OH....MY......GOSH!
You guys! My wife and I JUST returned from downtown Seattle where we spent 2 hours at the FRYE museum!!
How cool is this? I think I hear the theme song from The Twilight Zone!
I've only visited the museum like 6 times in the 6 years we've lived here. When we lived in San Francisco we went all the time to the Palace of the Legion of Honor where a Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer and William Bouguereau all have little tear stains on the floor in front of them where I stood a few times.
The Sheperdess......wow! I took my glasses off and got to within 2 inches of the brush strokes all over that piece. Holy mackerel.....what a smooth technique that was applied on what looked like the finest linen I've ever seen! Those soft, muted olive undertones, the cool blue middle tones, the perfectly blended dashes of orange hues in exactly the right spots.........just takes your breath away.
Then, like you mentioned Patricia, "In The Woods" (two sisters) in his 70s at the end of his life, with atherosclerosis and diabetes impeding his limbs.....and cataracts in his eyes, barely able to see what he was doing......oh, my. What can you say? Such a genuine lover of the figurative art and the best draftsman at his craft that's ever existed. He's now becoming my newest hero......right beside Rembrandt and Rubens.
Now THIS.....is motivation! Whew......'scuse me.....I have to go paint something.
-Gear