Here are, for one particular person, all my posts in one go. have fun
Jan 6 2018 3:50 am
It rained yesterday. They said a storm was coming. What is wrong with us that we call an ordinary rainy day "a storm"? Anyway, most people preferred to stay at home. I thought I would like that too but then I had to go out to do some shopping. Once out I realized how much I enjoyed it. There were some heavy showers but the air was fresh and it had a special smell. There were water everywhere it felt so wonderful. Suddenly I didn’t want to return home. I felt so good being outside. The air was not just clean but moist. We had such dry and hot days on December that it was so refreshing to have rain at last. I felt my soul fill up. It was wonderful.
Jan 8 2018 12:8 am
When I was young, in my university days, I used to think a lot and worry a lot. I was so desperate that I turned to get help. I remember my adviser said to me one day "Don't think, just Do". I was surprise but I saw the benefit of it. It was good advice. She didn't mean do without thinking or be careless she meant don't trouble yourself too much, don’t try to control every aspect of your life, let go, concentrate on the bit that you can control and on things that make you happy. It was not easy but I embraced that idea.
When I feel lost, the
future is uncertain and things are not going my way, or maybe they are but I
don't see it yet. When everywhere I look there it discontentment, troubles,
pain and suffering. I concentrate on the 'NOW' and in this now I concentrate on
'DOING'. I ask myself "what am I going to DO NOW" and this 'doing
now' thing, blocks all worries, all the disturbing thought. Instead of feeling
lost and incompetent, I do and this doing fills me with strength and
happiness.
Have a good day.
Wonder (movie)
Jan 10 2018 2:16 pm
The story was told in
a very simple and straight forward manner, with little gestures, like when the
mother sits to eat her meal alone for the first time. But it bounced a lot
trying to show us all the different angles. The director use partitions and
every now and then the main story halts, the name of the next character appears
on the screen and on we went. To be honest I didn’t like it at all. There are
so many ways to integrate side stories into the main story in cinematography
and in this respect I was disappointed.
My first reaction
when we came out of the movie theatre was that this movie should be screened in
schools. Thinking about it now, it is indeed a children’s movie. Simple and
further simplified but the way it was directed, the movie is mainly used to
raise awareness.
A wonderful cast that
had nearly zero opportunity to show what they can do, except for the children
and mainly Jacob Tremblay as August Pullman who was amazing.
As a children movie it deserves the 8.1 stars that it received on IMDB. Unlike a children movie, adults should see it too because the message, though very simple, is also very true.
Jan 12 2018 12:51am
So many books are
being published every day that it seems as if all the people are writing and
publishing endlessly. How am I going to get the attention to my book? It is
well written, no spelling mistakes, no grammar mistakes but in the sea of
self-published books how is it going to be noticed.
I thought that book
club readers would like to review it. But I found out that book club readers
like to read best sellers and not discover one. They leave it to the
publishers. So after working two years on a book without earning a penny one
has to pay money for a book club review or amazon review. A sum between 100$
and 1500$. Welcome to the world of self-publishing.
Fine, two weeks is a
very short time to judge if my book is going to make it or not.
How do I get over the
anxiety? How can I stop worrying about my book drowning in the sea of
books?
I began writing the
next book!
My next book is going
to be a children's book. It will be wonderful to combine my love for words and
stories and my love for painting. It will also enable me to publish it in
several other languages including Hebrew, because the pages are all in jpg format.
Don't think it's
easy. The story should be short, made simple yet interesting, amusing and
exciting. So it is going to be a challenge. It is a challenge already. Finding
the right subject, trying to be original. Creating the story. And then, where to
begin? It’s about a five year old girl. I’d better go and ask her.
Jan 12 2018 3:24 pm
Today I finally made
contact with an admin of a Facebook book club. She is really a nice person. Was
interested in my book and expressed her enthusiasm, once I sent her the
preview. Another book club admin responded but she doesn't read English.
Still, she referred me to the other admin, I sent her a friendship request. I
sent another mail to a book club admin on the internet. I know that if she will
give my book a chance she won't regrade it but at the same time I guess she
gets so many applications that she maybe too busy to attend to my book.
Want to publish your
own book? Be prepared to knock on many doors before one opens. Put your ego
aside. Be ready to invest time and money. And most of all start something new.
A new struggle will take your mind of the fears. It is not a question will they buy my book rather will they read my book? Will they like it? Recommend it?
To be ignored it the worst that can happen to an artist. Facing it, is the greatest challenge.
Jan 17 2018 12:29 am
Papaya is a gender tree.
There are male trees and female trees and trees that are both. Having a male
tree alone or a female tree alone will not produce fruits.
I started my trees
from seeds of a papaya fruit.
This picture of papaya that I picked from the Internet shows a ripe fruit with the black caviar like seeds. When you begin this way you don't know what kind of tree you have. I took a chance. My first few trees died in a cold winter several years ago. My current trees are three tears old.
The female flower is single, bigger and grow right on the tree trunk like in this picture
It is the first time that this tree flowered and this is why I am so excited because now I know for sure that I also have a female tree.
Tomorrow I am going to replant it in a bigger pot and protect it from the cold. The male tree survived last winter which was very cold and I think it will last. My third three is too small to determine its gender but I am going to replant it as well. Give it a better chance.
Jan 17 2018 11:24
On the main road, clusters of flowers. So exciting. So beautiful. An explosion of colours
Jan 19 2018 1:17am
Finally today I started. Here is my over crowded corner with
all the half done paintings. The radio is a vital part of the corner. I can't
paint without listening to music or to an audio book.
I am in the middle of the "Decorative phase". Some
times I am an artist and some times I am just a painter. So today I am starting
as a painter which is all right. I will explain it thoroughly tomorrow.
Up until 1820 a
painter was a profession. Whole families worked as painters. The knowledge
passed from father to son or even daughter. Painters painted portraits,
scenery, and still life among other subjects. Middle class and upper class
families decorated their homes with paintings of hunt scenes, food paintings
and family members. Community events and special events were recorded. Painters
captured, on their canvas, daily life.
Painting also had an important role in spreading religions. The story of Christ is on the walls of every church just as the story of Shiva on every temple.
In a way they were all artists and their art was painting.
Then came photography.
Nobody needed painters anymore. And at the same time painters, too, were free to explore different ways of expressing thoughts and ideas. Yet, not all the people wanted thoughts and ideas. Many people wanted just what they wanted before 1820. They wanted decoration. They had walls and they needed something on the walls. They still do. Some people wish it to be original, handmade but many people will gladly settle for prints.
The artists’ thoughts and ideas took many shapes and forms since 1820 so much so, that today we have great difficulty defining “art”, but this is another subject.
I call myself an artist and I will try to explain how I feel about the term in the future but I see a clear line in my work between what I call “art” and what I call “decoration”. I will explain that in the future as well.
Jan
20 2018 5:08 pm
This is a photograph of Benjamin Everett from Lopez Island, USA, who won the prestigious Hasselblad Masters Awards of 2018 in the landscape category.
This is a link to all
the other winners which are amazing.
and this is a link to
his site where you can see other works by him.
If I had to choose only one winning photograph in that competition it would be this one.
The major feeling I get from his works is Balance. In most of his works he gets it through a kind of symmetry but in the one above one can feel the tension between the elements when they relates to each other, each pulling in a different direction and create a motionless moment of balance. You can hear the silence. applause!
Jan
21 2018 6:16 pm
My book arrived today. It is rather amazing for me to hold a book that I wrote. There is still a long way to go, advertising it and make people read it but the book exist. It is something. It is real.
Jan
24 2018 3:05 pm
No, no, I am not starting a blog about food. This is only an illustration. This is a real photo of a real dish. I made it myself from real vegetables. I can tell you how I made it and you can buy the ingredients and prepare it yourself.
But why should you believe me? This dish that looks very real could be made of plastic. Maybe it’s real but I didn’t make it myself, I bought it in a supermarket took it out of the package and placed it on the plate for the photo. Maybe I didn’t even took that picture. Maybe I just found this somewhere on the internet.
Now,
you will enjoy watching this video
https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/434gqw/i-made-my-shed-the-top-rated-restaurant-on-tripadvisor
Lies were born into
this world along with the Truth and since we were born one of our major tasks
is to be able to tell the difference.
The virtual world in
which we live is not a new one. Once something was true because someone you
trusted told you, and then it was because someone respectable told you, then he
was a scientist or a doctor, then it was in the paper, or on the radio, or on
television, and now it is on the internet.
Sometime “It is
known” and those of you who watched “Game of Thrones” know what I mean.
Few thing I conclude
from the video –
1. People are still
full of trust. Maybe it is because most people are still trustworthy or maybe
because there are enough of them.
2. People are
drawn to what other people are attracted to.
3. Some people are
drawn to the unusual and the bizarre.
4. Even when the king is naked, it takes a little kid to reveal the truth and no one takes a little kid to a restaurant at night.
Jan 27 2018 2:21 am
This is a chart. It was copied from Astrodienst, one of the many astrology sites on the net. (It is not mine, just an accidental chart).
Though many people reject the idea that the future can be predicted, or that the stars has any impact on us, many people are ready to accept both.
I don’t know what the people five thousand years from now may think about the stars but I am sure that they will have one or another methods of prediction.
Unlike many creatures, humans like to plan ahead. We are not the only animal that dose this. For instance, look at the squirrels. But usually we spend more time dwelling upon the past or dreaming about the future. We spend very little time if any, in the present. There is a good reason for this – the present is constantly changing while our past or future are stable. There is a good reason for this too – it is because our past and our future are the creation of our imagination while the present is reality.
I will probably write more about it in the future, but right now I wonder about our dependency on the many methods of prediction. I think it is because we want the best results. We want a guarantee that our plans will succeed. We know that our time is limited and we want to get the best for ourselves and of course the fastest.
But who is responsible for the good results? Who can guarantee that we shall get it? The stars? Maybe God and his messengers? Maybe the king or the government? How about our parents? How about us?
When we come to the “us” we hit the wall. To get the desired result we need to control all the element of our life which include all that is around us. We cannot do that!
So, are we doomed to failure? And is there some authority that holds the key to the missing element called “control”? In other words is our future pre-determined? Written in the stars? Or is it us, who determine our own future?
Feb 1 2018 12:54am
Much was written about this amazing movie starring Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, and a line of wonderful actors and actresses and directed by Steven Spielberg. What I would like to do, is tell you about two scenes from the movie that impressed me the most and one scene that made me angry.
The two scenes happened almost in parallel.
The first scene looks like a very simple home scene. Ben Bradley, played by Tom Hanks, helps his wife Tony, played by Sarah Poulson, arrange the room to allow her to continue her art work. They talk about the events as she approaches him and makes him understand the difficult situation of Kay Graham. Illumination comes like lightning to Tom Hanks face. Suddenly he knows where he should be. Such a minimal way to express such a dramatic moment and the camera moves on to where he should be, to where he runs.
There she is Kay Graham in her moment of truth, when she had to make the most difficult decision. She hesitates. All her life she was told that she is only a woman and she accepted it. She is surrounded by a pack of men who continue to hold the same idea about her (that she is only a woman) they are pressuring her to give up. She is like an animal trapped in a cage. In that scene you see Meryl Streep greatness as well as Steven Spielberg wonderful direction. She grows up in front of our eyes and turns from the “only a woman” that she was up until that moment, to “The woman” that is ready to take her role as the owner of “The Washington Post” and a fighter for the freedom of the press in the USA. It was such an elevating moment and she was doing it without being pompous, in a very restrained, inner way. I cried.
The last scene was disappointing. I thought to myself how Hollywood contaminates even such a great film with a shallow superficial last scene. I wonder. Did only women protested against the war in Vietnam?
However, I did not
let it spoil my pleasure, excitement and the way the film impressed me.
Feb 2 2018 10:29pm
"Humans are clever and are very programmable" so said Sophia the human-shape Artificial Intelligence. I think that we are also very impressionable. One video after another show us Sophia, Bina48, Nadine and many other AI robots. They talk, answer question and impress us. I find myself sitting like a kid in a magician performance amazed at what they can already do.
Is it true? Are we going to meet Data from the enterprise and Andrew the bicentennial man on the street one day? And what will be the consequences to us humans?
Robots are programmed machines. They have a set of orders and operate accordingly. They are not required to think or to learn. They are changing our life for decades now.
Machines do jobs that people used to do in the past, and frankly there's nothing new about it. Since we took our tools to create another tool, it was only a matter of time, 2,600,000 years ago to be accurate, until we reached the present time, as more and more jobs are disappearing thanks to the machines. It will probably have a devastating effect in the short term, but perhaps in the long term people will not work in a dangerous environment and will not be required to do dangerous tasks.
Artificial intelligence is a different story. It’s a program, the brain behind the tool. In the past that brain used to be our brain and now we turn it over to the machines. The major task of any brain is to learn and develop all by itself and this is where they aim. Those who participate in the AI race.
The AI doesn’t have to look like a human but it has to learn to think like a human and maybe even better and act accordingly.
What matters now is whether this intelligence will be empathic, considerate, care for our welfare and work for the benefit of the people, or that its goal will be efficiency, it will strive to maximize profit, look at people as numbers and take care of us as long as it can use us.
Feb 4 2018 3:49am
I think that ever since scientists began developing artificial intelligence they were forced to explore the human mind. They have to understand what is conciseness, and where is it located.
I wonder, suppose an intelligent robot will make a painting, a. will it have the desire to paint or will it be instructed to paint and b. will it have satisfaction or joy or self-esteem once the painting is done?
Are we some kind of robots? Were we constructed by nature through millions of years or by some other intelligent creatures? Will these intelligent robots ask themselves the same questions one day?
In a way one can argue that these robots are much better physical being then us. All they need for survival is sun light, assuming that eventually they will run on green energy. They will live longer and train their “younger” generation even before giving them “birth”.
And what about people
inserting mechanical parts into their bodies in order to improve their
performance and their health? You can already see it happen.
Right now it serves mostly injured people but maybe it’s just a matter of time before… I don’t really know. But I think that if there will be a way to project my thoughts about a painting directly onto the screen and print it without having to toil on it for hours, I will be very happy.
Feb 5 2018 12:50am
Two days ago I sent a short story to a writing competition. I enjoy writing short stories. Every now and then, when I have an idea for one, I write a first draft and leave it. Later on, a week or a year later I will sit to work on it. None of the short stories I write are competition material, but sometimes the competition is about a specific subject, like this one which is about my neighbourhood. I take it as a challenge.
The
challenge is not just to write a story about something that never occurred to
me and still make it reflect my way of thinking. The challenge is to write a
story that will be directed at the taste of the judges while the judges are
aimed at the taste of the audience. Although this may not be true, the judges
certainly have an idea about what the audience will love to read. So one has to
look inward and outward at the same time.
For two weeks my way of answering the challenge was circling in my mind. I knew what I wanted to write but not how I wanted to write it and as you know the “what” and the “how” are both very important. Eventually, I simply put it all on paper, that is, on the screen and read it allowed several times. Then, I began to, sort of, rearrange the words, add some, erase some. Rearrange the sentences and bit by bit the story emerged.
Now,
all I have to do is cross my fingers. I want very much to win even though the
prize is small. The first prize is a weekend in London and 20 e-books of my
choice. But winning have a taste of its own. Winning is a hit. Me>the
judges>the readers on the same line. Chances are 1 to 2000. Not very
promising, I know, but maybe it’s only 1:200 J
from an artist's
point of view 1
Feb 6 2018 8:09pm
I try, from an artist's point of view, to understand the meaning of the words related to art.
What is art?
What is decoration? – It is something that was made in order to please the soul. The eye. The mind.
If it’s good it will achieve the goal. It can be bad and achieve the opposite result. It can be done by a master or by an amateur. In the middle ages “masters” where craftsmen who owned their business. The word master didn’t mean that they were artisans but it stands to reason that they were because it took a lot of time and experience to own your own workshop.
All the craftsmen were artists because to be an artist was to create. A painting, a table, a pot. Everything had to please the observer/customer. Even though beauty is and always was in the eye of the beholder every society had its rules and fashions regarding beauty.
What is an artisan? - A worker in a skilled trade, especially one that involves making things by hand.
In the past Artist was one who created: painting, sculptures, music, poetry, etc.
If s/he was good at it, s/he was an Artisan.
In the past artist created art and decoration.
But things have changed.
Today, a master has nothing to do with ownership. It has everything to do with being an excellent craftsman.
The word Artisan means an excellent skilled worker
Decoration and craftsmanship still can be creative, original but it has a clear and simple purpose – to please the eye of the observer/client.
What about Art?
Art demands a soul, a purpose,
intention, meaning, a message. It no longer needs to please it needs to move
us, to impress, to create an experience beyond the simple understanding of
“what” or the “how”.
This is why the rules for Art became
vague. But this is a post for another day.
Molly's game
Feb 7 2018 2:48pm
What a movie!!! What a story!!!
After the movie I had some thoughts about my life. But I shall leave it for another day.
Thoughts about the story
Molly Bloom is a winner! There is no doubt about it. But, some may argue, she has lost her Olympic nomination, her 5 million dollars, the game, 2,500,000 dollars of debts she did not charge, how come she is a winner?
She is a winner because every time she falls, she manages to get back on her feet and go on with determination. She not only wrote her book, she made sure the book became a movie. She was not sitting on her butt waiting for someone to find her story. She went to Hollywood and looked for a meeting with Aaron Sorkin who eventually wrote the screen play and directed the movie.
The world that the book and the movie
expose is a world unknown to most of us and it makes me wonder about the way
things run in our world. We know that it’s there but we never think about it,
we, sort of, push it to the edge of our knowledge of the world. To some,
however, it is the center.
It also makes one wonder about how easy the government can take all your possessions. How s***y these rich and powerful men are. And how influential are those things embedded in us during childhood.
In the end what seemed to be the worst was actually the best. The arrest by the FBI probably save her life. Writing the book and working on the movie also helped her come out of the tilting experience and observing her life from a different angle. In her words “Between the novel and working with Aaron, I’ve probably [done] 20 years’ worth of therapy” (from Noel Ransom’s interview with Molly Bloom)
About the movie
In the center of the movie a bold woman, sharp, intelligent and compassionate. She is not in love, not devastated after a love affair. She steps into the underground world. Not the usual kind of a story about a woman. But if you look around you’ll see that this is the current wave, for instance, Meryl Streep in “the post”, or Frances McDormand in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”.
The story is being played and on occasion is being told and though I found it irritating at first, I soon forgot all about it. The pace supports the tense atmosphere all through the movie. Close shots, the camera seems to move among the players and gives us the feeling that we are actually there, in the room with them. The drama is very restrained just like the main character.
Jessica Chastain is doing a wonderful job portraying Molly Bloom. She is so good that one actually forget the actress and sees only Molly. Such is also Michael Cera as player X. Kevin Costner as her father didn’t have to work hard, he had it in him. Idris Elba as the lawyer brought warmth and humanity into hard scenes. At times it felt as if I was watching a documentary. There were even two funny moments but I shall let you discover them by yourself.
It’s a good movie. Don’t miss it.
from an artist's point of view 2
Feb 11 2018 9:19pm
If beauty is in the eye of the beholder
and we came to accept forms of beauty that were not acceptable in the past,
should we still busy ourselves with definitions and rules?
Up until the middle of the 19th century,
the rules and definitions as to what is a good work of art were clear.
However photography, psychology,
sociology, politics, the industrial revolution, the wars and the revolutions of
the first half of the twentieth century, all these changed the game. On one
hand painter where no longer needed as recorders of reality and at the same
time they were given freedom to experiment with all the new ideas.
In a period of about 100 years, many
artistic ideas were studied. Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, Futurism,
Constructivism, Fauvism, and much more "ISM" s. It was relatively a short
period of time when we were exposed to a large number of ideas so once we got
off the roller coaster, no wonder we were and still are completely confused.
Moreover, the internet brings every
kind of art to every corner of the world and exposes us to many forms of
creative works and to a huge amount of such works, until eventually the
definition and valueof each work of art is firstly in the eye of the artist
and then in the eye of the viewer / client. These are the oldest and most
influential critics.
Never the less, in spite of the confusion, I think that if we will understand the way we define “art” today, it will not be so difficult to identify a work of art.
Feb 14 2018 n11:53am
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - movie(film)
In Frances McDormand’s words “it’s a story of grief and trauma and a lot of things are coming of it…” It begins with one woman (Frances McDormand) who cannot contain her pain, sorrow and guilt any longer. Her daughter was raped and murdered and seven month later there is still no clue as to who did it. Pain guilt and frustration creates tremendous anger and she has nowhere else to direct it but at the chief police officer in the town (Woody Harrelson) and his deputy (Sam Rockwell). Like ink in water it spreads, touches and vibrates in others, each having their own grief and pain.
Martin McDonagh who wrote and directed
it did an amazingly good job. There is not even one row wasted in the script.
It is so exact and tight. It grabs you right from the start and pleads for
redemption. Redemption must come, and it comes by fire. Again just like pain
causes pain, fire causes fire. The billboards are set on fire and Mildred
(Frances McDormand) caries the fire to the police station.
Penelope, the new wife of Mildred’s ex-husband puts the major idea into words in her innocent, as if, silly way. "Anger only begets more anger". “It’s not mine” she admits, “I’ve read it somewhere on a bookmark”.
When people cannot contain their
frustration and pain they turn it into anger that spreads like wildfire and
causes more pain and more anger and violence.
Black Panther - film
Feb 16 2018 4:47 pm
To see a Marvel movie in the first week of screening is by itself an event. The hall was packed with teens, some kids and some grown-ups like me. When the movie began they applauded and cheered. They did so when the movie ended and they stayed in their seats up until the very last scene which came long after the long list of credits.
As a movie it is a simple and plain Disney movie. Unsophisticated delivery of the story, nice effects, beautiful actors and actresses. It could have been an animated film like “Frozen” or “The Lion King”. Enjoyable.
But observing it from another angle it is a very important film. First of all, the majority of the cast are blacks. Second, they were wearing full outfits. Both women and men where fully dressed except in the two scenes of the fights in the pool. Third, the king’s guard was a group of bald women. And yet the hall was packed.
It also carried an important message to the black community. Start helping your people from within. The world around will not help you, it will go on abusing you as been done for centuries. Stop fighting among yourselves. And above all, progress and success will not come through violent actions but through technology and self-support.
I truly hope that black people wherever
they are will grasp the message.
from an artist's
point of view 3
Feb 19 2018 11:40 pm
I am an artist. I am a painter. I write but I am not a writer, not yet.
Terry Pratchett wrote, “Words are important” and there is no one who would agree with it more than me.
There was a time when I thought that the 20th century changed the meaning of words like art, artist, and such, but the more I thought about it the more I came realized that most of these words still mean the same. And yet a change occurred.
In the 20th century the definition of “Art” expanded. Maybe as a result, the word “Master” changed its meaning. Nowadays it has nothing to do with having a shop. A “Master” is someone who excels in the field of his/her occupation, not only as a result of extensive studies but as a result of experience.
Building one table will not turn a person into a carpenter. The same goes for books and paintings, caked and songs. Yet a person can hire a place, get the equipment and hang a sign outside his shop saying “A carpenter”. Anyone can do this before building even one table. That person is not a carpenter yet and may have or may not have the talent but by making a commitment and begin to acquire knowledge and experience that person will soon become a carpenter.
Intent is important.
When I think of “A work of Art”, intent is a vital part of it.
I want to emphasize that this whole conversation relates only to my works and I have no intention of criticizing the works and intentions of someone else. I mainly want to explain my attitude toward my art.
Feb 25 2018 2:46pm
Someone asked me if
the flowers in my “Four Flowers Mandala” painting were glued.
At first I was
shocked. “Glued???!!!” I shouted in amazement. “I am an artist!!! A painter!!!”
But then I thought
about it.
Her question was legitimate.
When you see something on the net it’s hard to know. I already devoted a post to that. (https://miriamshnapikx.blogspot.co.il/2018/01/living-in-virtual-world.html)
However, it goes deeper than that. Two hundred years ago if you wanted to create a “good”, usually realistic, painting you had to invest time, had some talent and a lot of experience. Today you cut out a photo from a magazine (you don’t even have to take the photo by yourself), you glue it and put lacquer over it and that would be “It”. You still need some talent, Good taste maybe, but sometimes even that won’t be necessary.
That’s the true
story of decoration. It has to please the eye. Its life span may be short
because when they replace the sofa and carpet they may also replace the
decoration. Some people like, get attached, appreciate their decoration and may
leave it on the wall for ever but for many others it is just until something
new comes around. Glued photo will lose its colours and that will be another
good reason to replace it.
The “new” rules!
So, don’t invest time and efforts. Enjoy it now! Tomorrow is another day.
I treat my
decorative painting with a bit more respect. I create it to last with the hope
that people will get attached to it for a life time (preferably more than one).
I wish to believe that somewhere over the years the children will argue over
who will inherit my painting. Glued flowers will not last that long.
( I have some problem with the reply to a comment so I will add it here
you
should take the remark as a compliment.
not because the picture will last longer but
because the quality of your painting is so good the flowers looks like real
glued flowers not painted.
Gimel Shin - Yes and no. Though painting so real that it looks like a photo may be a quality by itself, I think that any painter should be able to do it. Working for the past 30 years as a teacher I can say without doubt that given the right instructions, most people can do it. Even if to some it may be easier than to others. I will write more about it later on.)
Feb 28 2018 1:13pm
The art work is no longer needed to decode reality. It is also not needed in transferring religious or commercial ideas. We have advertising and public relation offices for that. Decoration moved into the design section.
In such a situation, what is the purpose of the art work?
I think that its major purpose is to express the individual ideas, thoughts and feelings. Art moved from the public to the private. From “out” to the “in”.
Artists always expressed their point of
view on the subject that they were commissioned to produce, and any
artist who wishes to make a living out of art still accepts commissions or
reproduces a good idea. However, nowadays, artists create what they choose and
the products of their choice reflect their free will.
The process of acquiring a freedom of expression began, I think, in the late 17th century and reached its peak in Duchamp’s work “Fountain” from 1917.
Anything can be an art object. Anything can be an art subject. Anyone can be an artist. Anyone’s product can be considered an art work. What makes a toilet into an art work is the intention to present it as such.
It seems as a declaration and indeed art historians relate to it as such. But maybe we should look at it more as a question than a declaration. In his extreme action, Duchamp intensified the debate over the nature of the art work.
On one thing I can agree with Duchamp’s – intent is important
But an art work cannot be defined by only one parameter. (to be continued)
Mar 9 2018 4:01pm
If you think that I have an answer to this question than you are very naïve. However, one thing I can say for sure, they come out of the blue. They are not necessarily a result of a thinking process. I didn’t think about painting at all, not even in a sub-level of consciousness.
I went shopping for food for Saturday. It was between 11:00 and 12:00 and I was thinking about food and maybe about the loads of dishes in the sink. It was when I came out of the grocery store, I took maybe five steps and I was standing right next to that strange arch (I may take a picture of it one day).
Between that spot and the second bench along the walk home an idea flourished in my mind. It began with a thought about a Photoshop option and ended with a clear idea about my next art project (which has nothing to do with Photoshop). It took a minute maybe two and there it was. From there on it was just developing the idea and thinking about what to include in it
I wasn’t looking for it. I wasn’t thinking about it. My current project is to get rid of all the many small canvases that I have accumulated through the years, to finish all the decorative paintings and never paint another flower in my life. And I wasn’t thinking about it either, because there is no need to think about such things, you just do it and get it over with.
What really amazes me the most is that suddenly I was so aware of it. By the time I reached home, I was busy thinking about how the idea came to my mind. I was tracking back my thoughts and I am 100% sure that this idea came out of the blue. I only know when and where but not how.
Shabbat Shalom!
Darkest Hour – film
April 14 2018 3:00 pm
One and a half month in the life of
Winston Churchill, Britain and the World in which, we were saved from peril,
spending our lives under the regime of the Third Reich. A month in which
Winston Churchill pushed history, with all his might, onto the course on which
we are now and literally saved the western world. We all live in a free world
as a result of his brave decisions, and the courage of the British people.
I am so happy that finally by one of
the most popular means the world learns about the greatness of that man. Gary
Oldman did an amazing job and his Oscar was well deserved. The movie is so good
that even though the facts are known I was sitting on the edge of the chair
throughout the film.
I was angry when he didn’t get the
support he was waiting for, I was worried when he learned about the soldiers in
Dunkirk I was moved when the king came to visit him and I cried in the scene at
the underground where he meets the people.
Don’t miss it.
deadpool2 - don't
miss it!
May 23 2018 1:29pm
Ah, Deadpool2 , what
an amazing movie. I admit it, there were some short gross moments that I could
not watch. However, that did not stop me from enjoying the movie.
It is fun, funny,
good action movie with a bit of a moral message.
If your heart is in the right place , you will love it.
Do'nt forget - It's not over until the music stops.
have fun!
Tully – film
June 3 2018 9:32pm
Such a simple story
and yet... A mother of three hires a night nanny to help with her new-born.
Nothing to it. At first we thought it’s a comedy, then, when Tully arrived we thought
it might be a thriller, then, maybe a horror movie, a disaster movie? But we
didn’t expect what came at last. No spoilers of course but let me tell you it
was really mind-boggling.
Charlize Theron as Marlo, the mother, is so authentic. She is the kind of actress who can get into any shape she wishes and be very real and true in it. Mackenzie Davis as Tully is everything we’ve expected of a young night help of 26, a little mysterious, a little neurotic. The husband Drew, Ron Livingston, was a little stereotyped and flat and could be counted as the supportive actor, even though he was not supportive at all. All along the film it was so easy to identify with the story, with the character. Nothing was too extreme or too fantastic. This is why the end was so surprising and mind-boggling. When we’ve got to the end, we had to sit and rethink the whole movie. I bet you will too.
June 11 2018 2:12 am
It has been on my mind lately, I am spreading too thin. I do too many things and not always care about bringing it to completion. This is not the way to achieve anything, definitely not to become successful of famous. Even though I promise myself that soon I will get serious with one thing or another I don’t seem to keep my promise. The reason, I say to myself, is that I am interested in many things, I like to try many things. I also enjoy it, the versatility but I know from experience that in order to achieve my goal I have to stick to one thing and complete it.
Or live multiple life and have more than 24 hours in a day.
This blog, for instance. I wanted it to be a blog that would escort my writing but then I started to write my thoughts about Art, especially painting. From there I moved to movies and now I kind a turned it into a diary.
I actually came here to write about my new interest – video editing – I am an autodidacts and presently I learn to edit videos for YouTube. Tonight I worked on preparing the materials for a Eurovision Mash-Up. I seriously listened to some of the songs and suddenly I cracked laughing. They are so stupid, the English is so bad, (even I can detect it) they are so dull, repeating the same verses over and over again and AH and OH in between. I am going to make an especially delicious “dish” out of it. Just wait and see. A ye A ye A ye fuego. hahahahaha
June 17 2018 11:42pm
Fear
It is universally known that fear keeps us away from all the things we like and love. It is fear that prevents us from achieving our goal and sometimes or maybe even many times it is fear that causes death.
We are afraid of failure, afraid of the unknown, some people are afraid of success and many people are afraid of change. We all want to be sure and safe.
Today I found myself in an awkward situation, recognizing my fear. Frankly I didn’t expect it yet it was there laying low like a tiger in the tall grass.
About four or five weeks ago I filmed my first video. It was just a silly video of my and his friend chatting and sharing their thoughts with the camera. It was a raw material and I intended to use it in my studies of a video editing programme. The beginning went well and I shot another video but two and then three weeks have passed by and I didn’t do a thing. I knew the basics and I “played” with some Eurovision songs but I didn’t touch the video I took and I didn’t advance with my studies.
I “didn’t have time”, I was “too busy” “there was a lot on my mind” but the truth was that I was afraid it would be too difficult for me to go on and deeper. It seemed too complicated. I would have to spend a lot of time realizing how to do what, so I thought and thus nearly gave up the whole idea. But my son didn’t let me get off it, he pressured me to try some more.
To my surprise once I have decided to do it anyway, I easily found the information I needed and in just one day learned most of the things that I needed for the project. There’s a lot more I need to know but acquiring these few basic things gave me the assurance that sooner or later I would know it all.
So this is fear and this is what it can do to us and the way to conquer it is only by doing and even though I know this lesson all too well, sometimes I forget.
I wish I could put the finished product here but it is not presentable yet.
June 20 2018 2:21pm
Yes, I know it's yesterday's news but a month later is a good time to sum it all up and move on. I deserted the idea of making a mash-up video of the Eurovision songs. However, listening to the songs time after time and watching quite a big number of videos, I have few things to say about that contest.
1. It’s a wonderful idea to have all those countries share their music. I even understand why it should be a contest and not just a festival. It costs a lot of money to produce such a show, so, the competition triggers the voters. Besides, sometimes the songs are so boring that no one would have listen to it if it was not a competition.
2. The drawback is that the songs are usually very poor. All one needs is a catchy word like Waterloo, Viva, Pikachu or Fuego. There is a lot of repetitions, and a lot of Ah and Oh to fill in missing lines. After all why bother, in the pop area songs are not meant to stay long on the billboard.
3. English became the ruling language. About 75% of the songs were in English. Therefore I think the Eurovision committee should pay attention to the poor English and demand the countries to invest in a good translation. As much as I appreciate “Google Translate”, obviously it is not good enough.
4. If you read the
lyrics… well… Some of the songs suggests bizarre ideas, “love beyond
the bones” (brings about some uneasy associations). Some connection are strange
“roses and horses in the rain” (?) “Misty moon, I'm your loon. Let's rock the
nation” (?) Cesar, Yes! When the girl says NO, it’s a NO! Even if you are
aching. Leva, it’s nice that you are ready to walk a mile for your loved one,
(some are ready to walk a thousand mils). “When you walk in smelling like her
perfume” (though, I know what you mean), Eye cue wants it deeper (she said it
more than once, but I can’t criticize her there). Waylon please explain “It's a
fine, fine line, between whiskey, and water, into wine”. Sweden guy “Treating
you good we were gold I dug you like you were treasure” (eccchh). Last but not
least, Melovin, it would be nice if there was any connection between the free
association in your song, as I have said before, google translate is not enough.
5. I have noticed that those who sang in English did better than those who sang
in their own language. In the same breath I can guarantee that the French
singers will always sing in French and maybe the Spanish too. the Portuguese
had a stroke of luck last year.
6. G only know why they cut SuRie's incident from the show. It was such a
heroic and euphoric moment. She was so professional and we as audience
appreciated it so much. I think is was stupid to cut it off and place in its
place the performance from the semi-final (unless she asked for it)
7. please note all of you out there - you can bring a D.J. deck to the
performance but NOT, absolutely NOT a Looper, and don't give me any conspiracy
theories here we all know that on a looper you can record things in advance and
on a D.J. deck you cannot, (or am I wrong?)
8. Why “Toy” won the competition? Because it is a fun song, it has a message
(#me too) it has catchy and popular words like Pikachu, wonder woman, and
Smartphone. Its Tempo is versatile and keeps surprising the listener. Netta
Barzillai is a clever woman, happy and positive. (Plus, 20 years have passed
from the last time Israel won and as everybody knows Israel has to
win once in every 20 years, [not counting the second time which happened right
after the first time])
9. Why am I happy that it won? Because Netta is such a good and interesting
singer. Because she was unknown and it was high time for it to change. She was
an amazing flower growing in a cave and now she is out in the light and we can
all enjoy it. I am also happy to see that so far she takes it very well.
10. Why some people are not happy with the results? Usually it's because they
preferred another song. In this case maybe they mix politics with pleasure or
maybe simply because they don't like chickens.
End of 2018
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