renaissance man
Wow! Finally finished this epic whopper of a tome. 929 pages (not inc indices, bibliog, etc.); feels like I’ve been reading it for years!
It’s a very good read. Broken into 94 easily digested bite-sized chapters. And written in a very balanced readable style.
The garden is looking fabulous.
We’ll have been here nine years, this summer. And the magnolia has been growing over the Green Room for about five years. Will this year be the first to see it in proper full bloom? We do hope so.
It’s nice to be out in the morning. With the Sun casting her shadows westwards, over the pond.
Coffee and pastries. Very nice.
And here’s a gallery of lovely garden pics.
There are still several large areas that are a hopeless mess. Such as this, by the house and blue shed:
There’s a helluva lorra work remaining to be done. But, nevertheless, the garden is looking and feeling very lovely.
I also declutterred the lawn. As it was a right ‘orrible mess.
The area that’s shaded by the fence, on the left, always struggle. And tends to remain a weedy grass-less zone. What to do? Yet more rolls of turf? Only to see the same thing happen!? Hmmm…
The old shed needs tearing down. To allow the ‘art studio’ to finally be built. A d that whole end/area needs a serious declutterring and tidying up.
A bit King Canute-ish, perhaps? no sooner than they’re cleared, more blossoms fall. Hey ho!
Got two shifts today: a shorty at two pm, and a long’un, in the evening. I’m going to allow myself a treat, again, if I exceed my minimum earning threshold.
Or, put another way, I have to exceed my minimum earning threshold by £35 this week, to cover this indulgence.
Just came back from brunch at ‘Spoons. Weather is gorgeous. So we’re out in the garden.
It’s sooo nice. Thought I’d try and do a bit of arty business outdoors.
The neighbours kids – Ellie and Maya – have a friend over. It’s Easter break. Kids are on their holidays. Screaming girlies! It’s also Teresa’s first day of holiday, today. Conundrum…
INTERLUDE – WORK
I’m rather enjoying the Picassian and/or Priapic naughtiness of the phallic thumb and, er… the whatchu-McCallum? The fleshy pads that form the lower ‘heel’ of the hand?
Well… a quick look online tells me they’re called the thenar and hypothenar eminences! The thenar being below the thumb, and the hypothenar being the other side/half.
I’m finding this one intriguing. And if I zoom in, there are promising areas.
As ever, these pass through several stages. And I’m often left worrying that they’re utterly shite. But I’m managing, just about, these days… to push through that brown wall.
And I actually wi d up liking quite a bit of what I’m doing. At least I feel there’s both so e continuity, with past efforts, and potential, for future developments.
The above has the potential phallic readings in there, a bit. And it also has, for my (total lack of) money, something a bit late Phillip Guston about it. Which I love, of course.
This one, directly above, I really dig. Esp’ in this cropped form. It’s almost statuesque. And, for me at least, it has a Picassian grandeur that combines both weight and ugliness with passion and splendour!
FOOTNOTE:
And this little cropping, of one of the above, gives – I think – a really cool composition.
Does this also have potential?
And finally, working up one of these pieces…
Day’s end. Back in the house…
Blossoms galore! Lovely.
I do love cherry blossoms. You’d be mad not to.
Mum gave us this pear tree. It’s doing well.
And at the end of the day? A walk to the park and back.
I almost forgot to post this, such was the overwhelming fun I was having with my own original art efforts!
But today, this new (and only recently published) book arrived. Companion to a recent British Museum exhibition, that I tragically missed. Well, at least I’ve got the book!
Above, one of the better known works in this publication. As ever, with Picasso, the rich diversity and rampant fecundity of his work are truly staggering.
It’s amazing how Picasso takes in whole traditions of art – rather like a Bacchic Epicurean, drinking in great draughts of wine – imbibing whole cultures in great lusty swigs. It’s truly astonishing.
Sometimes, as in the black and white pair of prints above, it’s only in the presence of the images, and I mean even just in their book form (doubtless much better still ‘in the flesh’), that their impact can really be felt.
I haven’t read any of the text yet, to speak of. But I already love the book. Based purely on my passion for Picasso.
What an artist he was! And what a source of inspiration he is, to me. Pablo Ruiz Picasso… I love you, forever!
Rather amazingly, at least to my mind, after soooo many years ‘in the wilderness’, it seems to me, I might have (inadvertently?) made the proverbial ‘trip to Hell in gasoline pants’, and come back with something…
Could it be that various of my loves are meeting – to use the name of my groop that never (yet?) was – in a sublime Convergence!?
It does seem that way to me. And, totally bizarrely, unlooked for, and unforeseen, I find that music (jazz, mostly), drums/drummers and art, are all starting to coalesce into something.
And what’s more, something I love, and have deep, deep feelings for. I’m kind of blown away by this. And it gives me hope…