Happy Friday, friends. Enjoy that morning coffee and have a great day.

It's time for coffee! Enjoy a cup or two, since this is National Coffee Day. This painting of a coffee pot and mug is from the "Postcard from Provence" series of daily paintings by British artist Julian Merrow-Smith.

Happy Positivity Monday! Stay positive and good things will happen.

Happy Friday, friends! Have a sip and a great day. Painting “Morning Brew” is by Evansville artist Lori Rivera. 

Happy Positivity Monday. Don't waste it.

Dale. Venice. Let's go! Celebrating today's 84th birthday of American glass artist Dale Chihuly with his landmark glass installation exhibition in Venice in 1995-96. Enjoy. vimeo.com/97165342?sha...

Happy Positivity Monday. Be social (face-to-face preferred).

Happy 90th Birthday to Estonian composer Arvo Pärt this week (9/11). A Visual Retrospective by Estonian World. | estonianworld.com/culture/arvo...

Happy Friday!

“Sometimes a hero in an age appears; but scarce a Purcell in a thousand years.” – Epitaph for Henry Purcell by his friend Henry Hall. Today, celebrating the birthday of Henry Purcell (1659-1695), greatest composer of England's Restoration, revered by his and future generations. Two fine Didos.

"To celebrate, to celebrate, this triumphant day!" - from Purcell's "Come, Ye Sons of Art, Away" Happy Birthday to Henry Purcell (1659-1695).

🏆 Congratulations to Professor Timothy Chooi (@uottawa.ca) who won the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Research Award for contributing to making classical music more accessible, inclusive en socially engaged! 🎻🎼

Feels Like Home: Celebrating today’s birthday of Czech composer Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) with favorite recordings by countryman, Rafael Kubelik. Dvořák was inspired by folk music of Moravia and Bohemia to create tuneful music with a distinct sense of place. Kubelik's readings were idiomatic.

Christoph von Dohnanyi, who has died at 95, was brought up by heroic parents who endured extraordinary torment at the hands of the Nazis - as he revealed to me in @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/article/f5cf...

Happy positivity Monday. From Winston Churchill, words for a fulfilling life. 

New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art celebrates its 50th anniversary (and 40 years associated with the University of Southern Indiana).

Happy 64th birthday to pianist-composer and musical explorer Marc-Andre Hamelin. He doesn't need sails or a sled team, just a piano, its pedals and 88 keys. Mr. Hamelin has released a new album - Found Objects / Sound Objects - and his C.P.E. Bach is now on vinyl.

Happy Friday. Sip your coffee wherever your imagination takes you.

Happy positivity Monday on Tuesday. Shine on.

These are my favorite violin concertos in recordings I turn to often from the joyful Itzhak Perlman. He celebrates his 80th birthday today. He made them with Carlo Maria Giulini in 1976 (Brahms) and 1980 (Beethoven). Giulini lends grand nobility, and Perlman’s playing is radiant perfection.

Opening at the Speed Art Museum, Louisville – an exciting exhibition of Manuel Álvarez Bravo (1902-2002), Mexico's leading 20th-century photographer. “Except for certain photos, I would say my work is a fantasy of the imagination," Bravo said. Exhibition: Aug. 28, 2025 - March 22, 2026.

They know what day it is!

“Screechy Violins” - Baroque violin music always speaks to me. So, after a walk, I often fill the condo with music by these two HIP practitioners on original instruments, Rachel Podger and Fabio Biondi. Huggett, Standage, and Goebel sneak in there, too. Pure joy.

“The greatest pianist among the conductors. The greatest conductor among composers. The greatest composer among pianists. He is a universal genius.” – Pianist Arthur Rubinstein on Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), whose birthday is today.

Happy Positivity Monday. Do for others.

Which pieces best define the sound world of Claude Debussy (1862-1918), whose birthday is today? Why, the piano Preludes, of course. This is revolutionary, early-20th-century music. In Walter Gieseking’s hands, they are enigmatic, evocative, and meditative. Bavouzet for best modern version.

Happy Friday everyone. Choose joy. 

Happy 92nd birthday to mezzo soprano Dame Janet Baker, whose gifts have been a gift to us. “One may well ask if any man-made instrument can pierce the heart so directly as the human voice … as Janet's does.” – Gerard Moore, her frequent recital accompanist.

Alfred Nunamaker (1915–1988), Monhegan Harbor, oil on board, 8 x 10 in. - Nunamaker was born in Akron, Ohio in 1915. In 1923, Alfred was exposed to the New Hope art colony. He also had a summer home on Monhegan Island, a frequent subject. (Avery Galleries)

Karen Offutt (b. 1967) Impressionist Figurative painter 'Taking it all in', Oil on board 25,4x25,4 #oilpainting #art

Dancing in the Light, 2024 by Marney Ward. Canadian contemporary artist. Watercolor on paper | 29 x 21". #art #painting #painters #BlueSkyArt

I love the work of today’s birthday artist, Anna Ancher (1859-1935), a leading figure of the Danish Skagen Painters. The hallmark of her figurative paintings was her command of Skagen's intense sunlight. She remains Denmark's best-known female artist.

Happy Positivity Monday. Give generously of yourself.

Happy birthday to my favorite jazz pianist, Bill Evans (1929-1980). He gave us so many incredible recordings, right up to the very end. I miss you, Bill.

Let's celebrate Oscar Peterson (1925-2007), who would have been 100 today. The upbeat, fleet-fingered jazz pianist shared joy through music, playing with a sense of swing long after bebop was the predominant jazz style. His dexterity at the piano was influenced by pianist Art Tatum

Today felt like a summer painting by Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947). Brilliant blue sky and clouds best viewed from indoors. Just too hot and sticky to be out there. But breathtaking. Work: The Open Window, 1921, oil on canvas, The Philips Collection, Washington, D.C.

Italy News, Anyone? It was good to see this work of Jasper artist Ron Mack in the Dubois County Art Guild show during a recent visit to the Thyen-Clark Cultural Center in Jasper, Ind. It was like visiting with a neighbor over the fence.

Mid-week motivation. Don't waste it.

It's National Vinyl Record Day, and I love it. What better way to celebrate than with former Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler, born on this day 76 years ago in Scotland? As the needle hits the record, there’s a soft thud, a little crackle in the speakers, then Mark’s guitar.

Happy Positivity Monday. Share your smile.

Jim Lovell (1928-2025)

Play a Little Vivaldi! - Antonio Vivaldi's music is widely known today thanks in part to I Musici (The Musicians). In 1951, 12 young musicians in Rome, many from Accademia di Santa Cecilia, formed the ensemble to perform Vivaldi, Bach, and other Baroque masters democratically. A gift to us.

Happy belated birthday (it was yesterday) to Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987). Love him or hate him, he was one of the most important and influential artists of the 20th century. Period. Here is his final self-portrait (1986) and a few famous women from his career.

Sharing art today by American Impressionist Edward W. Redfield (1869-1965), a prominent figure in Pennsylvania’s New Hope Art Colony. A prolific plein-air painter, Redfield enjoyed a long career painting bold, vibrant landscapes, and was best known for his snow scenes. He also painted in Maine.

Happy positivity Monday, friends. It's all good. Have a coffee.

New installation by artist Kevin Titzer at the Thyen-Clark Cultural Center in Jasper, Ind. He created his sculpture, “From Pillar to Post,” using a variety of found objects he collected over a two-week period - everything from “For Sale” signs and tree branches to discarded toys and furniture.

Happy birthday to American artist John Sloan (1871-1951). Although the Pennsylvania-born student of Thomas Eakins was best known for his role in "The Ashcan School” in New York, I prefer art from his summers in the Rocky Neck Art Colony in Gloucester painting the Cape Ann coast.

"Larry, this is what WE do." - Jerry Garcia to Larry Bird. Happy birthday to Jerry Garcia (1942-1995), grooviest guy to ever don a tie-dye and strap on a guitar. Hear Superfan Bill Walton tell how he snuck his Boston Celtics teammates into their first Dead concert. youtu.be/VkGxvMPGjc8?...

Summer Sky Sharing a painting by Oregon artist Ramona Youngquist, Summer Sky, oil on panel, 16 x 20 in.