African American Museum from the Outside

The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.

At the African American History Museum, Detroit

We really enjoyed are visit and are eager to go back. It was VERY interesting.

At the African American Museum in Detroit II

Here's another shot from the history portion of the museum. It's a wonderful museum and I can't wait to go back.

and here is a new self portrait done on the iPad with Artrage:

At the African American Museum in Detroit

I am sorry dear bloggy friends, that I have been so busy. I am in three art exchanges and working on multiple novels and children's books and taking another poetry class.

This picture is from the African American Museum in Detroit. I loved it there and hope to go visit again soon. I have more to post if I have time some time to post them.

I MISS YOU!!

To show you a tiny piece of what has kept me occupied, here is a new art piece I did in Collaboration with Steve Loya. It is called "Drunken Kisses."

click "Drunken Kisses" to view it larger.

Dusk at the Cranbrook Art Museum

Dusk at the Cranbrook Art Museum. (I'm going to be traveling.)

Robert Pauli Scherer Home, future Hellenic Museum of Michigan

This building is located in the Cultural District of downtown Detroit. All the information I know about it is contained in the signs. I've never been inside.

and here is my latest art:


When I got my Moleskine back from my second group, the one with Jim Doran, there were a number of blank pages at the end. Hennie Mavis did an extra for me, but I have working to fill in the rest myself. This is the last. All the pages are done. I have a completed book. (YAY!) It's my first fully completed Moleskine of art. If I ever have time, I may make a movie of it and post it. Meanwhile, all the individual pieces that I have done are on my blog and the rest are at the FLICKR site* we used. Except not everyone posted theirs--some of my favorites never got posted. (And some did).

This piece is a result of my fooling around experimenting with various techniques--I was playing with that wide paper masking tape used for painting in houses--I forget what it's called, and combining various media. I used pigment markers and pens over colored pencil. I'm not overly pleased with the results, but I learned by it, which is what it was all about.

This is a small 5 x 8 Moleskine and of course BB was my willing model.

*I lied. Our FLICKR group has apparently been disbanded without my knowledge or consent. (I was going to post a link).

But, my own FLICKR pix from the group are available on my site, if you're interested.

Ford Museum and New Art by Detroit Artist

The Spirit of St. Louis. I'm always impressed by the sheer SIZE of the Ford Museum and HOW MUCH it contains! Planes, cars, trains, buggies, pumps, machines, entire buildings!

My grandmother always used to say, when I was eager to grow up or eager for summer during school or eager for spring during winter, "Don't wish your life away," by which she meant, carpe dium or live each day.

It's grey and dismal outside. But I do have spring--or maybe even
summer--inside--My azalea bonsai, a mother's day gift from my kids, to
cheer me up and bring a touch of brightness to this dark day.

The Grand Canal in Venice, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. Original gifted to ES, as part of the gouache European Series.

And here's my collaboration with Steve Loya in Hennie's Mole. I am calling it: Diaphony, Dancers with Scarves.

(The Detroit artist is, in this case of course, me.)

Click images to view larger.

Stunts (Ford Museum)

These two are from the Stunt Plane Exhibit at the Ford Museum. You can sit among the dummies if you want to observe the details of the exhibit.

Ford museum again

Of course everyone knows that there are lots of cars of every make model and year at the Ford Museum, but the place is HUGE--there are entire trains, buildings, tractors, planes! This is Amelia Earhart, leaving for her fated journey.

Ford Museum: Arm Chair Made of Horns

Ford Museum: Arm Chair Made of Horns. The Ford Museum has lots of interesting furniture.

Two new shots from the Ford Museum

I spent several hours at the Ford Museum and took dozens (hundreds?) of pictures, and I will be sharing some of these with you in the next few days (weeks?). To see more shots from the Ford Museum, click the Ford Museum link below.

The second picture was taken in the airplane exhibit. But I neglected to write down the name of the particular sub-exhibit.

At the Maritime Museum on Belle Isle

Sailing through the snow at the Maritime Museum on Belle Isle and two of my recent watercolors. The second one is new yesterday.

The Last of the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House Tour

The Ford House Tour is winding down. Here is a picnic basket used by
the Fords for picnicking, supposedly the real original one--note the
missing pieces. The staircase is for Jacob--it's on the back of the
gatehouse. I don't know where it goes, but I'm curious!

3 from the pool and one from the Garage

Edson and Eleanor Ford House: The gargoyles were the lights of the
woodland pool. The third picture is inside the pool house. The
fourth picture was in the garage. The caption (one of the few I had
time to read) said that Edsel Ford hoped that mass production would
allow every home to afford to have lovely objects that before, only
the rich could afford.

Ford Garage

These cars were in the Edsel and Eleanor Ford Garage, which was part
of the gatehouse and a long ways from the house. They were closing,
so I didn't get any details. I will go back.

We have out of town company coming today, so I may not be online to
make comments etc.

The Edsel Ford Garage

At the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House, the garage is attached to the Gatehouse (and quite a ways from the house.) It has been turned into a museum. I will show a couple more pictures tomorrow or Monday or as soon as I can. I'm going to a poetry workshop today, a concert tonight, and we MAY go to an airshow tomorrow, except that PB is having company (a girlfriend from out of town) so we may have to stay home and chaperone.

When we got to the garage, they were closing the museum and I ran around and shot off a few pix. I was unable to read anything--we will go back and get more info.

The Gatehouse, Ford

The Gatehouse to the Edsel and Eleanor Ford mansion is bigger than most people's homes, and well-guarded, too.

Ford House Grounds

The grounds of the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House were very extensive and these pictures barely scrach the surface of the iceberg.

1)The Ford House viewed from one of the ponds.
2)The woodland swimming pool.
3 & 4)Roses in the rose garden--she kept no red roses; she felt they
were too gaudy.
5)Water lily from one of the ponds.

Edsel and Eleanor Ford House

Here are some shots of the actual Ford Mansion, the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House. It is built in Cotswald Cottage style, though it could hardly be called a "cottage" in the sense of smallness. It has sixty rooms. Almost half the house are servants quarters and servant use rooms.

The first pictures is at the approach or driveway side of the house. The second is the terrace on the side, the third is the river side of the house, opposite the driveway side, which Mrs. Ford considered the "front" of the house. The last is the view from terrace, or part of it. The grounds are very extensive and the view from the house in all directions is pleasant. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, but tomorrow, hopefully, I will show some pictures of the grounds.