Ginevra de Beth: Beauty Adorns Virtue

I have believed for years that my friend Beth resembles Ginevra de Benci. This is the earliest known painting of a woman by Leonardo da Vinci.

The motto on the back of the painting (which lives at the National Gallery in Washington DC) is "virtutem forma decorat" --- beauty adorns virtue. I take this to mean that Beth's manifest virtue is in the creation of beauty.

Here's my sketch of Beth from a few months ago.

The Table Where the Poems are Made

I met Beth at Third Place Commons to paint. Light from skylights made dramatic shapes on walls and floors. Models obligingly stayed at their tables, laptops, cellphones for a long time.

I painted chairs. Beth painted the guy.

Neither of us painted the dramatic light on the walls! By the time I took my picture it had moved off the wall. But we saw it!

Third Place to Paint (part 2)

Beth painted this scene next:

Then we moved over near the window and painted the outdoors.

This was our view over the parking lot, looking south (toward the north end of Lake Washington). Here is Beth at work.

... and her finished sketch:

... and mine:

What a good day! Painting makes the clocks stop!

Spring is coming (as Beth shows!)

post 4-11-09, originally uploaded by polusladkaia.

I missed the SketchCrawl last weekend but about a billion sketchers around the world got out and made pictures, including Beth. Isn't this a hope-filled image? Yes it is.

Back to the easel

Beth in her infinite faith and wisdom has nudged me back toward making pictures. Later this week we will meet at Third Place Commons (adjacent to Third Place Books) in Lake Forest Park to do oil sketches in public.

Their website explains the name: "Third Places are the many public places where people can gather, put aside the concerns of home and work (their first and second places) and hang out simply for the pleasures of good company and lively conversation." This is taken from a book by Ray Oldenburg, The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community. These are our favorite kinds of places!

Since I haven't been making pictures, you should go look at what Beth has been up to!