68th Annual Salem Art Fair & Festival

I love works of art that make you stop without a second thought. Today I went to the 68th Annual Salem Art Fair & Festival at Bush Pasture Park with my brother. I had fun; got some color, enjoyed the music, ate some candy, and went to as many art stands as I could. There were local artists from Oregon and also artists who were from California and Washington (probably more states, there are a lot of people who showed up). They are all gifted at their craft. They have performing artists at the festival, too. There are stands lined up where the artists display their works. Some of them have photography, others have paintings, sculptures, jewelry and it’s all beautiful, filled with imagination. The best works are the ones that make you wonder how they could have created such a beautiful work of art. Those works are the most marvelous ones of all.

The Salem Art Festival is happening July 21- 23 at Bush Pasture Park in Salem, Oregon. I highly recommend people go and see for themselves because there is a lot to see and a lot to do.

Moulin de la Galette

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Moulin de la Galette, Oil on canvas, 51 1/2 x 69” (130.8 x 175.3 cm). Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) was one of the artists who was associated with the Impressionist movement. Some of the other Impressionists include Mary Cassatt (1845-1926), Edgar Degas (1834-1917), and Claude Monet (1840-1926). Their view of Impressionist painting was a never-ending metamorphosis of sunlight and shadow. The world as we really see it: not a fixed, absolute perspective illusion in the eye of a frozen spectator within a limited frame of a picture window, but thousands of glimpses of changing scenes by a constantly moving eye. Renoir created a lovely dream world in Moulin de la Galette of pure joy and beauty. It is the commonplace Sunday afternoon dance, painted in 1876 in the picturesque Montmartre district. Lights flicker off the men and women in rose, blue, and yellow. Renoir paints in loose brushstrokes. He is not concerned with details, yet he uses velvety brushwork that softens their forms and enhances their beauty. This is also seen in works Renoir would create in later years.