Squidoo Up-Date

Good news on the squid-front: my page Easy Green Yard won a coveted Purple Star!

(That's kinda like getting the ol' kindergarten gold-star-on-your-chart... except, obviously, purple. A very welcome compliment.)

And talking of squidly subjects, I just found this good Squid page on sketchbooks and blogging: Sketchblogs.

Those of you who know me know that I hardly go anywhere without a sketchbook.  (I only buy purses it can fit into - take that! Fashion.)  Anyway, having a handy place to record not just sketches, but notes, research, measurements, or good quotes found while browsing in bookstores... What fun is it to be creative without a friendly sketchbook?

My sketch from the Stickley exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art  POST

Give a sketchbook a try.

As you can see above, the standard of drawing doesn't have to be very high for a sketch to remind you of what you saw (or thought of) and to record the important things.  Pretty sketches are just a nice by-product.

Museum Field Trip

The Dallas Museum of Art had a free preview today of its Stickley furniture exhibit.  Beautiful furniture in the Craftsman style - the American response to England's William Morris and his followers.

Stickley's furniture has a solid, honest-wood feel to it, expressing the nature of the oak planks or crafted metal used to build it, and the designs - like those of closely related Mission style - suggest the medieval but also Art Nouveau.  Sometimes, for my taste, it can all get a little too plank-ish and heavy, especially a room full of the style.  I loved the sideboards and serving tables, but my favorite piece was a stair's newel post with a built in electric light.  Here's the sketch:

Next door was an interesting display of drawings showing Frank Lloyd Wright architectural designs of about the same period.

Pretty completely unrelated, but equally interesting, is an exhibit of African masks.  Some wonderful things.  My visit was enriched by happening across a performance in the north hall - African dancers wearing masks and terrific "clackers" - 6" high ankle bracelets made of polished wood... that looked like clustered mussel shells made out of polished mahogany and they made a lovely wooden, musical, percussive sound.

On the way out of the building I waved to the FLW windows at far south end of the museum, which now light the restaurant.