Sakura – giclee
this is one of the giclees i received over the weekend but just stretched yesterday. the original painting is 6 x 12 inches, but this piece is 8 x 15. i touched up and enhanced it a bit with the skills i’ve learned since the original was created [minor tricks, really, having to do with shadow and light and anatomy ... that i'm still learning]. some things i couldn’t really fix without having to redo the entire thing, so i did what i could and am particularly pleased. the only thing left at this point is the fresh application of gold leaf then a little clean up work round the edges.
i also did a bit more work on “Eva”. i realized that i work better with the white laid out first and then working around it in payne’s gray. so i had to put away the dark and lay down the bones of white instead. the tough part is waiting for paint to dry when you’re ready to jump into something. hopefully it’ll be dry enough to work with tonight.
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inspirational
what seemingly is an unusual pairing [much like Robert Plant and Allison Krause] turns into the most natural and meant-for-each-other duet ever heard [much like the aforementioned pair]: Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin:
upon hearing the cello overlap the vocals, tears welled up in my eyes. previous recordings by other artists were usually the other way around [the cello opening with the vocals overlapping]. how incredibly beautiful these two are together. i recently ordered “Hush”, after hearing the duo’s version of Bach’s “Air from Orchestral Suit No. 3 in D Major”:
of course, this sparked in me a desire to locate a long lost compilation from when my son was just a newborn … a compilation i’d put on as i lay him down to sleep, lights dimmed, his soft breathing accompanying the tempos. every night i would play this for him, oftentimes with me reading him bedtime stories from the land of Oz, Mr. MacGregor’s garden or The Hundred Acre Wood. i don’t know that i believe all the hype about playing classical music for children to enhance their spacial thinking, but i do know that it has enhanced my memories of a very special time in my and my child’s life for me. that all associated music has left an indelible mark on my spirit, and his, and i’m grateful for his appreciation of all manners of music, especially the classics.
