Cherry Blossoms in Brooklyn, pastel on board, approx. 8″ by 12″

When one is at some fancy art show, what’s the worst thing one can say about an artist or their art?  Sneer and say “it’s so derivative”!

Derivative, adjective:  (typically of an artist or work of art) Imitative of the work of another person, and usually disapproved of for that reason.

Well, I recently heard this word: mimesis.  It is the basic theoretical principle in the creation of art. The word is Greek and means “imitation” (though in the sense of “re-presentation” rather than of “copying”). Plato and Aristotle spoke of mimesis as the re-presentation of nature. According to Plato, all artistic creation is a form of imitation: that which really exists (in the “world of ideas”) is a type created by God; the concrete things man perceives in his existence are shadowy representations of this ideal type. Therefore, the painter, the tragedian, and the musician are imitators of an imitation, twice removed from the truth.

So there.

Mimesis not derivative.

Istanbul not Constantinople.

Whatever.

Leaves and berries 1/2 sheet 140# Arches coldpress 

Friends from New Hampshire are coming in next weekend and the Husband and I will be enjoying time with them and also acting as NYC tour guides.  We usually try to offer useful advice for the tourists who are not used to visiting large cities.  Last time my advice was “don’t make eye contact with anyone.” This time I think I will offer advice on how to know when a fight may break out.  Oft times these three questions are asked before fists start a-flyin’.

1.  Whaddya looking at?  or as a variation, Whadda YOU lookin’ at?   Now this question doesn’t necessarily mean a fight will break out, but it’s best to get out of the way when this question arises.

2.  You lookin’ at me?   At this point you should seriously consider going in another direction.

3.  Do you know who I am?  This question is usually asked in a fancier restaurant or an airport.

These are not to be confused with The Three Questions,  a short story by Leo Tolstoy which concerns a King that wants to find the answers to what he considers the three most important questions in life.

• What is the best time to do each thing?
• Who are the most important people to work with?
• What is the most important thing to do at all times?

Turns out the king got his answers from a hermit.

• The most important time is now. The present is the only time over which we have power.
• The most important person is whoever you are with.
• The most important thing is to do good to the person you are with

December 28.  As my friend Chris once told me in his North Carolina butter melting accent “Doesn’t it just suck to have to share the spotlight with the baby Jesus?”

Yes, Chris.  Yes it does.

Famous people with a December 28th birthday:

Denzel Washington, Dame Maggie Smith, Oprah’s friend Gayle King (no relation) and Woodrow Wilson, to name a few.  But I don’t know any of them. So happy birthday to all my friends and family who share this day with me:

My nephew Kevin

The Husband’s partner Sean

Mark, the owner of the bar around the corner

Bob,  my friend who lives two blocks away and whom I never see

My sister’s neighbor Gayle Aprile

My friend Aram’s sister

Taryn’s dog Domino

If I knew what I was doing I could tell you the sizes of the plates.  The coasters below, which came out huge in the pictures, are just regular sized coasters.  Oh well,  Maybe now that I’m another year older I’ll figure this blogging thing out.

Happy and healthy 2012 to all.

Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year in our part of the world!   But that didn’t stop me from spending the short daylight hours partaking in all the holiday baked goods that were brought into the office.   Cookie exchanges, brownies, cannoli…you name it, someone brought it to work.  And what is that word that two-year olds know so well and I apparently have completely forgotten?  It’s “No”.  Would you like to try some brownies?  No!  Um, Why I’d LOVE some…and so it goes.

As I pack on the pounds, I look forward to the days starting to get longer…even if it’s just a minute a day. (It is.) I’ll take it.  When I get up, it’s dark. When I leave for work it’s dark.  When I leave the office, it’s dark.  And all I want to do is eat comfort food and sleep.   It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

My dog walking pal Charlie recently told me that he ate so many sweets in one day his pancreas secreted enough insulin for a third world nation.

A long time ago, a doctor told me my pancreas was “tired”.  That was his way of telling me I had type-two diabetes.  My mother told me it was because I was fat.  She was a lovely woman.  She also told me “feet are never clean”.

Whatever you celebrate during this time of year, may it be happy, merry and not too fattening.

The above watercolor was loosely based on a Croatian street scene.  More narrow roads, hanging laundry and mysterious doorways.  Right up my alley!

]]> http://carolking.wordpress.com/2011/12/22/winter-solstice-post/feed/ 38 CarolKing Croatian Street with bike and laundry http://carolking.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/wanna-chat/ http://carolking.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/wanna-chat/#comments Sun, 27 Nov 2011 23:02:19 +0000 Carol King http://carolking.wordpress.com/?p=3696 ]]>

Two people chatting-Old Dubrovnik

Watercolor on 140# Arches Cold Press half sheet

You know how with Gmail you sometimes get a message at the bottom of an email you’ve just sent to your friend Sven:  ”Invite Sven to chat”?

Well, one day I sent an email and it bounced back.  The email I received back was from the Mail Delivery Subsystem telling me I had a wrong email address.  But, at the bottom of the email that got bounced back I noticed this: “Invite Mail Delivery Subsystem to chat.”   

Two Steeples, part deux  approx 19″ x 22″ on 140# Arches cold press

I have been suffering from a touch of ennui  which, as Merriam-Webster defines, is a feeling of weariness or dissatisfaction.  Synonyms include: blahs, doldrums, boredom, listlessness, restlessness, tedium, weariness. When I get ennui I also usual get malaise, which is defined as a generalized feeling of discomfort, illness, or lack of well-being.  And now I also have a cold.

Party girl in the house!

I find that ennui and malaise are excellent words, but I think my favorite is schadenfreude defined as “taking pleasure in the misfortune of others.”   It’s a German word.  Hmmmmm.

I like vocabulary.  I do not like math.  Doesn’t matter much as I can no longer remember what I was just going to say anyway.

Haven’t been painting lately…a quick trip to LA, then I helped my brother who does not read my blog act as a tour guide for some friends visiting NYC (those lovely lasses from Leeds) then I was in a “decoupage under glass” frenzy to get pieces ready for the arts council holiday show (forgot to take pictures of them) and now here we are.  Whew!

The above painting is a watercolor I did using a reference photo taken from the roof of my building.  I painted it here too.  I like sections of both.  In this one, however, I wonder what natural disaster caused the apartment building in the right side background to merge through the building of the 2nd steeple. It looks like the apartment building intersected the church, the church grew wings and now it’s about to take off.  It’s not.  Sigh.

I know it’s a bit early, but just in case I don’t post again until after Thanksgiving, I hope everyone has a good one.  Thanks for visiting.

Who knows where the time goes?    I have no new paintings to post and only this decoupage under glass plate to show so I am posting the contents of an email that my brother who does not read my blog (“mbwdnrmb”) sent to me.  I was so amused by it I thought I would share it.  Mbwdnrmb won’t know I posted it.  He doesn’t read my blog.  So there!

As I worked on my computer this morning, Dillon came up to me with a toy helicopter.  While spinning its tail rotor he asked me, “Daddy, what’s this for”?    I gave him the basic technical response stating that the main rotor provides lift and allows the helicopter to move up and down and forward and back where the tail rotor counter-acts the rotational force of the main rotor and stops the body of the helicopter from spinning.

The next words out of my mouth were these:
“And you know, if you’re ever in a gun battle with a helicopter, you can win by shooting its tail rotor off.
Any fan of 80′s action movies is well aware that even though the chopper may have men armed with fully automatic assault rifles, your years of training in Special Forces and the measly 9mm hand gun you have provides you with the skill and agility to avoid being shot and the ability to shoot the tail rotor off.”

With that, Dillon marched into the kitchen and said,

“Mommy…..did you know…. that you can win a gun battle with a helicopter if you shoot its tail rotor off”???

It didn’t go over big.

Names are funny.  Some of them are common, some strange, some just odd.  I am always fascinated by people’s names and what my impression of the person is based on their name, even if I never met them.

If your name is Susan, Patricia, Carol, or Barbara you are probably from my generation.  If your name is Apple, Rain, Brittney or Taylor I’m going to guess you are much younger than I.  And what about families who all have the same name.  Shout “John” at a family party in my house and about 10 guys will turn around.  This leads to defining cousins and uncles as  ”big John” and “little John” and always becomes amusing when Little John grows bigger than Big John.

Recently, a co-worker’s baby shower  had us all guessing the not yet born baby girl’s name. After the usual guesses I suggested &i, pronounced Andi.   I figure that’s the next step in names. Like the artist formerly known as Prince.   And the New York Times reporter whose middle name is 8.   And my newest favorite real name:  Anthony Bologna, a/k/a Tony Baloney!

Years ago Charlie found a website which consisted of  folks sending in silly names like Bertha Venation or Ana Conda.   Charlie went to work coming up with names, but of course he had to take it one step further and came up with what he called “telephone book names”.  Names that sounded OK, until they were put in a phone book, last name first.  Dwayne Downda becomes Downda Dwayne. Lou Water, Nick L. Pumper and Ted Farr are also fun.   Needless to say we were amused by this for days.   The Husband just rolled his eyes at us.

Here’s the link if you want to get a laugh.   You will have to scroll all the way down to the bottom for the “telephone names”.

http://www.dareland.com/stupidnames.htm

I started on these coasters, but only had 3 images of the cats.  Who uses only 3 coasters?   So I decided to do 3 more coasters using the cat butts.  Now there are 6 coasters.  Much more civilized.

A recent trip with my sister to visit my nephew on Parent’s Day at Philadelphia University brought us fun, cheesesteaks and a visit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  (I told everyone “Jack has two mommies”).

Parent’s Day started off with the two of us visiting Jack, a freshman, in his dorm at PhilaU.  (I guess that’s better than P.U. which is what I was calling it.)

And what does a freshman want most?  Food, and lots of it.  My sister Alice did not disappoint, bringing frozen homemade meals, Ramen noodles, cookies, and a boat load of other snacks and toiletries including the “soft toilet paper” he specifically requested.  I guess Freshmen tushes are very sensitive these days.

Old Lady in Window, Rovingo /Rovinij Istria, Croatia – Watercolor on 1/2 sheet of Arches 140# cold press

Turns out, we never even made it to any of the Parent’s Day activities.  Jack wanted to go to Pat’s and Geno’s, the rival Philly cheesesteak establishments which are across the street from each other.   We sampled both and I paid the price later on. PLEASE pass the Rolaids!  Jack gave the thumbs up to Geno’s, while Alice gave it to Pat’s.  I just had a stomach ache after tasting both and swore I wouldn’t eat cheesesteak again.  After lunch Jack got a haircut ( #1 buzz ) and then we paid a visit to the Philadelphia Museum.  The big exhibit was Rembrandt and “face of Jesus”  and was interesting.  To balance the viewing we then went over to the contemporary gallery.  We saw plaster casts of people’s navels, saws with “saws” on them, a mobile of wax heads cut off at the necks and numerous other pieces that I didn’t get.    But one of my favorite parts of the day was when we exited through the gift shop after the Rembrandt show. The gift shop had giant fake wheels of cheese, wooden shoes, tulips and some Dutch chocolate along with the usual books and other Rembrandt paraphernalia.

When we exited the Museum, there where two bridal parties taking pictures. We saw a couple get engaged on the steps as their friends & family looked on from the steps above and cheered.  A group of school girls ran up the steps Rocky style. and we took pictures by the Rocky statue.   Alas, we had to leave but a visit back is already int the works.

Above you will find a large lazy susan I painted for my sister-in-law Jeanne.  I think she liked it, but I should have used gloss rather than matte varnish.  The old lady in the window in Istria has finally been completed.  I think she’s turning away because she just ate a Philly cheesesteak and now has agita.

No joke.  We’ve had a roller-coaster of a week.  But first let me say thank you to all of my friends and family who wrote, called, emailed and texted asking how we were. We, luckily, are fine.

Our week started out with an earthquake.  Although not officially evacuated, when the building shook everyone ran outside. The last time the building shook like that it was on 9/11.  Interestingly, the people from California were the only ones who did NOT run outside.  They recognized it as an earthquake and stayed indoors.

I did NOT feel the earthquake as I had just run across the street to get some chocolate.  (NY Post Headline:  Woman finally saved by chocolate!)

The week continued with all the Hurricane Irene warnings.  The City took the unprecedented step of shutting down the entire subway system.  Never in my life has the subway system been completely shut down.  Clearly the end of the world was nigh.  There was also a mandatory evacuation of all “zone 1″ areas. The hysteria was on.

A cynical  friend posted this.  I got the vodka and I’m a pro at complaining.  I’m still speculating about work on Monday.  Our illustrious mayor also just announced that City offices will be open tomorrow. When asked how workers will get to work he suggested we can take a cab. Don’t get me started.

We’ll see tomorrow morning when I go to the subway if I see the pink plastic that the City uses to let riders know that the station is closed.  (Thanks for the photo Judy!)

The water-color above is a work in progress.  I have so many amazing images from the beautiful country of Croatia which should keep me busy as long as the local natural disasters are kept at bay.  The image above is from Rovingo/Rovinij which is also called the “Venice of Istria” because of its beautiful port.  Many of the towns in Istria have two names.  An Italian name and its Croatian name.   Like Pola/Pula where we stayed with family during the beginning of our trip.  Croatia is an amazing and beautiful place and I can’t wait to return someday soon.