bricolagelife

museum days

i've been keeping up with my 2011 plan to visit a museum at least once a month. yesterday i returned to the chicago cultural center, which is free and has some stunning city views thru its enormous vaulted windows. since the art institute is open late on thursdays we strolled down the avenue and wandered around the galleries there into the evening hours. i'm so glad we did.

here is a bit of what i took in over the past few museum days:

repurposed sculpture by aristotle georgiades

sears at the center collage work by donald fels

wounded in action

and to draw a bright white line with light by uta barth

avant garde in everyday life

altered and adorned

american modern: abbott, evans, bourke-white

and a happy revisiting of project onward current works

have you had a museum day lately? where did you go and what did you see?

 

tree-hugging liberal pinko bleeding hearts

and other tiny blossoms we noticed on our walk in the park one early morning.

spring is...

stormy and sunny. brown and grey and blue and green. spring is dramatic.

see what i see :: what i did on my spring break

sewed curtains for m's room

pressed fresh picked leaves and flowers onto eggs and cooked them in onion skin and beet dye baths.

spied a rare bird in a neighborhood garden

ate a bowl of mashed potatoes while catching up with the sartorialist

picked up a few bits of red and green while out walking

spent some time among the pink blooms of a magnificent magnolia

visited henry darger's reconstructed room at the intuit center for outsider art

rediscovered a couple of pysanky eggs i made years ago. began a new one and cracked it in the process.

and much more... hope your week was as full!

 

 

see what i see :: best buds

all it took was that one unseasonably hot day on sunday, when we left our coats in the car and felt our shirts stick to us in the heat again. by the time we took our walk on monday afternoon buds were bravely opening up on trees and shrubs everywhere. their yellow, green and fuzzy white tender leaves were a welcome sight.

as we turned on the bridge to make our way home for dinner, a tiny lucky ladybug lighted on w's shoulder. hello there, long-awaited signs of spring!

 

 

see what i see :: potable skies

spring is like this in my city. cold and damp and grey and brown. but the stormy skies can be dramatic so i keep looking up. this one looked so much like foam rising in a glass of guiness that i found myself leaning out the porch window with a couple of cameras to capture the moment. 

because everything changes so quickly.

see what i see :: everyday geraniums

he sometimes refers to me as the geranium whisperer. quite by accident this humble plant became the only species i have ever successfully kept alive (and propagated) for any notable length of time. from the two i brought home from the nursery six years ago i have gained more than thirty. and tho i have given many away as gifts we still seem to have pots and pots of them greedily hogging up every sunny window sill in the apartment. there was a time when i began to resent their encroachment. now i think they are growing on me :)

happy weekend!

 

see what i see : beautiful decay

my son was born on a cold and gloomy february 13th, just six hours shy of valentines day. no matter how financially challenged we are when this date rolls around, my dear husband finds a way to procure a bunch of bright waxy tulips to mark the double celebration. since this happens every year i ought to be expecting it but he manages to surprise me again and again. this year's deep red flowers turned a translucent magenta before drying into crisp dark burgundy. i had to take a few pictures.

more fleurs - mort et vivant.

happy march 1st!

see what i see : more (and more) snow

snow days still give me a thrill much the way they did when i was a girl getting to stay home on a school day. the blizzard blew in as predicted yesterday and the winds forced the falling snow sideways for hours and shook the old brick three flat where we live. i spent the day cozy inside, working on my shops and roaming around with my camera snapping photos of the stormy views out my windows (and the snowy patterns on them).

earlier this week i tossed a load of veggies (sweet potato, red potato, acorn squash, carrots, parsnips, red pepper, onion, and garlic) with olive oil and black pepper in a roasting pan and popped them in the oven for almost an hour at 425 degrees. when they were cooked thru and slightly caramelized, i scooped them into a big stock pot with my homemade chicken stock and pureed everything with a splash of cream and a few hefty sprinkles of flaky sea salt. yum. we covered up with a wool blanket and finished this soup last night with a side of popcorn (and watched this). today looks like a good day to whip up a pot of chili con carne with fire roasted tomatoes. and an avocado citrus salad, just because i'm craving sunny flavors, too. and maybe a walk in the wonderland before the temps drop below 0.

hope you are all comfy and well fed, too :)

 

see what i see: art and life

i made a new years commitment with a friend that we would visit a museum at least once a month in 2011. january was successfully checked off our calendars yesterday. this was the first time i have walked thru the modern wing when the window shades were retracted. it was startling seeing the art relating to the city views outside (and sometimes the form and printed bag of a solitary viewer). i wish i could have captured it better. so while i am working on improving my camera skills might i recommend you see it for yourself and stroll thru the upstairs galleries on an overcast afternoon... you won't regret it.

more inspiration here. and here. and here.