Making A Mull of it
Thought for the day.
Not to sound priggish, but I’m not one of those artists who finds her inspiration hidden inside bottles of vodka, whisky, or magic mushrooms. Rather, I like to let my ideas ferment for a while before I commit them to pen and paper. I mull over them; throw in a dash of pondering and a pinch of dreams and stir the pot … which does sound rather like a recipe for mulled wine!
Roman Holidays
The Roses of Heliogabalus, 1888Today is the Ides of March. While many today would associate that phrase with the recent film, or perhaps with the quotation, ‘beware the Ides of March, in reference to Julius Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC, the Ides is a day in the Roman calendar corresponding to March 15th.
The Ides, determined by the phase of the moon, are the middle days of a month. March was the first month of the year in the Roman calendar, and so this was a New Year period. It was also the Feast of Anna Perenna, the goddess of the year, whose festivities concluded the New Year’s ceremonies. The day was enthusiastically celebrated among the hoi polloi with picnicking, drinking and revelries.
Ask Me No More, 1906While most of us are probably not dining al fresco whilst reclining on chaise longues and slaves peel grapes for us, let us instead admire the romantic paintings of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912) from the dubious comfort of our office chairs.
His work has gone in and out of popularity and his reputation has dropped to the greatest lows from the rarefied heights (affecting the cost of his work to an astonishing degree), but no one can deny the breathtaking scope of his work and his commitment to depicting an utterly romanticised and Victorian notion of ancient Rome.
A Reading From Homer, 1885Alma-Tadema’s people are beautiful, the scenery breathtaking with glorious skies and sparkling light, the fashion charming and the architecture classical – and the latter rendered remarkably accurately after meticulous research. Ridley Scott even used his paintings for reference for the film Gladiator, as did Hollywood filmmakers before him.
Whether it’s a style of painting art critics take seriously or not, they are certainly a pretty enough tribute to halcyon Roman holidays – and what’s wrong with pretty every once in a while after all?
Read more about the artist, or click through a gallery of his work.
A Kiss, 1891
Unconscious Rivals, 1893
A Favourite Custom 1909
Silver Favourites 1903
Dumb Ways to Die on the Metro
Melbourne Metro, in a bid to end – or at least reduce – deaths on the railway system due to testosterone-driven stupidity (I’ve yet to hear of any young girls train-surfing) have launched a new campaign called Dumb Ways to Die. The poster campaign features endearing little bean-shaped characters whose collective fates graphically illustrate the link between stupid life choices and violent death.
The poster copy is cleverly written in rhyme, and most of the suggestions are obviously ridiculous –coupled with the simple drawings, therein lies their humour. Amongst the silliness there are a couple of serious messages however. One can only hope that these sink into the minds of those most likely to take foolish risks. The bold simplicity and the catchy rhyme of the illustrations certainly make them memorable and attention-grabbing, which is a good start.
Click images for larger versions.
The results of poking grizzly bears …
She Was of the Moment
This random poem was one that I wrote years and years ago, when I first started creating these word collages. It’s been through several incarnations while I have been distilling this new style, but the words had not changed, and the picture of the woman is still the same too.
This time I took an envelope from 1952 – front and back – and split the poem into two. I love the imagery of the words: ‘a traveller’s letter will away in the ocean’, which drove the pen and ink scribble of a rainy port, and also the words ‘it’s like wearing a rare enchanted dream’ – the tailor’s mannequin here echoes the hourglass shape of the nude in the first collage.
It’s fascinating to wonder where this envelope carried someone’s words – over oceans perhaps.
She was of the moment
a sweet summer’s legend
stories of inspiration
written until the end of time.
It is wrapped like a flower
where the warm waters
come to a rainy port
and a traveller’s letter
will away in the ocean.
What a charming heavenly quirk
of the season’s essence
it’s like wearing a rare enchanted dream
since you imagine the end.
Inter-Universe Beauty Wrap-Up
Miss Louella Brite of Lorna, overall winnerThe Inter-Universe Beauty Pageant of 4082 (hosted by Earth) is over! The judges (me, and three of my female cousins) have tallied the votes (my childhood first, second and third place school sports ribbons were used to distribute the votes), and apart from one green ribbon which seems to have gone astray, here are the results:
Miss Lorna was the over all winner, with two blue ribbons, and two red. She was one of the very last I drew, and I remember putting a great deal of effort into her hair, makeup and costume.
Runner-up Miss Diamond Jack, a comet To my disgust (then as now) runner-up must go to Miss Comet – long blond Rapunzel hair, big dress and diamonds plastered over her … how predictable. She received two blue ribbons and one red. None of those were from me.
Second runner-up is the Venutian Chrystal NymphSecond runner-up Miss Venus received one red and one green ribbon, and tying for fourth place, Miss Saturn and Miss Uranus each received one green.
Now that I see them all side-by-side it’s interesting to discover there is a preponderance of yellow and green tones amongst the winners, excepting the shrimpy Miss Saturn. It’s good to see that even in that day and age green-skinned people weren’t discriminated against also – there are two greenies in the winning circle.
Well folks, I guess that about wraps it up. See you all at the pageant on the rainforest planet Lorna next year!
Miss Eve Adams of Uranus ties for fourth place
Also tying for fourth place is the Saturnine Miss Rilla Bow