Las Vegas February 2023

Five wonderful days!

2/17/23 - 2/22/23

Drove down Thursday after school and spent the night at Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott at Dulles Airport (23000 Indian Creek Dr., Sterling, VA 703-435-5300)  They actually answer the phone themselves!  Parked my car there and took the shuttle, which leaves every 30 minutes beginning at 4:30 am until midnight.  Breakfast begins at 5 am and is everything anyone might want!  Note: Pickup was quick and easy.  I ended up spending the night here upon my return, leaving at 5 am and heading righ 

Flight out of Dulles (lots of walking, but a great place to fly to and from) on United, nonstop, leaving around 8 am, arriving in Vegas about 10:30 their time. Picked up by Fran and Terry and we had the whole rest of the day to have fun!

Did so many things this week!  

Two quilt shops:  Christmas Goose and Sew Yeah.

Two shoe shops:  DSW and Desert Birkenstock. Purchased a new pair of shoes at each!

Three movies:  Missing, Marlowe, and A Man Called Otto, all at South Point.

One show:  Van Gogh Immersion Exhibit at Aria - WOW!!

Chinese New Year exhibit at the Conservatory at Bellagio - Year of the Rabbit!

Casino fun:  Four times at South Point (love those free margaritas and the Roulette "slot" machine!)

Meals out and meals in.  So much fun sitting around the kitchen island eating salad, warm bread, fruit, decadent deserts from bakeries and Whole Foods and chatting...

Enjoying the outdoors:  Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument AND Desert National Wildlife Refuge

Loved this "slot" machine - spent many hours here (with my free margaritas)

 

On our way to the movies at SouthPoint

 

A teeny, tiny part of the South Point Casino floor

Fran & Terry's rental

We timed it perfectly whilst driving down the strip to see the Bellagio fountains!

Van Gogh Immersion exhibit

Year of the Rabbit at Bellagio Conservatory.  We are able to hit this every year we've been to Vegas in February together - quite a few years' worth now!

Love the Conservatory flowers!

You don't see this signage every day...

Desert Wildlife Reserve.  AMAZING!  1.5 million acres.  2nd largest in the world.  35 natural springs.

Las Vegas mountains.  Everywhere.  Gorgeous.  These are ones that are nearest to the Ranger Station at the Wildlife Preserve.

Time to go home.  At the airport.  I never take selfies, but this was too tempting.

Bye-bye Vegas.  One last look at the strip out the plane window.

PICTURE BOOK - The Artist and Me by Shane Peacock

Illustrated by Sophie Casson

2016 Owlkids Books

HC $16.95

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.92

My rating:  4.5

Endpapers:  white with pale blue/gray dabs of paint - a few generic photos in the front, none in the back

1^st line/s:  "In the beautiful countryside in southern France near the town of Arles long ago, I used to do an ugly thing."

My comments:  4.5  This book says SO much.  The story, from the point-of-view of a bully who was horrendous to VanGogh when he lived in Arles, is excellent and thought-provoking.  I love the way that Sophie Casson used Van Gogh's paintings and put her own "brand" to them for most of the illustrations in the book.  There is one illustration, however, that is a bit off-putting to me, a doubled page spread of the bullies laughing at him.  They are really ugly and don't fit with the rest of the story somehow.  Perhaps it's to show how ugly bullies really are?
     I've already got lots of lesson plans in mind to use with this book - both for Owning Up/ Annatude/ bullying and for the glory of VanGogh's art!  This is a really nice addition to the genre of art books for kids.
     1 - Van Gogh's art
     2 - info about Van Gogh (include info from the afterword)
     3 - read aloud the book
     4 - create a piece of art using the kinds of strokes that Van Gogh and Casson used

Publisher's Weekly review.
Kirkus review.

Goodreads:  Vincent van Gogh is now known as an acclaimed, incomparable Post-Impressionist painter. But when he lived in Arles, France, in the 1880s, he was mocked for being different. Back then, van Gogh was an eccentric man with wild red hair who used clashing hues to paint unusual-looking people and strange starry skies. Children and adults alike called him names and laughed at him. Nobody bought his art. But he kept painting.
          Inspired by these events, The Artist and Me is the fictional confession of one of van Gogh’s bullies — a young boy who adopted the popular attitude of adults around him. It’s not until the boy faces his victim alone that he realizes there is more than one way to see the world.
          Artwork in the book uses vibrant color and texture to bring the laneways, cafés, and wheat fields of southern France to life while playing on scenes from van Gogh’s own work. The lyrical text carries the emotional weight of the subject and will leave readers with the understanding that everyone’s point of view is valuable.

The Stories of the Mona Lisa - Piotr Barsony

An Imaginary Museum Tale About the History of Modern Art

Illustrated by the author

Translated from the French by Joanna Oseman

Sky Pony Press, NY: 2012

HC $19.95

56 pages

Goodreads rating: 3.31

My rating: 4/excellent

Endpapers: gray with blurry black 1" dots and plops of colorful paint dots as well

Title Page: all white, but font is in colors and type that look like pastel crayons were used

Illustrations: In the style of many different artists

1^st line: "Dad, will you tell me a story?"

My review on Goodreads:  I was at the Philadelphia Museum of Art today and before leaving, sat on the floor of the (incredible) bookstore checking out the many children's picture books about art and artists.  I loved this one. In it, the artist/author shows the different ways in which different important/famous artists would have painted the Mona Lisa if they'd used their own styles. I do wish that that premise might have been made a little clearer to kids (I knew that Monet, Picasso, vanGogh, Haring, Kandinsky and a dozen or so others had never painted any Mona Lisas, but kids might not understand that).  Otherwise, it was a topnotch book with a great explanation of some of the different art movements in recent(or somewhat recent) history.  I had to buy it. I've already read it twice.

Goodreads review:   This book is about the fascinating history of modern painting through what many consider the most famous work in the history of art: the Mona Lisa by Léonardo De Vinci. Piotr acts as the museum guide for his young daughter throughout the book, taking us on a journey through an imaginary museum. He describes famous art movements and artists, including: impressionism, cubism, expressionism, favism, minimalism, surrealism; Monet, Manet, Cézanne, Picasso, Bacon, Pollock, and more. All of the most famous painters of the modern and contemporary art movements are explained with their own Mona Lisa portraits, in their signature styles.   Throughout the book, Piotr acts as a guide, explaining to his daughter (and the reader) each genre of paintings in a clear, simple, and entertaining way. By the end of the book, we discover that he's actually the artist who's been painting all those Mona Lisa's and the results are spectacular. 

13 Artists Children Should Know - Angela Wenzel

A Prestel Publication
Rating: 5
Published April, 2009
Endpapers: blue, no dust cover
$14.99 at B&N (store)

This is a wonderful model for further research and writing. Each of the thirteen artist pages include famous painting, kid-friendly information and anecdotes about the artist, tips, and further readig suggetions. Also is a "try this" for each! Artists included are:

Leonardo daVinci (the Mona Lisa, Last Supper, and Vitruvian Man)
Jan Vermeer (The Girl with a Pearl Earring)
Claude Monet (many)
Mary Casatt
Vincent VanGogh
Henri Matisse
Pul Klee
Franz Marc
Pablo Picasso
Marc Chagall
Frida Kahlo
Andy Warhol

Any kid that enjoys art, art appreciation, or famous artists would enjoy this book. I want to add Wassily Kandinsky, Keith Haring, and Georgia O'Keeffe. Maybe next year my fourth graders will add to it...hmmm.....