More Outdoor Contemporary Art; The Union Jack Flies Over Vermont

Hey Woolfoot. What did you do today?

Glad you asked. It was Sunday, and an auction day. Luckily, the Understudy was invited to a birthday party in Morrisville. Westfield, home of my beloved Degre Auction House, is en route to Morrisville. Great. Cover for at least partial auction attendance. (Whusband disapproves, why?) The party didn't start til noon and the auction got rolling at 10 AM. The Understudy didn't get word of the plan to "swing by" the auction til she was in the car, and belted in.

Do we have to?!

Yes!


The Understudy 20 minutes into the bidding this morning

By the way, two weeks ago I took Shackleton the auction. He attended voluntarily and had a great time, urging me to bid on all kinds of stuff. He wound up with some old trophies we both loved. Here is his artist's rendition of the auctioneer, done as a live study.



He actually announced, when we got home, that we had a great day at the auction. Note to self, bring Shackleton to the next auction and let the Understudy stay home.

I left a bid on a box of Jackie Kennedy-era ladies gloves at 11:30, the only bidding I managed, and hied it down to the Birthday party. After depositing the Understudy with her friends at the ice skating rink I was off to Stowe, where I hoped to catch at least part of the English Car Show. This event seems to be growing year by year.



Unfortunately, most of the MGs and Triumphs and Jaguars and what have you that I saw were driving down the Mountain Road on their way out of town. Just a few tents coming down and the odd car remained at the show by the time I arrived:


Hey, that's a Rolls Royce, isn't it? No, no, the one up-top, by the tents, not the Mini down below.



It wasn't time to get the Understudy from the party yet, so I walked along the lower section of the Stowe Rec Path. I know, I know, I'm sorry for taking you back to the Rec Path. Maybe someone will have to fine me before I'll really stop blogging about it and photographing it.

Thing is, this is a part of the path I don't usually get to because I think of it as crowded, ending in the village as it does. Well, it wasn't crowded this afternoon and, I soon learned, the Contemporary Art Show that I wrote about a few posts back has straggled off the site of the Helen Day Art Center in the village and many pieces are now on display on this section of the path. So, I wasn't just walking, I was visiting an exhibit. Some of the art was fabulous. This teapot I just loved. I am going to find the artist and send her fan mail.









Isn't that cool - (the wrapped tree-trunks). Derivative of Christo, I suppose, but I liked it. The artist calls it "Chippendale." There was a sign nearby that said the trees would not be harmed by having their trunks wrapped in vinyl for a time. No, just kidding. I made that up. I am sure people are wondering about that, though. This is still Vermont, and Stowe, no less. The trees matter a lot, especially the trees along the Rec Path.

This one, (below) was the only real clunker I saw. Remember that Simpson's Episode where Marge discovers she's actually a great painter? She enters an art show and wins? I recall that one of the other entries in that show was a painting of a unicorn standing on a hill over a smoky, dirty city. A single tear runs down the unicorn's cheek and a thought bubble above his head asks, "Why"? This mini graveyard, with the names and dates of conflicts fought "in the name of religion", goes in the crying unicorn category as far as I am concerned.



By the way, we got the gloves. Ten bucks for 32 pairs - beautifully kept by some woman all the way through the Cold War, all pinned together, perfectly pressed. The Understudy got a pair and so did her friend. She didn't complain about that.

A Couple New Acquisitions

As promised in my last post, here are a couple of shots of the paintings I bought at the auction last Saturday at my beloved Degre Auction House in Westfield, just a few miles south of the Last House. I don't drink, smoke or gamble, but I have a weakness for auctions and for pictures - especially landscapes and almost any kind of print that looks like it dates from the 1920s or '30s. My taste is, I realize, arguably bad. I like a lot of contemporary art, but when it comes to things I actually buy for myself, I tend to the "chocolate box" end of the spectrum. I don't like the girly stuff - fields of flowers or turn of the century ladies in white dresses, shading their eyes against the glare of the sun. I like for my subjects animals, houses, buildings (e.g., churches,schools) boats, trees, occasionally kids, and an overall package (frame and picture) that looks old. These are my downfall. Total cost for these two paintings, both oil on board and unsigned as near as I can tell, was $50; I liked the one with the deer best but I bid $25 for choice and took the pair. The colors are very slightly garish. The blue of twilight tends to turquoise. I found a label, very old looking, on one frame identifying Kaufmann's Art Department. Kaufmann's started in 1877 in Pittsburgh but expanded throughout the northeast and eventually became part of the behemoth May Company. I got them home and hung them immediately. I was happy with the result. I bought another little watercolor of a house, very naive, but also dark with age and in uglyish frame and mat. I would like to get it cleaned someday. It has glass in front of it and wouldn't photograph well but if there is a mass clamor I'll try. In other news, there is the weather, toujours the weather. March went sunny and smiling for about 5 hours yesterday. We managed to get out into it with our friends who have a beautiful farm in Derby, Vermont. One must count one's blessings. Unfortunately, that changed overnight and it is as grim as grim can be right now - rain and wind and snow and sleet. Will this winter ever end? Spring, according to the calendar, arrives overnight tonight - along with six to 12 inches of snow. I am going to try and post a little video of our Derby farm visit yesterday. I have had mixed luck with the video function but, here goes.