Week 4

It was a quiet week.  

Highs

My Mum's medical results were terrific.  She doesn't have cancer.

Wow!

I went to a film about a Manet Exhibit that was recently in London, England.  It was very interesting learning about Manet, the culture in his time, how exhibits are put together, paintings acquired and more.  

I was fascinated about the way the exhibits are first created in miniature using boxes with windows cut out like the actual gallery rooms and miniature copies of the paintings in proportion to each other hung in the box on walls painted in the planned colour for the gallery room.  

I was also interested in how the paintings are transported from gallery to gallery with a full inspection by a curator before it travels and when it arrives.  The curator observed the packing and unpacking and travelled with the painting.  I did not realize that Manet is considered the father of modern art for introducing portraiture combined with normal scenes like landscapes, train stations and dining rooms as well as his controversial nudes.


I attended a "Meat Fest" lunch with my department at work.  It was great to see everyone and have a chance to catch up with a few.  Thanks to Clarinda for inviting me and the organizers for all their preparation: Dulcie, Vince and Shau Ching.

An unexpected invitation to the symphony, "A Tribute to Ellington".  It was an enjoyable evening catching up and listening to the music and hilarious commentary by the bass player of the Pizzarelli Quartet from New York.

Walking with My Dad

I read a quote by Erich Fromm that I liked.  "Creativity requires the courage to let got of certainties".  I need to learn this.

I read two books this past week.  In writing this, I suddenly noticed both have the word "shadow" in the title.  One was a very interesting fiction book called "Born Under a Million Shadows" based in Afghanistan about a young boy and his mother who are left on their own after the loss of 3 siblings and the father/husband.  The other book is a non-fiction book called "Meeting the Shadow" and is about meeting your shadow side and the shadow at play in many environments such as home, work, etc.  While reading the chapter called "Meeting the Shadow in Daily Life", a woman on skytrain told me, "I met my shadow in Jesus".


Some paintings from this week.

Moroccan Man

Lemonade

Tranquility

Lows

Paul has been sick for most of the last 2 weeks. He has not been in full health for months and seems to be getting more and more run down.  It has me worried which I know he'd tell me not to be however it is my nature to worry particularly where there is uncertainty such as now where the root cause for his poor health isn't known.

Misses

Not my garbage and yard waste because no vehicle was parked in front of the house.

Near Misses

My attempt to paint a focal point of my own design in a painting.  The painting sucks however I did manage to create a focal point.