Wednesday I forgot to post.  My friend Rebecca, who lives in Dallas texted to remind me I hadn't posted.  I'm glad for friends who not only read what I write, but keep me on track.  My brother Bill and wife Janet had come that morning to celebrate "Being Here" with me, and take me to the Mellon exhibit.  Janet is a fabulous artist, and wanted to see the paintings that aren't normally on display.

Degas, Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir, Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec and dozens of others that have been held in a private collection and rarely seen.  It took me ten minutes to look at them.  It took Janet and my cousin Ann an hour.  I have no "art-genes."  I actually can identify the artist by looking at the painting because I've been to Paris a number of times where some of the more famous artists have their works displayed.  I've learned their "style."

But the only thing I noticed as unusual about this exhibit (And I ask myself why I am sharing this because it shows the depths of my art-ignorance) was that they were so poorly framed.  The frames were so embellished that they detracted from the work. The first thing you noticed was the gaudy frame, not the art.

My art teacher in high school, Mrs. Janz, taught us perspective.  She wanted us to know where the person who was painting the picture was standing.  To emphasize this she would have us draw a three-dimensional picture of a chair looking up at it, down, and from either side coupled with up or down.  I drew zillions of chairs--which helped me when I taught Calculus.  I could draw freehand three dimensional diagrams on the board. 

That is my extent of art knowledge.  Along with color.  However, I do know what I'm looking at and who painted it.  So I guess I've learned something.  I can look at it.  Janet, and my sister Lisa can actually "do" it.  They both can take a blank piece of canvas and transform it.  It has to be a God-given talent.