I love art and visit art museums or open air art installations whenever I can. There are always oddities among them!













Becky’s February SquareOdds 2/27/22
I love art and visit art museums or open air art installations whenever I can. There are always oddities among them!
Becky’s February SquareOdds 2/27/22
I haven’t been on my blog much lately, so I’ve missed many days of Becky’s Square Odds this month, even though I love to participate! So, instead of just one oddity, here are several odd faces (including some faux faces)!
The topic for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week is twisted & squiggly shapes. Many are found in nature, such as twisted trees…
…and saguaro cacti, which can be quite humorous to look at!
Artists have used the patterns and fractals found in nature since ancient times, such as
petroglyphs
and modern sculptures,
and a swirled “mane” on a Chinese lion statue.
And here’s one more…try to guess what it is!
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week has the theme curves and arches. Here are some recent (mostly pandemic & post-pandemic) photos in Chicago and suburbs.
Curves
Arches
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge has a series focusing on songs. This week the theme is It’s a Small World.
“It’s a small world after all”
“There is just one moon…
…And one golden sun”
“And a smile means friendship for everyone.”
I love this challenge that Marsha and Cee are hosting! It’s Cee’s turn this week.
Today I am featuring some interesting sculptures by Daniel Popper, an artist from South Africa, which are on display in various locations at Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois. The installation is called Human + Nature.
This is the first sculpture we saw, not far from the entrance to the park. Its title is Hallow.
Further on down the path, we came upon another one, called Sentient.
There was another sculpture in that part of the park, but even with the map, we couldn’t find it. So we drove across the highway to the smaller part of the arboretum, where we saw two more.
I neglected to take a picture of this one’s title, but it was something like Mother or Beauty.
The last one we saw was called Basilica, and there we met the artist himself, who was using spray paint to touch up a few details. Our visit was at the beginning of the display. These sculptures will remain for about a year, before they are dismantled and Popper takes them to their next destination.
Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge this week has the topic close-up or macro.
Hazel doesn’t really like me getting this close for a photo. She seems to be sleeping, but one eye is slightly open!
Center of Queen Anne’s lace
Taken from our balcony on our river boat cruise on the Rhine: apparently this swan is used to getting up close to humans (probably wants an edible tidbit!)
At a Buddhist temple in Des Plaines, IL
Our niece got into the shot I was aiming for.
Sometimes you run into (almost literally!) an unexpected subject. This caterpillar was hanging from a single thread – probably weaving its cocoon.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell what I’m taking a picture of! Take a guess!
I took this selfie when I was about to go outside for a prolonged period in February – rather frightening! With my glasses on, wearing a mask caused my glasses to fog up and I could barely see!
A piece of a multitude of faces, taken at Morton Arboretum’s display of sculpture by Daniel Popper. (See my blog post in PPAC #4 for more!)
With a new month having arrived, it’s time to look back at June to see the last photos I took, or in other words, Bushboys World’s challenge Last On The Card.
The last photos I took on my Sony Alpha 68 were on my birthday, when we went to Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL. We went to see the new art installation called Human + Nature by South African artist Daniel Popper, on the day of its opening.
This is the last photo taken on my Samsung Galaxy A51. I was returning home on Tuesday when I saw a butterfly posed on a flower of a hanging basket next to my driveway! This shot is of the butterfly flying away – in a blur of motion.
I am happy to get in on this brand new challenge with co-hosts Cee Neuner and Marsha Ingrao! For this very first week, Marsha is the host. She says:
The #PPAC is deliberately open – photographer’s choice. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Here are some public art pieces in downtown Denver, Colorado. From these photos, you can see why I fell in love with Denver and hope to visit again soon!
This was the first sculpture we saw, in the downtown business district.
Most of the public art we saw was on a pedestrian street, closed to traffic.
These decorated pianos were available for anyone to stop and play (we actually saw someone playing one of them), but I don’t know how well-tuned they were!
Other public art-based entertainments: chess/checker boards!
More cows:
Cows weren’t the only public art bovines on display – there were bison also!
Another sculpture:
Cleverly designed restaurant signs can also be classified as public art!
Spots and Dots is the creative topic for Leya’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge.
flowers (2 orchids at Chicago Botanic Gardens, sunflower at Cantigny Park-Robert McCormick estate, Wheaton, Illinois)
animals (Tanzania)
art: sculpture (dalmations in Sao Paulo, Brazil; abstract sculpture in St. Charles, Illinois; giant pumpkin somewhere in Japan – this photo was a screenshot; Chinese lion at Cantigny Park, Wheaton, Illinois)
museum art (tapestry, light display)
public art
Lightscape light show installations for the holiday season, (Chicago Botanic Gardens, Dec. 2019 and Dec. 2020)