The place is packed with people. Many have inexplicably brought small children. I wonder how the museum is promoting itself if this is the demographic they attract. The kids are understandably bored out of their minds. The drone of voices in here is amazing, thousands of conversations unrelated to the museum or its collections. Most of these people should have gone to The Disney Store instead. It is difficult to read the descriptions of the art being hit by purses and strollers every few moments. Losing oneself in a study of the works is near impossible, [it's like being in a cafeteria line. Perhaps coming here during the holidays was a bad idea.]

I am surprised to learn that Ray and Charles Eames designed molded plywood products for the military during World War II, substituting the new material for metals, which were then in short supply.

Also of interest were many photos, like a solarized print of hands by Man Ray. I have a book of his work at home, but seeing an original print, even the same size as it would be in a coffee table book, is interesting. There is a retained freshness in the original print that does not come through in a copy. A print by Guy Bourdin, evidently of stained concrete or plaster, I have never seen it before. Finding it here felt like a vitamin booster shot recalling certain images in my Brera series. Third was an Avedon photo, recognizable as such from across the room, although the subject was uninteresting to me. The style of light and composition stood out.

Another area of interest was architectural drawings and models, most of which were concepts never executed. What struck me was how many brilliant ideas never make it off the drawing board or out of 1/100th scale. Like the Guy Bourdin photo, this energized me, to keep trying. So many plans, models, sketches, and eventually something gets built, or they lead to other kinds of projects, like Eames military glider noses leading to so much else. Hope?

Gauguin painted on burlap, Van Gogh painted with fury, piling pigments high, Munch is virtually doing watercolors with oils.

Cezanne though, the color, the effect at different distances, amazing. Another I didn’t understand from prints.

"Turnign Road At MontGeroult" by Paul Cezanne (1898)

"Pines and Rocks" by Paul Cezanne (1897)

"Still Life With Apples" by Paul Cezanne (1895-1898)

Starry Night is mobbed; every few minutes a flash goes off and a security guard yells. The [museum's] light on this canvas is intentionally dim. Are many of the gawkers? No one else is looking at the brush strokes.

Seurat was amazing. The pointalist thing doesn’t always work very well, but he knew how to do it. He really knew how to do it.

Despite the crowd and chaos, it was a good day. In fact, after recovering from vacation, I started painting again on Wednesday. Someone discarded an art projector in the hallway a few months ago and I am using it to paint from a photograph that didn’t quite work right. The idea of the image was right though, and that is what I hope to bring to life. My mind has been chaotic lately and painting melts it away. Seeing the Guy Bourdin print in the museum, combined with reading Gauguin and reading all this material on the other Impressionists, has restored some self-confidence. A friend has an art show coming up and I hope to show and maybe even sell a few new pieces. I need to get some lazy demons out of my head. Running modaCYCLE seems to run me into the ground a little too often. I love it, helping fashion designers tell their stories is amazing, but I need to also keep telling my own stories.