My parents got me tickets to visit the N.C. Wyeth house and studio, through the Brandywine River Museum of Art, for my birthday but it wasn't until now that we were able to go. If you are not familiar with the work of N.C. Wyeth, he was the artist who illustrated great classic works by Robert Lewis Stevenson like Treasure Island and Kidnapped. Many other members of the Wyeth family were artists as well, but I have to say I prefer the work of N.C. Wyeth to that of his son Andrew and grandson Jamie - also well known artists in their own rights.
I enjoyed getting to see where N.C. raised his family and where he got his inspiration for many of his paintings. But most of all I loved seeing his studio. It was a massive workspace, (well, massive to me who only has a small bedroom to work in...), that housed his paintings like one salvaged from a building in Philadelphia that was being torn down as well as the last painting he ever worked on before his untimely death. But more than that it also housed a curious collection of all the props and novelties he had accumulated over the years to use for the characters in his artwork. There was an array of guns, stuffed animals, a 200-year-old Native American canoe, model ships, saddles, swords, busts, glass bottles and volumes upon volumes of books that he used for reference. I looked around the studio with awe and, to be honest, a tinge of jealousy. Oh to have such an amazing space in which to create and gather such an incredible collection of unique items! *sigh* I guess I'll just have to keep plugging away and hope to someday be able to afford a really cool studio of my own.
If you have never been to the Brandywine River Museum of Art I highly recommend it and, of course, be sure to take advantage of visiting N.C. Wyeth's home/studio, Andrew Wyeth's studio and the Kuerner farm - the place of inspiration for many of Andrew Wyeth's works.