Metropolitan Museum Of Art, China: Through The Looking Glass Exhibition

Last night I had the most enjoyable evening I've had in quite some time.  I saw on Instagram that the Met was staying open until midnight last night to accommodate the hordes of people flocking to see the China: Through The Looking Glass exhibition before it closes on Monday.  The Met really hit it out of the park with this show.  Everything in it was absolutely amazing.

House Of Dior, John Galliano

John Galliano had many dresses in the exhibit and I loved every one of them.  He was interviewed by Andrew Bolton for a chapter in the exhibition catalog and it was great to read about his design process.  He was very interested in China because of the way the country was portrayed in the movies.  He later travelled there to find out about the country and culture for himself.

The headpieces were done by Stephen Jones and they were amazing.  I loved every single one.

Mixed in with the current fashions were Chinese robes from the 18th century that resembled the newer creations.  It was easy to see how Chinese fashion is still influencing designers today.

One of my favorite pieces in the show was this Ralph Lauren tuxedo jacket.  I took all of these photos in a very dark room through glass cases so it is a bit difficult to pick up on the amazing work that was put into these pieces, but take my word for it, this jacket is to die for.

Another John Galliano dress.  The dress was gorgeous and had the most amazing train.

This dress is by Balenciaga.  The detail work on this dress was unbelievable.  Just incredibly beautiful.

The piece above is a 19th century rubbing of a 10th century stone carving.  The print influenced Christian Dior in his design of the cocktail dress "Quiproquo"

Next we got to my favorite part of the show.  The blue and white room (of course).  So many unbelievable treasures in there.

This is a small sampling of the blue and white porcelain on display.  Of course I was thinking about how I would love to take them home to use in my paintings, but the truth is the designs and shapes of these vases, gourds and ginger jars are still in use today.  Some of these pieces are centuries old, and would work perfectly in any decor today.

Li Xiaofeng, The Weight Of The Millennium, 2015

This sculpture was insane.  I was not able to get a shot of the whole thing, but it was a dress made out of blue and white porcelain!

And now, on to the blue and white dresses.  They were amazingly beautiful.  The above photo is Valentino.

Giambattista Valli

John Galliano

Roberto Cavalli

Rodarte

House Of Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld

I have MANY more photos to show you, so I think I'll continue this post tomorrow.  Hope you are enjoying this peek into the exhibition.  The show is closing tomorrow (Monday) so if you are in New York City, please go see it for yourself.  You won't regret it!

Painting In Assisi, Day One

We arrived in Assisi in the middle of an intense heat wave, and that did affect our choice of painting spots.  If you recall, last summer we had perfect weather and we never left the Comune (the town square).  This year, we were only able to be there the first two mornings.  The weather was very dry, so humidity was not a problem, but the sun was so intense it was impossible to stand in a spot without shade.

We parked ourselves in front of the Minerva Temple as there was a bit of shade there.  Gregg started off the workshop by setting up and then doing a demo for us.

We set our easels up right next to the temple.  It was easy to just go up the steps and sit in the shade for a few minutes when it got too hot.  Many other people had the same idea, so it was a bit crowded, but when you are painting outside you have to expect those things.

This is my easel set up facing the cafe in the square.  They had a big fan that was misting water and we all ran over there a few times to cool off.  Luckily, the shopkeepers in town are very welcoming to artists, so they didn't mind.

This is the block in that I did in the few hours we were out there.  I would have loved to finish it, but it just was not possible.  That happens with outdoor painting and you just have to move on to the next thing.  I do feel like I captured the heat of the day and it will be a nice memory to have, finished or not.

This was our shady spot.  You can see through the columns on the left a stage was being set up.  There is free music all over Assisi and it is such fun to see these shows.  Last year there was a Beatles show taking place while we were painting!

This is the Minerva temple at night.  It is incredibly beautiful and a bit surreal that people are just hanging out on the steps of a structure that is thousands of years old.  I did go inside one day and the interior is beautiful and there is a ton of amazing art work.  You can see free art all over Italy just by going inside the churches.

So that is a recap of my first painting.  We did find a shady spot the next day and we were quite productive there.  I will show you some of those paintings in future posts.

Hope everyone is having a good September 1.  I can't believe summer is almost over :(

I'm Back!

Hello Everyone.  I hope all of you are enjoying these last weeks of summer.  I have to apologize for my unintended blog break.  Unfortunately, I had an accident a few weeks ago and I am just now getting back on my feet.  I hope to be blogging regularly from now on.

One good thing that happened this summer is that I returned to Assisi, Italy for the yearly painting workshop held there by Gregg Kreutz and Art Workshop International.  We had a great time and painted everyday, though in different spots than last year.

I left New York one day early so I could visit Rome.  I had a great time, but it was 95 degrees so I did not do as much walking around as I had hoped.

The newsstand on my corner carries this paper, but it was fun to see it on all the newsstands around Rome #travelgeek

I was having a great time wandering around these little alley ways, but when it was just too hot to stay out any longer, I found a pizza place that advertised air conditioning.  It was really just a couple of fans, but definitely better than nothing, so I went in there to relax and have some pizza.  We have good pizza here in New York, but there is nothing like having pizza in Italy, which I proceeded to do nearly every day of the trip!

The guys who worked in the restaurant were great and we had fun taking pictures.

Back out on the street, I wandered over to a park that was nice and shady.  I came upon this fantastic little place that someone needs to copy here in New York.

The Biblio Bar had books, wine, prosecco, cappuccino, sandwiches and pastries.  It was just the greatest little place.  Even the police came by for a snack!

I think every big city in the world has the same tour buses!

I took this shot of the Vatican on my way back to the hotel.  Luckily, I went there a few years ago because there was no way I could wander around there in the heat.

My painting buddies were waiting for me at the hotel and the next day we traveled on to Assisi to begin the painting workshop.  I actually like two of my plein aire paintings (very unusual for me) and I will tell you about them in my next post.

Glad to be back!!