My sister talked me into posting “15 facts that people might not know” recently on my family facebook page. The reactions ranged from surprise to confessions to fun. Emboldened, and as a little something different on this blog, I post them again here, along with a few photos (click to enlarge). 1-I was bornContinue reading “The Truth, I Swear”
Category Archives: Mignon
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”
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)”
Shiny Happy Blue Dog
“We mortals are but shadows and dust.” –Proximo, Gladiator Recently, while shopping for skinny jeans and day-glo tees with my sister and cousin, I time-warped to the 1980s when flashy jewelry, exaggerated shoulders, and acrylic fingernails prevailed. For a while, subtle feminine style seemed lost forever. George Rodrigue has never been subtle, in his ideas,Continue reading “Shiny Happy Blue Dog”
Sacred Stones
While walking on Carmel Beach last week, I stashed, a bit guiltily, in my sweater pocket, a stone. It was cool and smooth and felt good in my hand, as I did what I always do when faced with a vista: refocused. It wasn’t until a few days later that I wore again my comfortContinue reading “Sacred Stones”
The Big Picture
As a result of last summer’s sidetrack, George Rodrigue and I missed our annual time in Carmel, California, returning just this week for a year, maybe two, as we seek something still ill-defined. We have yet to analyze his near-death experience or rather, our second chance, referring often to the excuse, “it’s still too new,”Continue reading “The Big Picture”
Some Like It Hot
George Rodrigue’s newest artwork, Some Like It Hot, pays tribute to Marilyn Monroe, a golden icon of the silver screen and public fantasy. He frames her with a bold design of color and shape, including his own icons, the Blue and Red Dogs. (pictured, Some Like It Hot, 2012 by George Rodrigue, 26×40 inches, silkscreenContinue reading “Some Like It Hot”
Yoga: One Essay Only
“Yoga relaxes me,” says George Rodrigue. “The minute Wendy starts her practice, I fall asleep.” Recently a friend asked me why I never blog about yoga. For fifteen years the practice infiltrates every part of my life, assisting me with decisions, anxiety, injuries, and relationships. I promise, George, that if I attend this silent retreat,Continue reading “Yoga: One Essay Only”
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”
Painting (and Living?) Again
George Rodrigue and I returned to New Orleans early August as though our old lives were a dream. It’s hard to believe we threw parties in this house, I mused, as we settled into our sofa and BBC television. “I barely remember going out to dinner,” countered George. Meanwhile, artist Glenda Banta asked me on-lineContinue reading “Painting (and Living?) Again”
Aunt Wendy and the Cones
It was five years ago that our nephews, age four and six, summoned me from the kitchen where, while cooking dinner, I strained my ears towards their whispers in the den. What on earth?, I thought, imagining the content of this intense powwow: How do we change Aunt Wendy’s mind about Transformers? How does the tooth fairyContinue reading “Aunt Wendy and the Cones”
Four for Mardi Gras
It’s impossible to live in the Gulf South and ignore Mardi Gras. It spreads from Galveston to the Florida Panhandle, affecting our judgment, so that ‘normal’ becomes beads, wigs, costumes and masks. (pictured, Four for Mardi Gras, 2012, 24×38 inches, edition 190) In New Orleans we expect parade traffic most evenings and all weekends, shruggingContinue reading “Four for Mardi Gras”
Blue Wendy
This weekend George Rodrigue and I attended an event where the religious leader prayed for and encouraged our suffering. We left watching carefully, unprepared at a gala for this powerful lesson, for the bus that might run us down in the street, safeguarding our empathy with broken bones or worse. “Suffering and diminishment are notContinue reading “Blue Wendy”
Okaloosa Island
The white sands of Okaloosa Island encompass only 875 acres, a narrow, three-mile stretch of land between Fort Walton Beach and Destin in the Florida Panhandle. Although part of the larger Santa Rosa Island, reaching forty miles to Navarre Beach, Okaloosa Island remains isolated from the larger area, a military training ground reserved by theContinue reading “Okaloosa Island”
Looking Back
I’ve spent a lot of time lately looking back. George does this often within his art, and it is an obvious and running theme in his Cajun paintings. However, even the Blue Dog, which he frequently describes as ‘commenting on life today,’ allows an occasional glimpse into a bygone world, a place that remains insideContinue reading “Looking Back”
A Sentimental Mood (in New Orleans)
After six weeks on the road, we are back in New Orleans for a few days before returning to California until the fall. Although a whirlwind visit, I settle in with that same feeling I get when meeting up with an old friend after years apart, picking up where we left off with the comfortContinue reading “A Sentimental Mood (in New Orleans)”
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”
The Ides of March and a Mystical Experience
I was born on the Ides of March in 1967. For the two years prior to my birth, my father was stationed in Vietnam, and my mother lived in the Philippines where he visited her on leave. They returned to the United States on a rough crossing of the QE2 just weeks before I wasContinue reading “The Ides of March and a Mystical Experience”
Mignon’s Flowers
We are six weeks into 2010 and already it’s touted, certainly around New Orleans, as the year in which dreams come true. We’ve been celebrating since New Year’s Eve, and today, Lundi Gras, is no exception as the Kings of Rex and Zulu land at the riverfront amidst fireworks, live music, and record-breaking crowds. GeorgeContinue reading “Mignon’s Flowers”
I First Loved Picasso
As a kid, sometime around age twelve, I discovered my mother’s art books. She protected her prized tomes within plastic covers, locked behind the glass doors of a large, bright yellow wooden bookcase. Her collection included overviews of the Renaissance, Ancient Greece, and Lost Worlds, as well as Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Rubens, Durer, and MichelangeloContinue reading “I First Loved Picasso”
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”
My Favorite George Rodrigue Painting
Note: I reworked this post in July 2011. To see my favorite painting and George Rodrigue’s least favorite painting (pictured at the bottom of this post) in person, visit the exhibition “Blue Dogs and Cajuns on the River,” July 23 – September 18, 2011, at the Baton Rouge Museum of Art at the Shaw Center.Continue reading “My Favorite George Rodrigue Painting”