Monday, March 03, 2008
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Thoughts
I enjoy reading lots of artbooks right now. Firstly, on J. W. Waterhosue (my favourite Pre-Raphaelite painter) and secondly Origins: The Art of John Jude Palencar (Palencar won the Grand Master Award of this year's Spectrum). Both very recommendable books. I particularly loved the analyses and connections the the book on Waterhouse drew between the art and the artist. It gets you to think about the paintings in depth and is quite inspiring.
***
There are strange tendencies in today's consumer culture. Years and years ago, it used to be cheaper to buy raw materials and make the finished product yourself. When I started sewing, I thought it great, because by this I would get clothes that I liked and wanted and it would be cheaper (the latter proved to be untrue) - preconceptions from former times.
(Nowadays, I appreciate paying a bit more for the fabric and knowing the clothes are made by me and not by Chinses children, which is something I didn't care about much when I got into sewing.)
Same for food. You tend to pay almost more for basic foodstuff that you prepare into finished meals than for instant food or cheap take-away meals. It's easily justifyable by arguing for the quality of the finished product, but it's still something that's developed in years and hasn't been here all the time. An effect of globalisation?
***
Another cultural oddity: We seem to be more tolerant towards people who we don't know or don't care for much. Simply knowing that we have to, intend to, or want to spend a significant time of our future lives with certain people lets us judge them by harsher standards than people who we know will not be part of our lives for more than a fleeting moment. Awful, isn't it?
Maybe it is because we want to eliminate possible conflicts as soon as possible before they can turn into big issues. Maybe it's a sign that we second-guess our decisions of wanting to share our lives with the person/people. Maybe it's a gender thing (as my brother suggest).
Ideally, we should show more tolerance and understanding towards the people who we care for (especially understanding, because we are more familiar with their way of thinking, so it should be easier). So why doesn't it work? Why can't we care less about minor issues with people who are more important to us?
***
Uh. I have no idea where this picture is going. I'm trying out new stuff with it every time I open the file.
(Dammit, why did I have to start incorporating photos, against my better judgement? This will turn into a major pain.)
***
There are strange tendencies in today's consumer culture. Years and years ago, it used to be cheaper to buy raw materials and make the finished product yourself. When I started sewing, I thought it great, because by this I would get clothes that I liked and wanted and it would be cheaper (the latter proved to be untrue) - preconceptions from former times.
(Nowadays, I appreciate paying a bit more for the fabric and knowing the clothes are made by me and not by Chinses children, which is something I didn't care about much when I got into sewing.)
Same for food. You tend to pay almost more for basic foodstuff that you prepare into finished meals than for instant food or cheap take-away meals. It's easily justifyable by arguing for the quality of the finished product, but it's still something that's developed in years and hasn't been here all the time. An effect of globalisation?
***
Another cultural oddity: We seem to be more tolerant towards people who we don't know or don't care for much. Simply knowing that we have to, intend to, or want to spend a significant time of our future lives with certain people lets us judge them by harsher standards than people who we know will not be part of our lives for more than a fleeting moment. Awful, isn't it?
Maybe it is because we want to eliminate possible conflicts as soon as possible before they can turn into big issues. Maybe it's a sign that we second-guess our decisions of wanting to share our lives with the person/people. Maybe it's a gender thing (as my brother suggest).
Ideally, we should show more tolerance and understanding towards the people who we care for (especially understanding, because we are more familiar with their way of thinking, so it should be easier). So why doesn't it work? Why can't we care less about minor issues with people who are more important to us?
***
Uh. I have no idea where this picture is going. I'm trying out new stuff with it every time I open the file.
(Dammit, why did I have to start incorporating photos, against my better judgement? This will turn into a major pain.)
Friday, February 22, 2008
Linkage
Cool links ahead:
* I stumbled over Geocaching, which seems like an awesome way to get out into the wilderness and discover your surroundings. I really want to do that, too! :D
* Mark Kennedy wrote a brilliant blog entry about the original Star Wars, analysing the first hour of the film.
***
This started as another sketch/idea for a bedroom painting. But it decided pretty quickly that this isn't what it wants to be.
(Pose again from ref, and general idea not really original - I forgot the artist who gave me the inspiration, though.)
Sketchy sketch:
* I stumbled over Geocaching, which seems like an awesome way to get out into the wilderness and discover your surroundings. I really want to do that, too! :D
* Mark Kennedy wrote a brilliant blog entry about the original Star Wars, analysing the first hour of the film.
***
This started as another sketch/idea for a bedroom painting. But it decided pretty quickly that this isn't what it wants to be.
(Pose again from ref, and general idea not really original - I forgot the artist who gave me the inspiration, though.)
Sketchy sketch:
Thursday, February 14, 2008
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
I'm probably referring to my Popular Culture lecture from Oxford way too often. But sometimes life gives you stuff that sticks with you mentally and every now and then your mind opens up the drawer in which it was hidden.
A film that we watched in that lecture was The Unbearable Lightness of Being. It was an interesting film, but I didn't fully understand its point and in general it wasn't the type of film that I normally like.
Still, something in the title intrigues me. Wikipedia says:
According to Kundera, "being" is full of "unbearable lightness" because each of us has only one life to live: "Einmal ist keinmal" ("once is nonce", i.e., "what happened once might as well have never happened at all"). Therefore, each life is ultimately insignificant; every decision ultimately does not matter. Since decisions do not matter, they are "light": they do not tie us down. But at the same time, the insignificance of our decisions—our lives, or being—is unbearable. Hence, "the unbearable lightness of being".
Which is something I need to internalise. I simply can't make decisions and usually let life and fate make them for me (which works surprisingly well).
***
I remained pretty unaffected by today for most of the day. But ... at some point, the urge to do something grew too strong and I couldn't resist any longer.
Spread the love.
And this isn't a subtle hint that my cannibalistic tendencies and my appetite for sweets are interrelated. Tehehehe :->
A film that we watched in that lecture was The Unbearable Lightness of Being. It was an interesting film, but I didn't fully understand its point and in general it wasn't the type of film that I normally like.
Still, something in the title intrigues me. Wikipedia says:
According to Kundera, "being" is full of "unbearable lightness" because each of us has only one life to live: "Einmal ist keinmal" ("once is nonce", i.e., "what happened once might as well have never happened at all"). Therefore, each life is ultimately insignificant; every decision ultimately does not matter. Since decisions do not matter, they are "light": they do not tie us down. But at the same time, the insignificance of our decisions—our lives, or being—is unbearable. Hence, "the unbearable lightness of being".
Which is something I need to internalise. I simply can't make decisions and usually let life and fate make them for me (which works surprisingly well).
***
I remained pretty unaffected by today for most of the day. But ... at some point, the urge to do something grew too strong and I couldn't resist any longer.
Spread the love.
And this isn't a subtle hint that my cannibalistic tendencies and my appetite for sweets are interrelated. Tehehehe :->
Friday, February 08, 2008
Sweet Dreams
Intending to paint some oil or acrylic pictures for my flat - bedroom first. So I'm just throwing around some ideas for the time being (heavily referenced):
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