Tuesday, January 27, 2009

In My Place, Wherever That Is.



As I sit & type, I'm watching a v. delayed telecast of the Obama Inauguration Concert, 'We Are One'. 
What a shame I'm Not an American. Even Garth Brooks looks good.
And who the hell was the kid sitting behind The President-Elect who slept her way through the whole thing? If only I could be that relaxed.
See how I manage to weave a TV show into just about every blog entry? It takes a Special Talent to do that, you know.

But now that Ashley Judd & Forrest Gump have come on, I've put Everything on Pause because I really want to fully concentrate so that I can walk you through the above pictures.
Last night, I visited two v. old friends, Marvin & Stanley. Over the years, they have been great patrons of my artwork. Them & about two other people. 
I hadn't been to their house in yonks, as they haven't invited me  because I've been a Really Slack Friend. So, I got a wonderful jolt when I walked into their dining room & these pictures that I collaged/painted some years were hanging up! I nearly wet myself! 
Luckily, I had my camera with me so I took some snaps. 
And here they are. 
The middle  one features four famous people, two of whom are now dead: HRH Queen Elizabeth II, Jack Lemmon, Sophia Loren & Rosalind Russell. I hope you recognise them because I'm not going to point them out to you. They're sitting around a dining table on an Old Ocean Liner. The first part of the text, '...everytime one of my friends succeeds, a little part of me dies', is a famous quote from Truman Capote. I've always loved it & thought it was absolutely hilarious because it basically summed me up. That is, it summed The Old Me up. But no more. I now realise that if I feel good about other people's success I won't get as many wrinkles &  marionette lines & my mouth wont turn downwards like the witch in Hansel & Gretel.

The first painting features two famous people, or should I say One Famous Person & their Spouse. I wonder if you can guess who it is? I'm not telling.
Again, at the time I just loved the saying , 'Try everything once, all except incest & folk dancing', which I seem to recall is a quote from Sir Thomas Addison, whoever he was. I'm really showing my ignorance . Just like  a couple of blog entries ago, when I went on about how wonderful it was that English is the Dominant Language because I couldn't be bothered learning any other languages . And then I got a long lecture from The Emperor of Esperanto putting me In My Place, wherever that is. 

2 comments:

janavi said...

These paintings are so wonderful, what a great surprise it must have been to see them again. I always loved that picture of Sophia, wasn't she sitting next to Mamie van Doren, or someone whose chest was hanging out?
That Esperanto comment was kind of intense, haven't heard it mentioned in a long time.

Darla said...

Terrific art. The Capote quote is priceless. Can't wait to see what you have for your upcoming show.

Darla