Boy and Panther

Another creative sculpture from Brookgreen Gardens.

And the nature shot:

I Pledge Allegiance

Another beautiful sculpture from Brookgreen Gardnes.  And the nature shot:

Pegasus

Another sculpture at the Brookgreen Gardens and this one has the honor of being the sculpture that took the longest to create.  Nine years in fact.  It is worth it.  And I say that knowing I wouldn't have the dedication to last nine hours on the project.

And a nature shot from the same beautiful place:

The Visionaries

Finding the pictures of the Nature Preserve the other day also reminded me that I said I would come back and share some more sculptures with you from the Botanical Gardens that we visited in Myrtle Beach.

This one features the couple that founded the gardens.

A poem written by the husband of the couple:

And another nature shot because I took hundreds of them that day.

So pretty, isn't it?  I could have easily spent days in those gardens.  We spent two days there and felt like we were rushing to see all there was there.  Just a beautiful, peaceful place to be.

Living the life in Florida!

Brookgreen Gardens~The Sculptures

There are so many fabulous parts to this place that it is impossible to say which part is the best.  I can say that the sculptures were the most surprising part to us.

We knew there would be some sculptures from the website, but we didn't truly envision how many there were and how grand some of them were.

It is hard to put into words how emotionally touching they were.

 

There were so many and they were all so beautiful that it was hard to absorb it all.  I couldn't even begin to share them all here.  I am going to share a few today and share some more later.

Solomon's Castle

Last year, Austin and I visited this quirky place.  It ended up being one of our favorite things since we went on the road.  We have tried to explain what it was about this place that captured our hearts, but it is really hard to put it into words.  Last week, Nathan and Aric were able to see what all the hoopla was about.

 

First, there is the castle.  This eye catching art studio/home was built by Howard Solomon. 

Then there is the art.  If you hadn't realized there is a sense of humor in the artist just by seeing the castle, you will know it after seeing the art.

 

Some of the art, like the stained glass windows, is so beautiful.

The bonus to this neat place, is Howard Solomon.

 

I think Aric said he was one of the funniest guys he has ever met.  When you take the tour, and hear his life story, he is equally impressive in his drive to follow his own path.  Given we are living a somewhat out of the box lifestyle in order to pursue our dreams, we always respect it when someone else is bold enough to do the same. 

 

And we love it when someone finds a way to take what is burning inside of them, and instead of quenching that thing...finding a way to keep it alive, and share it with the rest of the world.  Even if it is not "our thing", we can appreciate the beauty in the process and the delivery of someone honoring what is their thing.

We use a lot of sappy phrases when sharing with our kids to convey what we hope for in their lives.  You know..things like, "You only have one life to live so you might as well make it yours".  And sometimes they look at us like uh yeah...sure...what does that even mean though????  It's a really cool thing when they can see what that looks like, and we can simply say "that, is what we are talking about".  So we thank this artist for being a fine example of that.

Not that my kids seem to need a whole lot of help in living their lives as their own.

They still can use heroes though, even if they are the most unlikely ones.


Living the life, our life, in still so chilly Florida!

Ringling Museum of Art

Today we headed over to Sarasota.  We stopped off at one of my favorite Florida museums, the Ringling Museum.  We only had time to see the Art Museum, which we are always impressed by.  If you have never visited this museum, I highly recommend it.

 

  

  

  

 

After our visit there, we ate at an overpriced restaurant that we are still talking about.  On the way home we played 20 questions.  I love that the guys are still able to be entertained by such simple fun things.  I hope they never outgrow that.  Living the life in Florida!

In Search of Norman Rockwell's America

This was one of the special exhibits at the Ringling Art museum.  We loved this exhibition!

 

  

  

  

  

  

If you want to know more, you can read about the exhibit here: Norman Rockwell Exhibit

Cadillac Ranch and the Giant Legs

I like unusual things so I was looking forward to visiting Cadillac Ranch.  I thought it would be cool to see cars buried in the ground for art's sake.  I didn't realize that the visitors are a part of that art, by leaving their mark using spray paint.  Even more cool!

From Roadside America: The Cadillac Ranch, located along the tatters of historic Route 66, was built in 1974, brainchild of Stanley Marsh 3, the helium millionaire who owns the dusty wheat field where it stands. Marsh and The Ant Farm, a San Francisco art collective, assembled used Cadillacs representing the "Golden Age" of American Automobiles (1949 through 1963). The ten graffiti-covered cars are half-buried, nose-down, facing west "at the same angle as the Cheops' pyramids."

 

The kids had a blast here and even the dog seemed to sense that this was way cool!

On the way back to the campground, we stopped off to see the "Giant Legs" that sit in a field, compliments of the same guy.  Not sure if all of Amarillo is this fun or not!

Living the life in Texas!

Timken Museum of Art

When Diana and I visited the Ringling Museum together, we were discussing how we never get to visit art museums due to having children with us all the time and the fact they are less than enthusiastic about them. Today, I was actually able to visit one. Nathan and I visited the Timken Museum of Art and enjoyed every minute of it.
From their website:
Located in San Diego's beautiful Balboa Park, the Timken Museum of Art houses the world-class Putnam Foundation Collection of European old masters American art, and Russian icons.

Artworks in the collection range from 13th-century altarpieces through 18th-century portraits to 19th-century still lifes. Represented are the works of Dutch, Flemish, French, and Italian painters, including Rembrandt, Rubens, Petrus Christus, Fragonard, Jacques-Louis David, and Veronese, as well as American artists such as John Singleton Copley and Eastman Johnson.

Admission to the Timken Museum of Art is always free.

Dr Suess Wants You!

Gallery of some of his work that we viewed while at the Holocaust Museum: