A fool-proof method for sculpting an elephant: first, get a huge block of marble; then you chip away everything that doesn't look like an elephant.

The creative person is both more primitive and more cultivated, more destructive, a lot madder and a lot saner, than the average person. ~Frank Barron

I have been thinking about the time I actually worked at a boni-fide art museum. The museum was on the campus of Amarillo College in Amarillo TX where I was going to school. I got a job there through the college, and worked there 2 years. In addition to a permanent exhibit, the shows in some galleries changed every 6 weeks. Some of the works were awesome like the ones by Julian Onderdonk (1882-1922) a Texas artist who painted the Texas bluebonnets. I was privileged to unpack these paintings, and get them ready to hang. I also saw works by Georgia O'Keefe, and Claude Monet and other impressionists. Some artists were highly unique, like Jack Boyton, and the Native American, Amado Peña. I even got to go into the vault where I was allowed to handle artifacts from ancient Egypt. Some the exhibits were down right weird or obscene, though. Patrons of the arts are usually wealthy and I saw some of the most prominent citizens of Amarillo hob-nobbing with beatnik types--whom the elite would ignore on the street--just because they create art. The art show openings were a big event. The gentile would mill about sipping wine, admiring the art, even the weird stuff-- except for an occasional Texas millionaire in slouchy clothes drinking a Coors. I often wondered what did really have to do with art? But the experience was one not too many artists get.

The painting is Island Morning; the lighthouse, Admiralty Head is on Whidbey Island WA. The picture I used for reference was one my dad took. The pictures I took were in the fog. Since it is no longer active, the trees have grown up so you can't see the water behind the light. I found a very old Coast Guard photo online of the light house when there were no trees to get an idea what the Sound looked like behind the building.

CWCW: I started cleaning the living room, kitchen floor and got out the Easter decorations, and got some paperwork filled out--I hate paperwork. I also exercised.