Windows To Other Worlds

 

Eitenne Gros image via http://www.ozartsetc.com/2012/12/04/etienne-gros/

Artists are fascinated by light, so it is no surprise that they love windows.  Large bright north facing windows that do not cast shadows across their work.  Or ceilings of skylights.

Georgia O'Keefe looking out the window of her Abiqui, New Mexico home.  Image via http://www.architecturaldigest.com/celebrity-homes/2012/georgia-okeeffe-artist-new-mexico-ghost-ranch-article

 

Cebolla Church by Georgia O'Keefe (detail) Image Via http://ncartmuseum.org/untitled/2009/03/the-thing-in-the-window/

John French Sloan.  Image via  http://www.wikiart.org/en/john-french-sloan/a-window-on-the-street-1912

Artists frequently pose models in front of windows or paint what they see out of windows. 

Andrew Wyeth was no stranger to this tradition.  In his lifetime, he first  learned to paint and draw under the tutelage of his famous father, N.C.Wyeth.   

N.C. Wyeth, Trial of the Bow

Over Andrew's lifetime, he painted more than three hundred works that explored the themes of visual complexities posed by the transparency, symbolism, and geometric structure of windows.

During our busy May, my husband had to make a trip to Washington D.C.  My husband was working, donning his armor of logic, statistics, and persuasion to fight against a diversion dam in New Mexico's Gila Wilderness.  He visited Congressional offices and Department heads, helping to educate leaders about the pros and cons of this water project. I grabbed the opportunity to go with him... despite heavy obligations planning a week of art camp for 8-12 year olds from around the entire Diocese.  I wanted to see the show of Andrew Wyeth's work on exhibit at  the National Gallery of Art.  I never expected to be stunned.  But I was and spent most of a day there.  Although, I will share a few images of these works here, you cannot imagine how different they look when you see them in person.  They are quite large and you can see the brush strokes, scrub marks where the brush was used vigorously enough to damage the paper, and sometimes bits of grass or dirt.  Please consider a visit to Washington D.C. to see this show if you live in the area.  I promise you will be stunned as well!

 

A Half Day at Half Moon Bay and What Happened to May?

Off to the Beach

A Long, Long way.

Said S & C

The Wildlife Came Out to Play

So We Decide to Go Another Way.

 

To Find Another Way

We Climb the Bluff

That Overlooks the Bay.

At Last!

A Place for Girls

to Play.

 To Run About

And Maybe Shout.

To Sneak and Hide

This Side...that Side.

Beyond the trees

"What shall we see?"

Wheeee!

A different kind of tree!

A Place to Climb

For You and Me!

At Last

A Different Sort of Beach

We Finally Reach

 

What's that out there?

A few more, I swear...

No need to grouse...

 It is their house!

It hard to say
We cannot stay
At Half Moon Bay.

 
But on the long way out
A few more things to be glad about!

It Was a Very Good Day
The Time We Spent at Half Moon Bay.

The Cloche

Image Via "Its About Time" Blog

Spring has officially arrived even on our cool mountainside, and I have been busy planting the pots and flower beds.  Every day, I check the weather report because it is still possible there might be a late frost and I might have to move all the pots inside.  This coming Monday there is a light frost predicted. I would not have to do this if I would invest in a few cloches for my frost tender plants. 

In a previous post I showed you a little miniature potagere I found on Pinterest which included two tiny little wicker cloches.  A cloche is a covering for plants to protect them from extreme weather.  They can be made of glass which traps the heat and keeps the plants from freezing.

 Or they can be made from other materials such as wicker or willow to keep animals, such as rabbits, squirrels and deer from munching on new plants.  In our desert southwest these would also be useful to provide a little shade from our blazing hot sunshine.  They also provide some architectural interest to a garden as you can see in a previous post.

I

Or they could be made of metal.  The weight of these would be helpful as the winds on our mountainside are likely to blow away a wicker cloche unless it were securely staked.

I am still kicking myself for not buying this one which I found in an antiques shop in Bernalillo.  I hesitated because it was missing some glass and I wondered if it would look odd to replace the old handblown glass in it with new glass.  While not truly a cloche, but more of a terrarium, it loosely fits the definition.

My sister, Rosalind, bought three tiny glass cloches on a trip to Williamsburg for my Hogwarts Miniature castle.  However, since her death last June, I have been  adding landscaping for her miniature Williamsburg dollhouses, so the cloches will be used in the potagere located behind the separate cookhouse.  The formal garden is almost complete but I am just beginning the kitchen or "potagere" garden for this estate.