Another stop on our itinerary was to visit the National Museum of Art.  The last time I was there I did ask the staff to explain why there were no watercolors in the museum save one.  ONE.  (Okay, I'll stretch and say two, but the second was actually mixed media, so - just no.)  Please - they didn't even know there was one.  Ugh.   So you can imagine how thrilled I was with the current exhibition on display downstairs.  Don't give up, you'll find it eventually.  It's past the restaurant, no...past the sculptures...no, past those prints, beyond the back of the back of the furniture...Hooray, there it is!  The reward is a wonderful collection of American Pre-Raphaelite watercolors featuring mostly landscapes and florals from the hands of the PRB.  I loved the work.  What joyful color!  "...a dazzling brilliance, giving their works an intensity that transcends the decorative."  I couldn't agree more.  They also broadened "the traditional concept of still life..." for which I send my thanks into the ether, and "Their dedication to the medium proved to be an important catalyst for the founding of the American Watercolor Society in 1866."  I highly recommend everyone see this well-lit exhibit of small works.  Now, if I could just find the exhibit of watercolors by women?  Maybe back here somewhere around that corner?  Back to my brushes.  


"The seed of revolution is repression."  - Woodrow Wilson

I have been changing my horizon line this May. Yes, I have been traveling and experiencing history along the way.  History becomes more "real" when you physically experience the place you have read about your whole life.  So I will share a few highlights.  Let me start with the scenery of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Truth - looks a lot like home.  I found that to be the case everywhere we went.  Save the buildings I could be anywhere around my part of the state of Arkansas.  The biggest difference was the weather.  I left a sunny 80 degree environment and exchanged it for rain and 50 degrees.  Every time the sun came out I took photos.  So, it looks like that is what I experienced, but far from it.  It was rainy, cold and overcast 95% of the time.  Suboptimal.  We stopped in Staunton, Virginia, to see  Woodrow Wilson's birthplace and museum.  I highly recommend you stop in Staunton.  It is so picturesque!  I wish I had scheduled more time to be there because it was just lovely.  This is the view out of the back of the home.  As you can see it sits on a hill.  The front of the home sat right on a wagon trail so the back of the home is the architecturally significant part of the building.  I learned a lot from the museum and it brought home that although times change, too many problems remain the same.  Rather discouraging actually.  On an up note, my hats off to the friendliest museum staff I've ever run across.   They got us tucked into the last tour and gave us plenty of time in the actual museum before they closed.  Enough for now.  Back to my brushes.  

"You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand."  - Woodrow Wilson