Norman Rockwell and Eureka Springs

artist Norman Rockwell

Over Memorial Day weekend we traveled to Bentonville, AR and Eureka Springs.  It was the last weekend for the Norman Rockwell at the Crystal Bridges Museum.  I'm so glad we went it was an amazing exhibit.  unfortunately they didn't allow pictures to be taken but I snuck a couple.  The above picture is not particularly a fav of mine but I wanted to point out that there were a hand full of oil paintings under glass.  I encountered this at the National Gallery as well.  The watercolor artist in me just wanted to share that oil paintings don't last forever and do have to be protected some times.  

The exhibit was large and they had  ipads you could borrow with headphones to listen to commentary by one of his sons and some of the models in his paintings.  It was terrific to hear the stories behind the paintings.  Norman Rockwell painted every day and only took Thanksgiving and Christmas off and sometimes snuck into the studio on those days.  

Looking forward to the Georgia O'Keefe, Alfred Stieglitz exhibit in November.

Below I'm sharing some of my favorite paintings from the museum.  It's a beautiful museum and highly encourage you to visit.

"The Lantern Bearers" artist Maxfield Parrish 

"Capri Girl" artist John Singer Sargent

"Summer Day" artist Frank Weston Benson

"Summertime" artist Mary Cassatt

The boys inside Crystal Bridges

Eureka Springs

The historic loop in Eureka Springs

All over Eureka Springs were areas where the springs run through.  They were gorgeous areas.

A caterpillar

The boys:)

See you Friday

Carrie

Norman Rockwell Behind the Camera

Hi Everyone,

If you could have any super power what would it be?  Okay, I'm going to tell you mine, but don't think I'm too strange:)  I have always wished I could make myself invisible and be able to slip through walls in this state.  Why? you ask?  Because I love to see people's homes, how they decorate.   Maybe it goes back to my roots as an Interior Designer, but I just love taking a tours of homes.  So when I stumbled across this book "Norman Rockwell Behind the Camera", I was instantly interested.

This book gives you the inside scoop on how he set up his paintings.  His models and the stories he told in his paintings.  As the daughter of a photographer I always thought you wanted to spontaneously catch a moment, and that creeps into my thoughts on paintings sometimes.  However, one of my favorite things to do is set up a still life and photograph it.  So I just loved seeing Norman Rockwell's process. I'm sure this will have an influence on how I set up my paintings in the future.

I'd love to hear how you set up your paintings.  What does the behind the scenes look like in your artistic space?

Carrie