Happy Clouds at the Tate Modern

Okay, I'm a total cynic and this made even this cold heart smile. Happy, smiley face clouds drifting through the air near the Tate Modern on a cold winter day. Awww. Nice.

28-year-old, Artist, Stuart Semple, created round, smiley face clouds from a combination helium, soap and vegetable dye and unleashed them in the skies around London. The clouds were created by a modified "snow making" machine that is used in Hollywood. This is the first time its been used to create clouds, and the first time its been used in England.

Why did he do it? The artist said, "this was the most straight forward way I could think of to literally contribute something happy to the atmosphere."

Looks like it did. Lots of school children chased along after the wafting clouds before they were picked up by the wind and scooted out over the Thames. Overall Semple receieved a very positive response from Londoners.

Although the happy faces were short-lived – each of them lasting only around 30 minutes before dissipating – Mr Semple was pleased with his efforts.

He said: “At the moment it is a one off piece but I am thinking I could do it somewhere else – the potential is there to do it in other countries.

“I don’t see why we couldn’t spread the happy clouds around the world a bit.”

Bless his optimistic heart.

Dark is the Night- Best Valentine's Day Present Out There

I am celebrating Valentine's Day this year in a different way than usual. Okay, I'm single right now, so that has a lot to do with it, but even if I wasn't I am not really feeling pink hearts and rosebuds this year.

February 17th (okay its three days after VD but I have always liked odd numbers better anyway) Red Hot Charity, the same folks that brought us Red, Hot + Blue back in the day is releasing an awesome two-cd compilation. The list of artists is AWESOME.

Here are just a few:
Andrew Bird (just go ahead and buy it now that you know that)
My Brightest Diamond (did they create this especially for me?)
Bon Iver
Cat Power
Arcade Fire
Sufjan Stevens

Come on- even if this was it, it would be worth buying. If you want to see more about the album go to their site at: http://www.darkwasthenight.com/artists

If you need more encouragement, the money from the sale of the cd (its also available in vinyl for you hipster, old-school folks who can find needles for your players) goes to benefit HIV and AIDS research.

Here are a few tracks from the upcoming compilation. Enjoy. And buy.

Sometimes a Song is Just What's Needed

I had a crap day. I listened to this song and it brought back nice memories of two shows I saw earlier this year. Plus, Clare has a voice that makes you smile whether you want to or not. So, I'm passing it on to you.

The most rockin'ist cover song I've heard in a long time.

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Good News in Dark Times

I was pretty darn thrilled to read a post from my friend Tom Bell of the Georgia Center for the Book today and I thought I'd share it.

"Since 1982, the National Endowment for the Arts has regularly been reporting stomach lurching drops in the rates of literary reading among Americans. In the last report, in 2002, well less than half of Americans reported reading even a single novel, short story or poem over the past year.

Good news today, though. For the first time since 1982, when the NEA started tracking, the rate of literary reading has increased. 50.2% of Americans reported reading at least one novel, story or poem in 2008, compared to 46.7% in 2002. It’s a small increase and still a dishearteningly low number, but at least we seem to be moving in the right direction. Hurray!"

Life is short and there are too many amazing books to read to just sit there watching TV, so snap off the tube and pick up a book. All the cool people are doing it. :)

The World Has Lost a Great Painter: Andrew Wyeth

The world lost a brilliant light in the art world today. Perhaps best known for his painting "Christina's World", a painting of a young woman named Christina Olson. The moving portrait shows a windblown field and Christina in the foreground. The inspiration for the painting purportedly had an undiagnosed muscular deterioration in her lower limbs which kept her from walking. Christina often dragged herself across the ground to pick flowers from her garden, which supposedly inspired the painting.

Wyeth was widely celebrated in and outside the art world. Awarded the Presidential Freedom Award by President John F. Kennedy, he was critically acclaimed since his first one-man show in 1937. His work portrayed America and the simple lives of the people he saw in every day life and the land they called home. Some of his most moving work, in my opinion, was of his neighbor 'Helga' a pale redhead who modeled for him for several years. The work is simply stunning.

I was privileged to see a show of his work several years ago, and while upon entering as a novice admirer of his work, I most certainly left a fan and admirer.

Wyeth, 91 passed away in his sleep on Thursday night at his home near Philadelphia.

Sleep well and be at peace. Thank you for the gifts you leave behind.

You Know Who You Are..

I love Post Secret. It reminds me that there are millions of us on the planet, and at one time or the other we generally experience the same kinds of feelings. This could have been my secret -even though its not all that secret.

Got a Carrivagio in Your Closet?

So you're cleaning out the box room one day and you stumble across a box of pictures you haven't seen in a while, a couple old yearbooks, some pants you thought you might be able to fit into again some day, maybe even your old prom dress. But, more likely than not, you're not going to stumble upon a painting that you've thought was a fake all these centuries, and which turns out to be a lost Carrivagio.

Queen Elizabeth did.

She has one of the world's greatest art collections, hundreds of Leonardo drawings, almost 30 Canalettos and paintings by Tintoretto, Vermeer, Holbein and Dürer. In 2006, the Queen acquired her first Caravaggio, worth £50 million or more if she could ever sell it.

The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew, owned by the Royal Family for almost 400 years, has lain unloved and seldom seen in a storeroom at Hampton Court for decades. Misattributed as a copy of a Caravaggio by an unknown hand, it was valued in thousands rather than millions.

The painting was bought by Charles I in 1637 and after being sold with most of the Royal Collection during the Commonwealth, it was re-acquired by Charles II.

Years of grime, varnishing and zealous over-painting to cover up damage convinced generations of art historians that it was of little merit. It was recently valued at "a few tens of thousands of pounds", mainly because Charles I's stamp was on the back.

The Queen cannot sell the work as she holds the Royal Collection in trust for the nation. But one expert said yesterday that the work, once accepted as genuine, could be worth £50 million or more.

The painting is taken from the scene in St Mark's Gospel where Christ, with Peter and Andrew while they are fishing at the Sea of Galilee, says to them: "Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men." Unusually, Christ is shown without a beard. The Royal Collection has dated it to between 1603 and 1606 when Caravaggio worked in Rome.

A notorious brawler, he fled in 1606 after killing a young man in a fight. He went to Naples and Malta but never returned to the Holy City, dying of a fever in 1610.

A copyist would have almost certainly drawn an outline of the picture he was copying on the canvas but cleaning, X-ray and infra-red investigation of the work revealed none. What they did show were incisions, made for the artist's guidance with the handle of a paintbrush, in the first layer of paint. This was a well-known feature of Caravaggio's technique. The removal of over-painting revealed brushwork that was stylistically consistent with other Caravaggio pictures.

The Queen's thoughts on the discovery are not known.

I Can't Justify the Cost of the Replica at the Metropolitan, but..

a girl can dream.

I'd be perfectly satisfied with one of the replica's that are available at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, but if I was in the market for a wonderful piece of art, there's one soon to be available at Sotheby's. British millionaire Sir John Madejski is sending his Tiny Dancer to the auction block at Sotheby's Impressionist art auction on February 3.

The bronze sculpture from Degas, Petite danseuse de quatorze ans, is one of Degas's most famous and popular works. The bronze cast is one of only a few remaining in private hands. It is estimated at £9 – 12 million.

Sir John Madejski is one of Britain's leading arts philanthropists and the sculpture was on display at the Royal Academy in London since 2004 when he bought this statue for £5 million at Sotheby's in London. Another version sold in 1999 for $12.4 million which is highest price paid for a Degas sculpture.

So, if you were wondering what to get me for my birthday - this would certainly be appreciated.