Not a bad weekend. Finished a lot of work, including two scripts for a comic that hasn't quite been announced. It's fun stuff---I like to play with superheroes, and for this title I get to play with (among others) a certain Jade Giant who was my childhood favorite.

Past that, Colleen and I wandered through the Portland Art Museum, where there's a current exhibit of works by Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Jean-Louis Forain and others. It was an amazing exhibit. I'm always struck by how stunted Degas made his dancers. Lautrec's work is never quite as impressive up close as I want it to be---I think part of my attraction to his career is the topics he chose to portray, and also the man himself, such an interesting little bastard.

The little man himself.

For me, the best part of the exhibit was the wealth of works by Forain, who I confess I'd never really known of before---but now's he's vaulted to the tops of my favorite artists. He seems to be about 25% Impressionist, 25% Classical Painter, and 50% Cartoonist. A very palatable mixture. The majority of his works on display were of "gentlemen" negotiating the favors of ballet dancers, a not-uncommon occurrence during the period Forain was active. Forain worked in a variety of styles, as he was a painter, a newspaper illustrator, an editorial cartoonist, and so on---matching his style for the purpose. Incredibly versatile.

An example of Forain's work---during his more Impressionistic period.

This work was actually in the exhibit, and was one of the first to really make me stand up and take notice of him, rather than hurrying on to the "greater" artists.

Before the museum, Colleen and I dined at a jolly little restaurant: Isabel Pearl. There, I sated my recent lust for pancakes with a concoction called "King Pancakes"---perhaps the most decadent thing to meet my lips since my last mistress. A triple stack of pancakes, slices of bananas cooked within, smothered with peanut butter (yes---I said peanut butter) with accompanying fruit garnishes and so on. Yee gods, I was forced to push away the plate with some pancake uneaten. Simply admitted, I was defeated. What a treat.

Also, an aside, despite how Colleen and I were to soon lamp our eyes on works by Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Forain---the most beautiful sight of the day was our waitress there at Isabel's Pearl. Her name was Elizabeth. Long hair with green streaks. Deep poignant eyes. A smile more filling and decadent than the pancakes on my plate.

So...all in all, a very good weekend. Workable pleasures and pleasurable works. Satisfying.