Lisa McShane Art

I'd seen a few of Remington's paintings over the years that pretty much knocked my socks off. Yet I'm surprised with each one I see because I think of him - still - as an illustrator. The last few paintings I saw changed that. I now see him in a whole new light. Night. Two weeks ago I visited the Gilcrease museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Great paintings there by artists I was unfamiliar with, like William Jacob Hays and his painting Herd of Buffalo on the Bed of the River Missouri . Unfortunately they don't allow photographs and they sell very few reproductions in their gift shop. This one isn't on their website, nor is their fine Remington nocturne online. I've got nothing to show you. But there was a Remington Nocturne and it was amazing. Then the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth which, happily, allows visitors to take photographs of their permanent collection. After all, why the heck wouldn't a museum allow that? So sensible. Here's their Remington wit...

My daughter and husband at MOMA A few days ago a journalist and professor listed her 5 favorite books of 2009 on Facebook. Fantastic idea. I jotted them down for my reading list and immediately began thinking about my 5 favorite paintings of 2009. This was a good year for art for me. I returned to painting full time, established and kept a fairly disciplined studio habit, and painted a number of paintings. I put together my website, this blog, an email and mail list, had a show and sold paintings. All good. I visited museums and saw great art. One of my painting professors (yes, the one who told me I had to paint 100 paintings) told me once that you have to see great art to make great art. She regularly flew to DC just to go to museums. That's inspiring! In February I went to New York and visited the Met (3 times!), the Cloisters, MOMA, the Guggenheim and the Brooklyn Museum of Art. In June I visited my daughter near DC and went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Barnes Founda...

Edouard Vuillard. Child Wearing a Red Scarf. 1891. Before my son was born I hung a copy of this painting in a frame from Target in his room where I could see it. When we spotted the original the other day at the National Gallery of Art in the Small French Paintings exhibit, I made a beeline for it. I was surprised during this trip by the number of paintings I saw that had hung in our home for a time. Well, copies of them I mean. They've long since been replaced by original art but still, great memories. We went to the National Gallery of Art twice on this trip simply because we could. Free museum, free time, it was all good. And bonus! We found good lunch places nearby. The museum cafe is a disappointment - picture your high school cafeteria but at a price of $15 per person. Fortunately a short walk away is a Potbelly sandwich shop for super cheap eats. We had salads while sitting in the sun on Monday. Or, even better, just around the corner from that is the shortest flight you...