Friday, August 18, 2006

Painting

PAINTING, n. The art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather and exposing them to the critic.

Formerly, painting and sculpture were combined in the same work: the ancients painted their statues. The only present alliance between the two arts is that the modern painter chisels his patrons.

2006 Update: A pagan ritual for interacting with the world in our imagination rather than in reality, Queen of sciences and mother of journalism. A 2-D inanimated Human Graphic Interface.

...and welcome home, Mo'a.

47 comments:

Ariel the Thief said...

some is just going to sleep, another has just gotten up, it's only me yawning the same far from a bed in both directions.

Ariel the Thief said...

painting: shows the truth behind reality.

Minka said...

“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen”

Leonardo da Vinci

I felt it necessary to quote that dude, since I am just playing a PC game called "The forbidden Manuscript" and it is all about Da Vinci and his discoveries. Awesome bloke, that one!

painting,n. a melting pot of perspectives. Whoever looks will never see the same as the one before.

Minka said...

and bugger, that painting seems familiar! Could be a Johannes S. Kjarval...!?

Anonymous said...

Painting: creating something from nothing and/or vice versa; different strokes for different folks; being seen tho' not heard; exaggerations

Anonymous said...

'I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh

G said...

This painting has me singing - join in won't you:

Starry starry night
Paint your palette blue and gray
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul...

Indeterminacy said...

Painting: make-up for the non-artistic.

Minka said...

Brian, I see that you are right. It is just so Icelandic...the mountains, the houses, the church...it could be Reykjavik.
But alas...it probably is not :)

The amoeba said...

VAN GOGH, n. prop. Famous Dutch painter whose name represents one of the few approaches of the Indo-European alphabetical writing system to Chinese pictographs – for everybody recognizes the name on sight, but each tribe has evolved a different, and mutually incomprehensible, way of pronouncing it. The true Dutch voicing is nothing like the pun on “traveling minibus” that Americans use, instead it sounds like a man with a bad cold hawking sputum – a fair reflection of the opinion his contemporaries had of his work.

The painting may not be of any real place.

Anonymous said...

Well wrong artist, right title.:) Thanks for the love anyway Minka, but PB gets the credit.

Thanks OC for the link. Now do you remember the film about Van Gough starring Kirk Douglas? I saw a documentary about the making of the film, but can't remember the title.

GQ- No signing on Friday morning, must wait until the afternoon.

Sar said...

I can appreciate Starry Night. But I'm a Monet kind of gal. Although I've enjoyed seeing some of his collection at the MET in NYC, I dream of seeing his painting The Bridge At Argenteuil at The Louvre when I one day go to my beloved Paris.

TLP said...

Ariel's definition is so good that I may not even try today.

I usually think of painting as a verb, as in "painting the town red."

Doug The Una said...

Ariel, it will be my turn to yawn midday in about 4 hours. Then again, I could be late for that too. Good definition, from, I'm guessing, an art lover.

Very fine definition and quote, Minka.

Brian, sounds like Norman Rockwell is back.

Nope, Minka, but I remember when you featured Kjarval on your site and I can see the connection. I'm certain you know that painting, though.

Puppybrose, great work. Visa-versa in my case.

Brian, right title, wrong painter.

Puppybrose, he sure did.

G, shadows on a hill, paint the trees and daffodils...

Indie, or the ugly.

It's not, Minka. Likely Arles but I'm not sure. Who volunteers for some googlery?

O Ceallaigh, that's why I never try to say his name right. People expect me to spit. I should have known, you'd know or do the homework.

There ya go, Brian. I almost thought we had a Minka quiz starting. Lust for Life

My, my, Sar. Aren't we Lah-tee-da this morning?

TLP, that's the only kind of painting I'm up for.

G said...

Did someone mention Iggy Pop?

The amoeba said...

brian - that must have been Lust for Life (1956). No I've not seen it, but obviously I was able to find it.

doug - the van Gogh pronunciation story is one of the perks - or should I say consequences - of the life of the itinerant academic. The story of how I learned about it involves a tall blonde valley girl, the University of Groningen (Netherlands), the algal genus Cladophora, and a bridge partner in Palmerston North, New Zealand. I may tell the story. One fine day.

Anonymous said...

paint: the process in which I start with the color scheme bible and after hours of studying come up with the idea of alpine strawberry and chocolate for my downstairs bathroom. Upon finishing that I go back to studying the bible....and so it goes over and over again until I'm done. :)

The Village Idiot said...

Painting: The covering up of the old, with the new

Charlene Amsden said...

painting: the art of altering perception

Logophile said...

Painting, huh?
Well, I've been involved in home improvement projects and tutoring some high s chool studients, so here is what I have.
Painting tea trays is to painting porches
as
blogging is to writing grant proposals.

mireille said...

painting: Psychic torment made tangible. Sometimes the torment of the artist; in the case of compulsorily complimented self-portraits, the torment rests completely in the eye of the beholder. xoxo

Charlene Amsden said...

Allow me to rephrase:

painting: a static mirror which permanently reflects one small portion of an individual reality.

[Somewhere my FPA prof sudeenly smiled and he doesn't know why.]

Anonymous said...

Painting: without painted works of art...what would decorate the fronts of refrigerators?

Doug The Una said...

Shamrock, I thought riflery was.

G, I didn't although even if I'm misunderstanding the idea of him recording "Starry, Starry Night" is amusing me right down to my toes.

O Ceallaigh, that must be a ripsnorter. Cladaphora stories never fail to curl my toenails. I want acknowledgement for having known Lust for Life, see my comment above.

CJ, tell your husband I'll mention him in my prayers.

VI, you left out the painter. I hope "Carpentry" is in the book somewhere.

Quilldancer, I love the rewrite. Tomorrow's depiction of yesterday.

Logo, only if the porch has a trap door.

Mireille, I could scream.

Jenna, great point, where would free postcards and expensive magnets come from.

LeMas. said...

painting-the thing that bob ross inspired a bunch of stoners to think about doing...

Jamie Dawn said...

There are great paintings and there are paintings that look like a five year old did them.

The cause of the difference is very simple:
Great painters have free, unfettered access to chocolate.
So-so painters rarely eat chocolate.
Terrible painters are both chocolate and pie deprived.

This rings true in many other life situations as well.
Chocolate indulgers are too happy to commit murder or rob banks (unless it's to get $ to buy chocolate) or nag their spouses.

Unknown said...

my favourite Van Gogh. i'd cut my ear off to posess it. but as you know, those whom the gods love, they drive mad. Vincent, i feel your pain.

John Denver, I feel yours too. you did a much better job with Starry Night than with Annie's Song

Unknown said...

JD, Picasso said, "I've spent my entire life trying to draw like a child" ...

G said...

Haha - now that would be a good one. Lust for Life (if I could insert the song here I would) although it's been slaughtered in some ad campaign that escaped me at present.

Finally - a category I might beat you at Trivial Pursuit in!

Anonymous said...

:) ha ha doug. He actually likes the striped bathroom. He said he thought i'd be hideous but was suprised it wasn't. I don't know if its a compliment or not. But hi ho hi ho back to painting I go! (Keeping him in your prayers may not be a bad idea at all.)

Miz BoheMia said...

Painting... a gift lil' BoheMia did not inherit from her mother...

I love that Van Gogh! As a kid I never understood the beauty of his work but when 19, in a museum in London, I found myself face to face with his famous sunflower painting and it was a breathtaking moment. I could have literally reached out and touched it, something I was just itching to do but I behaved and didn't... and the fact that I could see the texture, the paint swirls, everything about it right there, in front of me and within reach was deeply emotional!

*sigh*

Painting... who'd a thunk it would associate bohemians with sappy?

Doug The Una said...

Masil, you're over my head on that one. I need to quit this stuff.

And that, Jamie Dawn, is why I never married. All the chocolate necessary to live with me ruins the complection and then what's the point?

It's really something, isn't it, K?

Oh, I get it, g. Yeah there are a few I wouldn't expect to beat you in.

CJ, not to worry. I know a man in trouble.

Hermana, why would painting be different?

Anonymous said...

and i thought that (Van Gogh) quote was a nice way of answering Minka's question and/or reminding folks of what happens when you linger too long over the fumes.... oh, and thanks for the Don McLean ear worm, G! : P

Painting: working girl preparing for a night on the town.

Doug The Una said...

It was, Neva. I caught and immediately appreciated what you were doing but by the time I got online to follow-up the answer had been given. The Don McLean earworm was gonna happen anyway. Slice of American Pie?

Kyahgirl said...

Hi Doug :-)
If my lips were painted I'd leave little smoochie kisses all over the faces and you and my pals at Waking Ambrose. Its so nice to come back and see you all having a great time as usual.

Anonymous said...

why not? an austere diet is *so* yesterday. by the way, speaking of painters, here's something to keep in mind:

Degas makes de Van Gogh.


sorry... did i mention i spent the day in the city?

tsduff said...

Van Gogh's - Starry Night = a synonym for painting. Truly the best ever done.

Anonymous said...

The New York Times wants to know:

Do you keep any books in the bathroom? Which ones?

Jamie Dawn said...

Just a quick hello. I'm feverishly finishing my masterpiece in acryllic:

Truffles by Moonlight

tsduff said...

Truffles like the piggies find with their snouts, or the decandent chocolate type? I like it!!

TLP said...

Abstract painting: No brush, no paint, no canvas.

G said...

You are welcome Puppy! xox

Throws smooch back to Kyah.

Doug! When I was a young girl, my sister and I along with two other girls had a club - the point of which I'm not sure. I don't know - Future Democrats of America. Who knows. But at the beginning of the meetings, we played American Pie (a 45). Yet another small brushstroke in the painting of the portrait of G.

Raymond Betancourt said...

Painting: a defiant gesture in the face of inevitable oblivion…except for those people who will buy a painting because it matches their living room sofa.

Sorry to come so late, but this is about the only time I'm online.

Unknown said...

Douglas, every time i see a red door, I want it painted black

...No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

I see a line of cars and they're all painted black
With flowers and my love both never to come back
I see people turn their heads and quickly look away
Like a new born baby it just happens every day

I look inside myself and see my heart is black
I see my red door and it has been painted black
Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts
It's not easy facin' up when your whole world is black

No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue
I could not foresee this thing happening to you

If I look hard enough into the settin' sun
My love will laugh with me before the mornin' comes

I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

Hmm, hmm, hmm,...

I wanna see it painted, painted black
Black as night, black as coal
I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky
I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black
Yeah!

- Rolling Stones, who else!

hixyfv: hicks your favourite?

Anonymous said...

Painting: richly hued memorial. [see also: Elvis on velvet]

Anonymous said...

Painting stops time and encourages human mating, especially when the face is used for canvass.

Mutha said...

Even though I come to the party two days late...this post and the comments remind me of two quotes (paraphrased) by Van Gogh:

I want to save men souls and all I can do is paint their faces (Van Gogh on his frustration overhis calling to be a priest)
and
To make art is to disintangle nature.

My try:
Painting: To move paint, intentions in mind or not. See "Art" (to play at God)