Art and the City

After weeks of planning and re-planning, we went off yesterday for a day of art and culture at the Dallas Museum of Art. I really wanted to see the bluebonnet paintings byJulian Onderdonk before they move on.

The paintings were beautiful. I could have lingered much longer. The boys, however, were anxious to see more. They really enjoyed the museum. They were impressed and inspired by much of what they saw. They found the sculptures and carvings a bit more interesting than the paintings but many paintings captured their attention as well. Several times I had to remind them not to touch. The texture of the oil paintings was just too tempting.







There were so many things I would have liked to have been able to take pictures of at the museum. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed in most of the galleries and those that do are often too dark (no flash photography). The outdoor sculpture garden was fascinating and would have been perfect for a picnic. However, it was much too hot to spend very long out there.





We ventured out in to the city for some lunch. It seems that either the museum district of Dallas is short on restaurants or we had the misfortune of heading out in the opposite direction. We found a pub that was open on a Sunday afternoon and were able to kick back and relax for a bit. We worked up a thirst with all the walking we had to do to find the place!



We all really enjoyed our day at the museum. There is really so much to see - we need to make a return trip as we didn't make it through all the exhibits. It's such a family friendly museum, too. There were comfortable sitting areas in many of the galleries with books about the exhibits, the eras and the style of art to browse. There is also a hands on gallery with a space to create and lots of touch and feel exhibits. This weekend the theme in the creative studio was found objects. We were all able to make our own masterpieces out of little bits and bobs of recycled materials.



This was the first of our summer trips. It really was a great way to kick off our Summer Staycation!