Welcome to the Gretchen Memorial Gallery (in honour of our dearly departed Kitty)
Well, the boys have been home from school for the last couple of days with sore throats. I took them with me to the gallery yesterday to drop off my work and they were inspired by all the monkey pictures there. When we got home they both did a couple of paintings, then this morning they painted another 23. That's right, twenty-three more paintings. We had so much work we decided to put on a show.Art
ists
ists
Here are the artists on the left. This portrait was done by Monsieur B., who is 7 and in grade 2. The artist on the right is Monsieur L, who is 5 and is in kindergarten.
Food
Since it was lunchtime, we decided to serve food at our event. Carrot sticks, celery, cheesy pita chips and guacamole were the order of the day. Beverages were pineapple juice with just a hint of echinacea (shhh!). Music The Yodeling Song from the Little Cowboys cd, with the player set on repeat.
GuestsWe were honoured by the presence of Miss Chloe, who despite her faint air of nonchalance, was clearly ecstatic to be present.
The Artwork
The work in the show was quite varied, although all pieces were executed with watercolour in combination with crayon, pencil or sharpie. While there is great diversity in the work, it can be grouped into several distinct categories:
Kings
(I have a feeling these are self portraits).
Cats
Portraits of Chloe and Gretchen.
Squids
Space Monkeys
Other Monkeys
Movies
Space MonkeysOther MonkeysMoviesPirates of the Caribbean, Anaconda, Harry Potter, Star Wars (the only one they've actually seen)
Reptiles
poison dart frog vs. cobra, milky rattlesnake, anaconda, crocodiles.
Homages to Jackson Pollock
No, I'm not kidding.
Arachnids
The one one the left: a tarantula; the one on the right: a portrait of Maman, the gigantic spider sculpture outside the National Gallery.
There is one more piece which has not been categorized. It is a parrot (no picture), which could have been included with either Pirates, or perhaps along with Cats as a household pet. Also, strangely absent from this body of work are dinosaurs.
Thanks for visiting our gallery.
7 comments:
Having had my own vernissage today I can say I am impressed at the food given to your guests as well as the orderly and clean display of the works. What strikes me is the absence of Wizard of Oz motifs, fairies and witches as well as a lack of All Hallow's Eve motifs. Hmmm. I assure you I am trying not to place Monsieurs B and L into a box already, looking only to their past work and not their creative future. Forgive me. I am glad you were able to document the event. Gretchen deserved no less. Chloe was very generous to be so well behaved, especially with such an abundance of good snacky snacks,
OK- I gave in and opened an account. Truly enjoyed the opening. Felt like I was present. A joyful celebration of life. Watching Mr.s B. and L. is like waiting for the garden flowers to open. One is so excited by the colourful display of bulbs that they can't wait for the perennials to show. Bravo and cudos on the "process"!
I love the display.
I am glad of their imagination.
Most kids today wouldn't be able to do wh
at your sons did.
Redcatdance, there are more fictional characters to choose from nowadays.
It's impossible to have children know about all of them.
hi tim, i'm sorry you and your family lost your dear friend. it happened to us recently as well. our beloved zoey was 14. a growly ol'puss (ragdoll siamese do LOTS of talking!)
i wish we'd been of a mind to paint in her honor but we were all so brokenhearted...
working words I have an unfair advantage as I know the boys personally and saw them go through a very intense 2 year phase with all the afore-mentioned characters. It's surprising that they've really moved on... they really are gifted but I think you and I would agree the apples ain't falling far from the tree ;)
This post is priceless, just priceless! Do the boys go to Artissimo?
Tim! thank you so much for sharing this link with me. what a wonderful vernissage by 2 very talented young kings! i can't wait for my nephew's mom and dad to see this... such a great idea!
great work, boys!
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