52 Weeks Photography Project
February Edition
No. -6 Letter Late Than Never
This letter began November the ninth, nineteen forty-four. For historical context, the second world war ended in May 1945.
This unsent postcard was intended for D/G and was unsent by Madge.
And the message?
Madge is doing well and having a “restful” time. However, she must return home on Tuesday but seems happy to resume her travels onward, although sadly, not until Monday the 18th.
Madge is looking forward to Kirn on Enmore. She is both happy and proud that she is able to stay at the renowned Private Hotel Kirn Argyll.
(Kirn is a village in Argyll and Bute in the Scottish Highlands on the west shore of the Firth of Clyde on the Cowal peninsula. )
Yes I Firefoxed. The Kirn Argyll Hotel, which it seems after a “video walk” down the main street of Kirn, no longer exists. I assume the hotel fell on hard times and closed shop. It could have been mismanagement but I can only research so far.
Back to the present, Madge has been wondering about D/Gs’ whereabouts and generally just how D/G is doing. She suspects he’s busy“finishing this job” which will bring Madge, if it happens soon, “Joy Bells”.
We can imagine that D/G is a soldier.
Madge is also thankful that the blackouts are at least partially lifted, (as would we all, Madge)
This next part is the mystery.
Madge hopes that D/G will see “us” in their “true colours”.
So I see a thickening plot here. Madge seems to be with someone. The “us” opens different lines of curiosity as do the words, “true colours”, although after wearing green and khaki for 5 years colourful garments would have been a dream.
At any rate, Madge left her love unsent.
Unrequited love, perhaps, haunted her to the end of days… or they eventually found each other and explored the boundaries of polyamory. I leave it all up to the reader.
I helped a friend clear up an estate and was gifted an old box of postcards. Here are a couple. Hand-painted photography was the recent trend. As well as innocent humour.
No. -7 Tangled Up In Blue By Bob Dylan
For this assignment, we can skip to the second verse.
She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam, I guess
But I used a little too much force
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out west
Split up on a dark, sad night
Both agreeing it was best
She turned around to look at me
As I was walking away
I heard her say over my shoulder
“We’ll meet again someday on the avenue”
Tangled up in blue.
And for this next part to the 5th verse
She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
“I thought you’d never say hello,” she said
“You look like the silent type”
Then she opened up a book of poems and handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet from the 13th century
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burning coal
Pouring off of every page
Like it was written in my soul, from me to you
Tangled up in blue
Research handed me a 13th century poet . I offer this peek into the 13th century
Project Gutenberg’s Fifteen sonnets of Francesco Petrarch, by Francesco Petrarca
Gentle severity, repulses mild,
Full of chaste love and pity sorrowing;
Graceful rebukes, that had the power to bring
Back to itself a heart by dreams beguiled;
A tender voice, whose accents undefiled
Held sweet restraints, all duty honoring;
The bloom of virtue; purity’s clear spring
To cleanse away base thoughts and passions wild;
Divinest eyes to make a lover’s bliss,
Whether to bridle in the wayward mind
Lest its wild wanderings should the pathway miss,
Or else its griefs to soothe, its wounds to bind;
This sweet completeness of thy life it is
Which saved my soul; no other peace I find.
I think that Francescos’ poetry is pretty hot stuff. “The bloom of virtue; purity’s clear spring”. …”Divinest eyes to make a lover’s bliss. He knows human emotion.
I really would like to know how to do single space, for cut and pasted lines of poetry. Too much scrolling here. Sorry
No. -8 I Call It Art
Billboards mainly began in the US in the 1920’s.
Personally, research does not appeal to me in the slightest. I spent my life as a librarian, and although I love love love books I find the dryness of research better left to others. I will read their book.
We rented a condo not far from this, apparently abandoned billboard. I walked by it a few times before I began sensing line and shape in the torn paper abstract. I found the horizontal and vertical lettering and,(almost) word panels, holding a story. I could watch from early light to the golden hour and, the shadows would alter everything. This is an art form.
But I decided to go to Art School for some confirmation.
Abstract is how it all begins. These artists, as you can see have a certain dedication, and are presently exploring the grey areas of the abstract form.
Keeping the spill cloths handy on the top of their heads, is an innovation, and if it hasn’t already, will soon to be replicated everywhere.
The red panted painters (expressing a bold use of the primaries in fashion as well as art) seem to be channeling some very iconic paintings/artists. Is that the initial stages of The Scream by Edvard Munch 1893? (2012 auction $119.9 m)
Could that be some Jackson Pollock we see to the right? Ah yes, Pollock’s №5, a popular work for sure (2006 auction for $165.4-million, making it one of the 10 most expensive paintings in history).
Interesting fact (In 1949, artist Alfonso A. Ossorio purchased №5 for $1,500,)
You also see a portion of “Convergence” also by Pollock. (In 1951, Pollock said, “It seems to me that the modern painter cannot express his age, the airplane, the atom bomb, the radio, in the old forms of the Renaissance or any other past culture. Each age finds its own technique.” Pollock found his technique in house paint and drips, and used it to express his own time.)
It seems to me Art is in the abstract, and as Jackson says “each age finds its own technique”.
Inviting us to find ourselves.
No. -9 Blank Space
Blue glazed tiles are called Azulejos
(Though the first known glazed tiles originated in the regions of Egypt and Mesopotamia during the 27th century BCE, it wasn’t until the 13th century CE that the technique was introduced to the Iberian Peninsula by way of the Moors from the Middle East.
Portuguese king Manuel the first, fell in love with this technique after a visit to Seville in 1503, and he later introduced the craft to his home country. Azulejos were used extensively in the Sintra National Palace — just outside of Lisbon — and from there, the Portuguese love affair with azulejos only grew. This was so much so that they even adopted the Moorish tradition of horror vacui (or the fear of empty space) and began to cover walls completely with the glazed tiles.)
Thanks, Wikipedia. I really have to cut back on research.
Maybe its a touch of the “Moorish vacui” that got me started on the photo here. Lots of layers and masks in Photoshop that’s for sure.
