Najas at the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos

I went to the Millicent Rogers Museum today in Taos. I feel in love with the Najas even before I learned their names which is close to mine.

Naja: (or "Najah") From the Navajo word "Najahe", meaning "crescent". A crescent-shaped silver ornament believed to go back to Moorish designs that was originally a forehead pendant on horse bridles. It is now commonly found pendant from the bottom of a squash blossom necklace.

My mom fell inlove with the black pottery of Maria Martinez

Fashioning Fashion at LACMA

Saw this exhibit today at LACMA. It was very beautiful. I am going back to draw in detail. I will add a few quick sketches to this post I did there. It's amazing how much architecture there is in clothing and how some silhouettes recall famous movies to me like: Gone With the Wind, Wuthering Heights, Little Women

This cloat reminds me of Wuthering Heights.

This reminds me of Sarah Bernhardt after being on stage.

This reminds me of the Gibson Girls.

American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life (1765-1915) - LACMA

I saw the "American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765–1915" at LACMA a couple of weeks ago before I met some friends for dinner at the Farmer's Market.

What I mainly learned is that I am in love with Winslow Homer. Here are two paintings by Homer that I love.


Cotton Pickers

The Veteran in the Field

I also like George Bellows a lot. I remember doing a paper on his painting "River in the rain" when I was at RISD. My teacher whose name I have long forgot told us to visit our painting everyday to get to know it. I loved that teacher and I did just that.

There were lots of paintings with African-Americans in them which really surprised me. Not so many African-Americans at the exhibit (only me) when I went to see it. There were a lot of Cassatt and Eakins paintings I remember seeing in my childhood at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Drawings by Rembrandt and his Pupils: Telling the Difference - The Getty Center

Hands down the best exhibit I've seen in years. Thank god I saw it. Anyone who loves drawing and missed this exhibit - I'm sorry for you. This exhibit was marvelous. And I can't believe the Getty Center put up an exhibit with so much work in it. I'm usually so disappointed when I go there. But I was blown away. The charcoal, the washes, the conte - it made me happy to be alive and honored to be drawing.

Millard Sheets: The Early Years - Pasadena Museum of California Art

Tim and I went to see this exhibition of Millard Sheets on Friday. It was quite comprehensive and I liked the enthusiasm and optimism of the work. I was very inspired by the exhibit and I loved the way he worked in both watercolors and oils. I wish there was more information about where some of the pictures were painted and his painting process. There was a lot of mythic story telling.

I don't know where these african-american ladies were painted and what their story is - but I will do some investigating.

Sheets had a lot of paintings with these fairy tale horses with these incredibly long necks. The landscapes often felt sculpted and seem very much like human bodies.

Renoir in the 20th Century - LA County Museum

I saw this Renoir Exhibit at LACMA the other day. It focuses on Renoir's later years. His hands were quite cramped and crippled and the paintings at some moments became almost grotesque to me.

Portrait of Jean Renoir - one of my husband's favorite directors and son of Piere-Auguste Renoir I've only seen his film "The River."

I feel like he most of had an affair with Gabrielle (she is in the above painting). He paints her a million times and she's always half naked.

I liked the plein air work the best and sometimes I was bothered by the crazy proportions on the figurative work which is very conservative of me (I know - I'm sorry). I fell out of love with the impressionists in my twenties and though I know there is much to learn from them the pinky skin is too much for me. Although it is thought provoking. I liked the sculptures very much and did believe the work served as a bridge to Cubism. I do want to go back and look at the landscape painting and see if there is anything that I may want to incorporate into my own work.

Rembrandt Prints at the Hammer

I saw an exhibit of Rembrandt prints at the Hammer last Sunday. Oh how beautiful they were. Marshall had showed a lot of Rembrandt drawings in his composition workshop. So I was really happy to see some real prints in the flesh. What I love is how his line work is so dynamic and sculptural. To draw like Rembrandt - I would choose that over the beautiful pen and ink of Bernie Wrightson which are so controlled - I love how out of control but still in control Rembrandt is.

When we walked in the exhibit the guard handed us magnifying glasses - How cute!

R Crumb - Genesis - Hammer Museum

Last Sunday I saw the R. Crumb exhibit of his panels from his new book Genesis at the Hammer Museum. They were amazing but I only wish they had showed more of his process.

Melendez at LACMA

I saw the Melendez exhibit at LACMA a couple of weeks ago. These were my favorites. I don't remember ever seeing such dramatic still lives or still lives that were placed in a landscape. It made me want to paint still lives again. The colors are amazing and the still lives almost seem architectural like a cityscape in the landscape. I am so happy I went.