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Saturday, April 28, 2012

Photographic Saturday: For Reference or On Their Own



From the seat of my bicycle, the promise of warmer rides.


I took the day off art. I drove Honey for his post op check up and learned that eye drop duty is going to continue till the middle of May. The news didn't cheer us up. But checking in on all the blogs I admire did put me back on track--but not enough to go to the studio. Instead, I went through the photographs I took before Honey and I got involved in this medical procedure that's going on forever.


The Grand Rapids, Michigan photographs I liked well enough to show:

At The J.W. Marriott, excellent lighting design using multiple pendant fixtures
to create a big bang impression and provide the cozier feeling of a lower ceiling over diners in their restaurant.



A provocative poster at the Gerald R Ford Museum showing Ford and
Nelson Rockefeller storming a beach in the Middle East for the oil
aroused my politics. Every president since could be so pictured.
This piece of poster art could be the center of a few blog posts
from me on my dissatisfaction with the under use of our own energy resources due to
smaller picture oriented interest groups.



Betty Ford's Presidential luncheon china. I was happy to see
I would feel at ease dining at the White House. My mom often set her table like this
to teach us etiquette should we ever get invited.
I set my table this way too in case my kids ever made it to the White House.
You use the silver from the outside in towards the plate. The center piece is a too high; it blocks
cross table conversation--maybe that was the purpose?



The Streets of old Grand Rapids in The Grand Rapids People's Museum.
I love taking trips back in time when life was slower, wood mouldings were hand carved
and store clerks knew your name and you knew theirs. 




The Apothecary Shop with the Department
Store's windows reflected in the glass, a good
reference photograph for the future. I like the light blue against
the dark. I might also like a square format?



Grand Rapids, The Paris of Furniture Design.  You  can't get finished artisan carpentry like this
anymore and not pay with your first born. Note the moire fabric on the walls. I did a  pre Civil War circa
renovation and used delft blue moire on the walls. Gorgeous. Grand Rapids was a big furniture manufacturing
town at one time. Basset came out of there and Steel Case, respectable names with respectable design. My
dad was in the furniture business before Art Van cheapened  up the business (probably by out sourcing)
 and knocked a lot of folks out-of-business.


We went there to see the Robert Rauschenberg Exhibit, but couldn't photograph any of the works.
We were allowed to make our own composition on a magnetic board. Honey and I got carried away.



To lunch at Leo's. And now we're going to lunch at  the California Pizza Kitchen.

10 comments:

  1. Beautiful series! Best wishes!

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    1. Thank you Robert. I had fun processing the photographs and recalling our little holiday.

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  2. What a nice journey with you in the USA! I have been in USA three times - but I'd love to come back. We visited Orlando and Miami, in San Francisco we got marry and last October we lived a fortnight in N.Y. This time I would love to see some more of your splendid nature!
    The town at my photos and in my heart is Krakow, Poland. The old university town (established in 1364)where you meet thousands of young students. I love this contrast!
    Have a beautiful Sunday!

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    1. You too Maria. I'm so glad you told me the name of the beautiful place in your photographs. I will come back for another visit to take a more informed look. I didn't really show you the town of Grand Rapids, but it was a very pleasant place just two hours away from my home. It's a slightly newer town than Krakow though American Natives have lived along Michigan's waterways for 2000 years. The Ottawa Tribe settled villages along the Grand river in the 1700s and the Europeans came to trade furs and settle down in the early nineteenth century. I don't know when they went into the furniture business, but they were skilled artists. You really got me curious about the history. Thanks for commenting. I love reading about the past.

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  3. Hi LW! I enjoyed Photographic Saturday..that was totally fun. I appreciate the lighting at the Marriott. It so happens the friend I spent the morning with had a career in lighting. I bet she would appreciate your photo. She told me today that her firm won many awards. One doesn't often think about how beautiful lighting can be. I especially love the photo of you and Honey--you are a good looking couple! <---exclamation mark! My ex h sold high end office furniture. I was always fascinated with the gorgeous styles. (Henry Miller, Eames, etc).
    Great post. Will you paint something from the apothecary photo?

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    1. That photo does scream painting Celeste. Probably. I'm looking forward to getting back to some bigger formats and actually have been wondering why I've been sitting down with the watercolors instead--I guess it is because I can do them sitting down!

      Well Herman Miller manufacturer of Eames lounge chair, Noguchi table and other designer wonders is located in Zeeland,Michigan. Miller is also credited with inventing the office cubicle--I don't know whether the company should be too proud of that--people don't really like being in boxes till their time is up.LOL.

      Honey and I--even when leering at the camera--are often referred to as a cute couple. I think you get to be a cute couple, in spite of acidic personalities, sometime in your sixties and you still talk nonstop to one another? We are compatible, but never cute.

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  4. Linda? having a day off Art!!!? (faints).

    I agree with Celeste, a great post. Love the lights. The only story I have on lights will be wasted on you: my #2 son was putting software into the Bank of Kuwait, we went out to visit him and in his hotel was this ceiling lighting which I always describe as being the size of a cricket square! (a what she asks? :0)).

    The street of stores is exactly as the shops were in the UK in the olden days when we were kids.

    I love making furniture - obviously not on the scale in your picture (the walnut burr panels in the headboard alone would cost a fortune). I'm half way through making a second four-poster bed in mahogany at the moment. I have made a library in one room with bookcases that people love or hate, from dozens of pieces I have 'turned' on a spindle lathe.

    Pat reckons, if I had a drawing board at one end of my room, a computer for study at the other (I'm doing yet another degree in English) and a workshop in between - then I could run (up to my knees in sawdust) up and down all day long!

    I think I will have a furniture posting soon, Linda, and we can have a good old chat about what we like.

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    1. Isn't that bed something! Honey walked right by, but I was so captured by the beauty of the carving, the materials, the joinery, I had to drink it all in. I've had a saw or two in my hand and chisels and have finely sanded furniture pieces down to their original glory. I've also set off the smoke alarm several times by adding too much sawdust to the air and I always regretted that girls couldn't take shop. I didn't get my own woodworking tools till I was a married lady with children. I did some woodblock prints, but didn't like the prints as much as I liked carving the blocks. I had a vision of a wall paneled with them. It never happened; my thumbs gave out. I had to be content just designing moulding plans for paneled dens and libraries and fireplace surrounds and walls made of cabinetry rather than sheetrock. Ironically, my own house is contemporary. I also admire clean lines. I think I'm just in love with good furnishing designs from whatever century. I even like the Baroque Period.

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  5. Linda, you really have a great eye for design. I love the pendant light fixtures, the old shop fronts and the apothecary display.

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  6. And thank you for getting rid of that damn letter recognition!!!

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