Birthday inspiration

To celebrate my birthday, my sister Patty and I went to visit my favorite art museum today- The McNay. It's a beautiful Spanish style mansion that was originally the home of the woman whose impressive art collection remains in the museum. Many impressionist works are a part of the permanent collection, and now a huge contemporary wing has been added. These are a couple of photos of the interior courtyard. I had my white balance setting set wrong, so they're a bit blue, but maybe you can see how beautiful it is.


The McNay has my most favorite Monet waterlily painting, several good Gauguins, a gorgeous Pissaro, oh... wonderful things. The contemporary wing had an extensive exhibit of Edward Gorey's work. I got a bit of a crick in my neck (that's fancy Chiropractor terminology) tipping my head back so I could see his tiny, exquisite pen and ink work through the lower third of my tri-focals. Aging is not for sissies, my friends.
On our way out, we bought chunky bracelets in the museum gift shop. We plan to swap them back and forth every few weeks. Mine says Believe In Yourself. Patty's says Explore. Dream. Discover. Hey, it doesn't hurt to be reminded, right?
Now Patty's come over and is starting a new landscape painting at the easel next to mine. I'm going to continue working on the mother-and-daughter-at-the-beach painting I started on Wednesday. This is a good day. If you're going to get older anyway, why not look at beautiful things, try to make a few of your own, and seek out good company along the way?
Let me hear you say Amen.

13 comments:

Shelley Bittick said...

Susan, Happy Birthday!! Sounds like a wonderful day.

JohanneMorinFineArt said...

Thanks for sharing your day with us and Happy Birthday Susan!

Jo Castillo said...

Amen..... Happy Birthday! I love that museum. Good for birthday outings!

Rose Welty said...

Happy Birthday Susan! Sounds like a wonderful day for a wonderful lady...

Unknown said...

Amen and Happy Birthday. I love any art museum.

CandynRA said...

Amen, Susan! Sounds like you had a really blessed day. Visiting art museums must be a favorite thing for all us Artists to do. Thank goodness, my hubby enjoys going, too!

This weekend, John Pototschnick, Jonathan Hardesty and George Kovak, among many other Artists will be demoing at the Southwest Art Gallery in Dallas. Hope to make this one!

Have a great week!

Susan Carlin said...

Thank you, Everyone! My email inbox got jammed when someone sent me a 9MB file 15 times!!! So I just now saw that you commented. Thank you.
Candy- Oh! I'd love to be there for those demos! Enjoy!

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Susan,

Happy, Happy Birthday. This has been a great year for you, so you know the next one will be even more spectacular! Love your work.

xoxoxoxoBarbara

Dar Presto said...

Happy Birthday, Susan!

Susan Carlin said...

Thank you, sweet folks.

Unknown said...

Happy belated Birthday Susan! Wow, what a beautiful building to have a museum in. I'm glad you had a wonderful day with your Sis who appears to also be a great friend and painting buddy. You're a lucky girl!

I hope this next year is better than last and I hope to spend at least every Wed. with you!

Gwen Bell said...

Haaaappy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you. Happy Biiiiiiiiirthday, dear Susan. Happy Birthday tooooooo youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

(and many more!)

Patricia Siegel said...

Amen! Susan, thanks for visiting my blog. The McNay is a favorite of mine as well. We lived in San Antonio when the kids were younger. I believe I sent out cards one year with pics of the kids on the beautiful grounds there. What a wonderful place to spend your birthday. And by the way, your work is beautiful.