Outing With Ame

This past Saturday my new friend Ame (aka kissendre on IRC) drove down from Norfolk to spend the day with me. We walked over to the District from my apartment, passing by the Iwo Jima Memorial, the Netherlands Carillon, Arlington National Cemetery, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, the reflecting pool, the new WWII Memorial, and the Washington Monument. Our first actual stop was the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden, which is six acres of sculptures.

We stumbled across a Calder (who is my favorite artist) there:

Cheval Rouge (Red Horse) by Alexander Calder, 1974.

This next piece looked two-dimensional as we were walking up to it, but as we got closer it revealed itself to be 3-dimensional:

House I by Roy Lichtenstein, 1996-1998.

This reminded both Ame and I of the movie Donnie Darko (2001):

Thinker on a Rock by Barry Flanagan, 1997.

Same sculpture, different angle.

Our next stop was the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden. Here's another Calder for your viewing pleasure:

Six Dots Over a Mountain by Alexander Calder, 1956.

Another cool sculpture with the last Calder again in the background:

Rainfall by Anthony Caro, 1964.

After that, Amy and I went into the National Gallery of Art.

The House of Parliament, Sunset by Claude Monet, 1903.

Japanese Footbridge by Claude Monet, 1899.

Ame informed me that these next two paintings are a light study:

Rouen Cathedral West Facade, Sunlight by Claude Monet, 1894.

Rouen Cathedral West Facade by Claude Monet, 1894.

Roses by Vincent Van Gogh, 1890.

Sorry, but this next one came out a little blurry:

Self-Portrait by Vincent Van Gogh, 1889.

This was Calder's last piece before he died:

Untitled by Alexander Calder, 1976.

Another Calder I recently discovered:

Tom's by Alexander Calder, 1974.

Same sculpture, different angle.

According to my pedometer, Ame and I walked six miles on Saturday. We were sore the following day. However, I was energized today. I really must get out walking more often. Next weekend Andrew and I, along with our friend Mike, are going to try to make it over to the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival. Someone is coming to paint our apartment on Saturday and that may bleed over to Sunday. We just have to wait and see what happens to know whether or not we can go.

-- CrystalShiloh @ 11:54 PM