We are the dreamers of the dreams...

Greetings!

Welcome to my attempt at writing. Whether or not it is worth reading is up to you. Feel free to abandon this post at any time, especially if you feel the need to attend one of my fellow blogger's sites. I thought for my first official post I would write about my recent trip to Chicago. My job as a travel agent brought me to the very "windy city" there for a training class. While the class was helpful the true highlight of my trip came when I got to visit the Art Institute of Chicago. I loved so many things about this museum. The collections were fantastic and the size of the museum was just right. One of the worst feelings a traveler can have comes from leaving a museum, knowing that one won't be back for a long time, and having seen only about a tenth of what they came there to see in the first place. That did not happen with me and the Art Institute. There were certainly some things that I couldn't spend as much time as I would have liked and I did miss several exhibits that will be at the top of my list if I ever return--but the feeling of complete satisfaction that I felt upon leaving, makes me think that I got a good taste of the works. This Sargent painting above was one of my favorites. The light reflecting off of the gown's satiny sheen is marvelous. Another of my sillier favorites is a composition piece that I don't even remember the name to. It was something like "20 Bulbs on a Cord," I think. As you can tell from the picture it is just that--a string of lights sitting on the floor. Don't you just love modern art?! I laughed when I saw it and then hoped that the artist wasn't trying to make some statement about the demoralization of banana growers or something equally obtuse. I hope that they meant it to be a fun, thought provoking way to challenge the way we look at commonplace objects. I love that artists can see art in everything. I wish I could more often. After my visit to the museum I went across the street to the Millenial Park. There, in the park, lives a giant silver bean. It's mirror-like surface is intoxicating. You can't help but walk up to touch it. I walked under it and around it. One of my best pictures of the trip came from this wonderous bean and as I close this post I leave you with my own work of art. I call it "Flashy Bean Belly," because it's what happened when I used my flash under the belly of the giant bean. I hope you like it!