I don’t follow pop music like I did when I was a teenager. The iTunes playlists I listen to while painting have very few artists that weren’t popular by, say, the 80’s. But I recently added several songs by PJ Harvey to my playlists. I discovered her while listening to ‘Tom Waits’ radio on iTunes. I especially like The Last Living Rose.
The winter of ’14 has been the coldest in recent memory. Lake Erie remains frozen, as can be seen in this recent photo from my bedroom balcony. Take cheer! Summer will return and transform the lake into scenes like this one:
In the corner of the ruined room,
she was crying,
frightened of herself
and angry at us.
‘Freedom is full of monsters.
Just get out.’
I ran to summer
in the next room,
where the Goes Orchestral band members,
led by the red-haired midget on saxophone,
made intricate, drug-induced patterns on the stage.
On and on played they.
I wish they were more self-critical.
Considering today is Keith’s birthday, it’s fitting to be working on paintings for which he posed. Both paintings are almost finished. My wife laughs when I say this because I am notorious for reworking ‘finished’ paintings. I’m liable to pick up a finished work at any time and start in if I see something that…
Do you remember your first encounters with great art? I vividly recall my introduction to certain artists–life-changing discoveries that revolutionized my views about art. The composer Berlioz recalled his introduction to Shakespeare this way: “Shakespeare, coming upon me unawares, struck me like a thunderbolt. The lightning flash of that sublime discovery opened before me at…
Today I worked on these paintings. Both are titled ‘Main Street.’ Each is taken from a one-block area of–you guessed it–Main Street in our small town. #1 (bottom painting) might end up being called ‘Antique Shop,’ or some-such. While not identical, both are roughly the same size. As you can see from the photograph, both…
Due to the bad weather, the usually crowded Cleveland Museum of Art cafeteria was practically deserted today. The fare isn’t good enough to fight jostling lines, but today’s peace made the none-too-good food perfectly acceptable. Especially hungry, my designer salad was delicious, piled delightfully high with anchovies and blue cheese. After lunch, I did my usual tour, storing away much to think about and study–stolen treasures.
What could be better than lingering over lunch with a beautiful young lady? My daughter Jane and I had lunch in a cozy restaurant near the Baldwin Wallace campus. Jane started her second semester there this week. Over Philly-cheese steaks and fries, she described her courses for the semester: religion, philosophy, psychology (taught by her roommate’s uncle, nonetheless), music, and English. The class sizes are small (which is one of the reasons we picked BW), and she is enthusiastic all about all of them.