At lecture's end, Brier mentioned various museums and institutions. That Oriental museum at the Institute in Chicago came up, as well as one in Boston, and of course the Brooklyn museum, which I haven't seen. And, yes, the Met museum, which I have...

...oh, someday, maybe I will see the things there in Egypt, too.

And of course, I now want to see the Cleopatra movie with Elizabeth Taylor. Brier says it's quite historically accurate. I think it should be in DVD format...

...If the house weren't so wickedly hot right now (and the outdoors making it so), I'd rush right out to Blockbuster and see about that movie...

Maybe in an hour or so...

Meanwhile, I did send for 13 8x10s of the best trip photo shots. Darn near broke the wee bank for it. (The little prints are cheap, but not so satisfying. I want DETAIL!) (Our funds are, as you might imagine, considerably less plush these days. But it was so worth it.)

And now we must try to live within our means.

While on that attempt to find the Cleopatra movie (Blockbuster only had VHS), I came across a Johnny Depp movie I'd never heard of ...the Libertine.

We watched it tonight, and the bleepin' thing's got my mind so roused, I can't let loose of it. Depp really stretched himself to play the Earl of Rochester... a man so jaded, so despairing of life he does outrageous things just to try and feel anything.

I hated him! And yet, his struggles at the end when he had syphilis and alcoholism and when he did find a sort of redemption in love for a theater actress and then later to speak up for the monarchy.

Still, I hated him! And yet, a movie that can arouse my mind so deeply, that I cannot lie in bed without thinking of it, something's got to be said for that.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

"Happy Fourth of July!"
10:45pm

Two years ago, I did not get so close to the BIG Lady Liberty in NYC:

as close as I got...

But this year I did get close to this model for her:

Liberty, 1884, bronzed terra cotta and tin
Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, born Colmar, France 1834, died Paris, France 1904
(Smithsonian American Art Museum)

Whether or not you are stateside, what ever you do on this day, I hope it is a happy one!

Wednesday, July 4, 2007 A

"View from Museum Porch - Line Drawing"
8:45am

This from a photo of a Smithsonian American Art Museum porch and the view beyond. I want to color it, but I'm scared I will mess it up. Of course, if that happens, I can fix it digitally. I did so with the colored pencil drawing of Julia at the Garden Café. I would not ever show the original. I'd begun with the idea it was going to be graphite pencil drawing only. Then I thought to add a black colored pencil to it. But I'd picked up a navy blue by mistake. That streak of color led me to do it in color. However, by that time, much too much gray graphite pencil was all over Julia's face. And I'd messed up her eyes with the Micron pen lines. The too much gray was easier to fix than the eyes were. Part of the problem in the original photo she was wearing glasses. I didn't want to include the glasses in my drawing, so I omitted them. However, those glasses distorted the way her eyes look, and they turned out all wall eyed and generally crooked.

Okay, I fixed it in the digital version. I could have a print made from it. But the original looks dreadful. And I don't want that to happen with this drawing.

(I suspect at some later date, when I get brave with oil paints, I will have another try at Julia in the Garden Café.) Meanwhile, I want to get porch view colored pencil drawing right!

Oh, it is all a struggle, but I suspect anything worthwhile is like that, scary and uncertain of outcome.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007 B

"View in Process"
8:25pm

I'd hoped to have this picture finished, but it's not going to happen tonight! But I want to record the progress I've made so far...

(Yes, I've opted not to do the colored pencil at this time, but to do digital coloring instead. Maybe for this picture, so linear, it works better. A 'painterly' approach wouldn't be as effective.)