Here is another in my series on paintings within paintings as I look up close to see images that are interesting to me within paintings. I am also looking at technique with these images. These images are from the New Orleans Museum of Art located at 1 Collin diboll Circle (504) 658-4100. I took art lessons here are a young kid in the 50s when it was known as the Delgado Museum. The last photo shows the front of the museum.

                                                                                        

 

Here is a 16" x 20" acrylic painting of gumbo from my favorite restaurant in New Orelans, Patois. 

Here is a 20" x 24' acrylic painting of the bread basket I was served at Dick and Jenny's resturant in New Orleans sitting at the bar. To go with it I had a duck confit pie and frogs legs in a Crystal Hot Sauce butter. Everything was great. The bread basket had cornbread and whole wheat bread with a ball of butter in a small white dish. 

Here is a 18" x 24" arcylic painting of four pears. It had been a while since I had chance to paint when I finished this over the New Year's weekend. It was started from life in early December but then finished from a photo after a four week break in working on it. 

 

Here is another in my series on images of New Orleans neighborhoods taken in December 2011. This post covers the Marigny neighborhood. The Marigny (often referred to as FaubourgMarigny) is a subdistrict of the Bywater District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: North Rampart Street and St. Claude Avenue to the north, Franklin Avenue to the east, the Mississippi River to the south and Esplanade Avenue to the west.

Frenchman Street is part of the Fauborg Marigny. It has some of the better music clubs and ones that are much less tourist oriented than Bourbon Street but still a little touristy compared with neighborhood clubs. Clubs shown include Blue Nile, Cafe Negril, Apple Barrel, Vaso, Spotted Cat, and d.b.a, I saw David Glenn Andrews and the Treme Brass Band at d.b.a. and I saw the Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses at Vaso.

Here is a summary of images from my trip in January 2010 when I provided a more extensive coverage of New Orleans neighborhoods. 

                                        

 

Here is another in my series on New Orleans images taken in December 2011. This post covers the Bywater neighborhood. It is a subdistrict of the Bywater District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are: Florida Avenue to the north, the Industrial Canal to the east, the Mississippi River to the south and Franklin Avenue Street to the west. Bywater is part of the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, but is located along the natural levee of the Mississippi River, sparing the area from significant flooding.

As the Wikipedia states, “during Mardi Gras the Society of Saint Anne marching krewe starts their procession on Mardi Gras morning in Bywater and gathers marchers as it travels through the French Quarter and ends at Canal Street. This walking parade of local residents, artists, and performers is preceded by the Bywater Bone Boys Social Aid and Pleasure Club (founded 2005), an early-rising skeleton krewe made up of writers, tattoo artists, painters, set designers, and musicians.” Bachannal, a wine bar, provides food and music in its backyard most nights as you can see below. There is also The Joint, a greatBBQ place. 

Here is a summary of images from my last trip in January 2010 when I provided a more extensive coverage of New Orleans neighborhoods. 

               








 

 

Here is another in my series on New Orleans images taken in 2011. This post covers Treme located next to the French Quarter. It is a subdistrict of the Mid-City District Area, its boundaries as defined by the City Planning Commission are Esplanade Avenue to the north, North Rampart Street to the east, St. Louis Street to the south and North Broad Street to the west. It is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, and early in the city's history was the main neighborhood of free blacks. It is now home to a number of musicians including Kermit Ruffins.

The first pictures are from Willie Mae's Scotch House (2401 St. Ann Street, 504.822.9503). It serves some of the best fried chicken I have eaten: “caramel brown, audibly crisp, juicy as meat can naturally be.”

Another great place I tried is Dooky Chase’s, (2301 Orleans Ave (504) 821-0535). Frommer’s wrote, “For decades, Leah and husband Dooky Chase have served prominent African-American politicians, musicians, and businesspeople Chef Leah's classic soul food as gloriously influenced by the city's French, Sicilian, and Italian traditions. This was the place people like Ray Charles (who wrote "Early in the Morning" about it) would come to after local shows and stay up until the wee hours telling stories and eating gumbo -- one of the city's best.”

At the bottom is the Candlelight Lounge where I saw the Treme Brass Band do two great sets. 

Here is a summary of images from my last trip in January 2010 when I provided a more extensive coverage of New Orleans neighborhoods. 

                                             

 

 

Here is another in my series on photos of New Orleans neighborhood images. This one and the next posts were taken at the end of 2011. This post covers the Fairgrounds district that is part of the Mid-city Area. The City Planning Commission defines the boundaries of Fairgrounds as these streets: Florida Avenue, Dugue Street, Treasure Street, Republic Street, Abundance Street, North Broad Street, Esplanade Avenue and Bayou St. John.

Neighborhood landmarks include the Fair Grounds Race Course that gives the neighborhood its name, and Saint Louis Cemetery #3. The fairgrounds are the site for the annual Jazz and Heritage Festival. The remainder of the neighborhood is predominantly residential, with some local businesses along Esplanade Avenue, Ponce de Leon Street, and Gentilly Road.

I had a great lunch at Luizza’s by the Track seen in the first photo and then walked around the area on a warm sunny day in December.

Here is a summary of images from my January 2010 trip when I provided a more extensive coverage of New Orleans neighborhoods. 

                                              

 

I was recently in New Orleans during the holiday season. Here are some of the holiday images.

                                 

I recently spent time in Southern Louisiana, dividing my time between New Orleans and the Lafayette and Opelousas area. In both cases I went to hear some great music, eat some wonderful food and be with some very welcoming people. The area is home to two important music traditions, cajun and zydeco. I have always enjoyed them and wanted to go to their site of their origins. 

The St. Landry Parish Visitor Information Center provided a great introduction to the Lafayette Opelousas area. It is located off exit 23 on I-49, just north of Opelousas and should be one of your first stops. I will be writing more about this useful resource on my Portals and KM blog, as well as the great music and food the area offers. In this post I want to simply share images from the beautiful farm country and the some of the towns within it such as Eunice, Church Point, and Crowley. You can click on an image to enlarge it.

I followed a guide provided by the St. Landry Parish Visitor Center that showed the scenic byways.  The last three images are zydeco greats from a mural in Opelousas. I was fortunate enough to see Clifton Chernier and Boozoo Chavis live before they passed. I have a number of music videos with Buckwheat Zydeco and hope to see him live some day.