bubbliscious ....

i think the new lights over my kitchen table are a step up from the previous lighting (see the last blog post for that sad story...) ... they are called pop fusion pendants .... groovy name, huh?they seem to be like bubbles ... bright, colorful, happy bubbles ....they remind me a bit of candy too ... you know the candies that are in noisy wrappers with a twist at each end ... the kind that you open up and everyone knows you're sneaking a candy ....

my favorite is the butterscotch candy ..... whaddaya think?

one bare bulb .... and the artsy rationale ....

so ... this is like a rorschach test .... look at a picture ... tell me what it makes you think of ....

what's it mean to you? ....one bare bulb ...

it's not suspended from a wire, so it might not be for a brutal, eye blaring interrogation .... but it could be ... that's what i think of ...

that bulb? that one naked, bare, pitiful bulb is in my house ... it looks like it should be in the garage, right?

or a basement ... come to think of it, i might have one just like this in my basement ... nope... i think it's fluorescent lighting in my basement actually ...

or it looks like it should be in the broom closet ... or the closet that you never go and the spiders have taken over ... thankfully, i don't have that closet in my house ....

but i do have that light bulb .. that bare, pathetic, institutional seeming bulb ... though i don't think they even put these in institutions any more, do they?

...a few months ago ... ok fine ... FOURTEEN MONTHS ago, my family moved back into this house after a glorious six month renovation .... and i CHOSE for this light bulb to be put in my house..... in a closet? in the basement? in the attic? in the garage?

no, it's over my kitchen table .... the kitchen table where i ADORE family dinners ... the kitchen table where i've played hundreds (literally) of games in those fourteen months ..... the kitchen table that, really, our family life revolves around ... the kitchen table where i have had at least a dozen sit down dinner parties in the last fourteen months ... oh my ....

one bare bulb ....

you see, i had a vision for my house .... my kitchen table is in a green sunroom .. not just green .. but GREEN ... my kitchen walls are orange ... with white cabinets ... my family room is yellow ... and not just any yellow, but a yellow that benjamin moore was smart enough to name SUNSHINE yellow ... yes, it is brighter than you can imagine ... nope, brighter than that too ....

all of the area surrounding this bulb is sunshine happy joyful house ...

apparently i ran out of steam ... i found a great green light fixture that i put in the dining room ... and i thought i should have put it over the kitchen table ... cause it's pretty casual ... but i didn't want to shop for a formal dining room light ... i like the green casual one i had gotten ... instead ... i wanted groovy and colorful and fun over my kitchen table ... tall order, that ... and i gave up .... periodically i'd cruise the internet or a store and look for adequately cool light fixtures ... but ... ordinariness prevails ...

not to mention? i'm kind of a status quo girl ... once we moved in, that bare bulb didn't bother me .... i hardly ever noticed it ... it was remarked on at every dinner party ... mr.e.beck.artist has gotten good at talking about it as art ... that bare bulb represents a minimalist simplicity in this house of maximalist unsimplicity, apparently ....it is the lone piece of white and unadorned in a house that is a riot of color ... it is the calm in our colorful chaos .... it was our statement ... or, he liked to say, we ran out of renovation money ... or, the truth, i just ran out of steam ....

.... i'm not a decorator kind of girl ... when it's a chore on my to do list, i can get it done ... but once the moment is gone ... it never crosses my mind ... i would have been the 60s housewife who still had an avocado green fridge 25 years later .... i would have been the 70s housewife who left the orange high pile shag rug in the living room well into the mauve nineties ...(were the nineties mauve, or was that the 80s?) ...

so there you have it ... my bare bulb ... here it is with the far wall ... the one white wall in the house ... bead board and white to display my art ... a perfect backdrop for the bulb ... it's a white on white thing ....

oh my gosh, how pitiful is that? fourteen months of bare bulb .....

the electrician is coming tomorrow ... he's replacing that bare bulb ... i can always get him to come back later if i change my mind and want to go back to simple ....

... catching up with my artsy things: three paintings and picasso

my church is opening up a new outreach center .... food pantry, thrift store, help center .... we named it after a retiring priest and i did this painting for him .... it was a big surprise that he was being honored, let alone that he was having the whole center named for him ....

he took that painting off into retirement, but i was asked to do something in the same vein for the new center .... my girls and i did these three collages, we call the series love your neighbor ... they are big ... each, 30 inches square ... mini me, i mean little.e.beck.artist worked on the one on the right .... it has the story of the good samaritan around it ... girl.beck.artist did the one in the middle, it has the story of st. martin .... and i did the one on the right, with the story of mother teresa ..... each one reflecting on people who helped others ....

i actually finished them a week or so ago .... but i did a OH MY GOSH FABULOUS trip to new york city for just two nights .... there were tons of trip highlights, but i'll tell you the artsy one ... mr.e.beck.artist and i went to the met for some art viewing ... we looked through the whole museum, but i went with the intention of seeing the picasso exhibit ... and ... in fact ... i believe that the picasso exhibit at the met is the single most impressive art exhibit i have ever been to... i adored it ... it was HUGE ... it was fabulous .... i learned so much (and i've read books and books about picasso already) .... i was giddy for how lovely it was ....

it stark contrast was the kandinsky show at the guggenheim ... gosh, i was completely underwhelmed .... i adore kandinsky, but this tiny exhibit was not worth the special trip i made ....i'm not sure i've ever given a negative review on this blog ... hmmm ... i'll think about that ....

dream ...

hello dear readers .... i am fully immersed in the happy days of summer ... sweating and swimming and exercising and chasing the dog and reading summer fun books ..... and doing stuff with three out of school little.becks .... though one little.beck, boy.beck.artist at 13 is five nine and a half .... oh yeah, we've been doing summertime ped appointments too ....

the good news, the girls and i go dither away hours in my cool basement studio ... cool is the temperature, not an indicator of grooviness .... i finished this small canvas (six inches square) that you see at the top of the post .... i am also working on three large canvases (30 inches square, each) for an art installation at a new outreach center for my church .... i was going to do them all ... but have coerced my sweet girls into each being in charge of one .... so ... i thunk them up .... and having my apprentices work it all out ... pretty good, huh?

it's a pretty nice thing when the biggest event in your life is when all three kids and the dog all get haircuts .... living a good summer life ... no complaints here ....

i have no complaints, but you should feel free to complain about the huge expanses of time between blog posts! ... i can handle it ...

hope your summer is as hot and sweaty and fun as mine ....

... just do your best ....

here's the painted collage i did over the weekend.....

it's a 12 by 12 canvas ... with at least two other paintings underneath it ... somehow it was never quite right ... so i keep painting over it .... trying to do my best .... the good news? i'm done painting over it .... i've been particularly fond of these lollypop flowers lately .... and i've been spending a lot of time telling my children to just do their best .... hence, the kind words of wisdom ....

have you been doing your best lately?

tell me ...

tell me why i forgot about taking pictures of the painting i did today until JUST now, late at night.....

tell me why, when i have three large pieces on deadline, i work on little ones instead ...

tell me how long you think my newly cleaned pantry will actually stay tidy ...i used my beloved label maker, but i'm pretty sure my family is entirely willing and able to ignore all labels ....

tell me what i'm going to draw this week with five days of art classes for 70 children? ... 20 classes in all! ..... starts tomorrow ....

tell me, will i remember to take a picture of the painting (just do your best is the title, seems appropriate) .... will i finish another painting ... will i remember to blog tomorrow ....

tra la la .... my next blog post WILL have a photo of a new painting ...

things

here's a fun website , 43 things .... you gotta love a good list ....

here are the 30 most popular goals:

1. lose weight 38619 people
2. stop procrastinating 28227 people
3. write a book 27873 people
4. Fall in love 25822 people
5. be happy 23246 people
6. Get a tattoo 21442 people
7. drink more water 19952 people
8. get married 19900 people
9. travel the world 19654 people
10. go on a road trip with no predetermined destination 19590 people
11. see the northern lights 17959 people
12. Learn Spanish 16450 people
13. Save money 15461 people
14. Kiss in the rain 15153 people
15. Take more pictures 14819 people
16. Make new friends 13450 people
17. Learn to play the guitar 13324 people
18. Buy a House 13236 people
19. get a job 11616 people
20. get out of debt 11607 people
21. Read more books 11518 people
22. run a marathon 11451 people
23. To live instead of exist 11434 people
24. learn french 11339 people
25. Skydive 10906 people
26. exercise regularly 10905 people
27. be more confident 10852 people
28. eat healthier 10722 people
29. write a novel 10193 people
30. Learn Japanese 10177 people

and my response to them!

1. yes

2. maybe later

3. my number one

4.done that, doing that

5.ditto that

6.never

7.good at that already

8.good with that too

9.yes ... too vague though ....

10. vague but perfect, love to

11.never thought about it and can't believe it is so high, but i'd like that

12. i should, but don't think i will

13.always a good idea

14.happy to do that again ... can't believe it is so high on the list

15.can't possibly take more than i already do

16.i will if it comes up, but i'm good if i don't

17.i'd love to be a rock star ... but i a pretty tone deaf ... so i'll say no

18.no, one's enough

19.ok, i think about this sometimes

20.we're ok here

21.i think i'm good here too ... though sometimes i do more than i have been this year ...

22. no thank you

23.i do

24.i did

25. i used to want to

26.i do

27.i am

28.yes, that's a good one

29. so... reptetition? number three seems the same ... and i am actively pursuing this and 3....

30. no chance

and a couple more ....

34 was my 2009 resoulution

42 i did

47, same as 25

52, did it

62 ... my personal favorite .. won't happen here, but you might consider it ....

do you have any things? goals? plans? resolutions?

weirdest artist you never heard of ....on a red white and blue day ....

last weekend, my family went to the hirshhorn gallery on the national mall in washington dc ... it is one of the smithsonnian museums ... but it is not a staid, button downed federalist building like so much else in washington ... instead, my family called it the doughnut museum ... no doughnuts inside, but the building itself was a cylinder, a little squashed, and an empty center (where the munchkin came from ... actually, the inside of the cylinder was outdoors, contained a grand fountain, and was 20 degrees cooler than the rest of the stifling hot city .... i was thrilled with everything about the gallery ... including that its name had a double h in it ... where do you get to see a double h? hirshhorn .... love that ....

so, what lovely double h serendipity to pick up a time magazine (that actually travelled with me to dc, but went unread because i didn't finish the book that i had brought) and find an article about a show in the double h hirshhorn .... (yes, i realize it has three h's in it, but it is the side by side h's that astound) .....

have you ever heard of yves klein? i think i read about him in an art of the 60s class i took in college .... in a tiny reference to performance art ... but maybe not ... he certainly wasn't on the exam .... and i didn't write a paper on him ... after an afternoon at the hirshhorn, my children know about the paper i wrote about wayne thiebaud ... his was pop art ... mostly food ... mostly sticky food ... and mostly sticky cafeteria food, at that .... all beautiful if you have a penchant for cake and ice cream and candy .... which i do ....

back to yves klein .... have you heard of him? probably not ... so, i saw his exhibit (he's long dead, but i can still call it his, right?) at the hirsHHorn ..... it was the most gorgeous blue .... all of it ... nearly every piece was blue ...but that perfect shade of blue was nearly all that i could take away from it .... my family was unimpressed, and didn't even want to take the time to read about it .... usually, stopping and reading the exhibit information can slow them down, make them see the artist's point of view, even if not all together understand the art ... i suppose some art isn't even meant to be understandable ....

so .... all of that ... the time article (that uses one of my favorite words, ineffable, twice!) , my newly beloved hirshhorn, me being awake at 6.30 while my children sleep an mr.e.beck.artist is off to run in the fourth of july road race, compel me to tell you about this obscure artist, yves klein ....

i think this afternoon i'll be painting some blue ...

happy red,white and blue to you ....

right now

aahhhhhhhhhhhhh .....

i was just working on cleaning up my blog ... re-decorating .... emptying at the metaphorical junk drawer .... and came across this link ..... it's a long ago interview about my artsiness ... i read it and marveled at that me from two years ago ... and now i'm going to work in my studio ... right now ....

the most fabulous art vacation ....

my family went to washington d.c. for a four day vacation to see the sites and immerse ourselves in some american history, legend and lore ... but really, for me, it was all about the art ..... luckily, i have a very indulgent family ..... i was an art history major in college, so as long as i've known mr.e.beck.artist, i've been dragging him to art shows, galleries, museums, and out of the way sculptures ..... and washington d.c. felt like one extraordinary art event set up just for me ...

we arrived on saturday .... and toured the biggest sites on the national mall by BIKE ... washington monument, ww2 memorial, eistein sculpture at the academy of arts and science, signers island, vietnam memorial, nurses memorial, korean war memorial (OH! my favorite for the art and deep, layered symbolism), the lincoln memorial, the fdr memorial (OH! such a story it tells, a WALK through the art symbolizing a man who couldn't walk), the jefferson memorial .... all fabulous art, legend, lore, story, symbolism ......and that was JUST saturday .....and i only took about 200 photos at each stop ....

sunday, we went to the spy museum (no art), the smithsonian art and portrait gallery (yes! a christo exhibit on his californian fence was enthralling to all five of us ... i ADORED christo when i was in college), the hirshhorn museum (OH! my favorite... well ... favorite of the day... modern art at its finest), then met up with the prescotts ...and on to the air and space museum (including an IMAX and simulator rides...eek!), the north east side of the national gallery sculpture garden (where the claes oldenburg eraser picture above was taken), and the hard rock cafe ..... all on sunday!

... wait ...i'm going to take a breath here .... and tell you that it was so intriguing to take cynical mr.e.beck.artist, nonchalant-about-everything.boy.beck.artist, excited-about-everything.girl.beck.artist, and she-wants-to-hold-the-map-and-be-in-charge.little.e.beck.artist to so many modern art museums .... we got everything from "i could paint that" to "the artist found one hook and does it over and over" to "why does anyone think that's art?" to "how many jillions of dollars were spent on the art in this building?" to "how does an artist make a living if the art isn't worth anything til they are dead?" and the meanings of things and our own different interpretations and who loved what and who hated what ..... SO much to talk about ....

on monday, we visited the capitol (a movie and a tour) .... under the rotunda is more art to discuss than can fill a book ...starting at the tip top with the statue of freedom ...and on the inside, the apotheosis of george washington, and the frieze around it .... and the sculptures in it .... oh my .... there are 100 statues, 2 per state .... and those are just the full body donated by the states statues, there are countless others as well .... we walked around the capitol, saw the library of congress and the supreme court (complete with a demonstration out front), back around to the mall ..... and on to the national gallery of art .... oh my goodness .... the national gallery of art .... the east wing to be specific ...oh my ... heaven .... we started with an exhibit called small french paintings (monet, renoir, degas, lautrec, seurat, morisot, pisarro, sisley ... later we found LARGE paintings by all of these artists too ..... the tower gallery was a rothko installation ... oh my ...none of us loved it, but it was certainly something to talk about .... i guess i won't be doing a black on black series in my art any time soon .... there was a matisse room that was so grand i couldn't believe it (favorite ten minutes of the trip, probably) ... then we did lunch below the national gallery and then the west wing of the national gallery ... and then the museum of natural history (have you ever heard of, i've seen, a pink fairy armadillo????) .... then ... walked home in a sudden down pour ....swam at the hotel pool .... dressed up ... had dinner ...and went to the kennedy center for a play (shear madness .... very funny) .....

and tuesday .... we did a walking tour of the area north of the national mall and the white house and the white house visitor center and the smithsonian museum of american history (michelle obama's inauguration gown, dorothy's red sparkle shoes, c3p0) ... and then .... toy story 3 (i cried ... so did little.e.beck.artist ... but at different parts)

and wednesday ... we went home

and thursday .... i did laundry

so ... have you been to dc? what's your favorite museum there? what's the most glorious thing you've seen there? ....or .... if not dc .... what's the most awed you've been by a piece of art in a gallery or museum?

sorry .... i'm not going back and editing this ... too tired ... imagine that ....

.... three pears ... three pairs = six ... but still just three ...

yippee .... something artsy to show you .... i picked this ceramic platter up today .... i finished it a couple weeks ago, right before summer started ... but it took me a month to go back and get it from the kiln room since i'm not taking pottery this quarter .... i think on the dots you can tell that i used the eraser end of a pencil to make indentations .... all the colored elements are relief ....pushed, pulled, poked and carved would be the technical terms .... i think it is about 12 inches across .... for now it is sitting on my kitchen counter ... eventually it will probably make it to my gift shelf ... i don't generally sell my pottery anymore ... i give it away for house warmings and hostess gifts and birthday presents .....

i DID work in my studio today .... i'll try to actually even do something photo worthy tomorrow!

.... planning and planning and planning ...

so ... i've been planning to paint this week and i'm edging in on wedensday and haven't stepped foot in my studio yet this week ... and i have two deadlines looming ... at least i've started one of the pieces .... so ... instead of painting, i'm planning to paint .... and living a full life of happy summer joy with my family ....

.... and then yesterday BAM .... i mean BAM .... i was in the shower and had this notion for a book .... and since then i've been a tad obsessive in my head about this book ... i have an occasional niggle in my brain that says WAIT you haven't really edited that last book you wrote .... but then i think and think and think about this book idea .... i kind of told mr.e.beck.artist about it ... and he was VERY encouraging .... he didn't even know he was being encouraging ... he thought he was speaking in the abstract and not directly to this new thing in my brain .... and was telling me what he thought was best about my various writings .... so .... that's it ... still haven't painted yet ... leaving the art blog blank unless i fill it up with the other stuff rattling around in my wee brain ....

how 'bout you? what's going on in your head?