Saturday, January 19, 2008

"Demon Barber and the Nearness of Mars"
10:16pm

I had a feeling today would be weird when I left the house to go to work (yes, on a Saturday!), and caught two cats in the act of it. I don't know if the coitus was interruptus, but the top cat did regard me, disengage and flee. Bottom cat fled, too.

I was thinking "there must be a lot of Mars energy about". Sure enough, people seemed crankier than usual. Car drivers seemed more aggressive, as well. I suppose this was a fitting day to see Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Johnny Depp did marvelously well as the maniacal hair (and throat) cutter, as did the other actors.

When we left the theater, the sky was dark. Julia looked up, and saw the nearly full moon, with a reddish glowing entity next to it. "That's Mars!" she declared. Sure enough, when we got home and she brought up her sky program, Mars is indeed near the moon.

While she investigated her sky program, I sought to learn more about the movie we'd just seen. I looked at the photo gallery and was rather impressed with the visage of Tim Burton, who directed this movie. Meanwhile, I discovered more about his films. Johnny Depp has starred in five of them, Edward Scissorhands (1990), Ed Wood (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Corpse Bride (2005) in addition to Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007). Not only that, Helena Bonham Carter, who played Mrs Lovett in 'Sweeney', has starred in many of his movies, often alongside Depp. Furthermore, she has even more connection with Tim Burton, being his partner and mother to two of his children.

The Wiki page editor reports "His main characters tend to be outsiders, and are usually shy, with a pale complexion and unruly black hair, similar to his own." Unruly hair, I should say:

Sunday, January 20, 2008 A

"Still Awake and Steaming"
4:46am

I woke at four o'clock with a distressing problem on my mind, (namely, an account that was charged erroneously and which after four days still has not been resolved). The more I thought about it, the angrier I got, and I got up and fired off an angry salvo to the responsible party:

Dear Whoever Was Responsible,

I read [your apologetic] letter on Tuesday, read that the problem had been immediately fixed, and that a credit should appear right next to the inadvertent debit, and thought no more of it. I saw no need to alarm the household accounts manager, for surely she would see the accompanying credit and not worry.

This mistake happened on Tuesday, January 14, 2008. Julia, the accounts manager, happened to be doing the account reconciling this Saturday, the 19th. She had quite a scare when she found a debit, BUT NO CREDIT!! I came home from work to find her telling me of the bad news.

Okay, maybe the fault for the tardy credit goes to our bank. Every deposit I make, I am given warning that there may be a delay in actual receipt due to 'review'. But this has been four days!

Fortunately for us, your mistake wasn't as devastating as it could have been, as we'd recently done some rearrangement of the funds. For those, however, who haven't, the many fines for insufficient funds must have been incredible and ruinous. Meanwhile, we are using cash from another account until this one gets fixed.

A simple apology just isn't going to cut it. (Yes, I know you have given reliable service for years, but this mistake was REALLY BAD!) You really ought to give us all a couple of free months as compensation for our troubles.

Sincerely,
Joan Lansberry

Hopefully it will net us some recompense for our 'pain and suffering'. Afterwards, I thought I could go back to bed, but I am still awake and steaming. Maybe astrology is all superstition, and I am not swimming on a current of Mars energy, and maybe...

...meanwhile, I hope the matter will be solved to our contentment.

Sunday, January 20, 2008 B

"Sondheim Portrait"
8:58am

Another of the photos surrounding the 'Sweeney Todd' movie which intrigued me was that of the man who composed the music for the original 'Sweeney' play, Stephen Sondheim. Although he bears some physical resemblence to bearded Burton, in terms of facial hair, his whole mood is quite different. I hoped to capture it in a drawing.

I first gathered a couple of photos to work from, enlarged them and placed them in photoshop:

Then I got my 9x12 bristol board (no printer paper, for I had hopes of the drawing turning out well), and got busy:


His eyes came out larger than the photos, maybe this suggests what is childlike within him?

In my earlier web wanders, I came across a portrait artist, that no matter how 'paintery' his results, somehow each effort retains the quality of a photograph. I couldn't get across this feeling that I wasn't looking upon the person portrayed, but an image of him. Whatever my artistic flaws, this isn't one of them! (I would like to hope that a portion of the person's essential vitality comes across, that the picture 'has life' in a way.) Anyway, that is what I strive for, despite badly proportioned eyes or whatever.

Meanwhile, the 'photo shot' portraitist continues to attract lots of paying customers. I'd best work on correct porportion, too!

Sunday, January 20, 2008 C

"Armchair Travel - Cheap!"
6:29pm

I was in the middle of looking at someone else's art, and I thought, "How nice! And I feel inspired!"

So I got out the big paper, (the little paper didn't seem big enough), and got going with an intuitive piece:


"Armchair Travel=Cheap!" "Listen and Learn"

You can see the familiar 'yellow rectangle' there. My recent reading featured in this piece. No, I wasn't reading the paper magazine, but the online version. But my chair does have arms! That article on "Black Pharoahs" is very interesting, as is its accompanying photo gallery and quiz. I learned a lot.

Now, while I finished the colorization and type this, we have travel shows on TV. I left my art screen to see the bit about London's British Museum. They have a wonderful Egyptian collection there!

Tuesday, January 22, 2008 A

"Alarming"
6:58am


We watched, (actually, I mostly listened to it in the background), a doomsday program on TV which spoke of all the dread predictations for the year 2012. The most recent oracle of gloom and doom is a web spider who's supposed to gather the world's subconscious mood. I wasn't surprised when it, too, came up with 2012 as the date to watch. It, after all, has been reading all the dire predictions posted, of course, on the web!

Do we have only four more years of relative merriment? Certainly, I'd like to think this is all hooey, much like the millennium fears so many had.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008 B

"Waiting For Payment"
8:20pm


No, we still have not been refunded the $500+ dollars we were wrongfully charged!

(Note of January, 23, 2008
I was ready to add my angry note to a mostly angry comment dialogue regarding this 'payment', but saw one poster say they received their refund, and thought I'd check the account. Yes, perhaps at midnight is when the correction was made. I am relieved.

I don't know how many people pulled up their 'carpets' and moved elsewhere, but other than this, we have received good service for over seven years. I'm relieved to have things right...
Back to January 22...)

That is not the only picture I've drawn tonight:

These two drawings had a little inspiration. First I took to Flicker with a random word search. For some unknown reason, "stop gap" came to my mind. From the first page of results, I saw a photo of a painting with a guy with his arms outstretched. Okay, the 'guy' depicted happens to be Jesus, but it was the pose, the hand position that gave my intuition a poke. My result of the lady waiting for payment is drastically different.

I kept scrolling through the pages of search results. I got to page thirteen and saw a charming teapot and teacup:


"Photo Graham" who resides in Hampshire, UK gives permission to show the image (Link to his page)

There was just something about that teapot, I started seeing things in it, and then it 'became alive'!

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

"Too Young for the Long Sleep"
8:30pm

The news is full of it, even the usually newsless radio disc jockey broke his usual patter to tell us all of the tragic death of Heath Ledger. Ordinarily such things don't shock one so much, an actor in his eighties, one suspects. But not one only twenty eight! He was just on the cusp of beginning to know his power.

No 'illegal drugs' were found, but "prescription sleeping pills [were] nearby, police said." Washington Post source. The autopsy is unconclusive, "no obvious signs" of suicide. However, the Post article reported Ledger often "had trouble sleeping" while working on demanding roles.

It's so sad, his daughter, now two, will never get to know him.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

"Musing and Memories"
7:25pm

Even though I am rather quiet at work, my mind is busy with all sorts of thoughts. The morning after the 2012 doomsday show, I tried to imagine what life after armageddon would be like. (Of course, I didn't concentrate on the actual armageddon, but the aftermath, when we are picking up the pieces. Although that is useful as well, to imagine 'end of world' scenarios and how we might best survive them.) Certainly, in the aftermath, cars and planes would sit idle, no doubt serving as 'housing' for the homeless. What would we do without all the electronic marvels to which we've become so accustomed? Humankind used to exist without them, and I suspect we would eventually adapt, and centers of learning and culture would continue to exist. We would find ways to communicate and leave a legacy for those who come after us.

I asked myself, were the devastating events to take place, would this change my artistic focus any? If I could know now, how would I change my direction? I think more than ever, portrait art would be in demand. And I'd still want to do my intuitive art, as well.

That was Tuesday's thoughts. Today, memories from my past leapt into my consciousness. I could see Gramma's kitchen, just how it looked, and I thought that's what I would draw this evening.

I did a quick line drawing of a small candle we have, and then got out the 11x14 paper. I found myself daunted in how to begin on that kitchen. So I picked one small item I clearly remember, a glass vase formed in the shape of a violin. Gramma had artfully arranged a fake ivy in it:


Actually, the glass was more grass green than sea green, I just did it that way to better contrast with the ivy

Then I colored the candle and its holder:


The line drawing took only five minutes, I didn't time its colorization

9:48pm

After these two drawings, I went to Flicker and did a search using the word "Memory". I got to page eight of the search results before an image gave inspiration. I think this image of Frida Kahlo is one from the movie about her that's been altered:


Or maybe it is a photo of the real Frida, seen at a museum, under glass which is reflecting a man at the museum?

I changed the dress, her hair ornament, gave her two eyebrows (instead of the trademark "uni-brow"), and changed her hand position. I wanted her to be holding an item of memory:

(Really, I sketched my own hand holding an eraser!) I thought there might be a rune which related to 'memory', but could not find such a meaning. So I thought I'd have a fish into my own bag of runes and pick out one. I got thurisaz. The first Google hit for meaning of Runes gives:

"Reactive force, directed force of destruction and defense, conflict. Instinctual will, vital eroticism, regenerative catalyst. A tendency toward change. Catharsis, purging, cleansing fire. Male sexuality, fertilization."

Hmmm! (I have somewhere a book on runes by the founder of the Rune Gild, but darn, I can't find it!) Perhaps the lady in my picture exudes a 'vital eroticism' and an 'instinctual will'.

Friday, January 25, 2008 A

"Reactive Force"
5:35am

Oh, I know why I pulled forth the Thurisaz rune yesterday. It is all of my mindset, and I hope I can have 'a tendency towards change' that will be like a 'cleansing fire'. There is back story to yesterday's post.

Why was I re-membering Gramma's house?

The day started with intense frustration. I chose a skirt to wear that used to be loose. However, its waistband was cutting into me, and before I began sewing customer's garments, I took the button, which I'd moved over an inch to make it smaller, and put it back where it had initially been so I could have one more inch of breathing room. I was so mad at myself, tight skirts again! I thought of what might help, and I thought of my Gramma's KA. She was always a prudent woman, always careful to her diet. Hence, the memories of her house came so vividly to me yesterday.

On the way to pick up Julia, in the car, I said out loud, "By the black magic, white magic, rainbow magic, whatever the f-ing hell WORKS, I want to beat this problem!"

Thus it was I woke this morning from a very interesting dream:

xxx
I was me, now, all 200+ pounds of me, in Gramma's living room. She was gone, I think passed on as she is in real life. But I was standing there in the middle of the living room, calling forth her KA. I used great, loud words, with much Will intent, "Come forth, KA of my prudent Grandmother! Awaken in me her genetic heritage that I might find within myself the wisdom to seek prudent behaviour regarding my diet!" There was very much the sense of a calling, and assembling Will Force within myself.

Then there was a knock at the door, and I went to answer it. It was my Mother, bringing me a gift of handcream and some other such items. I received the gifts, feeling a bit of shock.
xxx

Then I woke up. That's the first time my mother has ever appeared in a dream. The handcream and other items were all things used to tend to the flesh, to make it soft, ease skin dryness. Basically, it's a message of 'taking care of one's physical body'.

After I wrote the dream down, I decided I must have knowledge, no matter how painful it is. Certainly I am the heaviest I've ever been, my short 5ft 4in frame is carrying 208 freaking pounds!!! No wonder all my skirts are so tight!

Oh Ka of my Grandmother, oh sleeping Higher Self, oh, wake up! This must change!

Friday, January 25, 2008 B

"Tending to 'the Machine'"
6:57am

I picked my photo for the Photo Friday theme of "The Machine":


Inside an old train
As I looked at the image, I started 'seeing things':


Tending to 'the Machine'
Adjusting the Programming!

That's what I have to do, to tend to this physical 'machine' of mine, adjust that programming!

Friday, January 25, 2008 C

"Duo"
10:25pm

I am finding that site on Frida Kahlo so inspirational. I haven't begun to dig into its depth, but I want to study it thoroughly. Meanwhile, one of the photos, this one of Frida with her sister seemed so evocative:


Frida and Her Sister Cristina - New York City
Photo by Nickolas Muray - 1946

So I made it grow large and got spontaneous. Mine turned out kinda different:

"I will whisper words of strength..."

"...and these dreams will come into being..."

Make of it what you will...

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