Gene Goes Fishing

Le Chat Noir on Wood, No Less

Toulouse Lautrec and his cat image is iconic. So I thought it would be a good crafting image for our upcoming church bazaar. You can read more about Lautrec here, if you are so inclined. But if you don't care to go into it, his life could be summarized by saying he was a talented artist who died at a young age from syphilis and alcoholism, and was most known for painting people at their labor.

Le Chat Noir (French pronunciation: ​[lə ʃa nwaʁ]; French for "The Black Cat") was a nineteenth-century entertainment establishment, in the bohemian Montmartre district of Paris, opening November of 1881.  Lautrec, being one who liked a drink and the risque night life, apparently frequented this place.  So he painted the establishment a piece of graphic art.  And it is still famous.

From here:

THE CHAT NOIR AND THE CABARETS
In 1881 the artist-cum-entrepreneur Rodolphe Salis opened a new cabaret called the Chat Noir (“black cat”) at the foot of Montmartre’s hill. The name called to mind Edgar Allen Poe’s perverse and haunting tale by the same title, French folktales, and the poetry of Charles Baudelaire. The black cat—a nocturnal creature that is mysterious, seductive, playful, and independent—became a symbol not only for the Chat Noir itself, but for all of Montmartre. The Chat Noir became a gathering spot for avant-garde artists, poets, musicians, and writers, who used the cabaret as an artistic laboratory to recite poems, sing songs, and exhibit paintings.

Several years ago I saw the Lautrec exhibit at the Denver Museum of Art and picked up a few trinkets with his more famous pictures affixed to hand mirrors, etc.  But the cat poster has always held my interest.

So here are a few pieces for sale for the church coffers.  Maybe someone else likes Chat Noir also. Price?  Maybe five bucks. Heck, the hooks and thermometers cost that much!

Of course, I had to make one key ring holder with flowers.

Hope they sell.  Then I won't have to make cookies for the next church fund raiser.  Maybe.

The Study Makeover and...Venice?

Still not through with that redecoration of my office. But a few snaps for my online diary.

Geraniums are snuggling in for their winter vacation indoors.

New bookcase, desk and side table ready for Scrabble and blogging and reading.

Now for Venice and George Clooney.

This is a picture of my darling daughter (right) when she still spoke to me.

Doesn't she look fairly happy and well adjusted? I thought so then. We were in Venice on a gondola waiting for a glimpse of the paparazzi. We would have had to wait a long while for a Clooney sighting; we departed Venice just a few years prior to the event.

yesterday, courtesy of Google

There is Clooney on a speedboat! Can you see him?  Still not sure what all the fuss is about the union.  What is your guess on the duration of that Hollywood marriage?