Sunday, January 13, 2008

Amaryllis Update


Hey! Look here. The amaryllis is coming right along!

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Power of Art

I am so impressed by Simon Schama's 'Power of Art' series on PBS. We got to see the whole series on DVD at the local art museum. I was so taken with it that I finally bought the 3-DVD series of lectures. Amazon had it for a fairly
decent price. Each of the eight artists in the series has a major painting or style that rocked the art world: Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David (da-VEED), Turner, Van Gogh, Picasso, and Rothko. Schama's manerisms finally got to
me in the last couple of lectures. However, over all, his discussion of the artists, the paintings that were shown, and even the background music (especially) just blew me away.

I have recently read several fictional books on Caravaggio that I really enjoyed:
'Caravaggio: A Life' by Helen Langdon
'The Lost Pianting' by Jonathan Harr

I can't wait for you to see Schama's discussion of Bernini's sculpture of St. Teresa. I ran across that particular lecture on PBS one sleepless night around 3:00 am.

Friday, January 04, 2008

Amaryllis Update



A picture from yesterday. At this rate we may have a blossom by Easter.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

December Library Books & DVD's

'Last Night at the Lobster' Atewart O'nan December-07
'A Gentle Rain' Deborah Smith December-07
'Home to Holly Springs' Jan Karon December-07 Amherst County Public Library
'Murder Must Advertise' Dorothy L. Sayers December-07 So. Funny!
'The Hearts of Horses' Molly Gloss December-07 Amherst County Public Library
'Anthony and Cleopatra' Colleen McCullough December-07Political intrigue, debauchery,sex, war, betrayal etc. Something for everyone.
'Born Standing Up : A Comics Life' Steve Martin December-07
'The Transformation' Catherine Chidgey December-07Madison Heights Branch Library - Hair pieces. A little weird
'Lady Sophia's Lover' Lisa Kleypas December-07 '
'Sliver of Truth' Lisa Unger December-07Unpleasant. Heroine with too much Angst.
'The Book of Three' Lloyd Alexander December-07 YouthBook on of The Chronicles of Prydain
Calendar Girls Helen Mirren December-07 DVD Funny, Poignant
'Shadow Heart' Laura Kinsale December-07
'Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind' Ann B. Ross December-07 Amherst County Public Library
'Undead and Unreturnable' Mary Janice Davidson December-07
'Gods Behaving Badly' Marie Phillips December-07 Amherst County Public Library
'Here Be Dragons' Sharon Kay Penman December-07Good; Welsh, late 1100's to middle 1200's
'The New Year's Quilt' Jennifer Chiaverini December-07Mostly re-hashing of old stories. Makes you feel gypped.
'Educating Alice' Alice Steinbach December-07 Outreach