A “found image” on my camera. Detail from a ceiling mural inside a church in Prague.
Posts Tagged ‘beauty’
another angel found
Posted in Inspiration, On the Road, tagged angel, art, beauty, churches, colors, czech republic, Inspiration, Photography, prague, travel on December 10, 2015| 2 Comments »
if I could paint …
Posted in Inspiration, Music, tagged beauty, creativity, Herbert Howells, Inspiration, music, musings, organs, random, Rhapsody No. 1 in D Flat, storytelling on December 7, 2015| 2 Comments »
… I would paint what I hear in this piece of music, Rhapsody No. 1 in D Flat Major by Herbert Howells. The entire piece is only five minutes and 35 seconds long, but it is the segment between 1:30 and 3:00 that moves me most. I first heard it being played a few weeks ago at Trinity Church in Copley Square. The organist, Colin Lynch, was rehearsing for Sunday services. I appreciated the beauty of his playing but at first the music itself did nothing for me … and then something happened. I was hooked. And then released. As he kept rehearsing the piece, I wanted to dash into the church and stop him to ask what in the world was he playing but that seemed inappropriate. I thought I’d catch him at the end of his rehearsal but I missed him.
Time passed, lots of traveling took place but I could still hear that music. I tried to describe the piece to other musicians and people who knew classical music far better than I. Keep in mind I have no language for music (which is why I want to paint what I’m hearing). I kept saying, “It’s the kind of music that, you know, leads you someplace,” and other not especially helpful phrases. I was about to give up my search when I did chance upon the organist. This time I stopped him in his tracks and asked, “Hey, Colin, what was that piece of music you were playing two weeks ago?”
He lifted an eyebrow but he indulged me. He helped me find the language to describe what I’d heard. And as we narrowed down the possibilities of what he may have been playing, he finally asked, “Was it loud? Did it get really loud?” “Yes!” I said, and so he nodded and then wrote down the possibilities.
It was Herbert Howell’s Rhapsody No. 1 in D Flat. Imagine my pleasure when I found this Youtube recording by Nigel Potts. Listen at your leisure. And that’s my random story this bright Monday morning. Have a good day, folks. 😉
still collecting burne-jones angels
Posted in Inspiration, tagged architecture, art, beauty, churches, colors, design, Edward Burne-Jones, Inspiration, Photography, stained glass windows, Trinity Church, William Morris on December 4, 2015| 4 Comments »
You can read more about this personal project here: https://wordsandimagesbycynthia.com/2015/11/02/as-for-those-angels/
in short the sun was just so bright
Posted in Inspiration, Kitchen Inspirations, Nature Notes, tagged beauty, colors, curiosity, Inspiration, light, Photography on December 3, 2015| 7 Comments »
It streamed into the kitchen and set everything on fire, from the honey on bread to the pink petals of the African violet.
And then of course my curiosity was sparked and so I wondered what if I pull out that green glass and fill it once more with water and perhaps a dried flower or two?
Nothing earth shattering but it was fun and as I had fun the light went out. A thick layer of blue-gray clouds veiled the sun. I missed the sun but the clouds were beautiful too.
pine cones
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes, On the Road, tagged beauty, California, colors, Inspiration, landscape, Photography, pine cones, Santa Cruz, stillness, travel, trees on December 2, 2015| 4 Comments »
simply sunset
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, On the Road, tagged beauty, California, colors, Inspiration, light, Monterey Bay, nature, ocean, Photography, sunset, travel on December 1, 2015| 1 Comment »
surfacing
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, On the Road, tagged animals, beauty, California, coastal landscape, Inspiration, nature, Photography, sea lions, travel, water on November 29, 2015| 10 Comments »
and then wisps of clouds covered the sun
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged abstract, beauty, Inspiration, landscape, nature, Photography, reflections, water on November 18, 2015| 1 Comment »
but it didn’t matter. The waters were still beautiful. Like the clouds had come down to earth.
water beneath the bridge
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged beauty, colors, flowing, Inspiration, landscape, nature, Photography, reflections, sunlight, water on November 18, 2015| 1 Comment »
mucha’s slav epic
Posted in Inspiration, On the Road, tagged Alphonse Mucha, art, beauty, colors, czech republic, Inspiration, painting, Photography, prague, Slavic history, storytelling, travel, world history on November 17, 2015| 6 Comments »
As far as I know, I have no Slavic blood in me but I do not think you need to be of Slavic heritage in order to appreciate the beauty and majesty of Alphonse Mucha’s Slav Epic anymore than you need to be of African American heritage to appreciate the Singing Windows at Tuskegee.
They both employ, in vastly different ways, visual storytelling to convey the histories of peoples and their journeys from subjugation to celebration, from despair to hope. As described on the Mucha Foundation website: “The Slav Epic (Slovanská epopej) is a series of twenty monumental canvases (the largest measuring over 6 by 8 metres) depicting the history of the Slav people and civilisation. Mucha conceived it as a monument for all the Slavonic peoples …
… The idea of the work was formed in 1899, while Mucha was working on the design for the interior of the Pavilion of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which had been commissioned by the Austro-Hungarian government for the Paris Exhibition of 1900.
In preparation for the assignment he travelled widely through the Balkans, researching their history and customs as well as observing the lives of the Southern Slavs in the regions that had been annexed by Austria-Hungary two decades earlier. From this experience sprang the inspiration for a new project – the creation of ‘an epic for all the Slavonic peoples’ that would portray the ‘joys and sorrows’ of his own nation and those of all the other Slavs. ”
On that website you will find a picture of all 20 paintings, a description of the stories depicted in each painting, and “related objects” which include photographs of Mucha at work on particular canvases, working with models, etc.
I read several reviews that said do not go out of your way to see this exhibit. I would say, if you have the opportunity to visit Prague, do all that you can to go out of your way to view this exhibit. What struck me? The scale of this creation, the source of the inspiration, the vision of the artist and the dedication to completion. And of course the use of color and the expression of light.
It took Mucha approximately five years to shop his idea around and find a benefactor and then over a dozen years to produce his epic even as he produced all of the other art — the posters, the advertisements, murals, etc. — which are considered his definitive works.
Through December 2016 the exhibit can be found at the Trade Fair Palace in the City of Prague (http://www.ngprague.cz/en/exposition-detail/alfons-mucha-the-slav-epic/) and the online exhibit can be found on the Mucha Foundation website (http://www.muchafoundation.org/gallery/themes/theme/slav-epic).
Sources & Additional Readings
http://www.muchafoundation.org/gallery/themes/theme/slav-epic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Slav_Epic
1925 Article about the Epic as a Work in Progress
