Dorothy and her friend Rachel had a little art show the evening in the first Rat Gallery exhibit. Getting down to the gallery on O Street NW was not enjoyable, but we got there eventually and found a parking space without any trouble. The even was in full swing by the time we got there and it got even busier while we were there. I’d say for a first opening it was a success. I chatted briefly with Rachel’s parents, who had come down from New Jersey for the show. I also enjoyed talking with Katharine, our host and Dorothy’s friend from yoga teacher training. All in all, it was a very enjoyable evening.
Tagged With: Art
Rat Gallery DC #2
Back on September 30, Rat Gallery DC had their inaugural event. Tonight was their second and the turnout was very encouraging. For the first event, some people came, I’m sure, out of devotion to Dorothy, Rachel, and Katharine, the artists but also the organizers of the event. Tonight’s show featured three other artists and was even better attended than the first. While taste in art is about as varied among people as is taste in food, one can appreciate even what one might not pick to fit their home decor. So, while I wasn’t tempted to buy anything this time, I did enjoy the art and the people. Naturally I took photos. I could only wish it were a little easier to get to North Capital and O Street, Northwest. But it was definitely worth the effort. The next show, I believe, is in early February.
Warrenton, Virginia
We visited a friend in Warrenton, Virginia today, spending most of the afternoon and evening with a larger group of good friends. We walked through downtown Warrenton, visiting a bunch of shops and basically enjoying being together. It was a cool, spring day and Warrenton seems like a nice town. It’s a bit of a hike from Rockville but once we were there we were glad to have gone.
After our walk through town we had a wonderful dinner and celebrated a birthday. After that we played a game called Codenames. Cathy and I aren’t particularly fond of games but we had a good time. I think we would have enjoyed simply talking with our friends more, but we understand that some people really like games of this sort.
We had been invited to spend the night there but wanted to be home Sunday morning so we left about 10:30 and had no trouble getting home in about an hour.
Rat Gallery DC #3
It was time for another Rat Gallery opening and Cathy and I were there. I don’t know that we can commit to being at every one but we’ve managed so far. This one was very well attended and was even listed on WTOP’s “What to do in DC” listing on their Instagram story. Pretty impressive. Art is quite a varied thing and something that one person loves, another person may hate. Sometimes art is meant to express feelings or emotions, other times it tries to tell a story. It can simply be decorative, of course, or it can consider shapes, colors, and various other aspects of the physical world. It’s quite common for any particular work of art to appeal to a limited audience.
I thought these porcelain cups were lovely and I especially liked the one in the upper right of this photo, with the salmon pink petals. There were a few others that I liked the colors of, including the one immediately below that with the darker interior. They were all really nice and they spoke to me. The other artists had their followers, as well and I think everyone had a lovely evening. It was also nice that it started before it got dark, so there was some natural light for a while.
Rat Gallery DC #4
This evening was the fourth Rat Gallery show at 52 O Street NW in Washington, D.C. I was impressed with quite a few of the pieces on display this evening and I think it was a successful event. I’ve picked a shot showing oil paintings by Ina Quadrio Curzio, an Italian-British artist who recently graduated from Georgetown University with a double major in Biology and Studio Art. From her artists statement, her subject matter “is centered around youthful environments, activities, and crowds. In my exploration, the figures undergo a purposeful deconstruction, their form intricately woven into a patchwork of brushstrokes that dissolve the boundaries between self and surroundings. This approach serves to dismantle youth culture into its chaotic essence of uncertainty and vitality. It invites viewers to contemplate the complexities of early adulthood and explore how our surroundings shape our individuality.”
I’ve also included a shot of three of the five Rat Gallery team. If you have any questions about Rat Gallery or would like your art to be considered for a future show, you should go to the Rat Gallery DC web site and contact the team.
Rat Gallery DC #6
Sadly, Cathy and I missed the fifth Rat Gallery because we were in Oregon when it happened. But we were back on the scene this time for what we expect to be the final Rat Gallery at the 52 O Street location. Katharine is moving her studio so we don’t know where or when the next show will be, but good things are bound to happen, so keep an eye out on the Rat Gallery Web site. If you don’t already know, Rat Gallery is sponsored in large part by The Hartley Residence and you’re going to want to follow them, as well, because they have more going on all the time.
Van Gogh Puzzle
We finished another difficult puzzle recently. This is (as you almost certainly know) Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Similar to the puzzle of Monet’s Water Lilies, there are a lot of shades of blue in this. Also, the swirls make it hard to know which way is up for many pieces. Eventually, however, we got it done. We’ve been given a bunch of puzzles by a friend and we’ll work on a few of those next. They are mostly 500 pieces, instead of our standard 1,000 piece puzzles, which makes them considerably easier (but still a lot of fun).
Sistine Chapel Puzzle
We did another hard puzzle, this time of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. The repeating patterns were both a blessing and curse for this one. My plan of attack was to pick one repeated feature and find all the pieces that included part of that feature. Then I worked on finding which version of that feature they all went to. One issue was that there isn’t really a ‘right way up’ for this puzzle. When you’re in the chapel, you’d be looking straight up to see this. I still have vivid memories of being there in 1971, although I think The Last Judgment on the west end of the chapel, behind the alter, is even more impressive.
Mushroom Puzzle
This mushroom puzzle was considerably easier than those we’ve done lately. There were a few tough bits, but the colors being so varied helped us to know which pieces went in which areas. Personally this is the sort of puzzle I like best. It’s somewhat abstract but it still has “real” things in it. I also like the bright colors. That’s not to say I don’t also like the challenge of some of the others we’ve done, because I definitely do like them, as well. Our next puzzle, for instance, is going to be a considerable challenge. But you’ll have to wait until we finish it to see if you agree.
Small Art Show in Hanover
We drove up to Hanover, Pennsylvania this afternoon for a small art opening at Little Fox. The location, 125 Broadway, Hanover, Pennsylvania, shows up for me on Google maps as being called The Reader’s Cafe, which is closed. Little Fox is a combination cafe and book shop, with new books downstairs and used books along the wall of the loft.
On the end wall, where the stairs to the loft run, Dorothy had some artwork hanging. She also had a few things on a table. There was reasonable traffic through the shop during the evening and I believe Dorothy sold a few pieces. This is one that I particularly liked, of a stylized pomegranate. We were happy to also have our good friends Maureen and Bob come up and then we all went down the block to Famous Hot Weiner for dinner. I can’t say the hotdog was anything special, although I did enjoy the old-timey atmosphere.
SPIRIT Club Mural
Through a friend of ours who works there, Dorothy got a commission to paint a mural at SPIRIT Club in Kensington. It turned out to be a bigger job than she anticipated, needing two and sometimes three coats of paint, but we all think it turned out quite nicely. This was one of two walls that were painted, along with three quotes, chosen by the manager of the club. Cathy and I enjoyed helping out a bit and experiencing a little of the SPIRIT Club experience. Their mission is “To offer a universal design for fitness that empowers people of all abilities to exercise successfully in a socially integrated setting.”
Rembrandt Puzzle
We just finished this puzzle, which is of Rembrandt’s Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee. The original oil-on-canvas painting dates from 1633. It was purchased by art historian Bernard Berenson and was displayed at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston until its theft in 1990; its whereabouts remain unknown.
Cathy, Dorothy, and I really love that gallery and it’s very sad to me that this isn’t there. 1990 isn’t that long ago but I still wonder how something so recognizable can remain secretly hidden. My guess is that one day it will turn up, but I think it’s unlikely I’ll ever get to see the real thing. The museum has left the blank space on the wall where it used to hang.
This was quite a difficult puzzle. The ship itself wasn’t too bad, but the sky and sea are all very much the same color, so it took us a good while to complete.
Mushroom Puzzle
We finished this mushroom puzzle yesterday. The text at the bottom, giving the mushroom names, was the easiest part of the puzzle. After that we were able to put together a lot of the mushrooms but without knowing where in the grand scheme of things they went. That’s part of the challenge of doing puzzles without the lid, of course. Otherwise it’s too easy. I’d rank this about average in difficulty and we enjoyed it. We’re also partial to mushrooms in food, so it was interesting to see all the varieties (not that these are all necessarily edible, of course).
Another Mural by Dorothy
Last year Dorothy was commissioned to paint a series of murals in the children’s Sunday School part of Fourth Presbyterian Church. Those were very well received and recently she was asked to come back and paint two more in the two nursery rooms. The designs she came up with and which were approved both feature sun or stars and moon images and this one has the stars represented by a quilt-like pattern. This one is not quite finished, but you get the idea. The other one is a day and night design, which I also like. In addition there were a few quotes painted on other walls.
Mendenhall Glacier Puzzle
The water in the foreground, the mountain in the background, and the glacier itself were the three easiest parts of this puzzle. The rest, especially the trees on the two sites, was pretty difficult. We did get through it, although, as you can see, there’s a piece missing, which is always sad. It’s especially sad in this case because it’s a photo I took back in August 2004. The glacier has receded some since then but it had also receded then from where it was when we lived there in the 1980s. Of course, that’s not the catastrophe that some make it out to be. Glaciers come and go and then come again. It may not be in our lifetime, but it will be back.
Dost Mahommed Puzzle
We finished this puzzle yesterday. It was relatively easy, with the hardest parts being the white edges on the right and left and the sky, but we enjoyed it, anyway. Cathy’s father had a copy of this print framed and hanging in their living room at one point, so it’s a familiar image. We thought we had lost a piece but then Cathy found it on the floor. Even with the border on the table, pieces somethings get knocked off and somehow they are hard to find on the carpet. Thankfully we found it, though.
Bird Puzzle
We finished this bird puzzle yesterday. Parts of it were easy, but there were some challenging aspects, as well. We got a number of birds mostly done but then had no idea where they went in the overall design. The birds are numbered, though, and once I figured out that they were arranged in something like numerical order, I was able to start getting birds situated. That only got us so far, of course, but it was big help.
I sort of have the process for taking pictures of puzzles down. We do them on a board in our family room. The board is a 4×4 foot piece of plywood with a small strip of molding along all four edges, which helps prevent pieces from falling off (although they do sometimes stick to the bottom of an arm or are otherwise lifted off). In the afternoon, before or after the sun is shining directly on the puzzle, is the best time to take pictures. The overhead lights have to be off so I don’t get glare from them. Then I use a flash, of course, bounced off the far wall.
George Washington Puzzle
We finished this puzzle today. It’s the familiar painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware River, which happened during the American Revolutionary War on the night of December 25–26, 1776. The 1851 painting was done by German-born, American painter, Emanuel Leutze (May 24, 1816 – July 18, 1868). It was a fairly challenging painting, particularly the sky but also some of the areas of water.




















