Webby's Vacation

Webby Here!

Things are getting really busy at Shelburne Museum as we prepare for the season opening on Sunday, May 12.  I have been working so hard preparing my Dive In with Webby cards that when my friend Denise and her family asked me to go with them on a cruise to the Bahamas, I simply could not say no.   Here are some pictures from my wonderful adventure to the tropics!

Off we go to the airport.  I made sure to buckle up and kept my suitcase with me at all times.

What a view from the window of our ship's cabin room. Boy, that cruise ship looks nothing like steamboat Ticonderoga.

One of the first things I did was put on my sunglasses because I was ready to enjoy...

Lounging under the sun! Do I look as relaxed as the figures in Edouard Manet's Au Jardin (In the Garden) painting on display at the Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Building?

Edouard Manet (1832-83) Au Jardin (In the Garden), ca. 1870, oil on canvas. Collection of Shelburne Museum.

Denise let me have some soda during lunch!

As well as some berry smoothie for an afternoon snack.  I had so much sugar that I had a little bit of a tummy ache.  Denise gave me something to settle my stomach, so there was no need to visit an Apothecary.

Here I am, enjoying the beach at our first port.  I spent all day working on my sandcastle fortress.  When I'm not at the beach, I like to build and create all sorts of things at Owl Cottage.

Denise and I thought all the servers were so great on the ship. They even let us take this picture with them.

The family tried to teach me how to play the game cornhole, but I didn't understand the rules very well.  Perhaps I'm too used to the games that are on display at the Toy Shop.

But the coolest thing about my trip is that I met so many new friends:

Like this fellow.

I had a fun dance party with my new elephant friend before bed.

And I even let this new buddy borrow my sunglasses while we lounged together.  We chatted about the all-new exhibit of Patty Yoder's beautiful hooked rugs on display at the Hat & Fragrance building for this season.

One day we played trivia!  The person running the game let me read one question to the other players.  I answered all of the questions using what I have learned from Shelburne Museum.



And I won the game!  They gave me lots of medals. 

Once the ship returned to the mainland, it was time to go back home.

I made it back safe and sound to the Museum.  I can't wait to show everyone my new hats and large beach towel.

I feel so refreshed after a fun vacation with Denise and her family. I'm now ready to get back to work helping the staff prepare the grounds, programs, and events for another great season. Tune in next time when I share how you can create landscape art.

--Webby 

It's All About the Light!

Webby Here!

Have you ever painted or drawn a scene you saw outside?   Did you make your picture outdoors or did you create it later, entirely from memory?  What about the scene inspired you to create your piece of art?

Here is a picture Ayesha made last season at Owl Cottage! 
Click here to see other pictures done by amazing artists at Owl Cottage.

Whether it is violent waves washing up on a rocky cliff or tall trees flickering back and forth with the wind in the quiet countryside, the outdoors has been a popular subject for artists for hundreds of years.  But out of all these artists, there was one painter whose works remain some of the most famous outdoor scenes in the world.  Shelburne Museum’s Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial building has some excellent examples of these landscape paintings by artist Claude Monet.

Claude Monet was an Impressionist painter, which means he liked painting real life moments as they were actually happening.  Other artists of that time would recreate outdoor scenes from memory or a picture while working entirely inside a studio.  Monet, however, preferred to start and finish his paintings outdoors in front of the actual scene. 




Les glacons (The Ice Floes) 1880, Claude Monet

But why?  To Claude Monet, his paintings were not about the subjects.  Instead, he was interested in recording how the light hit the subject exactly at the moment he was painting.  That’s why Monet painted many works of the same object at different times of the day and even different seasons of the year.  Click here to go to Columbia University's fun and interactive study of Monet's series of the Rouen Cathedral in France.  It truly is amazing how not one of these paintings look the same!

As the sun moves across the sky, the light it casts causes colors to look different and shadows to grow and shrink.  Do you ever notice how the light of sunrise can be bright and intense while the sunset appears low and calm?   Monet was an expert at showing these differences of light on his canvas by carefully choosing different colors of paint and carefully studying the shadows. 




The Thames at Charing Cross Bridge, Londres
(The Thames at Charing Cross Bridge, London)
1899, Claude Monet

Meules, effet de neige (Grainstacks, Snow Effect)
1891, Claude Monet

Interested in capturing light like Monet?  All you need to be an Impressionist is a camera and a scene.  Since I have been cooped up inside for these long winter months, I chose to be a part of the scene.  Take pictures of your scene during different times of the day.  To really get a fun assortment, take pictures over a couple of days, a week, or even a month.   If you really want to see some differences, try taking pictures of the scene during different seasons.  Don’t forget to label each picture with the time of day!

8:30 a.m. & Cloudy



10:45 a.m. & Partly Sunny

Feel free to take pictures of your scene from all different angles and distances.  Pick the ones that you really like and compare the colors and shadows.  Is there one that is really bright?  How about dull?  Are the shadows small or really big?  Which time of day do you think shows the best light?

2:00 p.m. & Sunny

4:30 p.m. & Sunny

Send your pictures to:  webby@shelburnemuseum.org for a chance to appear on my blog. 

Be sure to check out Shelburne Museum’s great collection of Claude Monet’s paintings at the Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Building and my new Dive In cards site starting on May 12!

-- Webby