Something Blue

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Last week I said I would try something in blue and here it is, as a work in progress. It's a blue house, 
based on a picture of an antique doll house I've kept in my collage notebook for years.








As I sit making all those little dots I think about what comes next. I have to put something in the windows.  One of my guilty pleasures is peeking into windows--Arthur thinks I'm going to get arrested but it's too tempting to see how strangers live.
So I should offer something in these windows for my fellow peekers. What to put in the windows of this house?  Maybe some of my own work, like a tiny version of the Bear and the Bison.
I thought about some of the gorgeous mosaics at the 81st street station of the C train, right by the Museum of Natural History. Sometimes I get out there even if it's not my destination, just to look.



ere's another whale. The Hall of Ocean Life is one of the most amazing spaces in the city--a full sized blue whale hanging from the ceiling.  That's the closest I'll ever get to a whale. 

and this beautiful elephant.  

Here again I have to acknowledge my ambivalence and live with it; I'm so glad to be able to look long and closely at the museum's mounted animals and I'm so sad that they didn't get to live out their lives. I think I'll save these for a post of their own and put my own work in the window.
Like my bear,


0r the Bison,


or maybe this guy.



There's a story about these pieces.  I've been applying to gallery shows, trying to present my work to the world.  I like to use Arches 24 by 18 inch watercolor block. The size is big enough that I can fit in a lot of detail but not too big for the drawing table, or to make framing prohibitively expensive. But since many galleries impose size limits I had to rethink things.  I took out my folder full of old etchings and drawings I couldn't find a use for but couldn't get rid of and played around with them. And voila! I was really happy with the result.  But I've used up all that nice starry sky etching and the rolling billowy sea so now I'm going back to school-back to my beloved Art Students League to make some more extra pieces.  

Back to my new drawing, House of Blue and the latest phase.


 

This house is in the Georgian style and somewhat simple and austere but when I do the interior I want to make it a Belle-Epoch extravaganza with patterns, wallpaper and rugs, all sorts of window dressing and valences, festoons, fringes--all the trimmings.
Any suggestions as to who should live there? 
 

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