Nobody does it quite like Norman Rockwell. Not even close. He is by far my favorite 20th century American painter. The way he captured the beautiful and even awkward indiosyncratic expresions of small town American life is uncanny. I love these two holiday pieces...look at the faces...and the details....the overstuffed suitcase...the proud little boy and girl politely waiting their turn for the hug...it's perfection. I can feel the excited emotions and hearts beating fast in these scenes...those feelings you get to see someone you love after a long time away.

Washignton and I went to the Normal Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge MA back in 2007. Stockbridge happens to be one of the cutest, most quintessentially American feeling little towns I've ever been to. This is why Rockwell settled there I'm sure. The museum is nestled in the woods down a little road and is everything you'd want it to be. You get to see sketches, all Saturday Evening Post covers, enormous paintings of magazine imagery you never knew was so big in actuality, and the best tour guide in town who has a clear passion for the details regarding Rockwell's life and work...If you haven't been....it's well worth the trip.

P.S I just read that Norman Rockwell was named the official state artist of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as of 2008. I never knew we had state artists. Cool.