Monday, February 15, 2016

An Object of Beauty

First of all, I'm so jazzed we have a snow day today.  I am sitting at my table, staring out at a snowy back yard.  Cup of coffee near by. Roses from Husbandman stretching up out of their vase with confidence. Glorious start to a surprise gift Monday.

Last night I finished a book by Steve Martin.  It's called An Object of Beauty.  I read it for my book club.  I was not super crazy about the main character, but I liked the art prints included in the chapters and I liked learning about art collecting.  I also liked veering off from the book to read articles about Steve Martin.  Sidenote: Do you know that Steve Martin is 70 years old and has a little 3 year old daughter?  I think he would be a good dad. He can play songs for her on his banjo. Did you also know that he once sold a Hopper painting for 26 million dollars?  I'd like to do that.

A few years ago we watched a great documentary about the art fraud, Wolfgang Beltracchi.  Steve Martin once bought one of his forgeries, but he sold it at a loss before he knew it was a forgery.  One of our weekend goals was dashed when Husbandman and I went to see a documentary about Peggy Guggenheim and got stuck in IU traffic.  I think people were heading to the opera, but who knows?

The point is, I'm in an artistic frame of mind right now.  Before working on this blog entry this morning,  I learned that I can start my own collection of paintings at the Art Institute web page.  I love that. So, even though Steve's book wasn't a compelling read, he got me thinking I should be an art collector and now I am.  Thank you once again, Steve Martin.

2 comments:

mm said...

Yay for your snow day. I think that's the start of a poem. I adore this picture!!

Anonymous said...

Now that's one cool valentine.
jw

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