Andrew Wyeth's 'Christina's World'

I was attending the Pittsburgh Art Institute in '48.  When I attended a national show of American Artist.  Everywhere I looked was a vast field of Abstract canvases.  Then I came upon "Christina's World" by Andrew Wyeth.  It totally jarred me, the power of the thing.  I've been a fan ever since......Elbert

Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth

(sketch by Elbert Price)

THE JUNE BUG

                                             THE JUNE BUG

At five years, I was always fascinated by the possibility that one could fly through the air.  My first target for accomplishing this feat was June Bugs.
They were all over the place when I was a kid.  If I could just get enough thread to make strings for more hind legs, I would soon have enough be airlifted away on the wings of June Bugs.  I just tortured the hell out of a lot of poor old June Bugs whose only purpose in life was to find a mate and die.  But what did I know?  I stomped a lot of green corn and killed a lot of June Bugs in the process.  Elbert

(I suggested that he insert the word 'procreate' in the sentence about the June Bugs purpose in life and his reply was "No, you do not want to use a fifty dollar word in a two dollar story".) Shirley

MY ALTER EGO

In early days, when all had eaten the stew and had gathered around, the story teller and show man .....

He used a drawing stick and drew in  a large, clear space on the ground, in front of him, while sitting on his stool and scooting about as needed.  He wore a boar's head bone and skin with pride, for the boars are fierce fighters and very intelligent in tactics of evasion and attack, and have killed or maimed many members of the group.

The storyteller was, of course, an artist and as such was teaching his people to be able to communicate by sketching on the bare ground with a stick.
Early days, we all learned to sketch as the important necessity to say where we had been and what we had seen.  All our early ancestors could sketch or draw things.  And many of us could do it Very Well.

Our sketches were how our languages developed over time and our early writing was pictographs or quick sketches as symbols of the real thing.

Drawing on the ground was how we all learned a language and if we even try at all, we can do it too---It's in our genes.by now. Elbert

REVISITING THE LA CAVENIA IN GEORGETOWN, LA

(It was once a convenience for the RR passengers)

My old painting buddy, Stanley Pollard (and his wife Aleise and their daughter, Sharon, actually lived there and they rented the store part rather than operate it themselves.  Stanley hated steady work.

Stanley was a "many parts" type of citizen; he knew a lot of things, being widely read.  He could do almost anything.

When the community needed a water system; he was chosen to put it in and operate if for a small sum.  Aleise (Aleeese) was the town Postmistress.

I painted the place from the viewpoint of the highway overpass bridge that was the western entrance to the town.  The painting sold almost at once to a former citizen living in Baton Rouge.  Luckily I photographed it before it went.

I'd always regretted that I hadn't put in more of the local flavor of the place.  This repaint does that and I made the La Cavenia classier, which I enjoy more.

I probably will not agree to sell this one. I've missed the original one a lot.

 detail from "La Cavenia Revisited"

Elbert 10/12/13

DANCING WITH THE RED FISHERMAN

"The Red Fisherman" that I did the take off from, by Milton Avery, my very favorite.  This particular one was my second run at it and was done in order to include my dancers.  I enjoy it a lot and it is placed in my prime viewing area in our bedroom.  I see it many times each day and especially when I'm going for a nap. 

 Because I love to dance and love "The Red Fisherman", it is a very comforting "go to sleep" scene for me to focus on.

Elbert    10/12/13

FLYWHEEL'S FLAPADOODLE

'THE FLYWHEEL'S FLAPADOODLE"

When I was 15, I traded my older bike for a 2 cycle gas engine equipped with a variable speed carburetor.  I had, also, a pair of lawn mower wheels connected by a length of pipe, nailed onto a 2 x 4 support.

I began what I had intended to be a "go cart"....but as I collected scrap materials about me, I had more lathing strips and mattress ticking than I did 2 x 4s or another pair of lawnmower wheels....thus was born my 3/4 size airplane.  I called it "Flywheel's Flapadoodle".  It was a project of the whole summer and into the late fall.  Flapadoodle got great attention from everyone I knew and many that I didn't know.  I couldn't have enjoyed it more!

I spent hours of carving, sanding and checking for balance on the propeller (I'd never even heard of a thrust bearing engine or drive to prop ratio).

Finally the big day of trial came.

In my painting, I've chosen Lotus Abboud to crank it, (but I don't really recall who did).

At slow speed, all was O.K.,  but, when I revved it, the poorly balanced prop began to shake the contraption so badly that pieces began to fall off.  The vertical tail went first.

I loved building it!

MORE LATER    Elbert  10/11/13

Renoir and Me

One of our papers carried an illustration of Renoir painting on site. When I'd started my version of it, Shirley

 photographed me doing it. There is a resemblance there, I think.

The painting, on canvas, is 16 x 20, oil. I've not done this one with me in it yet, but I may.

----------------Renoir and Me