Field Trip!!!!

Do You Remember the Excitement These Words Generated When We Were Kids??  Field Trip.

When we were in school and the teacher announced a pending field trip, did this elicit thoughts of freedom from the classroom, joy, new experiences?  As adults we see this somewhat the same but add a layer of inspiration, learning and looking at new things in different ways.  So when we decided to take a field trip into Los Angeles to visit The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens, then zip over to Olvera Street, and finally to LACMA to see a couple of the current exhibitions I was filled with thoughts of freedom, joy, inspiration, and learning.

First stop:  San Marino at the Huntington.  Our target was specifically The Desert Garden.  Wow!!

And Wow Again!!!

  What a great choice as the garden was in bloom.  Have you seen perfect cacti, no blemishes, huge as if they are fed steroids, with colorful blooms as well?  Most amazing and most inspirational.  

I paint these beauties, they are subject matter for me, so I spent time taking photos, sketching and absorbing the magnificence.  

Prickly Flower

7x5"

$ 100

After spending time with the prickly plants we wandered about and fell in love with the Rose Garden which was also at peak bloom.  

Julia Child Rose

Frequently the name of a person of note is attached to a rose and there were many represented here.  Did you know that there is a Julia Child rose?  The scent of the blossoms filled the air to tantalize our olfactories and the variety of color teased our vision.

Next stop, Olvera Street, in the oldest part of downtown Los Angeles.  The zig zag brick pathways of the street lay down the beginning of the visual entertainment here.  Twenty-seven historic buildings line the sides of this narrow walking street which has been in existence since the early 1800's.  

They have been serving up taquitos here since 1924

After a culinary treat of taquitos at our favorite stand, Cielito Lindo, we strolled the street taking in the cacophony of colors, sounds, and movement.


Final destination, LACMA:  Los Angeles County Museum of Art. 

Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird

Frida Kahlo

Our goal was to visit 'In Wonderland' The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States exhibited in the Resnick Pavilion.  This is work influenced by dreams and the subconscious, filled with portraits, double portraits, and masquerades all demonstrating Surrealism's influence on the feminist movement.   

 LACMA is huge and varied, it's impossible to see everything, so we had just one more building we would tour which was the Broad Contemporary.  Favorites there included Robert Therrien's stacked plates and Metropolis II created by Chris Burden.   

As the end of the day drew near we found our energy subsiding, though the excitement generated earlier in the day remained.  Field Trip!  What an inspiring day and one that will be repeated.

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