"The Fabulous Life of Elisabeth Vigee Labrun" (movie)

I just finished watching this interesting 2018 documentary about a remarkable female artist from the 18th century, Elisabeth Vigee Labrun.

She was the portrait artist for Marie Antoinette, completed over 660 portraits of nobility and others during her lifetime, and is lauded as France's last great portrait artist.

Amazingly self-taught, this is one of her multiple paintings of Marie Antoinette. Beautiful, isn't it? (The fabric draping and shading are so exquisite!)

Comments

Movie Review: Four Hands, Two Sonatas

Netflix has been advertising this limited Korean series recently added to the site's line-up. The title peaked my interest. So, I started watching it with no expectation other than knowing it was about two pianists. I really liked how this Korean production was dubbed in English. The English speakers (voice sound/tone/character) were terrifically cast as well as the timing of the spoken words' consistency with the mouthing of the Korean actors on-screen dialogue. This series' storyline has a number of facets: bullying, wealth vs poverty and access to arts training, musicianship, stage fright, competition, friendship, rivalry, sabotage, lack of confidence, revenge, etc. The music is primarily classical and is lovely. Four Hands, Two Sonatas is an off-beat show. That said, I really enjoyed it (and the piano playing is terrific too)! As a prior musician--there are many topics it brought up that I understand. Overall, the...

Free Online Creative Retreat: Art Oasis 2026

I haven't participated in this retreat series before. But I learned about it through an artist I follow, and she will be leading one of the sessions. The retreat starts October 17th and runs through October 23rd (2026). If you're interested in an opportunity to play artistically, here is the link for more information and where you can sign-up: https://jessicaswift.com/pages/art-oasis

New Project in Progress

I'm working on a new project with multiple layers and shapes of different colored organzas. It is an interpretation of lighting on an ice rink...from a show I recently saw. There is a lot more stitching to do, but I like how its coming along. I'm learning organzas are not easy to work with especially when you layer them and have overlaid edges. The fabric also tends to ravel easily. This post also linked to http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com .

Cay Denise

Search This Blog