21c Museum Hotel and Gilpin’s Steamed Sandwiches

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Travel Spirit

Walking through the 21c Museum Hotel is an experience not to be missed in Cincinnati! Friday night, my friend and I began our evening attending the Art after Dark event at the Cincinnati Art Museum, followed by Final Friday at the Pendleton Art Center in Over the Rhine, and finished the evening with a walk through the trendy 21c Museum Hotel, and a yummy steamed sandwich at Gilpin’s Steamed Sandwiches next door! By the time I got home, it was almost 2:00am! But it was worth it…we had fun.

The next few images are pieces of art you will discover at this boutique hotel…

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Final Friday at Pendleton Art Center

Posted on February 2, 2014 by Travel Spirit

Final Friday at Pendleton Art Center is always a fun and interesting event in Cincinnati. If you read yesterday’s post, you’ll remember I started my evening by attending Art after Dark at the Cincinnati Art Museum with my new friend, Jena. It was a night filled with art and fun! After that I drove to Over the Rhine, where the Pendleton Art Center is located and began looking for a parking spot. I told Jena I felt lucky and drove up a side road next to the Center. Up ahead was a vehicle with its brake lights on, so I pulled alongside, opened Jena’s window and asked the guy behind the wheel if he was leaving. He said he was trying to, but couldn’t get his SUV out of the parking spot. Jena offered to help and stood outside trying to guide him. I could tell we may be there a while, so I put my car in park, jumped out and offered to do it for him. He said, “Sure”. Within 20 seconds I had his vehicle on the road and he thanked us. I then parallel parked in the spot and we were on our way! I know what you’re thinking. That may not have been the safest thing to do, especially in that area of town, but I had a gut feeling that it was OK.

Jena had never been to the Pendleton Art Center and was a bit overwhelmed with how much there was to see on eight levels of the old building! Here are a few my favorites…

Oh…and here’s the beautiful and stylish Jena. She’s my height, 5′ 10″ tall, so it was nice to hang out with another tall lady!

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Art After Dark at the Cincinnati Art Museum

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Travel Spirit

If you’re looking for things to do in Cincinnati, I suggest stopping by the Cincinnati Art Museum for their monthly Art After Dark event. A new friend and I made that our first stop last night and enjoyed watching the salsa dancing and wandering from room to room to view paintings, sculpture and other types of art on display. If you’d like to avoid the $4.00 parking fee, and don’t mind walking 3-5 minutes, there’s a free lot for use.

Upon arrival, I noticed Pinocchio with his arms reaching towards the sky, as if in wonder…

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Discover Treasures While Hiking

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Hiking is such a great way to get exercise, enjoy the great outdoors, and if you’re a photographer, discover treasures along the way! I’m fortunate to live five minutes away from a 500 acre nature preserve filled with burbling creeks, tons of wildlife, wildflowers, 4 miles of hiking trails and if timed correctly, I can usually have it all to myself. Tuesday evening my husband, my dog and I took a 3 mile hike and here are some of my discoveries…

Not sure what these are called, but I like…

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Art in Unexpected Places

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Beale Street in Memphis is a pedestrian only street with bars, restaurants and shops that runs about two blocks. Monday evening, Cindy and I stopped to talk to this street artist. We were asking his opinion on the best places to eat and he tried to persuade us to have our “reality” caricature done by him in about ten minutes. I explained that I’m not into buying more “things” for my house because I prefer to collect experiences rather than things.

Anyway, it was fun to watch him in action. He is quite talented…

Most photographers love the time of day before sunset or sunrise because the lighting is so pretty. This was a courtyard along Beale Street…

When I first took this photo of a small section of a fountain, I wasn’t sure how it would turn out because of the dim lighting, but I loved the outcome. I am always fascinated with the concept that art is all around us…if we open our eyes!

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Summerfair 2013

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Travel Spirit

I had another great day yesterday at Summerfair 2013, which is an annual event held at Coney Island Amusement Park in Cincinnati. I finally met a friend, Kelley, who has been a Facebook friend for a couple of years, for the first time at this event! I only have a handful of people on my Facebook that I’ve never met…usually a friend of a friend. Anyway, we arranged a meeting time and we really clicked! She’s intelligent, warm, and as you can see beautiful!

We had a great time walking around Summerfair, which is a fine arts and crafts fair, with over 300 artists from around the Country. The event also has performers, and play areas for kids! This is their 46th year and more than 20,000 people attend to view and purchase the art! Artists apply to exhibit their art at the fair in ten categories including photography, painting, wood, ceramics, fibers, leather, jewelry and 2D/3D mixed media.

Summerfair raises money for a variety of arts opportunities, to include awards, scholarships and exhibitions to artists and small arts organizations in the Tri-State area.

We stopped to talk with some of the artists and I requested permission to photograph their art and sometimes them.

Kelley and I both enjoyed the energy and vibe of this artist…Tracy McKay. He paints with his hands…

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Spunky South Street Philadelphia

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Travel Spirit

The area known as South Street in Philadelphia is approximately 10 blocks long and has a fun bohemian flair! With over 300 shops and 60 restaurants, it’s a great place to people watch, wander into eclectic shops, have a famous Philly Cheesesteak, or listen to music! I had read when I returned home, that the area has been known for being a bit seedy or perhaps even dangerous…but I didn’t sense that and felt perfectly safe as a solo female traveler!

As I passed this colorful bar, I knew I had to have a photo…

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Art and Music in Cincinnati

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Travel Spirit

It’s been over a week since I spent the day in Downtown Cincinnati for the Reds Baseball Opening Day celebration, but I have a few more photos I’d like to share with you. I’m always on the lookout for creative and/or artistic photographic opportunities and I think this staircase fits that description.

I’ll call it “Curved Elegance”…

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The Best of Cincinnati

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Travel Spirit

The Best of Cincinnati is an annual event highlighting some of the best food and drink that Cincinnati has to offer. Last night it was held at the Bertke Electric Warehouse in Northside. The warehouse was a great place to take fun photos! Most of the windows were painted various shades of tan and brown and combined with the colorful lighting, resulted in creating a hip and eclectic look!

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Finding Art at your local Thrift Shop

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Travel Spirit

My recent excursion to the local Thrift shop was not only to further develop my photographic skills, but also to illustrate the concept that you can find art and beauty everywhere!

Imperfections in glass make it beautiful!

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Essex Studios Art Walk – Part Three

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Travel Spirit

This is Part Three of my series on the Essex Studios Art Walk held in Cincinnati, Ohio this past weekend. If you missed Part One and Two…go here. I wandered through a large warehouse for a couple of hours taking photos and talking with artists.

This was painted on one of the hallway walls…

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Essex Studios Art Walk – Part Two

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Travel Spirit

This is Part Two of my series on the Essex Studios Art Walk held in Cincinnati, Ohio this past weekend. If you missed Part One…go here. I wandered through a large warehouse for a couple of hours taking photos and talking with artists.

This is the young lady that is one of the members of my Meetup group and the artist that we were showing support for by attending the Art Walk. If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you probably know that I love reflection shots…so when I saw this mirror, it seemed to be the perfect shot for her!

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Essex Studios Art Walk – Part One

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Travel Spirit

The Essex Studios Art Walk is an opportunity for the public to view and purchase pieces of art (paintings, sculptures, photographs) from 120+ artists, displayed in a large 2-level warehouse, located near Downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Although there are resident Artists who offer regular classes, the Art Walk is only held a few times per year. Having recently joined a new creative Meetup group, I went to the event to show support for one of our members who was selling some of her work. I spent about two hours walking the large warehouse, taking photos and chatting with the artists. There was so much to see, I’ll have three parts to this series.

This was the first display of art I encountered upon entering the warehouse. I like the creative use of old pallets to show the art. Continue reading →

Finding Art in Unexpected Places

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Looking at this photo…you would assume it was taken outside. Actually, it’s a painting in a friend’s house. I went out with girlfriends last night and we ended the evening at one of their homes. Always looking for practice with my camera, I took a few photographs. I like the way the water droplets have a 3d effect.

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Over the Rhine and Washington Park

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Travel Spirit

Over-the-Rhine, is a neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio. I was there a few days ago taking photos and after researching the web, discovered that it is believed to be the largest, most intact urban historic district in the United States.It also contains the largest collection of Italianate architecture in the United States. According to Wikipedia, “its architectural significance has been compared to the French Quarter in New Orleans, the historic districts of Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina, and Greenwich Village in New York City.” I didn’t take a ton of photos of the architecture because I was mainly on the hunt for Street Art…which I posted about yesterday.

Up until about six years ago, Over-the-Rhine used to be one of the most dangerous and poorest places in the United States. But, with a heavy police presence and redevelopment, it is now one of the most promising in the nation!

Over-the-Rhine was included in the 2008 book, Frommer’s 500 Places to See Before They Disappear.

I like being able to see the windows at the back of this empty space through the front windows…