Monday, March 7

My favorite art moments

Kia ora (that's hello in Maori if you're interested!!!!).

This week at TFC it's all about art, problem being that I'm not really an art buff. It's weird because my brother is a professional artist and my husband and daughter are both majorly talented in drawing and photography, but for me it's always been about books. However, every now and then certain things capture my interest so I thought I'd share some of my favorite art moments.


The Green Violinist by Marc Chagall

I first saw this when the Dunedin Art Gallery presented a collection from the Guggenheim Gallery in New York and I'm not sure why I love it so much (apart from the obvious that he's green and has a violin and somehow that makes it cool) but it was definitely my favorite painting in the collection













The Banksy Rat in Liverpool

I always loved this piece of graffiti when I lived in Liverpool, but it wasn't until about a year later that I even discovered it was done by Banksy. There was a lot of talk of the council taking it down, but from what I can discover it's still there.







The Lourve

Like most backpackers, I was the biggest tight arse when I was traveling around Europe and preferred to spend most of my cash on beer and cupcakes (clinically proved to be very nutritious. Okay, so not really, but lots of fun).

Anyway, point is that it wasn't until I went into the Lourve that I really understood how amazing art galleries can be. In fact it was so wonderful that I had to go back the very next day and I still didn't even up getting to the end of it.










On Beauty and On Ugliness by Umberto Eco



My husband had been wanting these books for ages but me, being the art heathen that I am never paid any attention to him. However, we finally got them and now I love them to death. They are exploration of Beauty and Ugliness through history and art.










Birds by Nick Ashby


















Okay, so I'm biased, but I adore my brother's paintings. He did these ones not long after my dad died and it was in tribute to my dad's love of bird watching. I really like how intricate it is, while at the same time still looking simple.

So there you have. A few of my favorite art moments, what about everyone else? Do you have a favorite art moment that you'd like to share with me???

5 comments:

Book Sp(l)ot said...

I really love the bird painting...

It might not be exactly what you're asking, but I really enjoy photography (including the developing, etc) and things with Photoshop so I've often wondered what it would be like to create book covers ...

Society6 is where I've been finding a lot of interesting and enjoyable are lately.

Wendy Toliver said...

I have friends who are really into art. In fact, one of my friends built her house around the art she'd collected. As for me, my favorite art is a folk art painting I bought on eBay from the artist back when eBay was new. It's an angel with red hair and reddish eyes and she's beautiful. I also have a collection of wine glasses and I found my favorites at the Park City Art Festival a few years back, made by artists in the Portland area.

Love the bird art!

Amanda Ashby said...

Book Sp(I)ot - the birds are gorgeous aren't they! The best bit is that I own one of them and every time I look at it, it's different!

My husband has been teaching my 10 year old daughter to use Photoshop (she loves photography as well) and she is having a ball on it! Her favorite thing is remodelling Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon! Anyway, I'm going to check out Society6 now!!!

Wendy - that's so cool about your friend building a house around her art! I love the sound of your angel and of your wine glasses - are they made by glass blowers? We used to have some amazing ones but they got broken on one of our many moves. Boo.

Alyson Noel said...

Amanda- I love this post--your brother does awesome work and I really hope that mural lives on!!

Amanda Ashby said...

Alyson - thank you! For a non-arty person I was surprised that I managed to find so many moments. Perhaps there is hope for me yet!!!!!

And I do love my brother's art work - I'm so proud of how well his career is going!!!!