{"id":2564,"date":"2016-06-28T14:42:08","date_gmt":"2016-06-28T14:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seeingthings.me.uk\/blog\/?p=2564"},"modified":"2016-07-04T11:37:46","modified_gmt":"2016-07-04T11:37:46","slug":"i-saw-rembrandt-today-in-bristol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.seeingthings.me.uk\/blog\/?p=2564","title":{"rendered":"I saw Rembrandt today in Bristol"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rembrandt(iPhone)_edited-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There is such tenderness and vulnerability in this self-portrait by Rembrandt,
\n(1669) his final one, made when he was 63 years old:
\nall of life’s experiences etched so<\/strong> plainly on his face;
\nhis life was indeed\u00a0 full of tragedy.<\/h4>\n

Rembrandt was dead within a year of painting this masterpiece.<\/h4>\n

(see this work at City of Bristol Museum & Art Gallery ’til 17.7.16
\npart of The National Gallery’s\u00a0 Masterpiece Tour)<\/p>\n

The revelationary presentation of the essence of a person, in those times,
\nseems far removed from the importance we (in Western culture)
\nnow place on the form of all things
\n– to camouflage, smooth out, mask, and eradicate –
\nat all costs to not<\/em> reveal the worries, sorrows, sadnesses, and tragedies
\nof this human life – the form is it<\/strong><\/em> now,
\nperhaps then it was more about the human essence…<\/h4>\n

The irony is, of course, that despite all our efforts to primp the form
\nwe reveal the essence anyway!<\/h4>\n

********************<\/p>\n

a friend mentioned she would like to enjoy\u00a0more the process of writing,<\/strong><\/em>
\n and I was reminded of Thomas Mann’s words<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"writing<\/a><\/p>\n

(which might be some small consolation)
\nfinding the process of writing invaluable & self-educational I return to
\nmorning pages<\/a> <\/em>again and again, especially in stuck hours of need,
\ntwo weeks of writing every day, free-form without editing,
\ncan be a mighty edifying & catalytic thing to do.<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

And whilst at this I connected to my old love of drawing,
\nwhich somehow is a gift I do not grant myself too often!<\/h5>\n

\"3mnM.PagesDrawing\"<\/a><\/p>\n

a one minute sketch is more about the process than the end form<\/p>\n

*****************************<\/p>\n

\"women<\/a><\/p>\n

* Agnes Varda<\/strong><\/a> born 1928, doyen of experimental film, & performative\/documentary,
\nfor e.g. The Gleaners and I<\/strong> (2000)
\n<\/a><\/h4>\n

* Five of the six shortlisted artists for the 2016 Jarman award are women
\n<\/strong><\/a><\/h4>\n

* Sally Potter
\n<\/a><\/h4>\n

* Claire Dennis<\/a><\/h4>\n

***********************************************
\nNOODLING ‘ROUND THE INTERWEBBIE<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Cup Song<\/a><\/strong> – percussive treat by lovely young things\u00a0 – 3 mn. video<\/p>\n

Wikkelhouse<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0 a new kind of building – 3 mn. video<\/p>\n

early colour stencil film from Path\u00e9 – fairy tales<\/a><\/strong> – this one is from 1903,
\n2mns long with soundtrack<\/p>\n

**********************************************<\/p>\n

Being decidedly unskilled in the art of taking holidays, the summer (!) time
\nis when I take my introvert out for a walk – the annual pilgrimmage to Canterbury
\nis always a joy as it is my sister to whom I travel<\/h4>\n

every nook and cranny I see there is a visual treat,
\nhere’s some to share<\/h4>\n

the perfect room in which to rest<\/em><\/strong>
\n\"Mantel@Angela's\"
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

one of the last of the old pubs becomes accommodation…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"PublicBar\"<\/p>\n

pear orchards’ fruits are still picked by migrant workers
\n<\/em><\/strong>
\n\"PearOrchard+FX\"<\/a><\/p>\n

more holiday talk<\/em>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

miraculously a dear friend reminds me of our summer get together in Glos
\nand also invites me to share some Pembs pursuits with her:
\nthank the goddess for thoughtful friends…<\/h4>\n

\"kindness\"<\/p>\n

a moment of dizziness and inattention resulted in me inadvertently coming down
\nthe stepless side of a ladder, straddling it & doing the unintended splits<\/em> –
\nwrenched back, sprained knee, and body in shock I hobbled round to a friend’s
\nto borrow a walking stick – he kindly drove me to vote
\n(EU Referendum), to the shop and on home.<\/h4>\n

reframing: asking for help is a gift you can offer to other people<\/h4>\n

generosity is a gift you can enable others to give in a time of need<\/h4>\n

\"\u221aspiky
\n<\/a>contrast: after the ladder incident, only one light-coloured curtain hangs…<\/p>\n

\"\u221aiPhoneFrontBay\"
\n******************************************************************
\n\"\u221aSimplyBksInterimNote<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is such tenderness and vulnerability in this self-portrait by Rembrandt, (1669) his final one, made when he was 63 years old: all of life’s experiences etched so plainly on…<\/p>\n

Read MoreI saw Rembrandt today in Bristol<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":2,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","excerpt"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seeingthings.me.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seeingthings.me.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seeingthings.me.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seeingthings.me.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seeingthings.me.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2564"}],"version-history":[{"count":113,"href":"https:\/\/www.seeingthings.me.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2690,"href":"https:\/\/www.seeingthings.me.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2564\/revisions\/2690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seeingthings.me.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seeingthings.me.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seeingthings.me.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}