Category Archives: Landscapes

Miss July Fourth at Fifty

“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”

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”

Don’t Slow Me Down

In the spring of 2013 George Rodrigue and I drove our truck cross-country from New Orleans, Louisiana to Carmel, California, as we had twice annually for twenty years, finding adventure on alternate routes and detours along the way.  We didn’t know that this would be our last road trip; however, we did travel with aContinue reading “Don’t Slow Me Down”

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”

Shidoni: A Friendly Greeting

I returned recently, for the first time in five years, to Shidoni, a place where George worked regularly over three decades.   Located in the lush Tesuque Valley, an oasis in the desert near Santa Fe, New Mexico, the foundry was George’s choice for some thirty years for transforming his clay sculptures into bronzes —whether three-dimensionalContinue reading “Shidoni: A Friendly Greeting”

Swimming Upstream

This morning George joined me in the bedroom after painting all night.  We stood at the window and watched the sunrise.      “There’s only one owl,” I whispered.      “Maybe they split up,” he replied. But we both knew better. -from The Other Side of the Painting We wanted to see the bears.Continue reading “Swimming Upstream”

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”

Rodrigue Honored Tonight

On October 26, 2013, George Rodrigue receives in New Orleans the prestigious Opus Award from the Ogden Museum of Southern Art during their annual gala, O What a Night!.  Unable to attend the event, we asked Jacques Rodrigue, his fiancé Mallory Page Chastant, and André Rodrigue to accept the award on George’s behalf, and toContinue reading “Rodrigue Honored Tonight”

Spinning Wisdom

‘Round about, round about,             Lo and behold! Reel away, reel away,             Straw into gold!’* All my life, I’ve been drawn to women older and wiser.  I like to imagine my grandmothers, although long gone, as young girls, and I stare hard into the faces of friends, some now in their 80s, sure thatContinue reading “Spinning Wisdom”

Louisiana’s Natural Beauty: An Art Contest with the Audubon Institute

The George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts (GRFA) announces its fifth annual Art Contest, a partnership with the Audubon Nature Institute.  This statewide opportunity for scholarships and other awards benefits Louisiana’s high school juniors and seniors, all eligible for entry, regardless of grades or college plans.  “As a student at Catholic High School in NewContinue reading “Louisiana’s Natural Beauty: An Art Contest with the Audubon Institute”

Rocky Mountain Blues

Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, George Rodrigue, like many New Orleans artists, sought temporary venues for his work.  Even after the Rodrigue Gallery reopened in January 2006, it was several years before tourists returned strong to the city.  Local artists depend on this exposure to sell their art. In addition, although George and I experiencedContinue reading “Rocky Mountain Blues”

Living in the Spotlight

“This world, he’d say, is where you live, right here you do whatever work you have to do.” –Darrell Bourque on Elemore Morgan, Jr.* Some years ago I attended alone an opening at the Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans featuring the latest work from Acadiana’s beloved landscape artist, Elemore Morgan, Jr. (1931-2008).  I exploredContinue reading “Living in the Spotlight”

Life Lessons and an Art Contest

George Rodrigue entered two art contests in his life and failed at both. By ‘failed,’ I’m not talking about losses, but more significant that he was disqualified or learned a hard lesson about cheating. “Nothing in life is fair,” my mother used to say, and maybe she was right. But in the end perhaps that’sContinue reading “Life Lessons and an Art Contest”

The Daughters of André Chastant

Like ghosts of Evangeline, André Chastant’s daughters float brilliant in white and framed within the landscape of southwest Louisiana.  The painting, a combination of photograph and imagination, is my favorite from George Rodrigue’s Cajun period.  These daughters are not posed around their father as though for a photograph.  Rather, they exist as one unit, aContinue reading “The Daughters of André Chastant”

Blue Dog Oak (Old Friends)

Update August 9, 2013:  George Rodrigue (pictured below) inspects the proof for his new hand-pulled stone lithograph based on Blue Dog Oak, printing now in Paris, France.  For purchase details, contact Rodrigue Studio.   For more on this process, see the post, “Looking for a Beach House,” describing another print made in this way. GeorgeContinue reading “Blue Dog Oak (Old Friends)”

Paintin’ Shrimp Boats and Pickin’ Crabs

“Shrimp boats is a-comin’; there’s dancin’ tonight!”* After many months indoors, George Rodrigue and I ease cautiously yet eagerly this fall into adventure.  Here in south Louisiana, diversion awaits in exploring small towns, riding an airboat, or simply walking on the nearest levee.   Our last adventure, some six months ago, took us past Lafayette toContinue reading “Paintin’ Shrimp Boats and Pickin’ Crabs”

Sunshine and Love: New Paintings

After six months away from his easel, George Rodrigue returns this fall to his instincts, painting throughout the quiet nights in solitude.  The canvases, dominated by a Blue Dog and oftentimes a typical Rodrigue oak, are familiar, yet something is different in the feeling behind the images.  To the point, something is different in hisContinue reading “Sunshine and Love: New Paintings”

Blue Fall in Louisiana

“When they showed me my body, it was blue,” explained George Rodrigue to a friend this week.  “Nothing dark, no patches, they were all gone.” I overheard him on the phone and my ears picked up, not because I hadn’t seen the scan, but because I hadn’t thought of his body as blue, and IContinue reading “Blue Fall in Louisiana”

The Acrylic Landscape

George Rodrigue, known worldwide for his Blue Dog canvases, began painting in 1968 not bright-colored dogs but near-black trees.  His devotion to the Louisiana landscape remains an anchor within his art throughout forty-five years of Cajuns, Portraits and Blue Dogs, most of which include the now recognized Rodrigue Oak. His landscapes today, although rooted inContinue reading “The Acrylic Landscape”

Blue Dog on the Defensive

Twenty-two years ago I moved from New Orleans to Carmel-by-the-Sea, an easy decision even for a gal with little knowledge of California beyond The Grapes of Wrath (hardly a ringing endorsement).  In the tiny artist’s village I grew, over time, a little less naïve, facing the controversy naturally attached to an art gallery full ofContinue reading “Blue Dog on the Defensive”

Swamp Dogs: A Series on Metal

More than a year in the making, George Rodrigue’s Swamp Dogs combine print, photography and varnish on large sheets of metal, resulting in a unique perspective of the Louisiana landscape. Beyond materials, however, the series originates with two stories.  Rodrigue, a Cajun artist for forty-five years, illustrates Louisiana lore including not only the loup-garou, butContinue reading “Swamp Dogs: A Series on Metal”

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”

The Secret of Pirate Lafitte’s Gold

“O’er the glad waters of the dark blue sea, Our thoughts as boundless, and our souls as free, Far as the breeze can hear, the billows foam, Survey our empire and behold our home!”  –Lord Byron, 1814, The Corsair By 1974 George Rodrigue pursued a unique, self-invented style of American genre painting, typified by hardContinue reading “The Secret of Pirate Lafitte’s Gold”

I Ain’t No Cartoon Dog

The Blue Dog is not a cartoon.  It is a shape that interacts with other shapes, not characters, all according to George Rodrigue’s artistic eye. There are no speech bubbles coming from its mouth.  Although it delivers a message, its exchange is a silent and mysterious communication between its golden saucers and our eyes. (pictured,Continue reading “I Ain’t No Cartoon Dog”

Popular Art: Famous Paintings by George Rodrigue

During our recent tours in north Louisiana and the Florida Panhandle, the question arose several times regarding George Rodrigue’s most popular paintings. “My favorite painting,” he’s quick to reply, “is always the one I’m working on now.” (pictured, George Rodrigue at his easel in Carmel Valley, California, 10/6/11) But for the rest of us, humanContinue reading “Popular Art: Famous Paintings by George Rodrigue”

Expectations in Baton Rouge

I’ve pondered how to write about this past weekend without turning my blog into a society page of party pics from the Louisiana State University Museum of Art’s opening for “Blue Dogs and Cajuns on the River.”  But it seems there’s no way around it.  Everyone was there, snapping photographs, posing for TV cameras, and eatingContinue reading “Expectations in Baton Rouge”

Blue Dog Glass and Other Unique Rodrigue Items

Although partial to paint on canvas, George Rodrigue experiments often with other mediums, creating the unexpected within his signature subjects.  Printmaking is the most obvious other than painting, particularly his Cajun festival posters and Blue Dog silkscreens.  (click photo to zoom, a cameo glass vase within Rodrigue’s home; the painting Loup-garou, 1991, hangs in theContinue reading “Blue Dog Glass and Other Unique Rodrigue Items”

Blue Dogs, Ghost Ranch and Mrs. Wertheimer: George Rodrigue at the Alexandria Museum of Art

“She created her own world, and I created mine,” explains George Rodrigue to his audience at the Alexandria Museum of Art last week, as he nods from a New Mexico landscape (left of the podium; click photo to enlarge) to his own wet Blue Dog canvas. I made a mental note to remember the line,Continue reading “Blue Dogs, Ghost Ranch and Mrs. Wertheimer: George Rodrigue at the Alexandria Museum of Art”

Blue Dogs and Cajuns on the River: A Painting, Print and Exhibition

“Once a person tries hard enough and long enough without results, the last place they expect to be recognized is in their own backyard.  George Rodrigue could not be more excited about this exhibition or the turnout of public support if his art were on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” That’s basically theContinue reading “Blue Dogs and Cajuns on the River: A Painting, Print and Exhibition”

The Sketchbook

I titled this post and immediately laughed, because it reminded me of “The Reunion,” “The Body,” “The Therapist,” or any number of episode titles from “Matlock,” my latest mindless television escape. It was in 1960 that Coach Raymond Blanco, husband of former Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, famously threw George Rodrigue out of class forContinue reading “The Sketchbook”

Butterflies Are Free

When I asked George Rodrigue this week for the title of his newest silkscreen print, he said, “Did we have one called ‘Butterflies Are Free’?” Not only do we have one, I reminded him, (it was his first piece with butterflies, featured later in this post), but also he suggests that same title for everyContinue reading “Butterflies Are Free”

Museums and Critics, an Early History

“I’m a survivor.” George Rodrigue, 2011 In 1969 the Art Center of Southwest Louisiana held George Rodrigue’s first solo museum exhibition. Located in Lafayette at the University of Southwest Louisiana, the museum, also known as the Pink Palace, existed within a Mississippi River-style plantation, surrounded by huge columns and designed by architect A. Hays Town.Continue reading “Museums and Critics, an Early History”

Saving an Oak Tree (for Romain)

“Actually, I thought about a specific old friend before a specific old tree,” said George Rodrigue when he found out about the 250-year old Youngsville Heritage Oak, destined for destruction next month to make room for a temporary road. George’s connection to the small Louisiana town called Youngsville, near Lafayette, was his best friend RomainContinue reading “Saving an Oak Tree (for Romain)”

New York Art in West Texas

I could spend the rest of my life traveling and writing about the West. That’s what I thought to myself as I sat with George Rodrigue in a café in Marfa, Texas and watched the barbershop across the street. The barber, visible past a single strand of colored lights and his barber’s pole, shaved hisContinue reading “New York Art in West Texas”

Swamp Women

“Oh, this stinkin’ swamp water stinks!” –from the movie Swamp Women, 1955 Early on the morning of October 31st I met George Rodrigue in the garage for the two-hour drive to Lafayette, Louisiana, where we were to meet some friends from California at the Blue Dog Café. I was running late. “What are you wearing?!”Continue reading “Swamp Women”

Spirits in the Trees

A Tulane professor visiting the New Orleans gallery with her class this week asked me about George’s connection to voodoo. Although I’m sure she intended nothing of the sort, her question reminded me of the only negative comment we received in response to the 2008 Rodrigue exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art. AContinue reading “Spirits in the Trees”

Cloud Illusions

I watched the sunrise this morning over New Mexico from the window of our adobe hotel room in downtown Santa Fe. The storms skirted us all week, and the clouds enhance the orange light as it stretches from behind the fugacious masses, so unlike the clouds in a Rodrigue painting. I’m reminded instead of theContinue reading “Cloud Illusions”

The Cajun Bride of Oak Alley

By the mid-1970s George Rodrigue spent his days scouting for subjects and his nights painting the Cajun culture. He concentrated on area traditions, such as The Aioli Dinner and The Traiteur (Cajun faith healer), famous locations such as Broussard’s Barber Shop and The Ragin’ Cajun Antiques, and legendary figures such as Jolie Blonde and Longfellow’sContinue reading “The Cajun Bride of Oak Alley”

Blue Dog in a Landscape

After more than forty years and thousands of paintings, it is the dog-in-a-landscape that stands out as George Rodrigue’s most popular subject. The first Blue Dog painting (1984) depicts a scary loup-garou in a landscape (pictured here), a style that continues for the following five or six years. These early Blue Dog works combine George’sContinue reading “Blue Dog in a Landscape”

The Ragin’ Cajun (The Art of the Trade)

Granted I’m biased, however I’ve witnessed over the years that most people, men and women, find George Rodrigue downright charming. It’s something about that Cajun accent combined with the Snagglepuss laugh and his down-to-earth demeanor that reels in both friends and strangers alike. This is a handy character trait regarding his business. For years GeorgeContinue reading “The Ragin’ Cajun (The Art of the Trade)”

Broussard’s Barber Shop (Melding Fact with Fiction)

After painting the Aioli Dinner in 1971, George Rodrigue’s confidence soared in rendering not only the Cajun figures, but also a style all his own. During the six months it took to complete the painting, he developed specific rules for himself, things separate from and often contradictory to the established rules of art. He wouldContinue reading “Broussard’s Barber Shop (Melding Fact with Fiction)”

Riding to New Orleans: An Artist’s Journey

For George, in honor of his new gallery and a dream fulfilled- In 1970 I bought a ticket on a train To New Orleans for my first art show, Oak Trees. I painted Cajuns, not Creoles, and then Blue Dogs and Hurricanes I built sculptures and changed directions, painting Tee Coons* and Jolies I’m anContinue reading “Riding to New Orleans: An Artist’s Journey”

The Cypress Tree

—With thanks to our friend Neil, who found this painting (and recognized it). Before Blue Dogs, Cajun folk life, and portraits, George Rodrigue painted hundreds of landscapes, a subject so important to his oeuvre that he continues to paint them today. (For a detailed history of Rodrigue’s landscape paintings with both early and recent images,Continue reading “The Cypress Tree”

Remembering Lafayette’s Advocates for the Arts, Circa 1969

This post is dedicated to Mrs. Frances Love (1926-2010), a friend of the arts. When George Rodrigue speaks of supporters during the early years of his career, three names always come up: Rita Davis, A. Hayes Town, and Frances Love. Between them they spent just a few hundred dollars on his canvases, however their influenceContinue reading “Remembering Lafayette’s Advocates for the Arts, Circa 1969”

Blue Dog: The Dark Period, 2006-7 (Paintings Following Katrina)

Following the chaos of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, George Rodrigue shifted his attention from Bodies, a collection of paintings and remastered digital prints focused on the female nude, to Blue Dog Relief. The New Orleans gallery reopened in January of 2006; however, the positive nature of George’s paintings seemed out of place. Our staff workedContinue reading “Blue Dog: The Dark Period, 2006-7 (Paintings Following Katrina)”

Louisiana Roots (The Louis Prima of the Art World)

George Rodrigue is unique in the art world. I can think of very few contemporary visual artists of his renown that define themselves by their culture. From the time he first returned to Louisiana from Los Angeles and art school in the late 1960s, he called himself a Cajun artist. Even today he describes everyContinue reading “Louisiana Roots (The Louis Prima of the Art World)”

A Gallery of His Own (A Woolf Inspires a Wolfe)

“Be truthful one would say, and the result is bound to be amazingly interesting.”* From day one, from his return to Louisiana from art school in Los Angeles in the late 1960s, George Rodrigue wanted one thing: to make a living as an artist. However, he never imagined that selling his art would be up to him.Continue reading “A Gallery of His Own (A Woolf Inspires a Wolfe)”

The Land of Enchantment

Ever since losing our mother, Mignon, my sister and I take a week in the spring just for us. We should have done it years ago, with her, but now instead we travel together with her diaries and her memory, painting our fingernails purple and normalizing our eccentricities, making them near trendy, because crazy seemsContinue reading “The Land of Enchantment”

Miniatures: Manuscripts, Landscapes, Blue Dogs and Blogs

Jean de France, duc de Berry commissioned the Belles Heures, an elaborate calendar and religious volume, in 1405. Created by the German Limbourg brothers, Herman, Paul, and Jean over five years in Paris, the illuminated manuscript is a mere 9×6 inches, with many paintings no bigger than a postage stamp. My friend Emer and IContinue reading “Miniatures: Manuscripts, Landscapes, Blue Dogs and Blogs”

Art School: Lafayette and Los Angeles, 1962-1967

When George Rodrigue entered his senior year at Catholic High School in New Iberia, Louisiana in 1961, his future, to his mind, was certain. He would go to art school and become a professional artist. His parents, however, had other ideas, determined he have something more steady than his father’s (and grandfather’s) work in brick-layingContinue reading “Art School: Lafayette and Los Angeles, 1962-1967”

A History of Evangeline in Rodrigue Paintings

There are enough Rodrigue Evangelines to fill an entire museum exhibition. He’s painted the Acadian heroine one hundred or more times over nearly forty years. Like Jolie Blonde, the Oak Tree, and the Blue Dog, she is a staple in his work, a protagonist as much for him as she is in the story ofContinue reading “A History of Evangeline in Rodrigue Paintings”

Oil Paint or Acrylic?

After experimenting in art school with several mediums, including designer colors, pastel, water color, and chalk, George Rodrigue settled on oil paint to create his dark landscapes of Louisiana oak trees in 1969. In those days money was a real concern, and he was aware that each stroke of his brush equated to less paintContinue reading “Oil Paint or Acrylic?”

The Creative Competition in Two Parts

Part I I grew up in an artistic household in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. My parents, although originally from New Orleans, settled there when my dad was stationed at Eglin Air Force Base. In the first ten years of their marriage, they lived and traveled all over Europe and Asia with the military, and byContinue reading “The Creative Competition in Two Parts”

Early Oak Trees and a Regrettable Self-Portrait

It was on the long drives back from The Art Center College of Design in California that George Rodrigue developed his style. He’d been thinking about it for some time – about how different South Louisiana is from other places, as well as the eighteen hundred miles of cities and countryside and Americans he passedContinue reading “Early Oak Trees and a Regrettable Self-Portrait”

Tombs in the Life and Art of George Rodrigue

It’s Halloween, which makes me think of skeletons and vampires and okay, pumpkins and candy, but those don’t apply here, which makes me think of cemeteries and caskets, which makes me think of George Rodrigue’s unusual to my mind and on-going interest in tombs. As I mentioned briefly in my last post, George’s father wasContinue reading “Tombs in the Life and Art of George Rodrigue”

History of an Artist?

Written after reading a recent article about a ‘discovered’ (by x-ray) N.C. Wyeth painting located underneath a later N.C. Wyeth painting (turns out he had re-used the canvas). The resulting on-line debate and discussion covered everything from illustration vs art, to the artist’s intention in covering or ‘hiding’ an earlier work, to the definition ofContinue reading “History of an Artist?”