Visiting ShyKatz Café on Galveston Island, Historical Architecture, James Waters House

ShyKatz French toast with Bacon

“…ShyKatz Café is a laid-back place, with old-timey mismatched furniture and a paper towel roll in the center of each table to serve as napkins…” (Virginia Billeaud Anderson - BoudinandBourbon.com - checks out food and historical architecture in Galveston. Learn about ShyKatz Café.)

Ryan Baptiste - The Light Beyond The Blight - Redbud Gallery - Echoes of New Orleans

Ryan Baptiste, “Southern Hospitality,” 2018, Oil on canvas, 38 x 46

"...she told me she considered Ryan’s Baptiste’s paintings to be exceptional..." (Virginia Billeaud Anderson interviewed Ryan Baptiste about his "Light Beyond the Blight" exhibition at Redbud Gallery. Ryan's light-filled images of human figures and New Orleans architecture allegorize spiritual essence.)

Krewe of Rex - Hail Rex - St. Charles Avenue New Orleans Mardi Gras - Essay

Photograph Rex Ball Sheraton Hotel, year unknown,
photo by Mike Posey. Image from Krewe of Rex website.

"It wouldn’t do for King Rex to toast at some inelegant venue..."

My Tour of Menil Drawing Institute - An Unguarded Picasso - Where is Edouard Kopp - Essay

Image: Pablo Picasso, Spanish, 1881 – 1973, Portrait of André Salmon,
1907, Charcoal on paper, 24 ¾ × 18 ¾ in. (62.9 × 47.6 cm),
Work on paper (Drawing), V 9100. (Courtesy of the Menil Collection)

"It was a surprise to come upon a gazillion-dollar Picasso drawing propped up on..."

Michelangelo and Pope Paul III Background Story - Michelangelo and the Vatican Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples - Essay

Tiziano Vecello, called Titian, Portrait of Pope Paul III, 
1543, oil on canvas, Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte,
Naples. Courtesy of MFA,H.

"...his unwavering belief that Michelangelo was as much saint as genius, 'infused with divine grace,' can be tiresome..."

My Visit to Lynda Frese’s Studio to Learn About La Femme Chauve-Souris (Batwoman)

Lynda Frese, La Femme Chauve-Souris (Batwoman), 2013, 11x14” pigment prints,
found postcards, egg tempera, metal foil on gesso board

"...Only good bourbon in a bar after could have made my visit to Lynda Frese’s studio more fun, but perhaps it was too early in the day for two old broads to be “drankin” at T-Boy’s Lounge..." (Visited Lynda Frese's studio to learn about the fascinating myth-based and metaphysical associations in the artist's collage painting La Femme Chauve-Souris - Batwoman, 2013, reaching back to the Neolithic and Bronze Age.)

A Closer Look - Château de Bussy-Rabutin - de Sévigné - Essay

Château de Bussy-Rabutin, Burgundy France

"...a vain and flattery-obsessed woman who sucked up outrageously to the King..."

Aesthetic Truth: Notes on Empress Eugénie - Previewed Franz Winterhalter Portrait Exhibition - Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Franz X. Winterhalter, Empress Eugénie,
(Wedding Portrait,) (Copy) oil on canvas

"...Eugénie produced the required male heir, with the Pope as god-father, then nagged her cheating husband into expanding the Empire..." (Inspired by Franz Winterhalter's portrait of Empress Eugénie, Virginia Billeaud Anderson discusses Eugénie's aesthetically elevated taste in fashion, jewels and decor, as well as her ambition.)

Lynda Frese: The Madonna in South Louisiana - Essay

Lynda Frese, Le Grande Salle, 2013, Photographs,
egg tempura on panel, 16” x 20”

"...Minerva’s Corinthian capitals are so lovely they seem to challenge the misguided decision to turn the goddess’s house into a church..." (Virginia Billeaud Anderson's essay about Lynda Frese's photo collage art at Gallery le Logge in Assisi, featuring life, death, rebirth, myth & goddess symbolism.)