The Cloisters!

Violent and sad, but most religious art is. Also, this is a tapestry! A crazy-huge-wall-sized tapestry! 

Here come some forgotten photos! Nik and I went up to the Cloisters way back in October (?!!), and had a nice walk around Fort Tryon park and in the Cloisters museum.  It's right up my alley with medieval art from the 9th-16th century Europe. I have a large fascination with religious and medieval art and basically anything with gold leaf on it makes my heart flutter. The Met is my favorite museum in NYC by far, but I hadn't made it up to their Cloisters branch yet. Plus, I timed it right, so we would be there when the leaves were changing. Leaf-peeping! It's so pretty there! Set in the scenic Fort Tryon park, along the Hudson River, it's a great day trip away from the city. I sounded like a guide-book just now. 

Terrible photo, but they keep the lights low to conserve all the tapestries.
Another wall-sized tapestry, and probably what the museum is most known for. Absolutely love them. Poor 'lil unicorn dude...

Cool braids.

Teeny little handwritten/illustrated books! These were only like 3-4 inches wide.

This looks totally typical until you note the weird thing he is stabbing...

Pretty courtyard

The outside!

View of the George Washington Bridge 

Fort Tryon Park

The arch!

Scenic overlook

Magnificent arch!

Cindy Sherman at MOMA

Friday night I met a friend at MOMA to check out the Cindy Sherman exhibition that I've been dying to see. I'm a big Cindy Sherman fan and I studied her a lot back in college, in my art history and women's studies classes, so I was super-excited to see this retrospective. Over 170 photographs were on  display and it was really great to see her old stuff leading up to her current work. My friend and I were imagining her studio with all the different drawers she must have full of noses and wigs and teeth and tongues and even nipples. Ha! 

Wandering around the other floors of MOMA:

Creative Field Trips

Last week, I took a creative day and went on a field trip of sorts, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  It's my favorite museum in NYC, and I always feel super-inspired after a visit there!  I also wanted to check out the Alexander McQueen exhibit, "Savage Beauty," and holy wow, was that awesome! Like seriously, I'm not too huge into fashion or runway shows and whatnot, but this was really great. It was pretty crowded, so I wasn't really able to sketch inside the McQueen exhibit, and photos weren't allowed, so I just soaked it in.  I tried looking up photos of it online afterwards, but they don't really do it justice at all.  It was great seeing some Philip Treacy hats in person too.

Wandering around the MET after the McQueen exhibit, I'm always drawn to the African art section and the Renaissance paintings.  They're my faves (and it's usually empty, so I can stare as long as I want!) Everyone is usually crowded around the Monet's and Picasso's, but I tend to favor the much older stuff. 

I'm contemplating the illustrations for my calendar for next year and just needed a creative day to just let my mind wander and for new ideas to form.  Everyone needs a time-out from the day-to-day sometimes! Definitely did wonders, and I think I need to make a regular habit of this.  Where do you go for some creative time?

Here are some sketches and photos: