Saturday, May 11, 2019

Reynolda (NC) & Chrysler (VA) Art Museums, Day 3/3

Saturday, May 11, 2019 - Wendy has a 3-day Clergy Conference (Thursday-Friday-Saturday), so I'm HITTING THE ROAD:

I hope to see 6 art museums, have lunch with my Best Man in Raleigh, North Carolina, and cover over 1700 miles - "Road Trip" indeed!

This is Day 3 - Today I logged 453 miles:

What could go wrong.

Because the Delaware Art Museum opens at 10 AM, I left the Super 8 at 8:30. At 9:30 I crossed the bridge over Back Creek:

Pretty Cool Bridge!

The Delaware Art Museum is a very nice place. I had been here once before - March 12, 2015 blog - and it is nice to be back:



Howard Pyle - "Another rush of breakers pitched the boat, corklike into the air", 1900 oil


Thomas Doughty - "Landscape", 1829 oil


I was a little behind-time, so when I reached the Newark Museum, and it was closed-for-a-private-function, I was a little relived:

That gave me plenty of time to stand in stop-and-go traffic on the George Washington Bridge:


I reached the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, New York at 2:30:

Wendy and I had visited here once before - May 2, 2014 blog.

I did a little research ahead of time, and discovered they have an Exhibition - The Color of the Moon: Lunar Painting in American Art - and it is CLOSING TOMORROW!

The next stop for the exhibition the James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania in the Summer of 2019.

There is a wonderful collection of "moon based" paintings, including:

Thomas Cole - "Landscape (Moonlight)", ca. 1833-34 oil (The New-York Historical Society):


Jasper Francis Cropsey - "Mediterranean Sea Coast" 1855 oil (Newington-Cropsey Foundation):


Frederic Edwin Church - "Moonrise", 1865 oil (Olana State Historic Site):


Winslow Homer - "Moonlight", 1874 watercolor (The Arkell Museum at Canajoharie):


And to bring this into the 20th Century: Jamie Wyeth - "Apollo XI - To The Moon, July 16, 1969", 1969 watercolor (Adelson Galleries)


I then drove 4 hours to the City Winery in Boston, where I had a cheeseburger and heard Graham Parker (the cheeseburger was good, Graham Parker not so much). Home and in bed a little after 11 PM - 1,760.5 miles!! Thank you God for this beautiful art and these Wonderful Adventures!

More albums from my gold nano:

The Chainsmokers - Bouquet, 2015 EP


The National - Boxer, 2007


Marc Cohn - Burning the Daze, 1998


various artists - Casey Kasem - 1960's The Folk Years


various artists - Casey Kasem - The 70's Singer/Songwriters


The Persuasions - Chirpin', 1977


Christian Scott - Christian aTunde Adjuah, 2012 (2 cds)


cool Hendrix - mostly live stuff from original Hendrix in the West, 1972 live


various artists - Countdown To The New Year, 2010


Linda Ronstadt - Cry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind, 1989


Ed Sheeran - Divide, 2017


Friday, May 10, 2019

Reynolda (NC) & Chrysler (VA) Art Museums, Day 2/3

Friday, May 10, 2019 - Wendy has a 3-day Clergy Conference (Thursday-Friday-Saturday), so I'm HITTING THE ROAD:

I hope to see 6 art museums, have lunch with my Best Man in Raleigh, North Carolina, and cover over 1700 miles - "Road Trip" indeed!

This is Day 2 - Today I logged 583 miles:

Left Raleigh at 7 AM, and checked into the Super 8 in Harrington, Delaware 14 hours later.

It was 2 hours 15 minutes to get down to Reynolda House Museum of American Art. The last time I was here was March 2015 - they have a superb Art Collection, but unfortunately a "No Photos" policy.


This time they also had an Exhibition:


I do like Edward Hopper, and there are 2 pieces. "The Camel's Hump", 1931 oil:

and "House at Eastham", 1932 watercolor:


For the "Pollock" part, they had a piece that I was not aware of: "No. 20, 1948", 1948 oil:

I really like Jackson Pollock's drip paintings!

The highlights of the House Collection (on-line images) are:

Albert Bierstadt - "Sierra Nevada", 1871-1873:


Frederic Edwin Church - "The Andes of Ecuador", 1855


(They did have a Nice Pool):


An hour 45 minutes down to Donn in Raleigh, and a nice lunch out. It was good to see him, now that he has forsaken New England for the Deep South!

Although it was supposed to take 3 hours to get over to Norfolk, Virginia, it was a Friday afternoon in May. So it wound up taking 3 hours 30 minutes, and I reached the Chrysler Museum of Art at 4:40 - 20 minutes is plenty of time!


In addition to their wonderful collection (this is my 3rd visit), they were hosting an Exhibition: "Watercolor: An American Medium". Highlights included:

Thomas Moran - "Shoshone Falls, Snake River, Idaho", ca. 1875 watercolor


In 1876 Boston's Louis Prang and Company published the long-titled "The Yellowstone National Park and The Mountain Regions of Portions of Idaho, Nevada, Colorado and Utah", which included chromolithographs of 15 of Thomas Moran's watercolors. This watercolor was the basis for Plate 13 ("Great Falls of Snake River, Idaho"):

It was wonderful to see the original watercolor!

Andrew Wyeth - "Corn and Grist" 1976 watercolor (private collection)


Other highlights in their Permanent Collection:

William Trost Richards - "Forest Scene", 1875 oil


Thomas Moran - "Salvator Rosa Sketching the Banditti", 1860 oil


William Stanley Haseltine - "View of Taormina", 1871 oil


Claude Monet - "View of Vernon", 1886 oil


I got kicked out at 5 PM. Headed through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel:



With dinner on the road, it took me 4 hours to get up to the Super 8 in Harrington, Delaware:


Thank you God for this beautiful art and these Wonderful Adventures!

I'm listening to Ellie Dixon's cds! Driving Music today was:

Jessica Simpson - do you know, 2008


Taylor Swift - Reputation, 2017


Cam - Untamed, 2015


Kelsea Ballerini - Unapologetically, 2017


The Civil Wars - The Civil Wars, 2013


Maren Morris - Hero, 2016


Matt Nathanson - Show Me Your Fangs, 2015


Tumbledown House - Tumbledown House, 2009


Little Big Town - The Breaker, 2017


Carly Pearce - Every Little Thing, 2017 (1st album)


Danielle Bradbery - Danielle Bradbery - 1st album, 2013 (1st album)


and then albums from my gold nano:

Mott the Hoople - All The Young Dudes, 1972


I don't know why it took me 47 years to get the real lyrics to "All The Young Dudes":

"Why do I need TV when I've got T. Rex?"

That is basically my life.

The Best of Jethro Tull (2 cds), 1993


John Gorka - Between Five and Seven, 1996