Las Vegas Part 3- Neon Boneyard

The best art field trip I've ever taken in Las Vegas was to the Neon Boneyard, near the old section of town (Freemont I think). Here is a link to their official website: http://www.neonmuseum.org/. They are a nonprofit that works to preserve and restore the old neon signs from Las Vegas landmarks. This place is a visual candy store of color and texture. It was very bright and sunny the day I went and I was using my iPhone to take pictures, which means I was shooting blind because I could not see the screen in the sunlight. I was amazed at the pictures I managed to get. Here are just a few of them. Enjoy!

My next post will be about the Bellagio gardens, and a wrap up of other things I saw in Las Vegas.

A week of art in Las Vegas-Part 1- The Cosmopolitan Hotel

I spent all of last week in Las Vegas accompanying my husband to his annual National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention. Left to my own devises while he worked a full schedule at the convention, I had brought my art journaling supplies with every intention of camping out in the room we had at the Cosmopolitan Hotel (since I don't drink or gamble, I figured my options were limited, especially since I have been to Las Vegas before and had seen most of the hotels and free attractions on the strip). Little did I know how this hotel with the great commercials caters to artists and people who love art. So I spent the week on a series of art field trips and reading art books that were scattered throughout our room. But I digress. Let's start with an overview of the hotel. The lobby is amazing, with huge video columns in the check in area that run different visuals from their commercials to fractal art, swirling fall leaves, bubbles, and pine trees with falling snow. Here is a short film from Youtube that features some of the hotel's interior spaces: (Some of those things have changed since they made the video- no giant high heel shoes or dog statues). I missed the artist in residence in P3 by a day) The parking lot features art on the walls by one of my favorite graffiti artists, Shepard Fairey.

This steampunk sculpture was on the second floor just outside the elevators from the West tower where our room was.

Did I mention the killer view of Las Vegas and the fountains at the Bellagio that we had from the balcony of our room:

Next post I will talk about some of the books in the room that I spent time reading, as well as my trip to the Neon Boneyard. In the meantime, enjoy this elevator stories commercial from the Cosmopolitan Hotel on Youtube.

The Dogs of Paris

I spent a long weekend in Paris, France. We stayed at a wonderful little hotel in St. Germaine called Hotel Verneuil. The goal my husband and I set for the trip was to go to the Musée D'Orsay and Louvre and spend some time wandering around St. Germaine and other parts of Paris that we hadn't gotten a chance to see on our last trip six years ago. We met with great success, and I will share some of the highlights of our trip on my blog this week.

Our flight arrived in Paris around 7:30 am and we arrived at our hotel around 9:00 am but our room wouldn't be available until later that afternoon. So with the recommendation of the concierge we headed down the street to a bakery cafe called Eric Kayser for croissants and hot beverages. Once set with baked goods beyond compare and a hot cup of tea for me, we sat at a table that had a view of the side street. I snapped this picture while seated in the bakery- this little dog waited so patiently for it's owner while she shopped at this beautiful cheese shop. (I have plans to do a watercolor sketch of this scene.) Paris is definitely a dog city, like New York. I saw many small white short haired dogs (don't know what breeds they were) and overall the dogs were extremely well behaved, keeping to themselves as they walked along, with and without leashes. Missing my own dog (Cailean is my 11 year old Scottish Terrier, who was checked into her favorite doggie spa, Smitty's Kennel of Middle Island, NY.) I continued to take notice of the dogs of Paris everywhere we went. They didn't allow photos inside the Musée d'Orsay, but they did in the Louvre, so I continued my dog watching on day three of my trip:

One more stop at Eric Kayser at the end of our stay, and this big fella was waiting for his mistress while she bought bread inside.

Countdown to Paris

Going on a long distance art field trip to the City of Lights- Paris, France. I hope to spend some quality time at the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay. I have packed my art supplies and journals, now I just have to pack my clothes!

Art Field Trip- NYC, January 2012

Went on a drive on Saturday with my husband to Long Island City to visit Five Points, which is a huge warehouse/building where graffiti artists from all over can apply to showcase their work. They have rules about taking photos here, so if you want to see more of the great work on display please visit their website: 5Ptz.com. I fell in love with this piece featuring an innocent eyed girl daydreaming:

After checking out both sides of the building we headed over PS1 which is an annex of the Museum of Modern Art. To be honest I was not thrilled with the experience. They had an exhibit of work commemorating 9/11 which was somber of course, but unusual in that the art was all done prior to September 11th. The other exhibits didn't do too much for me. I did enjoy a sound exhibit which was a room with speakers set up in the round playing some amazing chanting, as well as one of the stairwells which was painted in black silhouettes of trees on one floor and a series of event based scenes with a person involved in some sort of tragic attack which I thought was beautifully done. No photography allowed inside- so sorry no pictures to share.

Drove back on Sunday to New York City to bring my son back to college (he attends the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan). We spent the afternoon having lunch and shopping. Lunch was at a great place in Chelsea called the Grey Dog. Sandwich place with a great menu board of hand painted signs describing different sandwiches and entrees. Food was great- big hunky slices of fresh bread- I had a grilled cheese and tomato on rye. After lunch we took the subway down to Spring Street so I could check something off my bucket list- I've always wanted a pair of Dr. Marten's boots. We started at the 14th Street station where these great brass sculptures by Tom Otterness are all over the place:

We got off at the Canal Street Station (due to subway repairs being done over the weekend- limited service) where we found these beautiful blackbirds decorating the iron fencing forming the exit. The work is named "The Gathering" and it was done by Walter Martin and Paloma Munoz (for all kinds of great info on art in the NYC subways check out their website (this photo was taken by Conrad Trautmann)

After obtaining my new black buckle boots we went up Spring Street and stopped for a look at this amazing window for the Frye Boot store. The inside of the store was just as fascinating and worth the time to look around (and if you've the got the money to invest in some great boots and bags!):

Quebec trip.

Last weekend I was in Quebec Canada with friends and did some art journaling while I was there. I also convinced one of my friends to bring along the journal I made for her a while back and she worked in her journal. It was a lot of fun. Here is my page. I need to do more journaling (and more posting to my blog.) Goal for the weekend- work in journal and post another entry this weekend.

Art field trips...it's shaping up to be an interesting week

It's shaping up to be an interesting week. Let's start with Saturday, Jan. 30th. I had to go walking around a cemetery (work meeting)...took my camera and took some photos of these very cool headstones.
Today I went to the Materials Resource Center in Ronkonkoma with my friend Karen. It is a treasure trove of strange cool stuff that artists and crafters would love...and we had a great time checking it all out. The other picture is what I took home for a little over $7. Can't wait to use it!