2010 FEBRUARY BLOG

I don't like cold weather but I love what winter does to nature. The tracery of bare branches against a cloudless winter sky is stunning to me.This recently completed painting, that I'm calling NIGHT LIGHT, is a 30" x 30" oil painting on canvas.
There are many beautiful native grasses that change color during the fall and winter. Where we live on Lake Travis there are varieties of Muhly and Little Bluestem in abundance. Also there are patches of Yellow Indiangrass, Love grass, Switchgrass and many others that I can't identify. This is the case with these yellow ochre grasses and bare stalks in this month's painting. Looking through the dark stems and heads in the foreground gives a sense of depth and breaks up the large blue background. The blue is an evening sky blue, and the grasses are spot lighted by a setting sun that accentuates the color. This painting is more freely painted than the series of Chautauqua Porches on which I'm still working. I had a need to take a break from the smaller, more tedious paintings of architectural detail and cut loose on this larger nature painting. But I'll be getting back to the final (I think) three in the series of porches at Chatauqua, N.Y.
By the way, I will be watching tonight, Monday Feb. 1st, when KLRU is showing a television film entitled CHAUTAUQUA: AMERICAN. I hope you caught it.

VISUAL ARTS
In downtown Austin we have a recently opened W HOTEL that is partnering with the relatively new VISUAL ARTS CENTER (VAC) located in the Art Building at the University of Texas. The hotel plans to display works by art faculty and alumni as well as selected work from the VAC's contemporary art exhibitions. This collaboration is another example of the awakening of the visual arts scene in Austin.
Video artists are also being featured at the Art School Building, located on San Jacinto Street at East 23rd. Each month a new, highly regarded video artist will be presented with the caveat "some videos may not be appropriate for all ages". But then, for those of us who have viewed art produced through the ages, that is nothing new.
If you like video art, know that the recently remodeled Arthouse on Congress Ave. has a film and video gallery.

DOCUMENTARY
If you are interested in either the history of great art or some lesser known facts of World War II, you will want to see THE RAPE OF EUROPA, a 2006 documentary that recently aired on KLRU-Q in Austin on January 29th. It is extraordinary in scope and in detail. Based on a 1944 book by Lynn H. Nicholas, the film uses clips of monumental European buildings before and after their destruction, of priceless paintings and sculpture being evacuated from cities to avoid looting by Hitler's army, of transporting stolen art treasureers to Nazi Germany, of U.S. Army officers given the task of locating treasures hidden in caves and remote villas, and of ongoing efforts to return these stolen works to rightful owners and heirs and much, much more. Joan Allen is the narrator and Robert Edsel the producer. For more information and to see a trailer, check out www.rapeofeuropa.com or it can be ordered from Netflix.