American artist Edward Hopper (1882-1967).  His work often explores the theme of human isolation.  Even when more than one figure appear in a painting, they seem disconnected from each other.  The viewer may feel some discomfort in front of a work by Hopper.  The extroverted viewer in particular may find these works downright depressing.

For the extreme introvert, it's another story.  A young man I know who is high-functioning autistic visited Chicago with his family.  They went to the Art Institute of Chicago, where he stood, fascinated, in front of Hopper's famous work Nighthawks:

Four people in a diner at night. All somehow disconnected, even the couple.  Harsh florescent light, acid color, a sharp angle.

The autistic young man I know would be perfectly happy being by himself all day, every day.  He doesn't really understand the need for people.  Do not misunderstand this: he does indeed love his family.  It just doesn't mean he particularly wants to spend time with them.  While many people find the painting slightly creepy, probably giving it a glance and then walking away,  he stood  riveted in front of it.  Perhaps it expresses in visual terms what his interior experience is.  An experience that most of us social creatures would see as negative.  But it isn't negative, really.  Merely different.

Some have suggested that Hopper was influenced by van Gogh's Night Cafe painting.  What do you think?

One great thing about doing artwork on the iPad: I can save a drawing at any point.  I can then track the progress, decide if I overworked, start over, play around.  So, to demonstrate, I will show you the various stages of Shelly.  The drawing began in Sketch Club, moved over to ArtRage, then back to Sketch Club, then went thru various photo editing apps.  Whew!

This all took about an hour, I think.  Fits and starts, blind alleys, try this, try that.  It was fun.  Which state is best?  You decide.  Leave a comment, and let me know!

When I was a little girl, I would think about the year 2000.  I would scrunch up my brain, do the math, and think, "In the year 2000.....I'll be.....46!!!!!!!!!!"  It seemed impossibly far away, and 46 seemed impossibly old.  An 8 year old has a hard time believing she will ever, really, be that old.  Here it is, New Year's Day, 2012.  And 46 doesn't seem that old at all.

I was born in 1954.  Walt Disney opened Tomorrowland,  part of Disneyland, on July 18th, 1955.  I wasn't aware of it at the time, of course.  But, by the age of 8, I would have totally believed we would have the world it showed.  Alas, I never got to visit the original Tomorrowland.  I was in my 30's when I first visited Disneyland.  Once was enough, actually.

 But, take a look: the TWA Moonliner was taller than Sleeping Beauty's Castle!

Of course we would have vacations on the Moon!

Below, see the House of the Future.

The Monsanto House of the Future.  Everything pretty much made of plastic. Of course it was!  Monsanto sponsored it!  Today, we see that the design is mid-Century modern.  They thought it was futuristic.  President Kennedy declared in 1961 that we would land on the Moon!  I figured that would be pretty soon.  And, in 1962, we met George Jetson.

Of course, the Jetson's was the futuristic version of the Flintstone's.  The Hanna-Barbera animation quality didn't come close to Disney's.  They didn't even try.  This was animation on the cheap, for TV.  Crappy, compared to Disney, but it was revolutionary for its time.  Both Flintstone's and Jetson's began their first run on Prime Time TV.  Today's TV animation is leaps and bounds better.  But, hey.  It's 2012, not 1962.  

What "housewife," as they were called then, wouldn't have wanted Rosie the Robot Maid?

In 1965, the Byrds covered Pete Seeger's song "Turn! Turn! Turn! To Everything There is a Season."  It became a huge hit record.  The lyrics are taken from the Book of Ecclesiastes, in what Christians call The Old Testament.  As Wikipedia helpfully points out, "The Byrds' rendition of the song easily holds the record for the number 1 hit with the oldest lyrics."

So, a time for everything.  Time to bring this back to art, somehow.  To the left, see Salvador Dali's famous work "The Persistence of Memory," painted in 1931.  I always assumed it was a monumental painting.  When I saw it in person, I discovered it is actually only 9.5 x 13 inches. What does it mean?  Beats me. And never trust a Surrealist to give you the right answer.

So, here we are. New Year's Day, 2012.  Traveling through time, from birth to death.  Never stepping into the same river twice.  "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven."