Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Fun Sketches, Drawing, and Some Tastiness

I did some sketches in the middle of my painting progress. I like to step away from the painting for a bit, so I would get excited again once I work on the painting again. Then I got a new inspiration for my next painting, which I just had to draw before it vanished from my brain:) Sometimes I would draw straight on canvas, and other times I would draw it on paper and transfer it. It all depends on how it feels right for my feeling to capture that moment.


Slow progress


Will transfer this soon




  
DH took me to the city last Saturday. We haven't taken advantage of our membership at the Met museum for a while. Whenever we were in the city, it was always in the area that was too far from the Met museum. We spent our time around European paintings and Robert Lehman Art Collection. There was a really interesting exhibition "Room with a View: The Open Window in the 19th Century", which featured thirty oils and thirty works on paper. We weren't allowed to snap pictures at special exhibition, so if you'd like to know more you can see more here and some of the artwork here
Seeing all of those paintings made me really happy;  I felt energized and motivated. Often times I wish I was exposed to all of those beautiful paintings when I was a kid:)

(all photos by David F. Luecke, © Alamanda Art. Original works © their respective creators. All rights reserved.)
 

Jean Baptiste Greuze's painting of Charles Claude de Flahaut de La Billarderie

Jacques-Louis David's painting of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier and his wife Marie-Anne-Pierrette Paulze

Francois Hubert Drouais: Portrait of a Young Woman as a Vestal Virgin

Michiel Sweerts: Man Holding a Jug

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres: Princesse de Broglie


Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
 I just can't stop staring at Ingres' painting...I was in awe! This painting looks as if it was just painted recently. It looks vibrant and striking.


Camille Corot: Diana and Actaeon

Johannes Vermeer: A Maid Asleep
ooooh Vermeer *dreamy expression*. Such a beauty

 Hans Memling: Annunciation

Antonio Canova: Cupid and Psyche

Raimundo de Madrazo y Garetta: Masquerades

Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Two Young Girls at the Piano

Sir Joshua Reynolds: Lady Smith and Her Children

Arthur Devis: Mr and Mrs. Richard Bull


And of course our short visit to the city would be incomplete without some tastiness. We stopped by at this place called Little Brown Chocolate Bakery & Coffee Shop. I didn't know about their other baked goods and coffee, but their brownies and toffee bar were quite tasty for my little snacks:) DH took me to Ottomanelli for steak burger for our dinner. Reasonable price and quite filling. I rarely cook meat at home, so we tend to pick food that I don't cook at home when we eat out.

Our last stop before heading home was La Tropezienne bakery. This bakery had no sign at all outside their shop, so we found it like five minutes before they were closed. Oh my, loads of tastiness - little frosted cakes, eclairs, cream cheese pastries, little fruit pies....oh yummy yum. Can you tell how much I love my sweet treats? I was so tempted to adopt all of those yumminess.

I seriously dream of having an art museum and patisserie/bakery as my neighbors. I can make my own coffee or tea, so I don't mind if they're farther, but patisserie and art museum? come here, let me hug you.






2 comments:

TJ Lubrano said...

Yaaay :D This post is filled with cool pictures!

Painting from the Past are amazing and the intensity of the paint and the amount of details are insane. I often wonder if painters from the past were really human hehe.

Your painting is looking wonderful, as always! I really love to see your sketch work as well. You also have the ability to capture a lot of details in your work :D

Man! Now I want some baked goodies! You know, I would love to have my own patisserie with a comfy lounge area where you can just sit, eat, drink, relax and paint/draw ^_^.

Have a lovely day!
Ciao Xoxo

Heidi Alamanda said...

Hi Tahira, I'm always amazed with those old masters paintings whenever I see it. The details, the luminosity, and the quality of their paintings, also their insane imagination to recreate a scenery.

Thanks for your sweet comment:)

hehe, I want baked goodies everyday. Living next to a patisserie that provides me free baked goodies will be awesome ^_^
xoxo