Good to the last bite

This divine macaron was served to us at Ladurèe on the Champs-Élysées. Funny story about this dessert... We were having our lunch and the waiter had erroneously delivered my Caesar salad avec poulet, instead of sans poulet, as I had specified, so to make amends for the mix up he delivered to us this luscious Ispahan macaron (with a hint of rose water, lychee cream, and fresh raspberries).  Apology blissfully accepted.

Adoring the Magi

Bucket list update: We are back in Paris after a 24-hour whirlwind trip to Florence, where I finally viewed the very magnificent, insanely colorful and breathtakingly beautiful Adoration of the Magi fresco located in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, painted by Benozzo Gozzoli. Do you need a moment to parse that sentence? Phew, that's a lot of vowels and Zs. The Palazzo was closed the last time I was in Florence. Click on the link below to read a bit more about this sublime masterpiece, and the back story of my previous attempts to view it.

Procession of the Magi

Once more, with feeling!

After our May visit to Paris we decided that there's so much more to see and do there that we just had to go back one more time. After a quick connection in Iceland, on we go to Paris for eight days.

Color Inspiration—greens + irises

I really do see the world in colors. It's thrilling to me when I come across two seemingly disparate images within a few days' time—in this case, a photo of edible greens and a painting of a patch of irises in a garden—that both comprise a very similar color palette. In my next garden painting, I'll just have to use these sublime colors. 

Claude Monet's 'Irises'

To see more colors, click on the red "color inspiration" label below.

I have kissed the summer dawn

Sun Leaving III, 1971 - Jon Schueler (1916–1992) 

J'ai embrassé l'aube d'été. 

{ I have kissed the summer dawn. }

This luscious painting screams summer solstice to me. I can feel the heat radiating from those warm, yellow and gold ochre colors, with Turner-eque splashes of red. Mmm. Enjoy these long, languid, golden days of summer.

Rudy

Gone fifty years this July...

My father, when he was young,

rode upon the waves, 

and danced upon the sea.

 

Rudolph Carnevale 1932–1966

Art in the Barn, 2016

View to Hog Island  20 x 30"

Here is a sneak peek at the three oil paintings I have in the annual juried  Essex County Greenbelt's 'Art in the Barn' show, happening this weekend. I am honored to support our North Shore green space through this organization, and have been contributing my artwork to this show for the past 6 years. The ECG is "...the region’s most effective champion of land conservation, working to conserve the farmland, wildlife habitat and scenic landscapes of Essex County, " so any art that you buy supports the beautiful ECGA open spaces of the North Shore, where we can all walk and play in. 

The group show is three days only—Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 10–12. There will be loads of paintings, pottery, jewelry, and huge yard sculptures to peruse and purchase. And if that isn't all cool enough, there will be a wine and cheese reception Friday night with live music, beer and a taqueria truck. Hope you can make it!

Tous les Matins du Monde  5 x 7" 

Drifting Fog   6 x 9" 

A rapturous animated kaleidoscope

I was thrilled to see German filmmaker extraordinaire Lotte Reiniger on the Google home page this morning. Born with magical hands, Lotte was a self-taught artist skilled in the ancient folk art of shadow plays, and master of her craft—paper cut-out silhouettes. Not just flat cut-outs either. If a figure needed to make complex or even supple movements, Reiniger would make 25 or 50 separate silhouette pieces and join them together with lead wire hinges. Oh pioneer! She made dozens films using these intricate cutouts in an achingly long process of stop-action photography, but my most favorite film is her 1926 Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed, or The Adventures of Prince Achmed. 

This is the oldest surviving animated film!

Sometimes you can catch this film on Turner Classic Movies channel, or if you're a film geek like me, you can just buy the DVD. The magical film us made entirely of these complex paper cutouts with dramatically tinted backdrops behind the shadows. Click here to see how her work was made in the Art of Lotte Reiniger.

Some fairy tales are more magical than others, and this is one of them. I envy you if you have never seen this astoundingly beautiful film. Critic Wesley Morris called this film "a rapturous animated kaleidoscope." Watch a little sneak peek here, and prepare to be dazzled!

Midnight in Paris

It's midnight in Paris. This is the view from our petite  Parisian apartment balcony, which overlooks that Eiffel tower thingie.

Steps walked so far?... over 100,000
Miles walked? ... around 50
Blisters on each foot?...1
Photos taken?... over 3500
Museums visited?... approx 8
NIghttime hailstorms walked home in?... 1
Croissants, baguettes and crepes consumed?... not enough
Bottles of wine imbibed?... What happens in Paris, stays in Paris!!

Our balcony view in daylight

Outfoxed!

I have a few paintings in the upcoming Outfoxed show at the True North Gallery in Wenham, including this Keeping Guard painting below. Stop by for the artist's reception on Saturday April 30th from 3-6 pm, and if you can't make it then, the show runs until June 26th. The True North Gallery is a special place, filled with all sorts of enchanting artwork, jewelry and home decor. The gallery owner, Belinda, reports that a fox has been hanging around in the woods near the gallery for the past few days, so if you're lucky you may be charmed by a real fox too.

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These charming fox statues keep guard 

at the entrance to the old Clark estate, which is  

down the street from us on Bridge Street in Hamilton. 

Read more about my Keeping Guard painting by clicking here.

Foolery redux!

Foolery, sir, does walk about  the orb 

like the sun, it shines everywhere. 

~ William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night 

Enjoy this abbreviated collection of jesters, harlequins,
 jokers, and fools that I gathered a few years ago. 
 —DC 

Farnos the Red Nose, by Jacques Callot (c. 1592-1635)

Russian woodcut with watercolors

Print by Franz Isaac Brun (1555-1610)

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770), 

Punchinello with Dumpling

A fool facing left; bust-length figure, resting his chin on his right hand; 

wearing a chain with a large medallion; a fly on his fool's cap. 

The Fool By Heinrich Vogtherr, 1513-1568
  Print made by Hans Hanberg 1568

After Pieter Jansz Date 1638-1678

Print made by Franz Isaac Brun (1555-1610)

Farnos and Pigasya, the red-nosed drunks, by Jacques Callot (c. 1592-1635)

Russian woodcut with watercolors

Two Fools of Carnival, artist unknown

Print by Franz Isaac Brun (1555-1610)

BEE-licious!

This lemon honey bee cake was my sweet offering at our family Easter party. The cake recipe is Ina Garten's, or the Barefoot Contessa's,  Lemon pound cake recipe. I put my own little little twist on it by baking it in a honey beehive pan (doesn't everyone have one?), then adding a judicious drizzle of honey to the final top glaze. It was BEE-licious.

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Lemon thyme cake

Here is the same Lemon pound cake recipe, 

except I also added in some fresh lemon thyme, 

and garnished with candied lemon slices and lemon balm leaves.

The fox + the bumblebee

I made this little fox paintings today. She's quite obviously a drifter and a dreamer, just like me. I always take a big gulp before making a dark background on a painting, as I did for my pig portrait (see at end of this post), but I wanted the little bumblebee to show up well. I will tweak the background more in a day or so when he oils dry a bit. Here is the progression of the painting, from a rough sketch to a framed piece. 

detail

the painting in progress

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Miss Porchetta

Color Inspiration—Delacroix's Lion Hunt

March—in like a lion... 

This is a detail of Eugène Delacroix's, Lion Hunt. Just look at the sumptuous colors that he used in this painting, created in 1861. I am in awe of the colors and brushwork, and energy, not to mention the dramatic lion scene. The subject of felines in the wild was one that really interested Delacroix. I've seen this painting at the Art Institute of Chicago—it's quite spectacular.

To see more colors, click on the red "color inspiration" label below.