In the meantime though, we have also tried to see and do a few things in the area. Tuesday evening we visited the L.A. Temple to do sealings. I hadn't been inside since my first trip to the temple when I was 12.
Wednesday last week, I visited the J Paul Getty Museum. I thoroughly enjoyed viewing much of the artwork here. I started with the works of Rembrandt and some old Dutch masters, who created such beautiful and highly detailed works.
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| An Old Man in Military Costume by Rembrandt |
I was certain to stop by the section containing old illuminated manuscripts. It is incredible to see the small pages of these books so highly and precisely decorated with exacting details.
There were plenty of cool sculptures too, like an intriguing bust titled The Vexed Man.
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| The Vexed Man by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt |
Of course I loved the section of European works from the 1800s that followed the academic tradition. These paintings are so incredibly life-like. I recognized three of these paintings that were by Godward, Alma-Tadema, and Bouguereau as being among those brought on loan to the Springville Museum of art for an exhibition there while I was a student.
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| Portrait of the Marquise de Miramon by James Tissot |
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| Mischief and Repose by John William Godward |
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| Detail in Spring by Lawrence Alma-Tadema |
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| A Young Girl Defending Herself Against Eros by William Adolphe Bouguereau |
An adjoining room held some work by Jacques Louis David. I also enjoyed a highly detailed painting by and artist named Louis-Leopold Bodily.
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| Portrait of Suzanne Le Peletier de Saint Fargeau by Jacques Louis David |
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| Detail in Entrance of the Jardin Turc by Louis-Leopold Bodily |
After spending most of my time in the art galleries, I decided to walk through the garden while it was still warm and bright outside.
After that, I knew I needed to be heading back to our hotel. However, I dropped by the exhibition of Native American artwork and artifacts very briefly before leaving.
Unfortunately, getting home took me even a little longer than getting there. Although I left to go back to my car at 4:00, I didn't arrive at our room until about 5:30, which is pretty crazy considering that the museum was only about 16 miles away from where we are staying. The traffic around this area can be completely ridiculous, and it has discouraged me from trying to go other places on my own during the day while Nate is at work.
Saturday we went to the Huntington Library. I have memories of going to both the J. Paul Getty Museum and to the Huntington Library as a child, but I particularly remember our trips to the Huntington Library. It is a lot more expensive to visit than it was when I was a child, but I love the acres of botanical gardens here and seeing much of the artwork on display.
We started with the American artwork, where I was happy to see a few paintings by John Sanger Sargent as well a sculpture by Remington.
Next we went through the rose garden, which was beautiful and which smelled wonderful. So many of the roses were in full bloom!
We also went through the herb garden, which is one section I remember spending time in as a child while my dad had my brothers and I smell various herbs growing there. Next we headed to the Japanese Garden, which was my favorite as a child. I loved the Japanese house located here with its movable reed walls that allowed occupants to change the layout of the home whenever desired to suit their needs. I loved the steeply arched bridge, and I was both perplexed and intrigued by the rock garden consisting of raked lines in a stretch of gravel.
More than all of those though, I loved the bonsai trees! I have always loved things intricate, detailed, and miniature, so my love of the bonsai trees naturally seems to follow. It was so fun to see them again.
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| These bonsai tree were particularly tiny |
While in the Japanese Garden we also observed a couple California Scrub-Jays. One was on the hand of a man there who gave it a peanut. The scrub-jay then flew to a nearby tree we were standing by and stashed the peanut into the pine needles.
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| California Scrub-Jay who has just placed his peanut in the pine needles |
We headed back to our car by way of the Chinese Garden so we could grab and eat our lunch. After lunch, we continued to explore. We visited the Huntington's old house that is now filled with European Art. I definitely remember seeing The Blue Boy there as a child.
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| The Blue Boy by Thomas Gainsborough |
That afternoon we also walked by the lily pond and strolled through the tropical, sub-tropical, and desert gardens. We were particularly fascinated by the unique plants we found in the dessert garden, like the cactus from the Andes Mountains that was covered with thorns resembling wool. The dense tangle of thorns completely hid the cactus underneath. These thorns apparently work to insulate the cactus and protect it from the harsh sunlight.
It is rather crazy that it is November and there are all sorts of flowers in bloom here. It is just so different from home. The weather has been comfortable with highs in the 70s almost every day. So much here reminds me of my childhood. I keep seeing plants that I have hardly seen since then, but still remember. In any case, we very much enjoyed all the beautiful flowers in the gardens on Saturday.
We have also tried to take advantage to our close proximity to the coast by heading out to see it a couple times. The ocean sunset is beautiful!
Places like this though also remind me of how crazy it is for people to build their houses so close to the edge of cliffs. I am sure the views are fantastic, but I have never forgotten driving by homes after the Northridge Earthquake and seeing those houses and yards in various stages of falling off steep slopes and cliffs. The spot we are shown in these pictures boasts signs all along the cliff edge warning of the unstability of the area, but the cliff jutting out into the ocean behind us is covered with homes on the edge of this cliff.
