I just finished reading “THE ROAD” by Cormac McCarthy. My brother gave me the book. He said I may want to kill myself halfway through. I didn’t. I loved it. But boy was it dismal. Post apocalyptic earth. Nothing but ash. Ash, ash, ash. My friend Charlie and I were discussing the book during our evening dog walk. He found it so depressing he could barely get through it. He said to me tonight while we were discussing a post-apocalyptic world: “When they come out with that new box of 64 Crayola Crayons it will be 64 variations of ‘ash’ “. I laughed and laughed.
Now they are making (or have already made) a movie of the book. I WILL NOT SEE IT. I can only imagine that the movie will ruin the book for me.
I started this painting today of a window sill. I used a reference photo my friend Judy took. It’s a little odd because the photo looks like someone came along and put a window and sill ON TOP of a wall. The texture of the walls was the same as the texture inside the window panes. Still, I thought it was an interesting image. Maybe someone put the faux window and sill on a wall so they could have a place to put their tomatoes? More interesting that just hanging a shelf? Who knows. Judy? Can you shed some light on this? I still need to work on the tomatoes, cucumber and (what I think are) potatoes on the sill along with the potted plant.
Here’s a photo of me with a bad attitude.
It makes me laugh.
Can you imagine how pissed off I’ll be when we’re living in a post-apocalypic world?
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March 30, 2009 at 4:34 am
AKLizzy
The painting is really lovely! The tomatoes make a great contrast to the background.
The description of post-apocalyptic earth is a little concerning to me, however….there was a half-inch of ash on our cars last night courtesy of Mt. Redoubt Volcano’s latest eruption. There’s so much I want to do before the world’s end — order and receive my Sham-Wows, try a new Ben and Jerry’s flavor, welcome our second daughter into the world, learn how to knit, travel to the Southern Hemisphere and maybe finish my current book. Should I worry about folding laundry? Thank goodness our taxes are done!
March 30, 2009 at 6:48 am
swatch
Cool painting Carol – Your blue-grey in the wall is almost opposite the red-orange you are using for the tomatoes in the colour wheel so they are starting to shimmer – which is cool.
If you experimented with colour swatches you could get the exact colour and saturation.
I think I will give ‘The Road’ a miss…
March 30, 2009 at 10:43 am
judith wolfe
Hmm – I knew your wonderful painting looked familiar since I took the photo. I believe it was taken on our trip to Belize. Here is the link to a short movie trailer to the upcoming film ‘The Road’ starring Viggo Mortenson as the father and Kodi Smit-McPhee as the son. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Vw4oh4zag
If you really are interested in reading more about the film, here is an article from the Times about it. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/movies/27road.html
March 30, 2009 at 11:54 am
Bonnie Luria
Who’d have thought the theme would be ” ash “! We’ve had several hazy days here for the past week and it’s either Sahara dust ( which comes through the atmosphere over the ocean and 4000 miles later appears on our cars, windows, trees, I’m assuming, lungs, and which also reminds me how insane it is that dust can travel uninterrupted for 4000 miles and I can’t get a non stop from here to Florida, but I digress ( your expressiont:-) ) or it’s volcanic ash from Montserrat.
I too loved the Crayola reference! And have enough apocalyptic notions all on my very own that don’t need prompting. Backoff- too funny.
You’ve got a good start with this one Carol. Adding a reflection of trees and a shine off the glass would likely distinguish it from the wall. Which looks lovely and weather worn.
March 30, 2009 at 1:25 pm
wrjones
I read that book and it is dismal. I thought they should just die. What is the point in living in such a world. I’m more of a Cinderella ending guy.
I like the variation in your wall and your tomatoes.
Can we see a picture of you with a good attitude?
March 30, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Carol King
LIZZY: Not to worry, Baby Girl will get here before the apocalypse and you will get your Sham-Wows. (I want to try one!)
STEPHEN: Thanks for your comment. I will try to make those tomatoes shimmer right off the page! And I will take your advice about the practice swatch. And no, I do not maintain talons!
JUDALAAAA: I’m pretty sure you took that picture in Italy, not Belize. And I will NOT LOOK AT THE TRAILER!
BONNALAAAA: I will take your advice on the shine on the windows and trees. You are always so helpful. And I cannot believe that sand from the Sahara can travel to St. Croix when I can barely make it from Brooklyn to Manhattan every morning.
WRJ: Yes the book is dismal, but so well written I couldn’t put it down. I loved it. I can see you more as a Cinderella guy. But how do you go to work in those glass slippers every day.
Just as an FYI…There are no pictures of me with a good attititude.
March 30, 2009 at 11:58 pm
wrjones
You little beauty. I know you are lying to me. There is a google talk now with voice and video. Get a web cam and download the google software so we can chat. You can show me your paintings as you work on them. We can talk together about how we can get Bonnie to feed us when we move to her island.
April 1, 2009 at 8:27 am
crlarson
I was so looking forward to another post that to assuage my disappointment I read these comments and then posts on linked sites and then wandered even further afield to other random items and came across the fact that at least some versions of MS Word do not seem to recognize “pions” (a/k/a “pi mesons”) or “muons” as real words (though they seem to recognize fermions) – all of which are the names of some of our more exotic particles – but all seem to recognize “tachyons” (an only, thus far, theoretical construct often used in works of sci-fi).
And then there’s that great line (among many) from one of wrjones’ posts: “…I have only been using my head as a button to keep my spinal cord from unraveling”
As otherwhere previously noted I like this composition – an outdoor stillife with no horizon, or, as your title has it – a window, without a view
did I mention I am suffering from insomnia?
April 5, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Landroskop « watercolour from africa
[...] and browns – with a tint of green as new shoots begin to appear. I thought of Carol’s story about needing a pallette of 64 shades of ash for the post-apocalyptic [...]
January 15, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Landroskop « Stephen Quirke Watercolours
[...] and browns – with a tint of green as new shoots begin to appear. I thought of Carol’s story about needing a pallette of 64 shades of ash for the post-apocalyptic [...]