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That day nobody died.
"That day nobody died".
This is the first sentence of the new book by Jose Saramago, a recent Nobel for Literature. Unfortunately I think the English translation is still not available, but it will be soon. The whole book revolves around this fantastic idea, death is suspended, the living of one particular country are doomed to continue living. I've only read the first chapter but I will come back to the blog with this book later, as I'm a devout Saramago fan. If you know Portuguese, you can listen to a great interview here, here and here.
On a lighter, humourous (or not) note, I have found the Internet Death Clock that told me my "Personal Day of Death" is Saturday, April 3, 2038, which reminds me "April is the cruelest month"... Hmm... Fun but not fun. Check it out!
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Couldn't help it adding it here, the Waste Land is after all one of my favorite books of all time:
April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
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Amazing "Pilgrimage" above, oil on canvas, by Daniel Ablitt. Check out Daniel's work at the Hayloft Gallery here. I loved it all. Artist statement below. Another artist I only wished I could afford!
My surroundings often provide the starting point for my work. This could be a visit to an area of outstanding natural beauty, or the view across the city which I see every day from my studio window.
Unusual and dramatic compositions encourage the viewer to look at their environment in a new way. I often place the horizon line at the bottom edge of a composition, which allows me to create a sense of the vastness of the sky and to concentrate on the patterns and shapes made by the clouds. I am concerned with evoking the particular mood and atmosphere of a place in a moment in time, and am fascinated by the effects of changing light and weather conditions. I am also interested in the possibilities of the paint itself, with the result that parts of the work often verge towards abstraction.
My work aims to reflect the beauty that can be found in everyday life, even in the city. A brief glimpse of nature, such as a flock of birds flying above the roof tops, a cloudscape or a sunset, maybe ephemeral by nature, but can leave a lasting sense of peace.
I have also had a long-standing interest in the human figure which has resulted in a parallel strand of work running along side the landscape paintings. Here the human figure adds a narrative aspect to the work. These pieces often have a magical or unreal quality and can leave the viewer with more question than answers.