January 12: A Few Cold Days

Do you see the word "windy" at the end of the summary of the weather for "Today" in the chart below?  

Well, that means the high of 32 is going to be a very cold temp when you factor in the wind chill.  We're all complaining but we're tough and will get through it.  But tomorrow the high is predicted to be 9 degrees! And while this chart drops the "windy" all the forecasters say the high winds will continue.  It'll be a cold weekend!  But we don't really have to go anywhere, already have a pot of homemade chicken soup on the stove, and brought the down duvet up from the basement, so we'll be fine. 

It's Monday that has me worried.  Check out that high of 6 degrees and the chart isn't telling you that by then we'll most likely have several inches of snow and more winds.  And Monday is Meals on Wheels delivery day, so we have to go out.  Ugh. 

While yesterday was cold and windy it wasn't bad enough to cancel my trip to the Denver Art Museum, so let's talk about that. 

Isn't this an interesting looking woman?  I think she's quite striking, though I'm not sure what I'd say to her if I met her in person.  Maybe I'd ask her about her how she gets those flowers and fruits to stay on her head.  Apparently it's the thing in the Orno Valley in Ethiopia, where she lives.   This is painted, but the head decoration is made with paper collage.  It's titled And She Was Born and was made by Janet Taylor Pickett in 2017. 

This work was included in the exhibition All Stars: American Artists from the Phillips Collection which I went down to see with my friend Lotus.  I hoped that it included works by the painter Arthur Dove who is credited with being the first American abstract artist.  I had written a paper about one of his paintings as part of my art history degree and had visited the Phillips a few years ago to review his work but found only one painting hanging there at the time. 

The DAM exhibit featured four of his works, including Sand Barge (1930) which I think was the painting I had analyzed for my paper.  I quite admire the interesting balance Dove achieved while using various shapes and colors.   

This is Me and the Moon, made in 1937 and considered to a "culminating moment of Dove's career" (Archives of American Art). 

 I liked it,  but my favorite was Sun Drawing Water, with its dramatic contrast of the horizontal lines against the vertical shafts and the undulating thin meandering curved lines.   

After seeing the two special exhibitions we wandered through the Museum looking at things that caught our eye and some sparked some ideas for future quilt designs.  I liked the juxtaposition of written lines against the solid bars of dark color in McArthur Binion's DNA:Black Painting: 1 and would like to try it using bars of bright colors against my own hand writting.  

And I found the patchwork of this piece of kente cloth from Africa also inspiring. 

Here's a view of the state capitol out of one of the museum's windows.  It looks cold out there, doesn't it? 

It's 11:00 in the morning as I type this and I still haven't walked Turbo.  He doesn't look too interested. 

One of my rewards for walking him is getting to listen to whatever audio book I've got going at the moment, and right now I'm listening to Nightwork by Nora Roberts, which is an engrossing tale of a thief who has an unusual philosophy about his work and lives an interesting life. I've never had much Nora Roberts but I'm liking this one.  Maybe I'll leave Turbo here and take my earphones to the gym so I can listen to it as I work out. 

The thief likes to cook and spends several years in New Orleans, a combo which has him making shrimp etouffee.  Coupled with our cold weather, it got me making the dish the other night, and while it took some time, it sure was good! 

 

Well, I'm off now, either to walk Turbo or to the gym.  Or maybe both, as the day is still young.