The Beauty of Life: by Joel Garten

Painting of Paintings

Joel — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 01:01:32 +0000

This is a close up detail of a photo I took of a painting in the Musee des Beaux Arts, Brussels Belgium.

Architecture, Brussels, Belgium

Joel — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:44:25 +0000

Across the street from where I stayed in Brussels was this very modern addtion to quite an old building.

The view from my window! I had a roof view.

Edward’s Gardens, Toronto

Joel — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 02:18:02 +0000

beautiful overview of the park. They have gardening and horticulture classes at this park.

Giant banana

It takes a lot of flowers to do this type of planting.

Vivian Reiss painting the sheep

Joel — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:55:17 +0000

Vivian Reiss is well known for her series of paintings of sheep. Here she is painting sheep on a farm near Roseneath, Ontario.

Church in Ghent, Belgium

Joel — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 22:35:36 +0000

A beautiful church in Ghent, Belgium. I loved walking around this church, it had a very light airy feeling, which I found in churches in Belgium and Netherlands, as they like to paint the interiors white.

Geertgen tot Sint Jans, “The Glorification of the Virgin”

Joel — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:20:07 +0000

I was fascinated by this painting I saw in the Boijmans museum in Rotterdam. It has a little virgin and child surrounded by a cloud of symbols and angels in gold.

Soul Train – funky dance explosion!

Joel — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:58:09 +0000

Night time in Bruges, Belgium

Joel — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 22:29:08 +0000

Bruges is an extremely beautiful and ancient city of canals, churches and houses. Walking along the canals at night is extremely peaceful and beautiful.

Michaelina Wautier, Portrait of A Man

Joel — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 22:24:04 +0000

A beautiful portrait from the Brussels Musee des Beaux Arts. Excellent choice of frame as well.

Antwerp Train Station

Joel — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 22:51:53 +0000

Here is the beautiful Antwerp train station

Beautiful Park “Jardin du Mont Des Arts”, Brussels, Belgium

Joel — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 22:47:56 +0000

This park called Jardin du Mont Des Arts in French is located where the hill where the royal castle is built descends into the old town. It is a beautifully landscaped park, and the flute player looks a lot like some of the flemish portraits in the Musee.

Caritas (“Charity”), by Lucas Cranach the Younger,

Joel — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 22:17:56 +0000

This was one of my favorite paintings from the Musee de Beaux Arts in Brussels, Belgium, a museum filled with great masterpieces. I looked at this for a long time, and it charm only increased.

1600 year old olive tree, Greece

Joel — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 23:06:40 +0000

This tree is at the ancient Greek and Roman site of Gortys/Gortyna, on the island of Crete. This tree started growing 1600 years ago, which coincided with an earthquake which hit the site. A Byzantine church was destroyed in the earthquake, and the tree began growing around a column from the church, which is now embedded in the trunk. The site was filled with trees like these, with extremely knotted trunks. This tree is across the road from the main site, where vast fields are filled with rubble from unexcavated buildings dating from more than 2000 years ago.

Monastery in Greece

Joel — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 23:03:33 +0000

This is a monestary I visited in Greece.

The Best is Yet To Come!!!!

Joel — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 07:08:42 +0000

Frank Sinatra sings the Best Is Yet To Come

Vivian Reiss: Sheep Painting

Joel — Fri, 27 May 2011 19:51:58 +0000

Vivian Reiss has completed a large series of paintings of sheep in a farm outside Toronto. The works have extremely inventive compositions. Sheep stare directly out of the canvas, while other sheep stand in a the barnyard architecture with their backs to us, while other sheep haunches edge out of the side of the painting. Fasniating and unusual use of of composition and color.

Sketch for Bonheur De Vivre

Joel — Tue, 17 May 2011 21:35:58 +0000

Here is a sketch for the Bonheur De Vivre by Matisse. I have previously posted the final painting. I love this sketch, beacuse it is a more abstracted version of the final painting.

New World Center, Miami Florida

Joel — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 00:54:21 +0000

Here i am wamdering around the landscaping outside the New World Center, the symphony hall designed by Frank Gehry in Miami, Florida.

Snub Nosed Monkey

Joel — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 02:23:03 +0000

This is a baby golden snub nosed monkey from China. National Geographic had a photo essay on them this month.

They live in very cold conditions. One type of snub nosed monkey sneezes when it gets rain on its nose, so it spends rainy days with its head between its knees.

Bonnard at the Norton Museum of Art

Joel — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:03:06 +0000

A huge, unfinished painting by Bonnard.

Dan Flavin at the Norton Museum of Art

Joel — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 02:59:28 +0000

Richard Diebenkorn at Norton Museum of Art

Joel — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:59:22 +0000

At the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach there are two very beautiful, small Diebenkorns that transfixed me.

Wading

Joel — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 15:35:53 +0000

Here I am wading in the water in the US Virgin Islands. Its such a dreamy image.

Go Ask Alice

Joel — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 22:21:32 +0000

This song was in my dream last night. Not sure what it means yet. By Jefferson Airplane

Gold and Silver Moth

Joel — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 02:25:43 +0000

This beautiful moth was found on the kitchen counter where I am in the US Virgin Islands. It has both gold and silver on its wings. A precious metal moth! BK9W6TNBSG7E