Consortium of Seven: Year 2

 Looking back is the most important part of my practice. It has shaped who I am as a painter. Flex (2017) Recently I was lucky enough to see Alison Watt’s latest art exhibition, “A Portrait Without Likeness.” Housed in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery it is a collection of beautiful still life paintings in her typically realistic style. What makes this collection of images different from many others is the concept surrounding & informing it. More of that later. Alison Watt makes much of the influence paintings of the past exert on her practice. One key influence took place early in life, being inspired to become a painter after viewing Madame Moissetier (1856) by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres when she was seven. An important aspect of Ingres’s work she admired the most was his treatment of fabric & drapery.  At first, her interest was in portraiture & after attending Glasgow School of Art won the BP Portrait Award in 1987 for her self-portrait, also currently...

        Rolling into the final day of July 2021, my general take on the COVID situation's, unfortunately, being borne out as the CDC started to walk back it's abrupt 180° turn on mask protocols while pretending that they're not, by trying to lean entirely on the Delta variant . But, that's a topic well beyond the reach of these Friday entertainment pieces, other than to reinforce that I'm going to be sticking to my home screens for now. I'll be especially interested to see if Disney sticks with their theatrical release only approach to Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings come early September.        Currently I believe that's the first Disney film to go that route since the pandemic set in, as this weekend's Jungle Cruise film is also being offered via the special pay window on Disney+, as they'd done with Black Widow - it's definitely the first Marvel Studios one - and with mask mandates already beginning to come back... t...

 Happy Thursday, everyone!  I hope your baseball team is doing well, whatever Olympians you're rooting for are having success and you're having at least some time to yourself with a good back whether in an AC-cooled room or by the pool.  Now on to this week's nonsense! _________________________________ Diving into older books about the US Civil War can be a dicey proposition, what with an older breed of historians who focused more on battles and bloodshed rather than the causes (slavery) and long-term impact of the treasons and liberation of millions of people in the United States.  But this does still have good reviews and apparently is still pretty well regarded, so I'll give it a shot. ____________________________________ So, up until a few years ago the Boston Strangler was something I simply didn't know much about besides that it was the name of a serial killer in Boston back in the day (keep in mind the murders took place a decade before I was born).  ...

  An excerpt from a  classic "Amazon Trail" column in Lee Lynch's first collection .     ...I came from the kind of family that has two sides: the side that wouldn't shop in a thrift store and doesn't have to; and the side that did, but didn't want to talk about it. The breakthrough came when I discovered books and the joy of owning them. My compulsive personality found its outlet in collecting when I was too young to be able to afford new books. As a matter of fact, I'm still too young to be able to afford many new books. Humbled, I learned to enter those mildew-scented, poorly lit palaces of instant gratification, the kinds of stores that would now and then have leather-bound editions of the classics with perhaps water stains on their uncut pages. Water stain, watermark, how was I to know the difference? I was into leather-bound editions of the classics by age 15. It wasn't until I went to college, though, that I really learned to indulge myself. I ...

        We've got four movies to consider in today's post from this series on Greta Garbo's films. (The series begins here .) I'll be honest; I'm hoping to get through the first three at a quick clip, as I really want toget to "Mata Hari." But before we start, doesn't the "Mata Hari" costume above make Garbo look like Maleficent in the original "Sleeping Beauty"? "Romance" Garbo's Swedish accent is not usually an issue for me, and who am I to criticize? Garbo could speak Swedish, English, and German at least and maybe other languages as well. I speak English and know fifty words in French and fewer words than that in Spanish. Since "Romance" is Garbo's second talking picture after "Anna Christie," every time I watch I expect that her English will be better.  But these are two different movies. Maybe the direction Garbo got in "Anna Christie" made it easier to understand her, because An...

  by whiteray When Jimi Hendrix’ “Little Wing” first showed up in 1967, it was as an album track on Axis: Bold as Love , tucked near the end of Side One, almost seeming an afterthought between “Ain’t No Telling” and “If 6 was 9.” Well, she’s walking through the clouds, With a circus smile running wild, Butterflies and rubies, And moonbeams and fairy tales. That's all she ever thinks about. Riding with the wind. Lord when I’m sad, she comes to me, With a thousand smiles she gives to me free. It’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright Take anything you want from me, Anything.   Fly on, Little Wing. (Anything you want . . .)   “Hendrix,” says William Ruhlman of All-Music Guide , “originally developed the lovely guitar pattern that serves as the basis of the song while playing in Greenwich Village in 1966 and finished it in the fall of 1967 in time to record it for his second album. Playing the guitar through a Leslie organ speaker, he emphasized its melodic appe...

Little green porch way, way up. I'm leaving tomorrow and I will truly miss this beautiful city. It's such a pleasure to experience the beauty, to enjoy the city's cultural and gustatory offerings. A beautiful view around nearly every corner. I wish I could have seen more friends, this trip, but time was tight. Here are some shots from my camera roll...hope you enjoy. yes, I'll take it  A view of Saints Peter and Paul church Swanning about Lafayette Park Very cool former police station on the park grounds The hippie treatment  Prettiness Yes, I'll take it Transgender memorial park Little Benton Park West plant exchange Greenhouse exchange little green porch way, way up....2 Lafayette Park, again. Nice corners see that curved staircase? side view lion ...