As humans we aren’t always in the mood for beauty, and that’s totally a valid state of mind. It doesn’t mean beauty is no more. I think Beauty meets us in our deepest moments… it folds us entirely, including our pain and want, in its gentle arms and rocks us back and forth as a loving mother might.

Special price opportunities, a bit about Sir William Nicholson, and digital marketing- all strangely in one blog post!

So... I look up more about him, and sure enough, he was an art forger before he hosted his TV how-to show. I should have known. I have a "thing" for British art forgers, artists, and gardeners I guess. The accent, the paints, copying old masters, the flowers... ah... all so peaceful. And there's always Bob Ross:)

Free ebook downloads at the Getty Museum website. 

In addition to painting, I love reading and growing plants.  I used to read a lot when I was young.  My backup career ideas as a teen were Library Science and English Literature.  Like some of you may have, I quit reading fiction when I got BUSY.  A few years ago, my mom gave me a hardcover copy of “I Capture the Castle” by Dodie Smith (who also wrote the original 101 Dalmatians story and hit plays for the London stage), and I got re-hooked!

 I almost have the feeling that he would set about to paint something and honestly not know how he was going to pull it off. I don’t think he had any doubt in his ability to pull it off, it’s more that he was unafraid of different techniques and even rather unconventional points of view- odd angles, even including rather odd items or compositional elements. His unique perspective makes his work feel fresh to me.

Inside three days, I whisked through hundreds of booths of amazing art, saw some favorite pieces in the Cleveland Museum of Art, and visited the Brandywine River Museum, as well as an a tour of Andrew Wyeth’s studio which he used until his death in 2009, if I understood correctly. The Brandywine River setting alone was breathtaking…some pastorals will come out of what I saw there.

The title quote is in reference to the oil painting, High Cliff, Coast of Maine,by Winslow Homer.  Apparently, he had showed this painting a lot for 9 years before it found a buyer.  It contributed to his frequent questioning of himself in his mid-life sales slump.  In his frustration he asked his gallery in Chicago, "Why do you not sell that "High Cliff" picture?  I cannot do better than that.  Why should I paint?"

My second day in Florence, I was stumbling about my new surroundings with jet lag in my head and surprisingly, I saw a familiar face.