What did I learn in 2013? Here’s a list.SEXIEST EVER Marlon Brando in the latter part of Guys and Dolls, when he wears a black suit. VR will brook no other view.
WARMTH = FUEL Twice a week the 2/5 diet reduces me to 600 calories per day compared with a normal 2000 calories/day. Initially the weather was quite warm, now it isn’t. Despite central heating my body temperature drops as the day endures. Two nights ago I lay cold in bed. Extra blankets would not have been the answer. There was no heat to retain.
IBSEN – JURY STILL OUT The Hedda Gabler DVD, featuring gorgeous Diana Rigg in her prime, was all over in a spritely 83 minutes. But then it had been rewritten for telly by John Osborne. I cannot believe such breathlessness is typical.
LAW-BREAKERS It was my impression that airborne fire lanterns had been banned as an accidental arson risk. Last night (NYE) suggests differently. Secretly VR and I were glad.
PORTRAITS I am drawn to a portrait style: pale flesh colours; facial features (eyes, lips, nose, ears) finely outlined in a dark colour. Like a filled-in child’s colouring book except the features are larger than one might expect, given the facial area. Any clues?
EVEREST I only recently discovered that the Sherpas on Everest expeditions referred to the oxygen cylinders as “British air”.
FRENCH TOAST There is a limit to the number of slices I can eat but it is quite high.
WIP Second Hand (53,218 words)
But even when they were seated there was no sense of relaxation. Teenagers passed by on roller blades, dog owners let their pets defecate in the grass. Frustrated, Wyss pointed to an ice-cream van. “Let’s do something childish. How about a cone?” That helped.
Modigliani?
ReplyDeleteI always liked MB in Mutiny on the Bounty. Trouble is the title always reminds me of the Morecambe and Wise version - Monty on the Bonty.
Lying cold and hungry in bed, sounds drastic. Is it working?
Happy New Year to you and VR!
Those thick Japanese slices of bakery bread made herrlich French Toast. Those days I was at my thinest. Go figure!
ReplyDeleteMarlon Brando would be sexy to me too if I could figure out what the heck he is saying? MUMBLER!!
Anyway, I drank a toast to you and VR last night. Frohes Neues!
warmth=fuel....deprivation engenders hardiness....you'll grow into a rugged adult.
ReplyDeleteportraits.....any clues about what?
Lucy: Modigliani. I checked via Google Images but the outlining is only partially sustained. In the style I have in mind everything has an outline: the head itself, the area devoted to hair, the eyebrows, the different parts of the eye: thinly done and always in a dark colour which causes it to contrast well with the lighter colour it surrounds. It's driving me mad. I tried all the Impressionists, the post-Impressionists, and as many of the war painters (WW1 and WW2) as I could remember. The style is modernish, say 20th century.
ReplyDeleteA cure for your MB madness: watch Streetcar, Waterfront rather more often.
Cold/hungry. There are terminal moraines of fatness to be considered so drastic measures are required. Yes it is working but very very slowly; I've only been at it for three or four months. But fast fat loss is usually a chimera. Prior to leaving for the USA I contrived to lose 4.5 stones. USA quickly put paid to that.
I wish you (not forgetting Tom and Mol) a fruitfulness of Breton crannies.
RW (zS): In fact we used junk bread on this most recent occasion. Under normal circumstances we have taken to Polish bread but it has a downside; delicious but lacking any kind of preservative it goes mouldy quickly.
MB, We're talking sexy here, just that.
Whereas we toasted you in Cremant du Jura.
MikeM: That sounds a peculiarly American proposition: it only works if one isn't overtaken by hypothermia. However I relish the prospect of becoming an adult. Any predictions about how long this might take?
Any clues? About a painter painting in this style. See my comment to Lucy. I've amplified the style somewhat.
French Toast: In a former outdoor incarnation, I was a Scout leader. I ruled the kitchen tent with spatulas of steel. Towards the end of the week, I was often seen making towers of French (t) Toast. The beauty is that you can vary the egg/bread ratio according to availability. Some poor cubs, tousled hair and still wearing pyjamas, never worked this out and probably missed out on their protein quota for the day.
ReplyDeleteKlimt?
ReplyDeleteB2: I was a Cub once myself. I was supposed to whistle and sing during the course of dangers and difficulties but never did. I always thought it might irritate those within earshot.
ReplyDeleteMy mother made French toast during the war with dried egg. In some respects the rehydrated paste was easier to handle than real slimy eggs. We didn't call it French toast then, rather omelette dipped in bread (a dull sort of family spoonerism)
Fed: I tried Google Images but alas, no.
Early Picasso
ReplyDeleteMight have been this I brought to mind:
ReplyDeleteHarlequin and his Girl-Friend (Wandering Gymnasts)
http://www.topofart.com/images/artists/Pablo_Picasso/paintings/picasso002.jpg
MikeM: Tried those, no go. Some of the cubist pix are halfway there but the straight lines rule them out.
ReplyDeletePossible artists who painted portraits in the style you describe:
ReplyDeleteMarie Laurencin
Emile Bernard
Gauguin
Soutine
Any help? I might think of some more. I know what you mean.
Sexiest Brando: Last Tango in Paris.
Natalie: Marie Laurencin (one or two pix a third of the way there), Emile Bernard (some tendencies, but not with portraits). Gauguin (mostly too naturalistic). Soutine (colours too strong to accept outlining).
ReplyDeleteBut thanks for trying.
Brando, LTiP. By then great chunks were falling off the facade.
Among more recent artists in this style, there's the American Alex Katz.
ReplyDeleteAnd a British one (can't think of his name right now - maybe Gary something?) who does portraits that are like signs. Some are in the National Portrait Gallery.