Support The Arts!

Channel 13 Charming Film Short "Comme Un Air"

Comme Un Air from Reel 13 on Vimeo.

Paint Like Monet - Almost!

A one-day acrylics workshop at the Newark Museum. Don't think Monet has anything to worry about! But it was a lot of fun and I did learn that Elmer's Glue (in bulk) is an inexpensive substitute for Acrylic Glaze Medium.

Playing Photojournalist

A collage of some photos I took at the MoveOn rally in New York City:

Playing Photojournalist
Originally uploaded by bellearielparis

A Satirical View of "Poor" Health Insurance Company Executives

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

The Truth About Health Care Reform

Save Net Neutrality!

Wow...It's Been Awhile!

It's been almost a month since my last post. Well, I guess it's better to be taking photos than talking about them!

Giveaway Ending August 7, 2009

Check out "I Love Faces" for a Tamron Lens ($629 value) Giveaway. The contest ends at 11:00 PM, August 7, 2009.

4th of July from the 14th Floor

Experimented with different settings on the Nikon D80 as I watched the fireworks in the Oranges from my terrace. Some interesting ideas for abstract watercolors, if I ever get back to painting!

Still Not San Francisco!

An Art Deco Kress building (1932). It now houses a $1+ Store, Capricorn, and is across the street from the Central Avenue #24 bus stop I use to get to the Newark Museum. It's white terracotta with polychrome accents and Egyptian and Mayan motifs. I found on Google that a 1925 Kress building is on the National Register. Wonder if anything can be done to preserve this amazing building from urban renewal?

No, It's Not San Francisco!

Spent five days in May on a Newark Museum trip to San Francisco...but the hundreds of photos I took still need organizing. I realize I have two "addictions"....taking photos and going to museums. Why else would I visit 8 museums on a 5-day trip, get home Monday night, and then visit 2 museums in NYC on Thursday? Only my right knee is trying to tell me...aren't you getting too old for this?

The 2 NYC Museums (Museum of Art and Design...known as MAD; the NEW Museum of Contemporary Art) don't allow photos, so I just got a couple of street shots, a few from the meeting space at NEW, one from inside Gemma's where we had lunch, and several from inside the bus. I carried only the Fuji P&S Camera, but I'm still happy with some of the "photos on the run." These are not trips where you can linger and compose....you're always meeting an appointment at the museum, at lunch, or getting back to the bus! I'm really looking forward to the Photowalk in July where 50 people with cameras and sneakers meet at Columbus Circle for the sole purpose of taking photos!

Here's one of the NYC "from inside the bus" photos. I have to start carrying a small notebook so I'll know exactly where the photo was taken (well, maybe...do I really care?):

Watercolor Collage

Watercolor Collage
Originally uploaded by bellearielparis

These three small watercolors will be part of a group exhibit in the Arts Workshop of the Newark Museum..May 17th Opening through June 28, 2009.

A Spring Day in Newark

Seeing Red!

Sunrise #3 - An "AHA" Moment

I think I've figured out how to get a larger than postage-stamp sized photo to post from flickr to this blog.



Well, that worked! Now I have to figure out how to get all that right-hand stuff moved over to the right by about 3/4". Why does one solution always lead to another problem?

Yay, I did it! Moved the right hand column over, or shrunk it? Anyway, it worked!

Sunrise 2

Sunrise 2
Originally uploaded by bellearielparis

My first try using Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 (came with the Wacom Tablet). Didn't have a clue as to what I was doing and I don't intend to buy another "how to" book. Actually, the original is closer to what the sunrise really looked like!

Flight At Sunrise

Flight At Sunrise
Originally uploaded by bellearielparis

A reward for being up so early in the morning!

Museum Hopping in New York

Well...a short hop. The Newark Museum trip was to the Guggenheim for the exhibition of "The Third Mind .. American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860-1989" and to the Asia Society exhibition of Yang Fudong, "Seven Intellectuals in a Bamboo Forest." This is a 5-part film lasting about 5 hours, so obviously in our one-hour tour of the collections, we could only watch a few minutes of each segment. Perhaps sometime before the exhibit ends in September I'll go in and make a day of it, or then again, I may buy the DVD (if there is one). It's in black & white, and there are many beautifully composed scenes. I bought the catalog for the stills it contained and as a bonus, it was autographed by Fudong.

This was not a photo-op day. Guggenheim did not allow photos above the first floor; the Asia Society not at all (which I found out after I took the Buddha photos. We had a great lunch at the Atlantic Grill, but I was so busy enjoying the food, I neglected to take pictures
(which were allowed)!

No...this is not a bunch of eight microphones waiting for the band to appear...but.....

This is Paul Kos' installation Sound of Ice Melting (1970), in which you listen to the amplified sounds of two 25-pound blocks of ice melting.

Last week we saw an Aferro Gallery (Newark) installation by an artist who put microphones into a small tank with a couple of tropical fish and amplified them so you could hear the fish sounds.

In the Ironbound Section another artist dipped strings in pigments, froze them, and then hung them above watercolor paper, so patterns were created as the strings defrosted and dripped down.

I'm working on an installation in which a robotic arm dips into a bucket of paint, applies it to a large canvas with a small fan aimed at it...it's called Watching Paint Dry (2009)...look for it in a show coming to your neighborhood museum!

These are the few photos I was able to get on Wednesday.....The gold leaf piece in the lower righthand corner of the collage was really quite striking, with the scattered gold leaf surrounding the bier. It's James Lee Byars piece, The Death of James Lee Byars (l982/1994). According to a NY Times article, Mr. Byars would occasionally lay on the bier "practicing death." Five small crystals take his place on the bier since he died in 1997.

Newark Art Scene

On Friday, March 27th, the Friends of American Art (Newark Museum) spent the day checking out the contemporary art scene in Newark. Two galleries, Rupert Ravens Contemporary and Aferro were visited; followed by a tasty lunch at Sol Mar in the Ironbound and visits to the loft studios/homes of two husband-and-wife artists, in the industrial section of the Ironbound.

Abigail ♥

Abigail loves to have her picture taken and yes, those are her real eyelashes!

 

My entry in the Pets contest at wwww.iheartfaces.com

Please click on the small button to go to the iheartfaces.com site

Pretty Pout! ♥

This is my March 30th entry in the iheartfaces.com contest, "Kids (Pouting)"
Little girl attending our Jazz Garden Party...apparently not her kind of music!

Please click on the small button to go to the iheartfaces site

Vietnam Slideshow

Halong Bay, Vietnam

Halong Bay, Vietnam
Originally uploaded by bellearielparis

Another view from the Vietnamese junk

Halong Bay, Vietnam

Halong Bay, Vietnam
Originally uploaded by bellearielparis

Early morning mist..view from the Vietnamese junk where we spent overnight. Halong Bay is one of the most beautiful places we visited in Vietnam.

High Fashion in Hanoi

Hmm..does the use of 'brainless" mannequins dressed in the latest designer look make a statement?

Good Morning, Vietnam!

Just loved the store mannequins..they look like something left over from the 1930's!

Taken on our first afternoon's walking tour in Hanoi

Good Morning, New Jersey!

After being on "vacation" in Vietnam from Feb 5-23, 2009, I landed in Newark Airport around 7:00 p.m., Jimmy was waiting, helped with the luggage and I was back in my apartment by 8:00 p.m. It only took 20 hours of airtime, plus another 8 hours going to, from, and in airports, from Bangkok, Thailand to Newark, New Jersey!

Once in the door, I realized that somewhere between Bangkok and Newark, they had cut through the zipper locking loop on my suitcase instead of opening the TSA Approved lock. Since the lock hasp is badly bent, they may have tried to cut through that first and gave up. I now have 2 suitcases that cannot be locked unless I get the zippers replaced. I guess I'll just pack stuff no one would want, and get a larger carry-on for anything of value. To add injury to insult, in Bangkok I was charged $50 because the bag was overweight. Northwestern charges the $50 flat fee if you are anywhere from 1 to 20 lbs overweight! No wonder I saw some really huge "carryon" bags being put in the overhead on the flight to Minneapolis from Japan. I was so tired I just made a quick check to see if anything was missing, and I think everything was still there. The only odd thing is that the small bag of salted nuts I had put in a plastic bag along with some Vietnam cinnamon and crystalized ginger, had been broken open and the peanuts scattered inside the larger plastic bag. Good thing...otherwise my entire wardrobe would have been covered in salted peanuts. Was some drug-sniffing dog tempted by the smell of peanuts? Who knows! I would have been really upset if they had broken open the cinnamon powder.

Japan to Minneapolis was some trip...they combined 3 flights; Northwestern, Continental and Delta, so every seat was filled. Fortunately I had an aisle seat and a nice Malaysian woman named Yeen in the seat next to me, so although almost 11 hours long, it was a pleasant flight.

Yesterday I went with Pablo to pick up Belle from the vets; she was in good shape, but the almost $500 bill is a shock to my financial health. Oh well, it was her 3-week vacation, too.

My feet, ankles and legs were badly swollen from the long flights, and I've been trying to get them back to normal before I have to give a tour at the Newark Museum later today. It's 2:30 a.m. and I am wide-awake...maybe I'm on Vietnam time. Besides keeping my legs elevated as much as possible, I've been drinking the Artichoke Tea I brought back from DaLat. The box claims it is a diuretic, among other good stuff. Yes...it works. It also says it's good for "smoothing face skin," and reduces appetite, so I may become an artichoke tea drinker. I tried rubbing my feet and legs with Tiger Balm, but Belle starting licking my legs...what a crazy little dog. She even ate a little piece of the quite spicy sugared ginger.

I had a wonderful time on the trip and took a lot of pictures, but I haven't had the energy to start downloading and editing. I filled two 8GB and one 4GB memory cards, so even at RAW, I must have at least 1000 pictures. While in Vietnam I had four DVDs burned as back-up.

The weather throughout the trip was sunny, and very hot...except for DaLat, which was like a lovely warm Spring.

This trip has made me resolve to a) lose 50 lbs b) walk the treadmill in the Fitness Center at least 3 times a week c) eat a diet of mostly vegetables and fruit, with a little noodles, rice, and very small amounts of seafood or meat thrown in. There are no overweight people in Vietnam, and yet they are very strong, energetic and work hard. All those beautiful size 0-2 women with their perfect posture!

My usual philosophy is that one picture is worth a thousand words, but I do seem to be going on. Once I get the pictures downloaded, I will let the photos speak for themselves.

Boy..do I miss the wonderful breakfast buffets with delicious ripe fresh fruits. I especially liked dragon fruit and the tiny bananas. And where is the chef to cook my omelet to perfection, with tomatoes, peppers, ham and just one or 2 chilis? Washed down by cups of fragrant, strong, black coffee! Ah me, back to instant coffee and the microwave!

I did manage to go through three weeks of accumulated mail and to my pleasant surprise, the little swan manicure scissors I had to mail home from the airport in Bangkok were there, with some interesting Thai postage on the envelope. It only cost $2 US to send them home, and it was well worth it. I forgot to put them in the checked bag, and security found them in my makeup kit in the carryon. The security folks were sympathetic when I explained they were a gift from my deceased husband and had sentimental value, but I had to either throw them away or mail them home. Finding the airport post office, and finding the clerk was out to lunch, was a tense moment, because I only had 45 minutes to boarding time for the flight to Vietnam. Fortunately, while a clerk in another shop was telling me how to find another postoffice just outside the airport, the postal clerk got back from lunch! Whew! Since I was the first (and only) customer, the transaction went quickly and I had enough time to make it to the Departure Gate for Vietnam as Boarding began.

Well, it's 3:00 a.m....time for some Artichoke Tea..so, Good Morning, New Jersey!

Harrison Park Gets Classy-cal!

Lori Brown Mirabel makes a Diva entrance at the Harrison Park Garden Benefit Concert on January 31, 2009!

Touch of Spring

Miniature Daffodil
Originally uploaded by bellearielparis

With this freezing cold weather (23F today) in NJ, it was fun to find and bring home a small pot of miniature daffodils

Kytara - Czech Film Short

Saw this on Channel 13 and thought it was a charming short film so I thought I'd share it with you, whoever you are:

Twinkle Toes!

 

That's about the only holiday decorating I did this year, since I was spending Christmas with family at my sister's home. Besides, this is a continuation of my "My Left Toe" photo series!

My Left Foot Series 2008

My Left Foot Series 2008
Originally uploaded by bellearielparis

Yes, I do have a lot of sandals! Blame these "foot fotos" on my two nieces who gave me a birthday gift of my first-ever pedicure.

Dreaming of a White Christmas?

Holiday Greetings

Holiday Greetings
Originally uploaded by bellearielparis

The first real snowfall of the season on December 19th. Couldn't resist taking a bunch of photos from my bedroom window on the 14th floor and turned them into a Holiday greeting card collage.

Color & Collage

Color & Collage
Originally uploaded by bellearielparis

Playing with the new Picasa3 collage capability, and using all the stuff I like to play with...photography, painting & collage. I'm certainly well into discovering "my inner child"....or at this time in my life, is it more like "my second childhood?"

First Snowfall - December 2008

First Snowfall - December 2008
Originally uploaded by bellearielparis

View from the 14th floor bedroom window...looking just like the inside of the world's largest Oreo cookie! No...it's not in black & white, as you can see from the light aqua at the bottom of the fountain. It's just that the wet gravel on the paths looks almost black instead of it's natural burnt sienna.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas
Originally uploaded by bellearielparis

Found a new dumpr.net toy!

A Little Bit of Country

I'm not a fan of country music, but I heard this on Letterman's show tonight, and it "struck a chord." Perhaps it's because it's about old black & white photos, the depression, and going off to war....doesn't sound too different than our circumstances today.

Jamey Johnson, performer