Chicago in PICTURES

I had what some would call an "Artist's Date" these past few days!!  I was totally and unbelievably spoiled for my birthday by my favorite Aunt.  We spent 2 full days, walking the streets of our countries 3rd largest city.  I hadn’t been downtown Chicago in about 15 yrs.  The last couple times I’ve been there I had to make sure I had enough juice boxes, didn’t forget the stroller, held little hands and watched closely where those little feet ran went.  This was a totally different experience.  It’s nice to be an ADULT and to even have a beer in the middle of the afternoon……Woo- who!!

 

The Art Institute of Chicago is HUGE, and by the time we got there, we were a bit rushed and exhausted.  It would’ve been best if I had a list of Artists I wanted to see then proceeded to those various wings.  The Contemporary Art section was not very impressive.  I think that some of it I could’ve done, really!! You too!  Please…. a painted picture of a diamond grid on point, with two colors…..who decided to call that art put that in?    I loved that we came upon a group of students drawing some sculptures!  I also spotted a workman painting a mural on a huge wall of one of the wings….he was following some Paint-by-Number map!  Too funny!  We came upon some Trompe l'oeil paintings, which means to “deceive the eye”….This was well worth the time, and we were fooled by each painting.  Some of the paintings looked like objects were hung inside of the frame,  very 3D, not flat.  The shadows and highlighting effects were amazing!  Probably should’ve taken more pictures…..pretty cool that I was even allowed to, as long as I didn’t use my flash.



Just a bunch of different pictures that I found interesting.  The bean, gold people figures and the man’s face (one at night and another with water coming out of the mouth) are from Millennium Park.  The Alpha/numerical structure, Ferris wheel, Statues of kids playing and Anchor are from Navy Pier.  Also pictured are: a few modes of transportation, Buckingham Fountain at night, an American Girl at the Hair Salon and other cool art work around the city.



We took a Architecture Boat Tour on the canal where I was able to get some really good pictures.  We learned a lot about the city and architecture of the buildings.  Apparently lots of the buildings were built in a way to compliment one another.  Oh, and the Sears Tower, has a new name....it’s the Willis Tower now!  Ugh!



We walked around 12-15 miles and I took almost 600 pictures in two days.  Being a Proud American, how could I not take pictures of all the American Flags displayed throughout the city?  Gotta love digital cameras and 2 gigabyte memory cards!



And……then there’s SILLY!!!  All I can say is….I love people shots!!

Patty the Party-Girl birdie

Went to a party this weekend!! Now….I didn’t look like this or act like this because well, I wasn’t on my own turf. HaHaHa! But every now and then I think I need to put on my party hat and celebrate! Not so much my birthday, but other’s! People who are special to me! When the kids were little, I always had parties for them! Sometimes we invited more people than at other times, it’s always dependent on what’s going on in our world at the time. But with the kids, we definitely had to have the party hats, the balloons, the cake, the fun! Now, with the kids almost both adults, we are much more subdued. We’re quieter, we do make sure they get their “meal of choice” and “a cake from wherever at whatever the cost”. And we always make the birthday girl or boy wait until their birthday to open up any gifts received (either from afar or local). This is just the way we do things in our neck of the woods!

The party this weekend was for an 80 year old!!! I still can’t believe she’s eighty!!! She is so strong and healthy and young-at-heart! She often says she’d do so much more if there were more hours in the day! And what a fun lady she was to spoil!!! Part of enjoying the party is seeing someone enjoy their gifts! I must take note of this!

And while I was in Chicago, I was able to check out this place. I’ve heard so much about it, thru Tammy and Wet Canvas, I had to see it for myself! Unfortunately my camera’s battery died just before I arrived and I couldn’t take cool pictures of the thousands of paintbrushes and the paints upon paints lined up on shelves. Being a marker-girl I was lucky I could walk on by those aisles!

(photo from phone)

Have you been to any birthday parties lately?