Mad as a Hatter

Song - French Cafe Accordion Music

Last Friday Mr. B and I headed to the city to visit the Legion of Honor and to see the Degas, Impressionism and the Millinery Trade exhibit.

Degas - The Millinery Shop 1879-86

Unfortunately I brought the wrong lens for my camera so I couldn't get shots of the entire painting and I couldn't back up because it was very crowded as it was the final weekend of the exhibit.

I loved that they matched a number of old hats from the time period with the paintings.  However they were protected in large plastic showcases so the photos do not do them justice.

Berthe Morisot - Eugene Manet on the Isle of Wight 1875

They had an area dedicated to men's hats and above you can see the straw boating hat.

They discussed the use of arsenic and mercury in preserving the feathers and felting the hat. That is where the term "mad hatter" comes from as it is linked these toxic substances that gave the workers shakes, speech problems, hallucinations and emotional instability.

Georges Jeanniot - At the Milliner's 1900

James Tissot - The Shop Girl 1883-85

The Mad Hatter: "Have I gone mad?" 

Alice: "I'm afraid so.  You're entirely bonkers. 

But I'll tell you a secret.  All the best people are." 

--Lewis Carroll

Oscar

Song - The Painter by Neil Young

Friday a friend and I went to an exhibit at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.  The exhibit was "Monet - The Early Years" and encompassed his paintings from 1858 - 1872.

He put in the work to find his style.  

Would you ever think that these two paintings were painted by Claude Monet?

 

 The card for the above painting read "the still life was the rainy day activity for plein air painters"

This painting is a detail from the two huge canvases that depicts an outdoor luncheon.  The dappled light just brings you eye around and around the paintings.

His snow scene's were brilliant.  My very favorite painting of his (the one directly about) brought tears to my eyes - The Magpie.  Even though it looks like a pretty basic snow scene, there is so much soft color in this painting.

And his depiction of water during these early years shows where he was style was heading.

 A

 B

 C

D

Can you match the water details in the paintings above with the paintings below?

B

D

C

A

And check out a close up of the "people" in the above painting.

Two are headless and one mans pants are not attached to his upper half!

And does this even matter when you look at the entire painting?  Not to me as I enjoyed the energy of the painting, the movement in the water, the colors, the brushstrokes and the feeling that it evokes.

 "The Beach at Trouville"

His people in these scenes are just "suggestions"!

Another favorite of mine was borrowed from the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC for this show and is titled "Argenteuil". 

I loved the show and I loved seeing so many paintings of Claude Monet that I have never seen before!

Now you are probably wondering .....

"Why did she name this post - Oscar?"

I never knew.....now we both do!

And I still say that Brandon Crawford looks a lot like Oscar!!!

"Everyday I discover more and more beautiful things.  

It's enough to drive one mad.

I have such a desire to do everything,

my head is bursting with it."

--Claude Monet

Abstraction & Jazz

Song - Take Five by Dave Brubeck

Earlier this week I took a workshop in Orinda from Sandy Ostrau. She is an incredible artist from Palo Alto. 

Sandy painting a figure

As I seem to have hit a plateau with my painting and I needed to shake things up a little.

So I have been thinking lately that I would like to paint a little more abstractly and more impressionistically instead of being so "fussy".  You know the fussy thing I mean? It's when you paint everything down to the last minutiae so the viewer doesn't need to think about much.

Sandy's landscape demo

But when you paint more abstractly, the viewer knows it's a landscape or a figure but it is done in such rich colors and lovely form that the viewer becomes a participant.

One of my favorite figuratives of Sandy's done from the rendering below

Pretty amazing, huh?


Sandy had asked us to bring along several painted canvases that we would then paint over. I have lots of those!!!

Unfortunately, I don't have a "before" photo to share but trust me.....this was rendered fairly realistically but just didn't knock my socks off. But now it sings....not like Sandy's but hey.....it was my first attempt!

So at lunch we got to talking about how a lot of people just don't "get it", meaning abstract work.  People walk by and say "Oh my kid could do that!"  But amazingly it is difficult to break down all of the components into large, strong shapes!

I compared it to Jazz.  There is the kind of jazz that is melodic and you kind of know what's coming next.  But there are other kinds that I have trouble following.  I think abstract painting is kind of like that.  Some abstracts will blow your mind because you can't seem to get it (and maybe you are not supposed to!) and others you can follow and recognize as a landscape or a figure.  Somehow that feels a little more settling to me. 

Love this one of Sandy's as well!

It was a great workshop and I actually had fun playing with my paint!


Please check out Sandy's work here - www.sandyostrau.com

 
 "Ah, swing, well, we used to call it syncopation, then they called it ragtime, then blues, then jazz.  Now, it's swing.  White folks - you'all sho is a mess!"  --Louis Armstrong talking with Bing Crosby