Bryan Tipton

Thanks to Amazon.com, I had a belated Christmas today, as various books and CDs I ordered arrived. Among my purchases was Jason Mraz's major label debut. He's one of my favorite local artists and was recently signed to Elektra. Another purchase was the soundtrack to High Fidelity. When I first saw the movie, I wasn't that taken with it, but the more I watch it, the more I notice wonderful subtleties and nuances that create resonance, and it's now among my favorite movies. Also included in my order were several books including two art books and three travel guides. I first saw the book, Reclining Nude, at a bookstore in Los Angeles. It's a great book, and shows how different artists have painted the female nude reclining. It's interesting to see different artists' interpretation of the figure rendered in their own style. It also introduced me to two artists that I wasn't familiar with (F. Scott Hess and Stanley Spencer). Three of my favorite artists are Gustav Klimt, Alphonse Mucha, and Egon Schiele. It is difficult to see any of their work in U.S. art museums, as much of it is owned by museums located in their respective birth countries. As a result, I planned on visiting Europe and making special stops at these museums located in Prague and Vienna, and thus the travel guides I bought were for these cities.