“Paintings take on a life of their own, long after the artist is gone.” George Rodrigue, from my journal. As a young Cajun man of twenty-seven living in Lafayette, Louisiana, George Rodrigue (1944-2013) chose to express his culture’s pride in their adopted American homeland in a most unusual way. His painting of Independence Day illustratesContinue reading “Miss July Fourth at Fifty”
Category Archives: Books
Sharing George: A Video
The Life & Legacy Tour began because I felt compelled to help others experience George Rodrigue in a more personal way. After eight months, the tour is in demand more than ever, with no end in sight! And perhaps that’s exactly as it should be. Want to know what it’s like? Here’s a video from Dr.Continue reading “Sharing George: A Video”
The Begneaud Collection
Since losing George in 2013, we (myself, his sons, and our staff), have made educating the public about his life and work a priority. In the galleries, we’ve focused on exhibitions that span his 45-year career, including the current installations, Rodrigue: Blue Dog for President in New Orleans and Rodrigue in Carmel: Galerie Blue DogContinue reading “The Begneaud Collection”
Blue Dog Hog
George Rodrigue’s Blue Dog Hog premiered in 1994 in a New York City gallery called The Time is Always Now. This unique three-dimensional artwork dazzled at the center of the warehouse-type space, with George’s paintings, some as large as fifteen feet across, surrounding the bike. -click photos throughout to enlarge- The exhibition coincided with theContinue reading “Blue Dog Hog”
I am Not the Artist.
Over the years countless people approached George Rodrigue with ideas for paintings. They didn’t understand that George was original. He was authentic. “They all think they’re the artist,” he would say, shaking his head over the umpteenth person to “have a great idea,” insisting that he paint the Blue Dog with St. Louis Cathedral orContinue reading “I am Not the Artist.”
An Intimate Painter
In his last weeks, while George slept, I watched for hours as he painted in the air…. *** Several months ago I posted a painting to George’s facebook page along with the words, “For Rodrigue, the Blue Dog, as it exists on his canvas, never referenced a real dog.” The backlash was immediate, as people defendedContinue reading “An Intimate Painter”
Magic People
“I never thought before that I was interesting, but after talking with you, I realize that I’m fascinating!” –Roz Cole In September 2013 I spent several weeks in a New York City hospital room with George Rodrigue’s longtime literary agent, Rosalind Cole. Weak from his medication’s side effects, George couldn’t travel, and I remember wellContinue reading “Magic People”
Circle of Life: Round Paintings
As I understand it, the bright-colored mandala represents the universe; its creation in sand and its inevitable destruction represent the impermanence of life.* Some years ago I asked George Rodrigue if he would paint, for me, a meditative symbol. He replied, naturally… “I already have.” (pictured: Circle of Life, 2002, an original silkscreen by George Rodrigue,Continue reading “Circle of Life: Round Paintings”
Choo Choo Ch’Boogie (An Adventure)
Last year I often found George Rodrigue in his studio in the middle of the night. He worked for weeks on the painting Choo Choo Ch’Boogie, yet instead of photographing him at his easel, I stood quietly behind and watched. (pictured: Choo Choo Ch’Boogie, 2013 by George Rodrigue, acrylic on canvas, 48×60 inches) At the time,Continue reading “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie (An Adventure)”
An Exhibition from the Other Side
This month, the State Library of Louisiana premieres an exhibition based on a new Rodrigue book, The Other Side of the Painting, on view through February 2014. Unable to attend the November 2ndopening in Baton Rouge, George Rodrigue and I relied on curator Marney Robinson, who astonished us with her ability to fully utilize aContinue reading “An Exhibition from the Other Side”
The Right Thing
“I hate the right thing to do…” …grumbled my young cousin, her back to me as she descended the stairs. This was several years ago in New Orleans, and I had just pushed her towards something that seemed terribly important at the time. Her reaction to my vague reasoning reverberates like my own adolescent reactionContinue reading “The Right Thing”
A New Rodrigue Book
“To your book!” …toasted George Rodrigue and son André as we perused the first copies of the finished hardcover, The Other Side of the Painting. “I nearly forgot about it…” …I replied, moved by their acknowledgment, as I returned that day from a long journey after visiting an ill friend back east. The book (still hardContinue reading “A New Rodrigue Book”
Gus Weill and George Rodrigue (a couple of local boys)
Why do you do what you do? Ah sir if we only knew. But the winds call And the waves toss And we follow And are lost. Ah sir if we only knew.* -Gus Weill, 1981 (pictured, A Couple of Local Boys, 1981, oil on canvas by George Rodrigue, 48×36 inches; collection theContinue reading “Gus Weill and George Rodrigue (a couple of local boys)”
A Blessed Life (An Irish Angel)
Last summer was challenging, as George Rodrigue faced an advanced lung cancer diagnosis and several months of treatment in Houston. Last fall, with his disease in remission, we tied up loose ends in New Orleans and prepared for a West Coast sabbatical. This spring, we spent weeks on the road, exploring America as we’ve doneContinue reading “A Blessed Life (An Irish Angel)”
Walker Percy (The Impossible Dream)
“Waking wide-eyed dreams come as fitfully as swampfire.”* Years ago artist George Rodrigue owned a camp in Butte la Rose, Louisiana on the Atchafalaya Basin. He purchased it as a small, cabin-like structure on stilts and quickly built on bedrooms, extending a raised walkway to the river and over the swamp. -click photo to enlarge-Continue reading “Walker Percy (The Impossible Dream)”
Footnote (He Stopped Loving Her Today)
In George Rodrigue’s latest painting, He Stopped Loving Her Today, Jolie Blonde’s hat sits alongside an above-ground tomb, the same type of vault his father installed in New Iberia, Louisiana as part of the family business. “I wanted to paint a tribute to George Jones (1931-2013),” explains Rodrigue. “I’ve loved this song for thirty years,Continue reading “Footnote (He Stopped Loving Her Today)”
The Breaux Bridge Band
Painted in 1971, The Breaux Bridge Band is a classic among George Rodrigue’s paintings. Along with similar works from this period, it defines his style as a pictorial champion of the Cajun culture, recording snapshots of time within turn-of-the-century Southwest Louisiana. Ironically, however, it is only on the artist’s canvas, and not in reality, thatContinue reading “The Breaux Bridge Band”
Blue Dog, The Book
“To find her you must lose her. The Blue Dog knows the way.” –Blue Dog, 1994 In March of 1992 journalist Bridget O’Brian interviewed George Rodrigue for an article, front page, center column, in The Wall Street Journal. Although George had no control over the content, O’Brian allowed him one special request. Without hesitating, heContinue reading “Blue Dog, The Book”
Cajuns, The Book
By the mid-1970s George Rodrigue painted on average forty canvases per year, all scenes of Cajun folk-life stemming from his first painting with people, Aioli Dinner (1971), while incorporating the distinctive oak trees from his landscapes. Although he rented a gallery in Lafayette, Louisiana, he sold most of his work on the road in Houston, Dallas,Continue reading “Cajuns, The Book”
I’m a Writer!
“All I see is that you’re writing with a pen. Yay!!!” Author Patty Friedmann cheered the hand-written word after seeing the photo below. It was December 2010, and I scribbled on the pages of a purse-size artsy notebook, purchased annually in multiples from the Morgan Library museum shop. George Rodrigue photographed me as I satContinue reading “I’m a Writer!”
Walker Percy, Sylvester Stallone and the Blue Dog
Update, 2/1/13- Due to the popularity of this exhibition, it is now extended through August 31, 2013. During his forty-five year career, George Rodrigue has painted more than one hundred portraits, everything from his family to U.S. Presidents. One series in particular, however, stands out as a select group of award-winning authors and scholars, paintedContinue reading “Walker Percy, Sylvester Stallone and the Blue Dog”
Lucky Dog
Yesterday morning I sat in the window of a Houston, Texas café, George Rodrigue’s sandwich order in hand, awaiting the counter change from breakfast to lunch. An Ignatius J. Reilly nearby spoke of high water and broken computers into what I first thought was a hand’s free phone but turned out to be air. “DamnContinue reading “Lucky Dog”
Starry Starry Eyes: A Runaway Hit
In 1991 George Rodrigue’s printed artwork bolted forward with new color and precision as he applied the latest in ink and technology to his silkscreens. This was a substantial advancement over his earlier Cajun posters and Blue Dog silkscreens. For the first time he created complex original print designs using intense hues. Prior to theContinue reading “Starry Starry Eyes: A Runaway Hit”
Read Me the Blues
I’ve loved libraries from the time I was a kid. During the mid-1970s I worked at the library at New Heights Elementary School in Fort Walton Beach, Florida for extra credit, and it was there that I discovered James Michener and, at age ten, read Hawaii, a book that shocked me to my young, innocent core,Continue reading “Read Me the Blues”
The Mamou Riding Academy: Fact or Fiction
“One summer a German mule trader struggled to sell his last white mule. A farmer finally bought it for his daughter, and the daughter liked it so much that her friends each wanted one. In the end, the mule trader sold nine mules to nine fathers of nine little girls.” That’s the story of theContinue reading “The Mamou Riding Academy: Fact or Fiction”
George Rodrigue: Painting Louisiana
Note: Based on an essay scheduled for publication in an upcoming book* celebrating Louisiana’s bicentennial, published in April 2012 by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, this blog version includes added images, as well as links throughout, referring you to specific relevant posts and websites. Born and raised in New Iberia, Louisiana, George Rodrigue (b.Continue reading “George Rodrigue: Painting Louisiana”
Talk About Good!
In 1979 George Rodrigue loaned twenty of his Cajun paintings for use in Talk About Good II, a cookbook produced by the Junior League of Lafayette, Louisiana. The paintings introduce the book’s chapters and include dinner scenes, seafood preparations and Cajun characters, each complemented by Rodrigue’s brief descriptions. Rodrigue writes about the cover, Kiss MeContinue reading “Talk About Good!”
Counting on Art (and Painting by Numbers)
George Rodrigue first picked up a paintbrush in 1953 when his mother brought him the latest American craze, paint by number sets, to ease his boredom as he lie sick in bed with polio. By the early Fifties the masses saw paint by number as affordable, do-it-yourself art. But even as a young boy, GeorgeContinue reading “Counting on Art (and Painting by Numbers)”
The Collectible Book
George Rodrigue and I spent the past few days in Las Vegas, Nevada. We trekked to and through the City Center, wanting to see the much-touted series of structures firsthand. Although the architecture is over the top and the occasional art piece of interest, ironically it was a bookstore that occupied our afternoon. We talkContinue reading “The Collectible Book”
A Flurry of Activity
…a sneak-peek at new projects The woodpeckers are crazy today, flying into the windows, boring holes into the house, and twirling together as though spring, and not a cold and foggy Carmel summer, is in the air. As I watch twenty or so, doing everything at once, barely pausing for rest in the oak treeContinue reading “A Flurry of Activity”
The Blue Cat
It may surprise you to know that we do not have a dog. In fact, George Rodrigue has not had a dog since Tiffany, an unwitting participant in the Blue Dog Series, died in 1980. He’s had several dogs over his lifetime, beginning with Lady and Trixie in 1950s New Iberia. However, it’s never beenContinue reading “The Blue Cat”
Blue Dog Speaks
With his Cajun works, George Rodrigue’s titles describe a scene in its simplest terms. The paintings themselves hold narratives, and their titles merely state the obvious. Louisiana Hayride (1972) Looking for Summer Shade (1973) The Aioli Dinner (1971, for a complete history of this, Rodrigue’s most famous Cajun painting, visit here) However, the Blue DogContinue reading “Blue Dog Speaks”
Blue Dog: The Silkscreens
George Rodrigue’s newest silkscreen* print, We Blues Dem Away (Ain’t Dat Super) is a typical example of his print process. In recent years he uses the computer to design his silkscreens so that the print itself, as opposed to a painting, is the original work of art. (pictured, 2010, 33×26 inches, partially a benefit forContinue reading “Blue Dog: The Silkscreens”
Red Dog
The Red Dog first appeared in 1990 about the time George Rodrigue started re-thinking the loup-garou, turning it into an entity beyond a Cajun legend, turning it slowly into something else. You may remember from the post Blue Dog: In the Beginning, 1984-1989 that George changed the red eyes of the early loup-garou paintings toContinue reading “Red Dog”
Blue Dog Man, 1996- 1999
Maybe it’s Diana Krall singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” or maybe it’s the lights on our turquoise tree, or maybe it’s this stormy New Orleans afternoon, but something has made me sentimental in thinking back on what I like to call the ‘Blue Dog Man’ years, 1996-1999. It was during this time thatContinue reading “Blue Dog Man, 1996- 1999”
Two Publishing Stories: The Cajuns and Blue Dog
The Cajuns of George Rodrigue By 1975 George Rodrigue was painting forty canvases a year, all scenes of Cajun folk-life stemming from his first painting with people, Aioli Dinner (1971), and incorporating the distinctive oak trees from his landscapes as well. Although he had a gallery in Lafayette, Louisiana, he was selling most of hisContinue reading “Two Publishing Stories: The Cajuns and Blue Dog”
How Baby George Became an Artist
George Rodrigue grew up an only child in New Iberia, Louisiana, a small town in the heart of Cajun country. His father, also named George Rodrigue, was a bricklayer by trade, but he dabbled in other businesses as well. As the youngest of thirteen children, Big George (as he was known around town) took onContinue reading “How Baby George Became an Artist”
Now and Then There’s a Fool Such as I (in Memphis)
We’ve spent the past three days in Memphis, extended longer than our usual book tour duty because we visited at length with patients and staff at Le Bonheur Hospital. We took a hard hat tour of their new facility, in addition to what I can only describe as an inspirational (and heartbreaking) tour of theirContinue reading “Now and Then There’s a Fool Such as I (in Memphis)”
We Left Happy Children in San Jose (and Our Hearts at Mountain Winery)
To be honest, we wondered if anyone would show up at the tiny independent children’s bookstore Hicklebees in the community of Willow Glen in San Jose, California. We’d never visited the store before, and it had been years since we’d had a book event on the West Coast. So imagine our surprise when we walkedContinue reading “We Left Happy Children in San Jose (and Our Hearts at Mountain Winery)”
On Tour Again (Like a Rock Star)
After vowing several years ago that we would never tour again, it seems that, sort of like Mardi Gras float rides and over-the-top Christmas decorations and childbirth (or so they tell me), somehow the subject of a tour comes up nearly every summer, and before we know it we’ve got 15 cities on the roster.Continue reading “On Tour Again (Like a Rock Star)”