Art for Animals' Sake

Husband and Fio watched a TV show in which a rock formation, possibly set up by ancient peoples, was discovered under the deep waters of Lake Michigan. On closer examination, one of the big rocks had a mastodon carved into it. Fiorella's artist persona marveled at the graceful glide of the lines and the true perspective, at the realization once again that recording reality is part of the human genome.

One question she has, though. All the early art she's seen has been depictions of animals. Why didn't the resident artists draw pictures of their cave-mates? A portrait or two would have been of immeasurable value to archeologists, geneticists, and whatever branch of science it is that studies ancient cultures.

The Great Art Heist

Has Fio told you she is a born artist?  That she studied oil painting for five years? That she is a professional portrait painter? That she designs her own Christmas cards?  That she can draw just about anything she sees?

Fiorella was recently invited to participate in a parishioner art display at her church and delivered three church-appropriate items to the required place by the required time--an oil painting, a framed poster, and a montage of Christmas cards.  They never got hung.  The abstracts that other people had contributed were up on the wall, but her work was nowhere to be seen.

Fio was shocked, gobsmacked, knocked for a loop.  What had happened to her art?  Lost, stolen, trashed?  No one seems to know.

This story will continue.

Art

Fio has paintings, prints, and sketehes in almost every room in the house.  Walk into the front room, and you are hit with two of Austin Son's pieces, an inherited maritime, a pair of Chinese prints, and five of Fio's family portraits. Move into the dining room and you get Son's premier digital painting, an inherited floral, and two more family portraits (only one by Fio).  The den sports a black-and-white, a fantasy,and an O'Keefe-type charcoal, all by Son, plus a charming pencil sketch by Sister-in-Law.  The kitchen has four works by Son above the cabinets. The guest room has four framed molas and one of Son's pics. Three of Fio's paintings hang on the bathroom wall

Moving up, the stairwell displays eight portraits (one being of Wendy Dog), four landscapes, one nude, one abstract, and four Chinese prints.  Going down the hall, you are surrounded by Husband's photo display, four guinea pig oils, three of Fio's childhood paintings, and a door poster.  Husband's office features four of Fiorella's oils, and another of Son's larger works, and Fio has a pencil sketch of Son in her study.  The available walls and cupboard doors in the workroom/laundry are covered with art.  One upstairs bathroom displays three nudes. and the other one has two landscape paintings affixed to a cupboard door and one sitting on the counter.

On to the master bedroom. Where is the art?  Out of all the eighty-plus works of art on the premises, the most powerful are . . . the patterns of bare tree branches through the window glass.

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