The Little Dancer

Degas is one of my art heroes and I knew as soon as I started this challenge I'd be including this little lady. I intend to do a whole series eventually, hopefully with her in various museums around the world, but to start with here she is in the Musee D'orsay.

(Rather enjoyed painted the little paintings in the background of the first paintings, and the man in the second - he really did have his feet in a very similar position to the statue! )

Amsterdam Trip

Lots of you will know that I recently went to Amsterdam for a few days - the first time I had been abroad in ages. We did lots of wandering about and I visited the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum, both amazing places, despite the Rijksmuseum being mainly closed. Although there were only about 5 rooms open, I still managed to spend at least 3 hours in the place - a large part of this sitting looking at Rembrandt's The Jewish Bride.

There was a portrait of Rembrandt by his pal Jan Lievens linked here which makes him handsomer and squarer jawed than he tends to make himself - although he is a little pop eyed, and does still have the silly hair. Mind you, I have silly hair myself, so I know how hard it can be to control . . .

Also, there was a special exhibition comparing early Degas self portraits with early Rembrandt's. This was truly fascinating - both the paintings and the etchings. Sitting there looking at them I feel I learnt more than I could have from several hours of lectures or teaching. Not least that size is a very important consideration. But most of all it was the treatment of the light and background space. The little painting called Small Beauty, which I entered into the RGI, was painted the weekend I got back!