44.4 Million Dollars for one Georgia O'Keefe Painting

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you already know that I like Georgia O'Keefe's paintings.  One of my favorite haunts in Santa Fe is the Georgia O'Keefe museum which has just sold this painting...

 

It was originally owned by Georgia's sister, Anita O'Keefe Young whose estate was sold in 1987 by Sotheby's.  The painting was donated to the museum by the Burnett Foundation in l996.  The museum intends to use the whopping 44.4 million dollar sale to increase their acquisitions fund.  This painting, along with the two others sold are very similar to other pieces the museum owns.  I can't wait to see what the museum director, Robert Kret, and the curator, Cody Hartley buy next and how much they will have to pay!  If you are fan of Georgia O'Keefe, you can read more in the Albuquerque Journal, here

If you are an art collector, you might want to visit the St. Mark's Art and Crafts Fair tomorrow and Sunday.  Who knows, your heirs might sell that painting you buy for a whole lot more money that you paid!  Scroll on down to the next post to see the details. 

 

Hollyberry Fair, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Watercolors With Six Year Old's

I am in California celebrating my twin granddaughter's sixth birthday and they love art!  Here is their work space...

Tables from IKEA with wheels added to make it easier to clean this space.

A secret to creativity, don't worry too much about the end result!  Many things go into the trash.

Image Via

I showed the twins this image of a painting by Renee Nault, a Canadian artist and illustrator who is primarily known for her whimsical mermaids...
We started with typewriter...oops showing my age...I meant computer paper and used blue painters' tape to cover the areas we wanted to stay white.

This is Sara's

This is Caroline's

The girls then painted over the tape with black and we sprinkled salt onto the paint hoping to create a snowy effect.  However, computer paper does NOT act like watercolor paper and the salt did not accomplish the intended result.
However, when the paint dried and we pulled off the blue tape, the girls were excited to see their trees.

Tomorrow we will attempt the little fox.  AND purchase some watercolor paper!

How The Unicorn Got His Horn Back, Creative Lives Series, Vicki Dean Mayhew

Have you ever wanted to write a children's book?  For years, my friend, Vicki Mayhew, has been trying to get several of her books published.  She went to workshops, she considered self-publishing, and she opened countless rejection letters from publishers, but she never gave up. 

Vicki taught Sunday School with me when her children were small and she began to share a story about a pair of shoes belonging to a young boy.  He had taken them off to wade in the sea and a wave swept them away.  The story line grew in Vicki's imagination and she told to me over the next few months the continuing magical adventures of this pair of shoes.  In my mind I could see the illustrations that would tell this story with few words to very young children.  This book is still waiting on a publisher, but another of Vicki's stories has been published.  A signed copy of it was sitting on my desk at St. Mark's when I got to work one morning.

As with many creative people, Vicki found the time to run AP-T Camera Repair,the largest  camera repair shop in New Mexico, with her husband, Mike, raise wonderful children, volunteer with both the Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts, coach Little League, take wonderful photographs, care for the patio garden at St. Mark's, work in her own gardens, sew, and coach and play softball, all the while, writing stories and poems.

If you are looking for a gift for a child or grandchild, I would recommend this book about bullying. Children today have all either been a victim of bullying or have taken part in this less than positive activity themselves.  This little story will give you an opportunity to discuss this issue with them.

Here is a video of one of her books now available from Amazon.  It is a gift to have such a talented friend!

Update from the author "Sea Shoes has been accepted for publication and the illustrator is at work!"

If you would like a signed copy, drop by AP-T Camera Repair, 4503 Menual NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico.   Call first to let Vicki know you are coming (505)881-6600)...or order from Amazon...

The Magic Lives On, or "Why I like Harry Potter"

I work with children.  As Director of Christian Education at St. Mark's, I frequently have to ask my readers to put down their books to participate in our Bible studies and the activities we use to reinforce these stories.  And what book is most often the culprit?  One of the Harry Potter series.  Even the non-readers have been known to carry one with them to soccer, soft-ball, music lessons, etc. 

What is it about this awkward, unloved, young orphan boy thrust into an often scary world that appeals so strongly to what is now another decade of young readers? 

For over ten years at Camp Stoney (now the Bishop Ridge Episcopal Camp and Conference Center)  we offered a week of Harry Potter Camp.  For many of those years, I played the part of Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagle.  Along with a very enthusiastic and dedicated group of diocesan volunteers, we used these books to teach about the Christian themes so cleverly hidden in J.K. Rowlings books.   (I say cleverly because, like the great Christian theologian, C.S. Lewis, who wrote the children's Narnia series, Rawling wanted non-Christians to read these books.)  “To me, [the religious parallels have] always been obvious,” Rowling said. “But I never wanted to talk too openly about it because I thought it might show people who just wanted the story where we were going.” 

Rowling  explores themes of self-sacrifice, combating prejudice, choosing worthy companions and being loyal, fighting for good against evil, and yes even the theme of death and resurrection woven throughout Christian allegorical stories.

In “Deathly Hallows,” Harry visits his parents’ graves at Godric’s Hallow and sees two biblical references on his parents’ tombstones, reading: “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death,” and "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

One Sunday morning, I asked the young people at St. Mark's what sort of party they would like to have.  Maybe an Alice in Wonderland party, a pirate party, a theatre night party?  Nope they all voted for a Harry Potter Party.  So today, after VOTING on somewhat more important issues (have you voted yet?) I am off to Camp Stoney to pick up some of the sets we made over the years for the upcoming party.

The Shy, Illusive Fox

Sometimes, as I drive up the mountainside to my house, a fox slips across the dirt road in front of my car.  A flash of red in an otherwise dusty green and brown landscape.  We often see wildlife but the fox is much shyer, so I have often wondered how artists become familiar enough with foxes to paint these compelling images...

by Lucy Newton Mixed Media

Always Wary, Watercolor by Joe Garcia Image Via

Water Color by Dean Crouser Image Via

Watercolor by Joe Garcia Image via

Out Foxed by Bonnie Marris Image Via

 Found this image on Pinterest but was unable to follow it to its source. A reader provided the answer.  It is by Konstantin Kalinin.

Evening Fox by Marcia Baldwin image via

'Zorros' by Franz Marc (1913) Image Via

New Media by Kamilla Marant Image Via

Game Over by Robert Bateman  Image Via

Love this one.  Wish I could discover who painted it.  I also found this on Pinterest, but the original pinner did not attribute it.

Perhaps in other parts of the country, foxes are more tame, or more bold and hang around long enough to at least be photographed.  Wish that our fox-in-residence would come out more frequently. But maybe Sati, our cat, will survive to old age if our dog continues to chase away all wild things.  

It has been some time since I have seen our flock of wild turkeys.  The bow hunting season was in the spring, so I am thinking the turkeys may be moving to a lower elevation for the winter.   I am told that this flock, which drove our dog mad as they marched, one at a time, across the hillside behind our house, might be the turkeys "missing in action" from the San Felipe pueblo to the north of us.  Perhaps they have decided to return home.

There also has been no sign of last year's bear cub.  The lack of pinion nuts this year might have him foraging further afield.