favorite artsy movies

I always love peeking at other people’s Netflix lists so I thought I would share with you some of my favorite movies about artists/art!

here's a quick list in no particular order:

Basquiat – this film by Julian Schnabel, when I was in art college we got to watch it with Schnabel and then have a Q&A session with him afterwards. He looks nothing like Gary Oldman who plays him in the film And one of my friends got in a very heated discussion with Schnabel about "big art" vs "small art" Schnabel was very pro large format art. While my friend thought that small format art was still very valid. 

A Man Named Pearl - touching documentary about a man who becomes a self taught topiary artist.

Frida - I didn’t expect to like this one as much as I did. But loved it!

Pollock – wish they had more scenes of him painting and less of him getting drunk. Still a good movie.

How to Draw a Bunny – odd film but interesting!

Chuck Close: A Portrait in Progress – I am a big fan of Chuck Close. How he overcame his handicap to continue to create amazing large scale paintings is inspiring!

Who the %&*# is Jackson Pollack – a great movie about the bias of the art world

My Kid Could Paint That – story about a prodigy artist and her pushy parents. Question is... is it the Dad painting or her?

Herb & Dorothy – story of a couple (he was a postman) who amassed an amazing art collection worth millions and then gifted it to the National Gallery of Art.

Beautiful Losers – documentary about graffiti artists. Very interesting!

Alice Neel – documentary about portrait artist, Alice Neel. Her sons chime in a lot and you can tell they weren't happy with their unconventional upbringing!

In the Realms of the Unreal - Story of outsider artist Henry Darger who lived a reclusive life and died alone in a Catholic mission in 1973

Helvetica – a great documentary about typography and how it is used in society. 

Exit Through the Gift Shop - documentary about street artist Banksy. Rumor is he is also Mr Brainwash. you must watch! 

I am sure I have left some out. These are just the ones off the top of my head. If you have any suggestions please post a comment!

sleepy tuesday

I am all worn out after today. I worked on custom artwork orders, book #3, sent and answered tons of email, booked my hotel for my Michigan workshop, drove to the PO Box to check for mail, had a long phone chat with Carmi and now I am tired!

I am going to get all cozy and then watch Madame Tutli-Putli on Netflix! I can hardly wait, this little stop motion movie looks wonderful! Here's a photo of Stan asleep in front of the monitor. He loves to sleep on the desk ..... shhhhh..... he's snoring right now!

weekend plans

Right now I'm getting some work done, Paul's working too. But later we are thinking about seeing Nightmare Before Christmas. They have it in 3-D at the theater and it is one of my all time fav movies. I have seen it a million times but never in 3-D. Maybe some thai food after that! Sounds perfect! What are your plans this weekend?

weekend's over

As usual the weekend went by way too fast. We didn't get to see The Simpons Movie, but we plan to do that next weekend when it is hopefully less crowded. This weekend I did a bunch of work, packed and shipped artwork, washed Toby, did some gardening, cleaned the house, went to my niece Maiya's 7th birthday party, and went to the mall (yuck hate going to the mall).

Tonight we had our neighbors over to watch the first Bourne movie to get ready for the Bourne Ultimatum this weekend. We tried to rent the second Bourne movie but it looked like a lot of people had the same idea because it was all out at Blockbuster. Darn it. Then we found the first one was playing on USA so we watched that one for free. Even though we had all seen it already it was so long ago we had forgotten what had happened, so it was like watching a totally new movie. We had pizza and too many brownies. Fun fun fun!

netflix movie suggestions

Our NetFlix queue is getting low. It takes so much time researching new movies to add.

So I thought I'd ask you guys if you have any suggestions of must-see movies we should add to our list?

I just read about After the Wedding in Newsweek, so I added that one! It looks pretty good. Anyone seen it?

We love foreign, documentary, etc. etc... We have pretty eclectic tastes.

Any suggestions appreciated!

another weekend over

I can't believe another weekend has come and gone! This weekend I:

• did my second quarter taxes
• watched The Queen thanks to netflix
• went to The Enzian and saw The Waitress (loved it)
• did the housework, cleaning etc.
• paul and I fixed a gutter that the roofers broke
• went to dinner with our neighbors
• dropped off a journal at lynn's studio
• packed up 3 custom artworks to send out tomorrow
• tackled lots of email
  
• now I'm getting ready to watch the Sopranos!

weekend's over

This weekend I:

• cleaned the house, vacuumed and mopped all the floors
• went to this nursery, bought wild flowers & planted them
• watched The Last King of Scotland thanks to Netflix
• Filed 32 artworks for copyright
• worked on a custom artwork order
• did laundry
• had yummy hummus at this resturant
• packed mail/packages that need to be sent out
• had family over for Memorial Day BBQ (veggie burgers for me!)
  
• watched On The Lot - it's getting good!
• did yoga
• worked on questions for an interview
• email - lots of it!
• mulled over business stuff, important decisions to make!
• wore my new shirts love them!
• talked to friends

see you tomorrow!

weekend's over

This weekend I:

• Cleaned the house, vacuumed and mopped all the floors
• Unpacked the suitcases still in my studio from Art & Soul
• Unpacked 60lbs of stuff I shipped home from Art & Soul
• Watched Big Night from netflix (loved it!)
• Went to the Dandelion Cafe for the first time (cute!)
• Went to The Enzian and saw The TV Set (loved it)
• Worked on custom artwork orders
• Visited the Birds of Prey Center (baby owls!!)
• Framed 7 pieces of art for a show at a NC gallery
• Worked on my new book proposal (almost done!!)
• Packed mail/packages that need to be sent out tomorrow
• Did my VA state sales taxes from Art & Soul vendor night

whew! I didn't think I did much, but I guess I did. No wonder I am tired!

home and art show

I made it home last night after a wonderful last day at the workshop. It took us 5 hours to drive home because we got stuck in traffic. ugh! But we did stop to eat at Sushi Thai one last time before leaving so I could have those Thai Donuts again! Yay!

Today Paul and I drove down to Tampa to see my work that was in an invite only show by Katherine Gibson who is a private art dealer. Every once in awhile she converts her house into a gallery show for her clients, so they can see the art in a home setting. It was so much fun to see my work grouped in with other artists and displayed in such a lovely setting. It was a breath of fresh air and I am so glad I took the time to go.

In the morning I had worked myself into a quite a state: Toby had an eye infection and needed running to the vet, I have a huge stack of emails that piled up while I was away teaching, and some reproductions I had made of of my work did not turn out good (I'm blaming the mercury retrograde). So I was feeling flustered, overwhelmed and out of sorts. I am so glad that I took the time to go to the show because I feel so much better, more centered and ready to face the world again.

Here are some photos from the show!













one of my 3-d cigar box artworks on a nightstand






















metal sitting Poppets® on a window ledge....






















more metal sitting Poppets® on a window ledge....






















An assortment of 3-d cigar box collages, a sitting lady and a Poppet® doll....






















And on our way there we were driving behind this ... we thought it was hilarious the Mini on top of that giant Hummer.

Paul and I got Love Me If You Dare, in from Netflix, so I am going to snuggle down and watch it. I can get back to catching up and dealing with the real world tomorrow, for now I am going to relax and try not to feel stressed out or overwhelmed.

nighty night!

EDITED 10pm: Only two stars for Love Me if You Dare. It wasn't at all the Amelie style movie I thought it would be. It was odd and disturbing. Oh well!

put on your hat and scarf

It's been really cold here! Nothing like what you guys up north have, but very cold for Florida. I've had our plants all covered up, because the last 3 nights it's been in the 30's! gasp!!

I spent the weekend pretty busy working on commission orders and getting things ready for my workshop this week in Bonita Springs. I leave on Tuesday and teach Wednesday-Friday. I made the dreaded trip to Kinko's on Saturday to copy all the workbooks for my workshops for the next few times that I teach. I hate going to Kinko's so much and am always glad to have it done! Now it's time to staple all the books!

Speaking of workshops, I only have 3 more North American locations this year - Vancouver, Virginia and Portland and then that's it! There is still room in all my classes too! And of course Italy in April too!

Paul and I managed to watch a few movies this week too. Thanks to Netflix we saw:

1. Flags of Our Fathers (very good)
2. The Science of Sleep (I liked it but I thought the guy was creepy and not sweet & endearing like I thought he would be from the trailer, but great visuals in the movie makes up for the weird guy)
3. This Film is Not Yet Rated (good documentary).
4. Enduring Love (good thriller about a stalker)
   

I have a migraine coming so it's off to bed for me! See you tomorrow!

what a great movie!

Paul and I saw Pan's Labyrinth last night. OMG!! What an amazing movie!!

I knew I would love it after watching the trailer, but I had no idea how caught up in the movie I would get. I got so emotional at the end I boo-hooed all the way out of the theater and across the parking lot to the car. Then even cried a bit on the way home. Something about it struck such a chord with me. Bring tissues!

During the movie, every so often Paul and I would look at each other and exclaim "Cynthia would LOVE this movie" It's like it was made for her. Cynthia, if you are reading this, drop everything and go see this movie!!

A warning it is very violent and not for children at all!

movie time

The Machinist arrived today via Netflix. Paul and I just got done watching it. Not my favorite movie, I kept waiting for something to really happen. We both had the movie figured out pretty early so it wasn't like Memento where it kept you guessing the whole time. It did manage to cement my fear of power tools (I have a horrible fear of power tools) and now whenI write my notes to myself on Post-its I am sure to think of this movie.

Paul has tomorrow off. I'll do a little work, maybe we'll go see a movie or out to dinner. I am going to try to take this weekend off, except for packing and shipping artwork. I am tired and need a little break!

time to wrap the presents

I'm feeling a little bit more in the Christmas mood today. I still can't believe it's here! It's almost 80 degrees outside so a little hard to feel Christmassy. I like it when it's about 60, a little chilly, but not too cold. Yesterday we braved the mall to get a couple last minute presents. After 30 minutes there I had a migraine.

I hate shopping so much. I did perk up in Anthropologie when I saw some really cute aprons, I started unrolling them to see if they were 1/2 or full aprons. I don't like the 1/2, not enough coverage. Then the girl that was working that section got all nasty about me unrolling them and proclaimed loudly "i wish people would stop unrolling the aprons!"to her other co-worker. So I left apron-less.

We left it too late to get our niece Maiya the Christmas present we promised - sold out everywhere - so I did a mad dash on Amazon and found it. They won't be back in town until late this week so it will have time to arrive. Whew.

Today we have been cleaning the house and sprucing things up for relatives to come over tomorrow. Now it's time to wrap the presents and we have Christmas carols playing to get us in the spirit.

And then of course A Christmas Story will be playing starting tonight -- a classic which Paul and I quote from year round.

Hope everyone has a great holiday!

netflix!

We signed up for NetFlix today. Wow it's addictive picking out movies! Paul spent the better part of his day off today selecting movies for our queue.

Any "must see" movies that we should make sure to add?

Right now we have:
How to Draw a Bunny
JuneBug
What the Bleep
The Machinist
Big Night
Water
WordPlay...

Now we are wondering why we didn't sign up for NetFlix sooner!