And the Emmy, Oscar, Blue Ribbon goes to…..

The envelope please…. And the winners are MGM, FOX, Universal and Mickey Mouse. In today’s environment it seems the only art form we have left is on the big screen and the actual winners are the shareholders of the cinema factories.
Special effects and advanced computer programs have taken over and our old world of visual art are fading fast.

Art schools today are starting with computer graphics and pen and paper drawing is a thing of the past. The old masters spent hours training their eyes and mind to see things that others would pass by. Their mastery of hand/eye coordination is now being supplanted by eye/screen vision.

Last week while working in our Thrift Shop I saw a coffee table book that was for sale. The book was the story of Claude Monte and his true profession, a gardener. Most people think of Monte as a painter but he spent his time working with plants and built a fantastic garden around a pond in Giverny just northwest of Paris. The book had many photos of his wondrous Japanese garden pond plus many of his paintings of it.

One of my favorite stops in Chicago is the Art Institute. Once inside the entry I always hook a left into the Impressionist section. And there you’ll see one gigantic Monet, the Water Lilies. I dare you to stand 12 steps back and look at the Water Lilies and not come away from it telling yourself it’s better than computer art of Shek 2 or an Andy Warhol soup can canvas hanging two room down.

Of all modern artists, Claude Monet set the style and the pace for generations to follow. To him painting was a recreation not a vocation. The same can be said of my golf game.