A sheep grazes peacefully at the Gardens at Philbrook oblivious to their long shadow.
A sunny/shady place to rest on my bike ride on Tulsa’s RiverParks Trails. The view includes autumn color, the Arkansas River and Turkey Mountain on the other side of the river.
Complex shadows at Tulsa’s Tandy YMCA
I’m linking with Shadow Shot Sunday
Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum of Art has this exhibit going on currently of American paintings from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. We are members of the museum so I went and took a look at it. They had tons and tons of art. The following were my favorite works.
This work by Charles Willson Peale “The Artist in His Museum” is a perfect opener for an exhibit.
I loved the exuberance of Maxfield Parrish’s “Princess Parizade Bringing Home the Singing Tree”
I loved Young Woman by Isabel Bishop. It was painted in 1937 but it looks very contemporary to me.
Ariadne Asleep on the Island of Naxos by John Vanderlyn. Such a dreamy scene.
Some still life’s bore me, others like this Still Life with Fruit by Severin Roesen I find very exciting.
And this by Philip Leslie Hale, “The Crimson Rambler” is very beautiful. I also find it intriguing because according to the accompanying card, Hale made a protest against woman’s suffrage.
The scene looks like right out of a film noir movie. “The Soda Fountain” by William J. Glackens.
So we are hearing about how humanity is threatened by AI and that we are going to be inundated by images and videos generated by AI that have no base in reality. You know that has happened before. This is “Penn’s Treaty with the Indians” by Benjamin West showing William Penn and a Native American Chief, Tamanend in a peaceful transaction where the Indians get goods and the white people get land. Cool! right? Wrong! The land was taken from the Native Americans and this painting of an event that never happened was commissioned by Penn’s son to bolster his family’s image. This led to people thinking it is historically accurate. I find it fascinating how art is harnessed to propaganda.
And I loved this, “De Soto Raising the Cross on the Banks of the Mississippi” by Peter Frederick Rothermel. The European explorers were a brave lot I think. Not just in exploring the North American continent but in things like planting a cross and declaring some sovereign in Europe now owns a couple gazillion acres just because.
And how about this hidden Thomas Moran work, “Two Women in the Woods” If you are like me, it was like, what two women? Oh there, and such a beautiful scene, with the two women hidden in the shadows. Not quite as dramatic as some of Moran’s other works but still a great painting.
As part of the exhibition, many of the works were displayed on a “gallery wall” similar to exhibits in the 19th century. It was interesting. To help study it they had a couple of couches and some binoculars available to patrons to inspect the works. They also invited patrons to try and find insights or ideas on why the works were arranged the way they were. It was kind of fun to sit there and just think about the works on the wall and how adjacent works were alike or different.
So after this exhibit I checked out the gardens but that is a subject for another post.
I am linking with My Corner of the World.
I visited Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum of Art and came across this sculpture I had never noticed before. It is a nice work of art and cast a great shadow.
This sight greeted me the other morning. A red shouldered hawk squatting on my trailcam in our backyard. I think he was looking for a mouse. We have bird feeders in the backyard which attracts a few birds and a whole bunch of squirrels and a few mice.
The trailcam captured this cat in our backyard a while back. I’m thinking he might be carrying a mouse in his mouth.
I went to Philbrook Museum of Art the other day. I saw this squirrel resting for the intense midday heat.
And this big ole hippo sculpture made out of car bumpers.
I rode my bike on the Arkansas River the other day and found this egret fishing in the Arkansas River.
And this group of geese hanging out.
And this cross species collection of egrets and great blue herons sharing their fishing grounds.
After years of construction Tulsa is opening up the new pedestrian bridge and putting the new Zink Lake Dam into service this weekend. I’m going to wait until the hubbub has died down a little bit before I go check it out.
I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters. Go check it out.
On Valentine’s Day my bride, Heather, and I visited the Philbrook Museum here in Tulsa. I found this shadow outside. It reminded me of a carpet runner.
And then here is me casting my shadow on another set of stairs.
We warmed up briefly here in Oklahoma and I declared it to be the year’s first shorts day. I went to Ray Harral Nature Center and captured this shadow on their revamped hiking trail bridge.
Toward the end of my outing the I found this scene where the pine tree crown is in the sun while the bottom of the trees are getting shadowed by the declining sun.
I’m linking with Lisa’s Shadow Shot Sunday. Check it out.
Sharp Shadows from a bench on a sunny day.
Complex Patters on a swing
Sculptures of Sheep grazing contentedly on the lawn.
Leaves casting a shadow on a sidewalk
And now a reveal. This is the site of Philbrook’s only geocache from years ago. It has been disabled for years. It was a complicated multicache that would take a lot of time but lazy old me thought it out. Most museums are very protective of their gardens and don’t want nasty deet smelling geocachers tramping through their exhibits, dismantling light fixtures, and climbing trellises, fences, and art work so I thought of two places where the fusty but fun museum staff would deem safe enough for geocaching. And I was right! I found it 13 years ago, read all about it here. Oh, don’t bother looking for it if you visit Philbrook, it is long gone.
The tempietto is the centerpiece of the garden at Philbrook Museum.
A former oil baron’s mansion that he gave to the city to Tulsa way back when.
The pond in front of the tempietto used to be the swimming pool for the residence. A changing room was underneath the tempietto
Linking with Shadow Shot Sunday 2.
Sunday morning the family got up and Logan had breakfast and we dropped him off at his job at the Neighborhood Walmart and Heather and I went to have breakfast. Afterward we headed out to Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum of Art to check out their newest exhibit “Innovative Expressions” which turned out to be very academic but interesting. It showcased the printmaking art of Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro. I learned some things that I didn’t know before. I didn’t take any photos though. Check it out if you are in town. It is open until September 9.
After the exhibit we toured the three levels of galleries. It doesn’t take us long as we have been there many times before so seeing the art is like meeting old friends. Philbrook does a good job of swapping things out and so we always see things we hadn’t seen before. I love Thomas Moran’s “Grand Canyon” (above).
And this one is a favorite of mine. I am from New Mexico and too me nothing beats snow on adobe like this, “Tesuque (Dark Houses)” by Theordore Van Soelen. It is also special because when I was born my family was living the Tesuque Ranger Station.
This is one that I don’t remember seeing but Heather told me that it has been on display before. So meet my new friend, “Bridge over the Stour” by Childe Hassam. I love it.
Next we went to the gardens of the museum. It had been raining earlier but then settled into a very light sprinkle. The tempietto in the background may be the most photographed item in Tulsa. I think it is beautiful. I’m always trying to think of something new so here I focused on the flowers which caused the tempietto to soften. You can tell there is a person on the other side of the pond who is way out of focus.
It is my lovely wife, Heather. The gardens at Philbrook are especially lush this time of year. Their gardening staff really works hard keeping things tidy and green.
I spotted a purple coneflower.
Another area of the gardens that I liked.
We had a great leisurely couple of hours at Philbrook. It is a great place to get away from it all for a short time. If you plan on visiting check their web site for all sorts of information for days and hours of operation, special exhibits, events and all sorts of other information.
I dropped the kid off at his Improv workshot Saturday morning and headed out to the Philbrook Museum of Art to see if they had any flowers up. And yes they do. I don’t think it is peak yet but there were lots of daffodils up and it was cold and windy so there were hardly anybody out there looking at them.
I’ve come to love these early spring flowers. They are so beautiful and so fragile. They are the spring color I need after the long grey colors of winter.
Hey I found some daffodils with a garden cat. Groan, I know, couldn’t help myself. Philbrook does have two or three garden cats. Last time I was there I was inside the museum and one of the cats was outside wanting in because it was so cold. I didn’t let him in. Do you think I did the right thing or am I heartless and cruel?
And how about a daffodil reflection shot. Strange how they pop out in the reflection against the blue sky but are lost in the lighter colors on the bank.
And another, subtler daffodil reflection photo.
That’s all I got for today folks is several shots of one kind of flower.
I always claim the right to take pictures of people taking pictures in public places. I did that yesterday of the photographer taking pictures of son Logan. The guy was good! He put Logan, who hates getting dressed up and especially hates changing out of perfectly clean clothes into other clothes. I just tagged along.
Heather made a great assistant holding the reflector as the photographer did his thing. I’m going to have to get one of those things. I wouldn’t know what to do with it but it sure looks cool.
I think both Heather and I teared up during the session. Our baby is getting all growns up. It seems like just yesterday we loaded him up for first grade. He has turned into quite the young man. He has overcome a lot of challenges and I think will do well.
Anyways we get the proofs in about a week and a half. The guy was good so my expectations are high. I imagine we’ll buy almost everything. We might have to get a second mortgage but you only get Senior Pictures once. Well, at least hope it is just once.