovering that collage looked a lot easier than it was to create some of the techniques I'd seen, any of the techniques I'd seen. I went to Barnes & Noble and spent an hour sitting in front of the technique books shelf, pouring over my choices, feeling overwhelmed. I finally decided to wait to buy any of the how-to's and instead bought this one that was more generally about creativity and specifically about the life and creative process of fifteen different artists.

I brought it home where it sat on the coffee table for months before I picked it up and gave it my attention. At first I thought it was just going to be mainly eye candy, like a glossy magazine that has a bit of story and some photo captions with each article that might enhance the article but, let's face it, you're really buying it for the photos. I was surprised to find the written chapters were just as fascinating and full of inspiration and beauty as the images.

The author did a fantastic job of covering all the facets of creativity and the lives of artists that I might have wondered about, posing questions and addressing issues that I've pondered either to myself or in conversation with other creative people. I particularly appreciated the fact that the lives of the artists were presented truthfully, no glorifying or glittering of the reality of living with the long hours, uncertain outcomes, and possibly unforthcoming financial rewards that are real issues for most artist's. It didn't present a glossy magazine persona of each artist that would intimidate as much as inspire. Instead it told about artists who have creative blocks just like the rest of us, and artists that refuse to allow themselves to stop working even when or if they do. It told of artists that, just like the rest of us, struggle to find space and time for their art. It told of artists who support themselves by their art and artists who realistically choose to find other sources of income.

It was both enthusiasm modifying and inspiring and it helped me to give greater definition to my personal relationship with my own creative urges. It helped me validate what seems obvious and yet slipped past my grasp almost because of it - that there's no one right way to be an artist, no one relationship with our muse, no one approach to art - as a business or a calling - that's more noble. It's more about what's right for each artist in the context of their whole life.

Living the Creative Life - ideas and ipsiration from working artists
by Rice Freeman-Zachery

Are we looking out a window?

Or are we just fooled by a reflection?

What parts of our world are truly what they at first seem and what parts are just a mirror of something else?

Went to the market today. Actually, I went to the library, it was closed by the time I got there (our local library is only open for about 20 minutes a day, five times a week, it drives me nuts) so instead I went into the discount market next door and decided to do some rambling. I've fallen into doing as little "housewife-y" shopping as possible lately, so I never think to shop for the extra discounted goodies I can find at this store - I just go straight to the big market in town and get everything in one full swoop. But I've made some improvement in my new "eat healthy, eat at home" game plan, so it was fun to find some special additions. Until I got to the end of the trip, opened my check book, and discovered hubby had been saving up a bunch of ATM slips and had just subtracted them all and we actually had only half the money of the check I was about to write. Oops. But it was the weekend and then the first of the month, so - whew. ANYWAY.... I took some photos of wine art.

I liked these three together. First, on the left, you've got yourself a tree. In the middle we have a tree and a tempting green snake wrapped around it. And finally, on the right, we've dispensed with the tree altogether and all that's left is a snake. And apparently once you're on your third bottle of wine, even the bottle is somewhat snakelike - can you see that the bottle curves?

And then I found this cool (hot?) looking fellow. Awesome. I read the label and apparently this wine was the result of a contest between vintners to come up with something drinkable out of a one year timetable from vine to glass.

And more shady looking characters! All merlots. Hmmmm, snakes and sauvignon blanc, shady characters and merlots - is there some sort of symbolism that you have to be a wine drinker and "in the know" to understand? In any case, I loved these bad boys so much I wanted to bring them all home with me. I came to my senses, however, and realized that I didn't really need A merlot, much less MANY merlots. ("I do not own a gun, much less MANY guns, that would necessitate the need for a gun rack." - name that quote) Unless I was planning a merlot tasting party, which I was not. Who would I invite? William? Underage! I really need a trashier.... er, I mean "more refined, wine drinking" set of friends who live close enough to do crazy things with on occasion.

So I settled for my favorite, and the one that sounded the most drinkable - Diaboliqué. But first I have to finish up a bottle of Chardonnay my hubby gave me for my birthday - because he thought I'd like the bottle. Not the best way to choose your wines (although usually my selection choice) but this time it turned out really well. One of the nicer bottles we've had in a while. It's from a vintner called Moonshadow Wines out of Napa, but I can't even find a weblink to share with you. Too bad - you'll have to go find your own - by the selection process of your own choosing. Choose by label? Pick a number from one to ten? Close your eyes and select the first bottle your fingers touch? Choose by size of bottle (or box!)?

Today's post over on Beach Treasure is a holiday photo post of the last of the first London visit. There were a lot of statue and sculpture photos, so I dragged the bulk of them over here.

This little fellow and his kangaroo mate were atop a tall column in front of Buckingham Palace. I suspect he represents a yesteryear when the British Empire circled the globe. Either that or kangaroos were bounced out of England by some unknown saint at the same time St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland?

Isn't she beautiful? You can click on these photos remember, to see more detail.

Sun rays? Snakes? Mane? Pretty frightening regardless of which it is.

I really liked the perspective on this one. He looks larger than life, a sculpted God. Well, he was larger than life actually.

Neptune, I presume.

A lot of these images encircled the same fountain in the middle of the traffic circle in front of Buckingham Palace.

And now, for something completely different. This is a much more contemporary sculpture that is atop a square column.... can a column be square? Is it called something else if it's square?... in Trafalgar Square.

Another view of the same sculpture. It was lovely in many ways but sort of disturbing as well with the stunted and missing limbs. The only thing I remember about it was that it represents the wife of the sculptor. Mixed feelings aside, I had to admire the atypical choice for public art.

Don't forget to visit the rest of the photos over at Beach Treasure.

rock lake

We were in Redding yesterday. In their old downtown there's a lot of urban renewal projects - it's making a big difference in the area. One area used to be a covered mall. They took the roof off and made it more like a plaza - it's very nice. The supports that used to hold the roof have been left and turned into assorted art structures - some now look like old architectural columns, some look like this. In the day the light shines through the stained glass and at night they are lit from inside. I wish I'd taken more than this one photo. Some were like this one and some had double rows of glass with a dark metal space between. I'm thinking there's a quilt idea or two in this.

Tonight I put up a Holiday Photos post over on Beach Treasure. Lots of touristy pictures. I'll leave a link at the bottom of the post for you to use to go check them out, but first scroll down to see some of the artsy photos from the same travel set.

These little sea "urchins" were in a deserted plaza a block or so away from the Tower of London. They must have been happy on the day I took the photo - it was raining.

We went on the London Eye, a giant ferris wheel that is perched on the edge of the Thames River. I liked this colorful barge and bridge segment in the middle of the gray waters.

Speaking of water, there sure is a lot of it in London - quite a bit of it falls, frequently, from the skies. We were protected from these rain drops by a clear glass (plastic?) rooftop.

Walking along the river we passed a display of Dali sculptures. They were having an exhibition in a facing building. I would have loved to have seen it but William didn't have the inclination and we didn't really have the time which, as you can see, was quickly melting away.


I'm not sure what this sculpture was meant to say but as a woman I could certainly identify with the need to balance that egg.

Star Wars-ish elephant balancing an open triangle. Nope. Don't have a clue. The London Eye in the background.

There were two of these fellows, each protected one side of a bridge (don't know the name of the bridge, sorry) that crossed the Thames.

I don't remember where I saw this sculpture. Hmmmm. Can't tell you who it is either. But I do like the image of a powerful woman in charge of these two stallions. This is as it should be, yes?

Okay, now check out buildings, more statues, clocks, and of course William in the photos on Beach Treasure.