Becky's photoblog

[Not a valid template]They renovated my favorite gallery at the MFA. No one asked me, they just went ahead and changed the whole thing. It was fine the way that it was, but you know what? It’s still gorgeous, and it was wonderful to re-explore this incredible space.

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This is my favorite gallery in the new wing — gorgeous red silk, shiny gold frames and pristine white marble. I think they like this room so much, they decided to make the Koch Gallery more like it. Who can argue with that?

My sweetie and I celebrated a made-up holiday, our six month anniversary, by spending a gift card given to us as a wedding gift. We knew the restaurant was in the Seaport district, but we didn’t realize that it happened to have an amazing view of the hotel where we were married. They sat us at a quiet table on the patio, and we treated ourselves to an amazing meal with an amazing view.

[Not a valid template]Photography is permitted on the first floor of the Gardner Museum‘s new wing, and I finally got around to snapping a few of my own photos. I have a ways to go because the new wing is gorgeous, but let’s start with the greenhouse. The first thing I see every time I arrive at the Gardner Museum is the new greenhouse. The flowers for the museum’s signature courtyard used to be grown and cared for at an off-site greenhouse, but one of the many gems of the new wing is an onsite greenhouse, complete with a greenhouse classroom for teaching school groups about Isabella’s gardens. And my favorite, purple orchids.

While we were getting ready for dad’s birthday bbq, the Bailly family came to visit us so we could see little Ms. Leora, who is so frickin cute! So’s the guy holding her.

[Not a valid template]To surprise my father for his 60th birthday, mom flew my brother and his girlfriend from LA to Boston. Dad thought he was having dinner with mom and his east coast children, but 6 of us showed up for dinner instead of 4. Dad was very surprised, and the 7 of us sat down to an incredible meal with an incredible view!

Top of the Hub is a restaurant on the 52nd floor of the Prudential Tower, and this was my first time partaking of one of Boston’s most precious gems. The food was amazing. The view was amazing. The sunset was breaktaking, and it was wonderful to have my whole family together.

Flying my brother and his girlfriend to Boston was just the beginning of the surprise. The following day, they kept dad out of the house while the rest of us set up for a backyard BBQ. Dad was expecting just few friends, but a few relatives and a few other friends joined the party to surprise dad for a big all-out end-of-summer festive summer bbq.

For pictures from the entire weekend, please click here — the password is dad’s middle name

The view from Top of the Hub

Finagle a Bagle is not exactly fine dining, but when you have a phenomenal view of Copley Plaza over a bagel and coffee, it’s a breakfast fit for kings. Or, at least, fit for two Bostonians running late for a meeting.

A dear old friend is starting a new chapter of her life in a new city. It’s hard to say good-bye, so we said see ya later!

[Not a valid template]Maine is a treasure, and the Greenleaf Inn in Boothbay Harbor is a gem. Five DiMattias spent a lovely New Englandy weekend wandering in and out of shops, eating incredible meals, sitting on shady porches and watching the sailboats.

My cousins, after stuffing our faces at Zaftigs. Where else would you take a former BU student to brunch when she’s in town from Australia?

[Not a valid template] Another groupon, another important item checked off my list. To honor the national holiday that is Mel’s birthday, we had afternoon tea and scones at a fancy cafe on Newbury Street (using a groupon).

Before that, we played tourists in our own city and crossed yet another item off my list — we visited a Boston landmark: King’s Chapel. Mel used to work at King’s Chapel, one of Boston’s oldest churches, so she knew the inside scoop, but she had never been on an ‘official’ tour. Only recently, they have started offering a special tour called ‘Bells and Bones’ — up to the bell tower and down to the crypt. I probably should have asked a few more questions to get a better idea of what I was in for, but instead I decide to follow along. First we went down to what is possibly the creepiest basement in Boston. Dead Bostonians in bricked-up vaults partially blocked by filing cabinets, rubbermaid bins of office supplies, clothing racks with Christmas pageant costumes and stacks of broken antique chairs. Also, it was extremely warm. Then, up a few flights of steep stairs to yet another flight of steeper darker dirtier stairs to the refreshing cool breeze of the belltower and a 2437 lbs. bell cast in 1860 by King’s Chapel parishioner Paul Revere.

Then we sat down for a nice cup of tea.

[Not a valid template]This lovely lady just moved in with this handsome gent. We have a scheduling conflict for their housewarming party, so we spent the afternoon visiting them in New Hampshire. It’s hard to see your friends once or twice a year when you used to see them all the time, but if it’s seven hours or not at all, then I’ll take it! I’ve known her 22 years longer than I’ve known him, and we all got along like old friends. How great is that?

We were originally planning to help them with a project, but it was way too hot to work, so instead we ate all afternoon — starting with incredible cheese samples at Grafton Village Cheese Company. My friends really know me 🙂

 Spent a wonderful day in Gloucester assisting Mo with a wedding shoot, and enjoying the gorgeous views of the Atlantic from the Ocean View Inn.

The couple was married in nature’s cathedral, on the lawn in front of the inn, facing the ocean.

Finished another painting!

I started a handful of paintings in 2010, then a few things came up in 2011 – a few painting commissions and several months of wedding planning kept me away from other projects. So now I’m putting the finishing touches on paintings that were about 80% finished two years ago.

I take a lot of pictures for a lot of reasons, and one of them is that some photos eventually turn in to paintings. In September 2009, my dear friend Maureen and I went out to lunch on Boylston Street — two photos from that day would eventually become paintings (one’s not done yet).

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Old South Church
Copley Square, Boston
oil on 12×20″ canvas
2010-2012

[Not a valid template] This is a painting of Old South Church — a gorgeous church in a city full of gorgeous churches. In September 2009, I snapped a photo (on the right) that contrasted the colorful early-Fall leaves in the church’s award-winning garden with the sun-lit stone work of the church. The following winter, when I decided to begin a painting of this scene, I realized that I needed more pictures because I wanted to include the church’s beautiful bell-tower. So I grabbed this photo, hopped on the T, found the exact spot that I had been standing and re-framed my shot to include the tower.

Then, I heard the most beautiful music coming from inside the church, and suddenly it dawned on me — it was December 24th!  I stepped in to the church, which is gorgeous on any day, and absolutely stunning when it’s decked out for Christmas (photo on the right). I sat down and enjoyed a magical, beautiful, peaceful organ rehearsal, then headed home to start a new painting.

The church’s founders chose an incredible location for their church. Old South Church was built in 1875, next to the Boston Public Library (built in 1848), and across Copley Square from Trinity Church (built 1872-1877). The finish line of the Boston Marathon, established in 1897, is steps away from Old South Church. In 1914, the Copley T station was built right next to Old South Church, and now thousands of commuters and tourists pass it each day. The John Hancock Tower, New England’s tallest building, was built across from Old South Church in 1976.

[Not a valid template]Links

• My photoblog: Link to my photoblog entry from 9/5/2009 (lunch and coffee w/ Mo, and Old South Church) and my photoblog entry from 12/24/2010 (Old South Church, interior and exterior, at Christmas)
• Architectural Landmarks of Boston’s Back Bay: One of my web projects is a series of pages with photos and information on several of my favorite landmarks in Back Bay — please visit this site, especially the pages on Old South Church, the Boston Public Library, Trinity Church and the Hancock Tower
• Please visit Old South Church’s website to learn more about their fascinating history and their wonderful programs
• Please visit beckydimattia.com to see more recent paintings

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I took an incredibly beautiful walk along the Charles River Esplanade, from Mass Ave to the Hatch Shell, for a free concert on the lawn — summer in New England, as God intended it. The esplanade is a park that runs along the southern bank of the Charles River, which means that it also runs along the northern edge of Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. The Back Bay is all landfill, and our forefathers saw fit to make a little island of landfill in the Charles River just so we could have an even more beautiful place to watch the sailboats, or take a refreshing after-work stroll to meet a friend. We joined a few thousand Bostonians at the Hatch Shell for a picnic and some great classical music, courtesy of Boston Landmarks Orchestra.

I had a groupon for a Cape Ann Whale Watch, and we used that as an excuse for an incredibly pleasant daytrip to the beautiful town of Gloucester, MA (click to see google map). One of the many things I love about living in Massachusetts is that there are gorgeous vacation spots right under our noses. Gloucester is right on the ocean, and the weather was picture-perfect.

First, we wandered around Rocky Neck, one of American’s oldest artist colonies. I went to art school, so I have some idea of what it’s like to be surrounded by artsy-types. This is much different. These are serious and talented artists running cozy galleries, and living the good life in quaint houses with incredible views.

Then, we crossed an item off of our list by visiting the Sargent House Museum. The house was built for Judith Sargent Murray (1751–1820), who was (among many other things), the great-grand-aunt of John Singer Sargent (one of the few artists that Brian and I can truly agree on). The house was lovely and the tour guide really knew her stuff, but we had to duck out before the tour was over because the whales were waiting.

We boarded the Hurricane II, and enjoyed the views, the wind and the salty air as we headed out to visit the whales. It was such a clear day that we could see Boston in the distance the whole time we were out there. Brian actually listened as the guide taught us about the different whales that we saw, so you’ll have to ask him. I just wanted to see something you don’t see every day — an animal so huge that it reminds you how small we are, in its natural habitat, an ocean so huge it reminds you of how little we know.

After the whale watch, we decided to take a little drive and ended up in Rockport, MA (click for google map), another great town with lots of galleries, cute shops and beautiful views. After some wandering, it was time to find some dinner. We had just stopped in to a small restaurant to try their chowder and their seating area was crammed with picnic benches and loud children. That’s exactly what I didn’t want for dinner, and I was getting frustrated with the tiny keyboard on my phone, searching among an overwhelming array of local options. So Brian said “let’s just try this place” and we walked in to the restaurant across the street.

I can’t say this enough: we are two incredibly lucky and fortunate people. The hostess at Brackett’s Oceanview Restaurant apologetically offered us the last available table at the restaurant – a tiny, out of the way, private room with a big window. The table was perfect, the room was perfect, the view was perfect, my drink was perfect, the fried seafood was perfect, the lobster ravioli was perfect and my husband is perfect.

Then we walked off dinner on Pier Avenue, just in time to catch a beautiful sunset over Sandy Bay.

I finally finished a painting that I’ve been working on for a while. It’s not my masterpiece, but I love it.  Life occasionally gets in the way of painting, and this one may have sat on the back-burner for quite a while. I started this painting two years ago, almost to the day.

You might not be surprised by this: I love going to museums. On the day after Christmas in 2007, Brian and I spent the afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and, again this might not surprise you, I took a lot of pictures.

It’s not just that I love art — I love galleries, and Gallery 810 at the Met is perfect — deep dusty rose walls, parquet floors, columns, arched doorways, and a huge skylight, not to mention the shiny gilded frames holding glimpses in to other worlds, including the world of the mysterious Madame X.

Gallery 810
Metropolitan Museum of Art
oil on 12×18″ canvas
2010-2012
beckydimattia.com

John Singer Sargent
Madame X (Portrait of Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau)
1884
Metropolitan Museum of Art

In 1884, John Singer Sargent exhibited his gorgeous portrait of Madame Gautreau at the Paris Salon, but it was not well-received. Critics argued that it was obscene, and Madame Gautreau was humiliated. Despite demands, Sargent refused to withdraw it from the salon, although he later repainted the sitter’s right shoulder-trap so that it was on her shoulder rather than loosely draped on her arm.

In 1916, Sargent sold the portrait, known as Madame X, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, commenting to the Met’s director “I suppose it is the best thing I have ever done.” In 2004, Deborah Davis wrote Strapless, a fabulous book about Sargent and Madame X. In 2007, when I got to see Madame X, she was hanging in Gallery 811, framed beautifully by the arched doorway of Gallery 810.

According to the Met’s website, she can now be found in Gallery 711. At some point, she was moved from the European paintings to the American paintings. Apparently, John Singer Sargent has been hard to classify since he was an American born Florence and he lived and worked in Paris and London before painting wealthy New Yorkers and Bostonians (such as Isabella Stewart Gardner) when he was my age.

click here for the Met’s page on Madame X 

My painting is based on a composite of these two photos:

And this is the Met’s photo of Gallery 810 from their page on the gallery:

Please visit beckydimattia.com to see my other recent paintings. 

Our cousins got us Sox tickets as a wedding gift!! It was still in the upper 80s well after dark, but it was Youkilis’ first time back at Fenway Park since being traded to the Chicago White Sox, so it was great to welcome him back. Once a Red Sox, always a Red Sox — the crowd still cheered for him even on the opposing team! And we won!!

More Fenway photos!

• We took a tour of Fenway Park in 2011
• We saw an amazing sunset at Fenway in 2011
• We had seats behind home plate in 2008

The USS Constitution is the world’s oldest commissioned naval vessel, and it’s parked right near our friend’s apartment in Charlestown. They set off a cannon every day at 8am and at sunset, so we went up on to the roof to watch the last moments of a bright pink sunset (with the Bunker Hill Monument on the left), then watch as boats of full of tourists arrived for the USS Constitution‘s daily ritual.

Some landmarks in this photo: Old North Church (the white steeple on the far left), the Hancock Tower (the bluish squarish building in the middle), The USS Constitution and the Zakim bridge on the far right

Hungry Mother is an excellent restaurant in Kendall Square, Cambridge MA — we highly recommend it.

This right here — this is why you go to restaurants with 3 other people. So you can try 4 desserts.

I can’t name them all — I was far too distracted by the wonder that is basil ice cream (far right)

Went to the bank during my lunch break — there’s a really famous ballpark right across the street, maybe you’ve heard of it

When a friend needs a hand with an arts and crafts project, and she offers to feed me too, how can I say no? Mo and I made paper flowers out of colorful tissue paper for her engagement party — we made a very pretty mess!!

We were treated to an incredible display of lights from a Charlestown roofdeck on the Fourth of July … city lights reflected in the harbor, fireworks over the city and a phenomenal lightening storm! The North End’s fireworks were pretty great, but we got to see Boston’s famous fireworks spectacular right above Old Ironsides, the USS Constitution. Phenomenal view …

A beautiful brand new canvas …
hand-stretched tight as a drum, two layers of gesso, sanded smooth, and ready to go.

We brought a friend to the MFA this morning, and headed straight for our favorite gallery (partly because the bathrooms are right there, but that’s beside the point). We found out that our favorite gallery in the entire museum is being renovated! This photo is from a few years ago, and we’ll never see this again …

One of my favorite ways to spend a day off is visiting some of my favorite spots in Boston

The reflecting pool at the Christian Science Center Plaza — Not a bad spot to wander after dinner …

We got the summer started off right with a trip to Cape Cod before it got crowded or hot (actually, it was practically empty, and chilly). We found a deal online, so we spent Memorial Day Monday and the following day at the Chatham Bars Inn. When you think ‘inn’, you might think of a cute little hotel, but this place is more like a village. The main inn is surrounded by several little cottages, a spa, tennis courts, a swimming pool … and the Atlantic Ocean.

After wandering around on the Cape and discovering a lovely gallery, we spent the rest of afternoon reading. The air smelled amazing, the cool breeze felt wonderful (we were both wearing sweaters), I was re-reading one of my favorite biographies and working up a pretty big appetite for seafood. If you’re ever in Chatham, go eat at the Impudent Oyster. Seriously incredible meal.

I had an errand to run in the North End, then I took a long lovely stroll on the Boston Harborwalk — gorgeous little neighborhoods with incredible views of Boston Harbor! At the end of my walk, I treated myself to an oysters and an ahi tuna app on Joe’s patio at Columbus Park.

Old meets new in Boston’s South End (corner of W. Newton and Columbus)