Oh Montana, how I miss thee...

So we took a little trip to Montana...
We had planned to float the Missouri River in a canoe and camp on the side of the river in the middle of NOWHERE, following Louis and Clark's path. We had our pages bookmarked in our little Louis and Clark book, telling us where the buffalo jumps were, and where some gorgeous places like a stone cavern where the old outlaws used to hide from the law, and Native American sites all around..(We found actual intact tee-pee rings the last time we went).

Unfortunately, it just happened to be one of the worst weeks of weather in Montana history. There were tornado's, and hail the size of golf balls, and flooding everywhere...So we did not get to do our well planned trip down the river after all...We still had an amazing time at the "Big Sandy Homecoming", which is the teeny-tiny town that my husband grew up in and graduated with 25 people or so. Here are some highlights...

As we get closer to Montana...The sky opens wide and says hello...



This is the river we were supposed to be floating...Is it not just lovely?



The road into Big Sandy...Be careful not to blink or you will miss it...




The best pizza joint / bar in town. Peps.


The way this one was behaving, I almost threw him in there for a night...


The parade is about to begin...




This was a dinosaur and old west museum that had the only skeleton in the world with actual arrowheads in the chest, hips, and back..They think it was a European trapper who walked down the wrong road...He was found in a shallow grave in the late 1800's



The world's longest Dinosaur below and a T-rex skull above...


I found this artist at the only coffee place at town and fell in love with his Montana landscape shots. His name is Craig Edwards and he lives in Big Sandy. This one was my favorite...Click on it to see more detail, the colors are amazing and the middle building says something like "Sara Sucks!" I need this in my home...www.edwardsstudio.com/

Gypsy Paintings.

Gypsy Splendor.

Just back from a trip to Montana for a much needed break, and am excited to share some pics from the old west that I collected, in a few days. Many of the people from the small towns of Montana have character that you will not find anywhere else. These old paintings reminded me of the trip.
The Old Gypsy.
The Gypsy.

The Young Gypsies.

Gypsies, painted in the 1930s
by Dame Laura Knight (1877-1970).

Russian country house of Tolstoy...

This country house belonged to one of my favorite writers, Tolstoy. It makes me want to cry with joy. What a perfect placement of images and art. It has character, and evokes a feeling of pure warmth, and wonder. What is the story of the persons life that lived there? Why are sooo many houses today looking like everything in them was purchased to look like a catalog, and not CREATED in an AUTHENTIC way...
The bench on the back wall?? How beautiful is that???

19th century Russian house of writer Tolstoy, where he wrote War & Peace, and Anna Karenina.
Found these images from one of my favorite blogs...balustrade and bitters

Artist of the month : Doug T. Foltz

Arrival - Oil on canvas.
Chasing Dawn - Oil on canvas
Rubicon - Oil on canvas.
Silver lining - Oil on canvas.

Worth the effort - Oil on canvas.

If you have not noticed, I like ocean scenes. Not bright, colorful, ocean scenes, but muted, moody, or soothing scenes. Doug Foltz hits the nail on the head for me, the colors are sophisticated, beautiful and timeless.

A native of South Miami he has spent much of his life exploring alone, on or around the water. Those elemental moments of sky and water -- and the edges between -- form the foundation for his exploration as a painter.

Most often referenced as "interpretive" his style, based in realism, intentionally and easily departs to explore more abstract or distant characters... usually returning once again to rest comfortably at home. His art is a collection of personal views associated with those experiences -- in life and in paint. Easy departure... and constant returns from open exploration to known edges and more familiar horizons.


Doug holds a Bachelors of Environmental Design and a Bachelors of Architecture from Auburn University and has spent a 25 year professional career as an architect, graphic designer, visual communication strategist, and corporate communication consultant.

He has been painting and drawing since childhood, and his work hangs in private and corporate collections from Seattle to the Bahamas.

Doug currently shares his time between Atlanta, Georgia and the beaches of Northwest Florida.

He is represented:
... in Atlanta, Georgia by Huff Harrington Fine Art,
... in St. Simons Island, Georgia by Mix Art & Design,
... in Boston, Massachusetts by Jules Place, and
... in Boca Raton, Florida by the Addison Gallery

The Seattle summer begins...

This is my daily running trail, and these pictures do not do it justice. On any given day you will see seals, herons, whales and salmon leaping out of the water. Summers here are gorgeous...


The Washington ferry boats are consistently voted the most beautiful in the United States...And did you know that we have the only rain forest in the states besides Hawaii? I always describe it as a colder version of Hawaii...We have Islands too...Have a GREAT weekend!

Beautiful placement of art in home...

Please Help...

What Was....


What Is....

What a thing we have created. What an extraordinary horror our rapacious need for cheap, endless energy hath unleashed; it's a monster of a scale and proportion we can barely even fathom.

Because if you're honest, no matter where you stand, no matter your politics, religion, income or mode of transport, you see this beast of creeping death and you understand: That is us. The spill may be many things, but more than anything else it is a giant, horrifying mirror. -Mark Morford.

Please donate to the National Wildlife Federation, by clicking the link below.

Help Protect Wildlife Impacted by the BP Oil Spill

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/06/04/notes060410.DTL#ixzz0q8PcsSUm
Via-
http://theerrantaesthete.com/

Please do come in....

The art on the walls of this entrance, makes my heart sing.

Have a great weekend everyone. Please close the door quietly as you leave.

Mamma Andersson, April 29 – June 12, 2010. New Works at The David Zwirner Gallery, N.Y.C.

My best friends went to the Mamma Andersson show in N.Y.C. and were kind enough to take some pics for me. ( Thankyou, Scott and Tiffanie!).

The David Zwirner Gallery hosts some of the best modern artists in the world, in my opinion, and I am excited to stop by on my next visit.

Andersson’s paintings embody a duality that is central to Swedish culture: the interplay of rural and urban aesthetics, combined with the notion of the everyday. Her lineage is tied to French painters, Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) and Jean-Édouard Vuillard (1868-1940), both known for depicting intimate domestic spaces and luminous pastoral landscapes and gardens. Inspired by filmic imagery, theater sets, period interiors, and her native land where summers are short and winters are long, Andersson’s compositions and moody atmospheres suggest ambiguous narratives that are both familiar and incongruous. In her new work, scenes include a wet and wintery forest, possible acquaintances gathered around a table, empty yet comfortable kitchens and hallways, a sleeping figure (in a painting that gives the exhibition its title). Her paintings also address materiality and the play of light and color, as her seductive, muted, and high-contrast palette is applied with both airy textured washes and thickly rendered brushstrokes.


EMO
2010

Acrylic and oil on panel
Image Size: 33 x 48 inches 84 x 122 cm

Flunkey
2010

Acrylic and oil on panel
Image Size: 63 x 4
Dead End
2010

Acrylic and oil on panel
Image Size: 48 x 59 inches 122 x 150 cm

Hallway
2010

Acrylic and oil on panel
Image Size: 63 x 48 inches 160 x 122 cm
Who Is Sleeping On My Pillow
2010

Acrylic and oil on panel
Image Size: 28 1/4 x 48 inches 71.8 x 121.9 cm

Filly
2010

Acrylic and oil on panel
Image Size: 33 x 48 inches 84 x 122 cm
www.davidzwirner.com