Art, photography and imagery

by Joan

Photo by Rick Mora

Once upon a time, I was an art major. Never mind that I have little artistic talent; I imagined myself in a seaside cottage with paintbrush, palette and canvas. That lasted for one semester, quick enough to realize I was in the wrong major, long enough to feel sophisticated about sketching live nudes. (I heard they made good money, but who were those models with the nerve to undress in front of thirty students, anyway?)

Although I gave up my dream of being a visual artist, my passion developed into a lifelong love of art and imagery. I am drawn to art on the page, to literature, to life revealed in my mind’s eye. 

Some of my favorite books feature artists, real or imagined: Susan Vreeland’s Passion of Artemisia, Rosamunde Pilcher’s Shell Seekers, Sarah Stonich’s Ice Chorus, Tracy Chevalier's Girl with the Pearl Earring, among many others (including Kim's).

I’ve been fortunate in my life to have visited many of the world’s greatest galleries. If you've ever tried to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art in one day, you know there’s never enough time to appreciate every painting. Often I felt that combination of gallery fatigue and guilt that author Tracy Chevalier describes in her wonderful TED talk: “Finding the story inside the painting.” (do yourself a favor and take 15 minutes to watch).

Photo by Rick Mora

You might not think Tracy Chevalier would get gallery fatigue. After all, she must have spent hours staring at Vermeer’s “Girl with the Pearl Earring” while writing her gorgeous novel. In fact she did. But just as we can’t read every book in a bookstore before choosing one, we can’t truly see and appreciate every painting in a gallery. “I pinpoint the ones that make me slow down,” Chevalier says. “I stand in front of that painting and I tell myself a story about it.”

Photo by Rick Mora

Paintings inspire stories, yes, but photography does as well. 

“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second,” said French photographer Marc Riboud.

Water reflections, Photo by Rick Mora

Saturday we visited the Botanical Gardens of Fort Worth. It was early for blooms, but the first day of a remarkable butterfly exhibit. In a hundredth of a second, Rick captured tiny wings that looked like they’d been drawn by an artist. He captured a moment with two ducks synchronize swimming and another with a heron jaw-wrestling a fish and swallowing it whole (not pictured).

In this lovely reflection of water, I see a story. I see a nun hiding (bottom right), perhaps holding a basket of coconuts or a baby. I see Father Winter blinking, or perhaps it's Saint Nicholas (mid-frame). In between those two, I see a zebra, or is it a white horse behind bars? There's a story waiting to be told. 

Eudora Welty said, "A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away." Snap an image that speaks to you and write it how you see it.

Downton Abbey you say?

by Joan

By now you’ve made your choice—The Super Bowl or Downton Abbey. By now I'm feeling the effects of staying up too late to watch both. Football is fun, but Downton Abbey is an addiction. For you too?








Finding out you share the same literary tastes as others is a real treat. Like discovering a new novel or vacation spot.

Many of my writer friends share my passion for British literature and period dramas, but sometimes you find those who do in unexpected places. I expect similar tastes in writing partners (Sense and Sensibility anyone?), even from the one of my three sisters who first steered me toward that tiny but powerful island of literature. She’s the reason I read Josephine Tey’s Brat Farrar and Elizabeth Jane Howard’s The Cazalet Chronicles and Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle, and found two of my favorite authors, Rosamund Pilcher and Maeve Binchy.

We both agreed we could watch Love, Actually every night of the year and that any movie with Colin Firth, Alan Rickman, Matthew MacFadyen or anyone with the last name Redgrave is okay by us. Many times we’ll spend more time talking about literature than our mom or the state of the world.

If you have yet to imbibe in that addicting show Downton Abbey, go to pbs.org or Netflix and pour your first of many glasses. Julian Fellowes created a brilliant drama and explains our fascination with British society here.
Here’s a tease of last night’s episode.

A few years ago I learned one of my cousins was also an Anglophile, and she and I often email back and forth about Downton and discuss plot twists. She insightfully said, “I think part of the success of Downton is that no one is perpetually aggravating, even O'Brien has a conscience. And Bates' wife has been silenced. I'll be glad when that arc is finally finished and Bates and Anna are together. These characters grow and change in ways that are very uncommon. Look how far Mary's come, and Maggie Smith is threatening people so that she can take care of the hired help, that is really brilliant.” And, “I hope O'Brien kills off Bates' wife, that's the only resolution I'll settle for.” Ooh, I responded, that would be a delicious twist!

My husband’s aunt likes British drama as well and at Christmastime we oohed and ahhed and huddled together on the couch sharing titles. Even at work, where we primarily discuss real estate investment and financing, I found an unlikely companion in someone I barely knew. She sent me the link to Secrets of the Manor House and I gave her a list of books to take on vacation and she’s making her way through them happily.

Sometimes you never know: the person sitting next to you on the subway or in line at the DMV, might share your passion for Downton Abbey or Love, Actually. Or she might prefer quirky movies like Hot Fuzz, oddball shows like Spaced or Love Monkey, or a basketball or football game. Or she might just like them all. You never know unless you ask.