The Art Around Us – “Contrasts”

Hello!  Let’s talk about contrasts.  For example, the word “blizzard” and “bright sunshine” for starters.

Here we are in Connecticut the weekend of February 9, 2013; the day after the “Blizzard.”  Notice the beautiful shapes and layering that is formed when the wind blows 40 inches of snow into 5 foot + snow drifts.  (It went the extra mile to cover my boilers exhaust vent by morning)

No worries because I have a secret weapon.  It is called teenage boys!

No snow blower here!  I work at a Center for a Sustainable Future and it is green energy all the way at my house.   Someone asked me,”What do they run on?”  I replied, “Biodegradable fuel sources, Solar irradiation and mom’s cooking.”

Just for the record, the shirtless shoveling was not my idea.  What goes through teenage boys’ minds I’ll never know.

Now for the contrast…..

…..TEXAS!

Exactly one week later… bright sunshine and shorts.  Temperatures were in the 80’s.  Repeat…temperatures were in the 80’s.  Notice there isn’t any Snow.

Cactus and not snow.   (BTW, I only claim 3 of those kids.)  Did I mention that there isn’t one lick of snow on the ground?

I kept saying to myself, “I’d love to pull out my easel and paint this.”

And this….I’d love to paint this at different times of the day.  Like Monet did on his Cathedral series.

At this point it was like pulling teeth to have them pose for another picture.

Yet, I was able to sneak away to the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas in Austin.  Can you tell I don’t blend in with the Texas crowd.   We East Coast folks tend to wear more black.

In a town of Texas Oil Barons green energy does exist! This is  a LEED Certified Building on the campus of UT Austin.  My brother’s new Sociology offices are located here.

That’s all folks for this episode of “Contrasts.”  Thank you for stopping by to read about it.