Waiting for reincarnation @ the Philip Glassof Sculpture Ranch in Suisun Valley
Archive Page 2
Wheels of Samsara
Published by December 17th, 2006 in Artist Workspace Project and Photography. 0 Comments
To the complaint, ‘There are no people in these photographs,’ I respond, ‘There are always two people: the photographer and the viewer.
~ Ansel Adams (1902 - 1984)
Without this - there is nought -
All other Riches be
As is the Twitter of a Bird -
Heard opposite the Sea -I could not care - to gain
A lesser than the Whole -
For did not this include themself -
As Seams - include the Ball?I wished a way might be
My Heart to subdivide -
‘Twould magnify - the Gratitude -
And not reduce - the Gold -~Emily Dickinson c. 1862
I read a short article on Rembrandt in the Dec issue of Smithsonian magazine by Stephanie Dickey which had this interesting section to close it out:
While his bold, unconventional approach to both life and art has been admired by some viewers more than others, the fundamental authenticity of his response to the human condition remains unquestioned. In Rembrandt’s Eyes, an eloquent study of the artist and his milieu, the cultural historian Simon Schama observes that for Rembrandt, ‘imperfections are the norm of humanity. Which is why he will always speak across the centuries to those for whom art might be something other than the quest for the ideal forms.’ (emphasis mine)
From the Desk of Dorothy Gale
Auntie Em,
Hate you.
Hate Kansas.
Taking the dog.~ Dorothy
……………………………………………….
Dorothy’s all grown up now, still traveling the world, having adventures, making new friends and getting into a smattering of trouble.
I recently spotted her in Bologna in the form of my friend L, together with Toto, under the guise of the famous Painter, Gourmand and debonair Dog About Town, Cassiel.
Good and evil exist as destiny and fate. Destiny is that which you were born to fulfil, Fate is that which exists to deter you from fulfilling your destiny.
Paraphrased from the Chronicle of Tao
in 2 days of gardening. wow!
i’ll take them over Partridges in a Pear tree any time. after all, i didn’t really like that show.
And now for a short break…
Published by November 29th, 2006 in Garden of Rambunctiousness. 1 CommentI’ve been posting a lot about Bologna recently, but as I continue to wrestle with WordPress which would pop my bubble of post travel euphoria if I wasn’t a person of such saintly, nay, ungodly patience, let me tell you about the cutest, cleverest, nuttiest, silliest little froggies in the world. They live in my backyard.
Granted, they are probably toads.
Still.
pardon our dust while we do some housecleaning…
Published by November 28th, 2006 in Slice of Life. 2 Commentsi upgraded wordpress yesterday and broke my stylesheets which i’ve subsequently upgraded. but i’m afraid everything here is still in a bit of a shambles at the moment, really.
for example, under firefox, i’ve noticed that the right nav has decided to duck under the entries on the frontpage and images are missing on some of the archived pages. and i’ve got weird extra spacing in my right nav i need to get rid of.
just a few of the things that need addressing…
Traditionally, I’ve been afraid of heights. I’m not exactly sure when it happened because I was a bit of a monkey growing up, living in trees, leaving dirty footprints on the door jambs so I could stick to the ceiling, climbing up the school swing set, etc.
But at some point standing on a high rock started making me feel nervous and even now being on an 8ft ladder feels precarious.
Just thinking about going up on a Ferris Wheel gives me the heebie jeebies and god forbid the thing stops at the top and I’m with some horrible so called friend who attempts to rock the tiny coffin when it does. But not to worry as I will quickly dispatch the evil doer, then busy myself squeezing their remains out of the diamond mesh cage that holds me hostage. This will keep me occupied until I once again find myself on solid ground.
But where was I? Oh yes.
Heights.
So on Nov 13 I found myself with L about 100 meters above Bologna having hauled my camera, a bag of lenses and an ultimately useless tripod up to the top of the 12 century Torre degli Asinelli, the higher of the famous Due Torre (Two Towers) of Bologna which leans a nice 2.23m off the perpendicular.
At the top is the lookout, a stone box with crenelated openings that made windows in its thick walls, each covered over with a rusted steel grill which juts out about 1 to 2 ft then crosses overhead. Most people lean against the waist high wall to take in the spectacular view and peer over the edge to see the bustle of the nearby streets.
But as I am on the shorter side, this didn’t really work for me and my zoom lens.
So I jumped up into each of the windows and standing up, leaned out, stuck my arms and camera outside of the grill and got my pictures that way.
At some point a lady behind me screamed (did she think I was going to jump?) causing me to bump my head then skin my chin on the grill since I was wedged in pretty tightly, but otherwise I was happy with the shooting.
But like L said, it’s good the metal didn’t give way.
So height was not an issue.
As it was not an issue when I was doing archaeology and skittered along tiny little goat paths high above the desert floor following the wadis in Egypt, nor did I have a problem climbing the rope ladder 15metres in and out of tomb shafts.
But get me up on a short step ladder and I’m petrified.
What’s up with that?
