We were on one of our regular trips down the Dequindre Cut to the Detroit River the other day when we noticed three beautiful paintings installed on the cement bridge foundations that are usually just covered with graffiti. It was a new experiment by the Detroit Institute of Arts's Inside|Out program, which installs ornately-framed facsimiles of some of the DIA's masterpieces outdoors in various locations in the city and its suburbs. I wrote about what is still (in my opinion) the best-executed Inside|Out piece a year or so ago, but these are pretty cool in their location, and connect the pieces installed at Eastern Market with those installed at the riverfront. I run down the cut every day, and it's been a pleasure seeing all the people stopped and staring at the paintings.

[above, Sir William Bereton, artist unknown]


[Selene and Endymion, by Nicolas Poussin]


[Konigsee, by Willibald Wex]

Previous Inspiration
 

This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

Our friend Kathy Leisen is an artist and musician here in Detroit. I had seen various works in progress during visits to the house she shares with an old friend of mine, but after I saw a recent exhibition of her final work (particularly this painting, from this series) I got the idea to commission a painting of my daughter's all-time favorite mythological story: the birth of Pegasus. If you don't know it, Perseus travels to Medusa's lair to retrieve her head in order to save his mother from the clutches of the cruel king who wants to marry her. Using winged sandals provided by Hermes and a mirrored shield provided by Athena, he avoids being turned into a statue and manages to decapitate the gorgon. From the blood, Pegasus is born. I suppose I could also provide a more adorable version of the myth:

Anyway, I loved the whimsical animals in Kathy's earlier paintings, and suggested she paint a few animals that had been turned to stone returning to life (as some versions of the myth mercifully allow). I had no idea it would turn out this magical. Kathy (without prompting) painted some of our favorite "Detroit wildlife": pheasants, foxes, rabbits, stray cats. And a llama. It was great to have the artist in the room when I brought my daughter over to see it: the kid literally drew in a quick breath and her eyes grew huge. There was no critical pretension or politeness of friendship to muck up the moment. It was pure awe. She loves it. And so do I.

Kathy was worried there was too much blood. I was like, "Are you kidding? Have you heard this kid tell a story?"

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

We've been in Cincinnati for a few days, and on a really rainy day last week I took the kids to the Contemporary Arts Center downtown and went up to the Unmuseum on the sixth floor---these were the free art supplies that anyone visiting the museum can use. When I got there another dad was there with his two girls, both drawing away. If I lived in Cincinnati, the museum people would have to kick me out of this place every day.

Cincinnati is a cool and beautiful city. More on that later.

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

SOURCE: BibliOdyssey

Peacay of the always-great BibliOdyssey recently posted an amazing set of scanned mid-sixteenth-century engravings called "Architecture of Fantasy I" (I hope that means there will be a part II and III?) all done by Hans Vredeman de Vries. I particularly love the imaginative caryatids.

Okay, I admit I have added these to the ever growing PDF coloring book of weird old stuff I'm making for the kid. That's probably really annoying. Oh well.

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

For years I've been collecting old architectural drafting texts, and I just scanned a bunch of pictures from one published in 1972 full of all kinds of great images that would have been used in architectural presentations. There are about ten pages like this that are all of people in their groovy period dress, and I print them out on 8.5x11 paper and let the kid color them.

Yes, we have truly entered the age of coloring books around here.

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

Source: Chronicle Books

A lot of people ask me how I find any time during the day to get stuff done without turning on the television. Luckily the kid LOVES to draw independently so I spend about $6 a week on books of newsprint sketch paper (we buy one of those 18x24 pads at Utrechts after every trip to the art museum). This past week we visited the new exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art and we bought one of these Taro Gomi coloring/sketch books published by Chronicle Books in the gift shop and the kid really loves it. Gomi, of course, is the Japanese author/illustrator of Everybody Poops, and this book is full of hundreds of outline drawings not unlike those in My Friends or Bus Stops and his other books. I like them because while a little more formal than a blank page, they let the one holding the crayon use a lot more imagination than a traditional coloring book.

There are several other editions of these Gomi coloring/sketch books (I've ordered them all). One of them we keep in a bag that we bring to restaurants to keep her occupied while we try to prevent the other one from destroying the place.

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.