Nancy Standlee Fine Art: Ft. Worth Museum

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Lady Portrait ~ Kimbell Museum ~ Modern Museum ~ Art Blog

$45.00
9" x 9" Acrylic on watercolor paper
Road trips are always popular with my Canvas by Canvas painter friends. Yesterday, August 14, the temperature was about 102 in the shade when some of us decided on a Fort Worth museum day where air conditioning is king. We were all in need for a “girlfriend fix” as we were on the verge of a major hissy fit. The Purple Cow and a hamburger fix nixed the fit. Cindy Y drove us , Maryann was available, and Betty needed a break from her web duties, and Connie met us for lunch.

First stop was the Modern Museum where we viewed the Ron Mueck sculpture exhibition that runs through October 21, 2007. Ron is a virtuoso of hyper realistic sculpture and the exhibit includes 13 of his works and each will elicit a different response from the viewer. The sleeping elderly lady covered with a blanket made me want to view and then tip toe silently away as to not awaken her. The larger than life baby with umbilical cord attached brought a joyful shout just thinking about watching the birth of my last grandchild. A 30 minute video showing his sculpture process and the production steps of the pregnant woman is a must see.

The Kimbell Art Museum was exhibiting The Mirror and the Mask: Portraiture in the Age of Picasso until September 16. Some portraits by artistic giants such as Van Gogh, Matisse, and Cezanne could be studied and it is a dazzling collection of 100 masterpieces from 75 collections. One of my favorites was Maurice de Vlaminch’s Andre Derain.

The Buffet at the Kimbell is a favorite place to eat and we stopped by to share some of Shelby Schafer’s desserts and Mango tea. Shelby’s first Kimbell cookbook was published in 1986 and The Kimbell Cookbook was revised and published in 2001. I have both books and I use them regularly and I’m so grateful Shelby believes in sharing her recipes. We sampled the Mandarin Orange Cake, page 182 and Raspberry Truffle Brownies, page 204 from the new book and Mango tea for a pick me up before our Arlington return. The Buffet Restaurant is a welcoming stop after a museum tour. The area is a visual delight while enjoying Shelby’s culinary masterpieces.

This portrait is a very impressionist loose interpretation of an imaginary person lurking in my storehouse of mind portraits.

P.S. I've done a Technorati search and have found some recent posts about Ron Mueck you might be interested in:
Great photos http://caw-leen.livejournal.com/13046.html
YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwIkJiauV3U&mode=related&search=

Another blogger: http://subtledesigner.blogspot.com/2007/08/museums.html

Photos of installation: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10468439@N05/sets/72157601021948061/