District o' Columbia, part deux.

As promised! Here are some more photos from the DC leg of the trip:

Sort of like Zazie in Zazie dans le Métro, I love a good Metro. (Fortunately I have better luck than poor Zazie in actually getting to the Metro.) Despite its recent (fatal!) failings, I still love the DC Metro... overall - horrible accidents aside - it's relatively efficient, clean and user-friendly. An added bonus is that it has this almost science-fiction-y, hyper-futuristic look which somehow never gets old to me. A bold vision of the future! Behold:

Diane dans le Métro:

And we can't forget DC's role as our nation's capital, no? Look! Gub'mint:

And hey! I ran into our First Lady. All over the city, in fact:

And as for other political/historical DC figures, here's a really waxy Lincoln for you (in the window of Madame Tussaud's);

Not really a political figure (unless you count any influence over ole JFK, of course), but certainly one of great historical import (I suppose) lording over Woodley Park/Connecticut Avenue:

Something cool that I had forgotten about in the Phillips Collection: they have an early self-portrait by Piet Mondrian, probably best known nowadays for these geometric paintings... but it's done in an entirely different style, seen here:

Oh, and this tiny Ingres gem is in the Phillips, too – this photo, alas, does not remotely do justice to its glow, however. Go see it for yourself!!

Okay, moving on to Philly and NYC in my next posts. Stay tuned! More Art and assorted stuff to come.

The Northeaster.

Hey there, world. Sorry for the dearth of bloggage here, but John and I have been on a wee journey northward. In a whirlwind of train and Chinatown bus and subway and zipcar, we covered some of DC, Philadelphia and NYC and have lived to tell the tale. There was art, family, friends and lovely little animals abound – so let's tell that tale in photos. First, for DC:

Here's fellow artist Julie Niskanen while hanging her solo show at the Washington Printmakers Gallery in Dupont Circle. The show looked awesome, and will be up through August 30... check it out if you're in DC.

Caught some other art of course, including this special exhibition over at the Phillips Collection entitled "Paint Made Flesh" in which I got to see (and drool over) the first Jenny Saville painting I've ever seen in person (in the flesh, haha! So to speak) as well as some Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and some John Currin – I had never seen his work in person before either. Then I did some sketching and wandering around at the National Gallery, and finally found a bench from which to sketch a Rodin bust:

... a little sketch (by me) of a Rodin bust of Katherine Seney Simpson, 1902-1903

Also at the National Gallery: a really lovely Géricault (speaking of "Paint Made Flesh" I suppose):

I also did a quick zip-through of the Freer Gallery, just to get myself my RDA of Whistler and Dewing, here are a couple:

This one is by Thomas Wilmer Dewing

Here's a Whistler landscape

This one is a portrait of Charles Freer himself by Whistler...

In between art-time and going out to the wilds of Virginia to see Depeche Mode, I got to see the newest member of our extended family, little J.T., already six months old. Yay! Here he is with his lovely mamma:

Stay tuned for some more random images from the DC leg of the trip. Yay for our nation’s capital! Woot! Also soon to come: NY and Philadelphia. Check back in the coming day or two...