Helen

Lydia Hernandez was my oil painting teacher when I was young.  She had a class of about 12-15 students crammed into a small space in the Park Lane strip shopping center.  I painted a lot of canvases during the year or two I took weekly lessons from her in the late evenings along with my sister Jo Ann.  In fact I religiously saved and stored them over many years and now have them hanging in my home.  I also took several art and design classes during junior high, senior high and even college.  In fact I majored in Art, well actually I graduated with a BA in Art History.  Part of the required course work was several studio classes. 

And one of my favorite outings is visiting art museums and I have been to quite a few so far across the US and several abroad.  I have my favorites but I want to mention one in particular, The Chicago Art Institute.  I visited there many years ago and picked up a brochure at the information desk that was entitled, “Not To Be Missed”.  It had nine pieces that were their most spectacular treasures. One of those art pieces is ‘A Sunday on Le Grande Jatte’ by Georges Seurat which covers the entire wall of a room.  I loved visiting that day because one can never see everything in a single visit and it was great to know I wouldn’t miss something really important.  In fact, this message has been something I have tried to live by because life is much the same.  Assessing what the options are in any realm and making sure that something really important is not missed at the mercy of something of less value. 

Another museum experience that had a huge impact on me was the Van Gogh exhibit at the Los Angeles County Art Museum.  I drove down to California with my sister Jo Ann and her family.  Van Gogh is such a favorite because his work is entrancing.  His swirling style draws the viewer into the piece in an almost mesmerizing way.  But the light, oh the light, it is exquisite.  And his works appear to still have wet paint even though they are over 100 years old.  It is amazing. 

Besides ‘doing’ art and ‘viewing’ art, I enjoy arranging things.  I have over a hundred oriental vases with 3 prized collections, Celadon, Chinese Blue and White (my image header), and Kutani porcelain and the balance is mostly Japanese ceramic.  But arranging could be any number of things, fabrics for a quilt, food on a platter, collectibles in a room, flowers in a vase….