Church of the Immaculate Conception in Castries, St. Lucia. I sat in the parking lot across the street. A steady stream of people passed by (see the boy in my previous post). Some stopped and looked and chatted. Looking at this painting, I was struck that I did not include anyone.
I decided to paint the Church of the Immaculate Conception (see last post). It could use a little cleaning, but it’s exterior belies its beautiful interior. The fun part about painting in a city is that you meet all sorts of people. They range from interesting to “interesting”. This little boy was with his two pals, heading home from school. Schools were getting out and there were tons of kids from 7 to 17 all over downtown. There was a town square about one block behind me. It was fun and festive. A guy was playing a bongo. People were dancing, talking, laughing. There were four cruise ships in port – a bounty for the local economy for sure.
This is the interior of the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Online reviews of the church ran from “great” to “so-so”. I thought the interior was beautiful; rich browns and blues, frescos, lots of red votive candles near the altar, and light from windows above. My photo does not do it justice (hey, I’m a painter not a photographer, my camera is my phone).
I suggest a vist if you get to Castries, St. Lucia. Don’t be put off by the neighborhood or the people. It is a poor place, but everyone I met was very friendly.
1. The merchant seaman who became THE Surrealist to whom the next generation of artists turned to for inspiration….. Yves Tanguy
Born: January 5, 1900, Paris
Died: January 15, 1955, Woodbury, Connecticut, USA
2. He re-touched a portrait because it was too risqué, which made it all the more famous. She was a married society woman in Boston….. John Singer Sargent
January 12, 1856, Florence, Italy
Died: April 14, 1925, London, England
3. He is called the Father of Modern Art. He liked to paint apples…. Paul Cézanne
Born: January 19, 1839, Aix-en-Provence, France
Died: October 22, 1906, Aix-en-Provence, France
4. His painting, Luncheon on the Grass, is one of the two paintings that mark the beginning of modern art….. Édouard Manet
Born: January 23, 1832, Paris, France
Died: April 30, 1883, Paris, France
5. She was the first female sculpture student at the Munich Art Academy. And it gets more interesting from there…. Elisabeth Ney
Born: January 26, 1833, Münster, Westphalia, Germany
Died: June 29, 1907, Austin, Texas, USA
6 . Also known as Jack the Dripper …. Jackson Pollock
January 28, 1912, Cody, Wyoming, USA
August 11, 1956, East Hampton, New York, USA
Five well known artists were born in January. Can y0u guess at least THREE of their LAST names correctly?
1. Yves__________
Hint: He was a merchant seaman who became THE Surrealist to whom the next generation of artists turned to for inspiration.
2. John __________
Hint: He had to re-paint a portrait because it was too risqué, which made it all the more famous. She was a married society woman in Boston. Was she his … ?
3. Paul __________
Hint: Often called the Father of Modern Art. He liked to paint apples.
3. Édouard __________
Hint: One of his paintings, shown below, is considered one of the two paintings that mark the beginning of modern art.
4. Elisabeth __________
Hint: She was the first female sculpture student at the Munich Art Academy. And it gets more interesting from there…
5. Jackson __________
Hint: AKA “Jack the Dripper”. If you live in the USA and cannot get this one … then I’ll slap you up upside the head.
P.S. You cannot use the internet. I will know if you do. Well, maybe.
Luncheon on the grass. 1863
Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy.
Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry.
Sunshine on the water looks so lovely.
Sunshine almost always makes me high.
I have spent lots of days and nights (easily 200+) in the desert around this mountain when I worked as an undergraduate field assistant at the University of Arizona Mammal Museum. It is Ragged Top, at the northern end of the Silverbell Mountains, northwest of Tucson, Arizona. The desert here is very lush, with just about every plant and animal species in the Sonoran Desert ecosystem.
I assisted graduate students with live-trapping and measuring and then releasing wild desert mice to study their populations. On cold nights the mice would get torpid if they spent too much time above ground in a trap (torpid: a state of suspended/sluggish physical activity, like hibernation). We would carry them in our pockets until they warmed up, then put them back near where they came from. I could tell they were coming back to life when I felt them moving around in my shirt and pants pockets!
200+ traps were spread out in the square shape, which made about a 5 mile walk. I remember checking the traps one very dark night, alone. At one point I heard noises around me. My heart started beating a bit faster. Then I heard a hushed “yip”, a sharp, high pitched bark. I was surrounded by coyotes. An unsettling, but not frightening situation once I realized they were coyotes; mountain lions live here, too. They became quiet. The “yip” probably came from an inexperienced youngster. I could hear them running around on both sides of me. They moved when I walked, and stopped when I stopped. I could only catch an occasional glimpse. They stayed just beyond the reach of my headlamp. How many? I didn’t know. At least 3 or 4 for sure. They were with me for a good distance. I think they were hoping that I would drop a mouse. Just in case, I carefully put each mouse near a hole. Oh, and then there were snakes …
No. I’m off the cruise ship for a few days. I’ll return on Jan 31. I was thinking about my days on the East coast. The barn is an oil painting I did on location in Brookfield, Connecticut. It was late Fall / early Winter. I had driven past this barn many times on the back road from Danbury to New Milford. It screamed “paint me!” every time, so I finally gave in and painted it. It was freezing outside so I stayed in my jeep… where I eventually froze anyway. A sad ending… this painting was stolen from my studio. The only one to disappear – I guess someone liked it.
