July 1, 2008: Ian & Patrick

Greetings, bloggerati. I've made initial contact with about half of my 101 roster and am hoping the other half logs on today. The next week will be dicey as far as internet connections will be concerned. Maybe I'll be able to use Scott's lap-top, but how and where may be problematic.

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Last night was critique night in my painting class. I must say I was delighted with the response of my classmates to my latest work--a back view of a nude woman sitting on a bed in a blue room. For the first time I can honestly say that I've made a painting I wouldn't mind buying. This one will be framed and hung upon our wall. I can feel myself turning a corner into new, more exciting territory and I'm very happy. As soon as I make an adjustment or two to a clumsy hand, I'll take a picture and share it in the Galeria.

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Daily Five: (1) Stumptown Coffee Roasters. Portland's finest, served at their own coffee shops and elsewhere. (2) Portland Art Museum's Sales and Rental Gallery. A wonderful adjunct to the museum; they feature all living artists, mostly regional, and offer their works at surprisingly affordable prices. A great way to pick up (or even rent) fine art. Once I had the pleasure of assisting K pick out pieces to rent for her law firm's offices. A real treat. (3) Lorenzo Bartolini's Dirce, in the Louvre. On my last trip (two years ago now!) I spent more time away from the "big tickets" (Mona Lisa, Venus di Milo, Winged Victory, etc.) and more time in the baroque and roccoco galleries. Only lately have I developed a taste for the b&r, for previously I'd always been somewhat turned off to the heaviness, the manneredness, and (what I perceived of anyway) as preciousness and frivolity. Fragonard was always the emblem of all this. An enormously talented painter but somehow sentimentally over-the-top despite his inventiveness. Now I see his sense of humor and playfulness--even irony (in a modern kitschy sense too!). I guess I wanted art to be serious, dammit. Silly me. Bartolini's Dirce is tender and cute and quaint and sexy and classical and romantic and lovely and soft and ridiculous and sublime--all at once. And that's roccoco. (4) The Goodwill Superstore's (the one on Grand and Mill) book section. Arguably as good an any used bookstore in town (except for Powell's which beats it in selection, of course, and not price). Funny thing--at Powell's I'll see a thousand books of Shakespeare criticism and not buy a one. At Goodwill I'll see one and buy it almost unquestioningly. Why? The psychologists have a word for this and I've forgotten it. (5) Kennings. The metonymic word compounds made by Anglo-Saxon poets: whale-road (ocean), swan-road (sky), wave-courser (ship). You can tell I've been re-reading Beowulf for fall Brit Lit!

Au revoir,

JBF

P.S. Ian and his 4 year-old cousin, Patrick, last Christmas.