Tales from the Island of Serendip 4 4

[Pat Calhoun]

oh the Elegies are wondrous but on & on... to blow off steam while composing he wrote the Sonnets to Orpheus - the more condensed lyrics my truest cup of tea. Here's Stephen's translation of the finale...

 

 

 

[Pat Calhoun]

Chandler is the master of breezy first person narrative, Woolrich excels at painting an atmosphere of darkness and doom.

 

[Flex Mentallo]

got to see Stephen read that poem at coming out party for his translations- Berkeley early '80s... 'Black Angel" not female vampire but 'lady in peril' masterpiece...

ps- was an incredible netsuke auction last month. my buddy (lives 120 miles away so haven't held yet) scored this superb (stag antler) mermaid...

 

 

 

 

Wow - that's amazing - the others too. What's your best piece?

[Flex Mentallo]

oh the Elegies are wondrous but on & on... to blow off steam while composing he wrote the Sonnets to Orpheus - the more condensed lyrics my truest cup of tea. Here's Stephen's translation of the finale...

 

 

 

Simply wonderful - and that is a great translation - I only know because the true lyricism of Rilke's voice shines through - there are so many poor translations.

[Pat Calhoun]

best piece = tuff ? but this one with silver, gold, malachite, & carnelian inlays pretty special, Tennin = Buddhist Angel, by Minkoku, mid 19C

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

best piece = tuff ? but this one with silver, gold, malachite, & carnelian inlays pretty special, Tennin = Buddhist Angel, by Minkoku, mid 19C

 

 

 

That is simply gorgeous!

[Cat-Man_America]

[font:Times New Roman]

With all of this wonderful historic art and delicate sculpture I'm not sure that my style and irreverent sense of humor will fit in, but never let it be said that I allowed timidity or admiration to get in the way of throwing caution to the wind.

 

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.

 

Immediately below is a NASA photograph of the Eagle Nebula taken by the Hubble Space telescope. My concept, is more of a reaction to how others were perceiving the image than what was actually photographed. This is how some folks were seeing it...

 

 

And without further adieu, I leave my skewed interpretation of same to the eye of the beholder...

 

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[font:Times New Roman]Borne Stars (acrylic medium)[/font]

Edited January 14, 2013 by DavidMerryweather

[Cat-Man_America]

[font:Times New Roman]On a slightly more reverent note blending fantasy and SF elements: an all powerful female god-being at the center of the universe...

 

 

Creation (acrylic medium) -

 

In this fanciful concept I wanted space to be perceived as a vast ocean upon which stars and worlds were formed in an ever-changing whirlpool of irresistible forces.[/font]

[Cat-Man_America]

[font:Times New Roman]Cover art replicating pulp/digest style for the first FenCon Program...

 

 

original title: You're Next (medium: oil)

 

[/font]

[Cat-Man_America]

[font:Times New Roman]Note: My original concept for You're Next was actually environmental (as in, this is what we do to ourselves) rather than symbolically demonic or alien, but the image lends itself to several interpretations. [/font]

[Pat Calhoun]

You're Next = Good One !

 

 

Yipee Kai Oooo, Yipee Kai Aiii,

Three Stooges in the sky!

[Flex Mentallo]

[font:Times New Roman]On a slightly more reverent note blending fantasy and SF elements: an all powerful female god-being at the center of the universe...

 

 

Creation (acrylic medium) -

 

In this fanciful concept I wanted space to be perceived as a vast ocean upon which stars and worlds were formed in an ever-changing whirlpool of irresistible forces.[/font]

 

Very nice - puts me in mind of Virgil Finlay

[Boba]

This thread is just awesome on so many levels Michael.

The range of life experiences of the members of this board is astonishIng.

Bravo!

[Boba]

I was inspired by a good many of the artists you included in your journal here.

As you invited us to share work we've down, here is one of my ballpoint pen drawings,

from a series of (imaginary) Monumental Natural Formations

I did back in the day.

[Boba]

And another from that series . . .

[Cat-Man_America]

[font:Times New Roman]Exceptional, Bob-a-loo! Love picture-within-picture art and have a special liking for Entangled forests.[/font]

[Flex Mentallo]

I was inspired by a good many of the artists you included in your journal here.

As you invited us to share work we've down, here is one of my ballpoint pen drawings,

from a series of (imaginary) Monumental Natural Formations

I did back in the day.

 

 

These are beautiful and put me in mind of - well,nobody.

 

Please sir, can we have some more?

[Boba]

Lot's of hidden faces in this one. An Illustration based on the character Maese Pérez, la organist from the story by GUSTAVO ADOLFO BÉCQUER

 

 

"Maese Perez is here! Maese Perez is here!"

At this shout, coming from those jammed in by the door, every one looked around.

 

Maese Perez, pale and feeble, was in fact entering the church, brought in a chair which all were quarrelling for the honor of carrying upon their shoulders.

 

The commands of the physicians, the tears of his daughter--nothing had been able to keep him in bed.

 

"No," he had said; "this is the last one, I know it. I know it, and I do not want to die without visiting my organ again, this night above all, this Christmas Eve. Come, I desire it, I order it; come, to the church!"

 

His desire had been gratified. The people carried him in their arms to the organ-loft. The mass began.

 

Twelve struck on the cathedral clock.

 

The introit came, then the Gospel, then the offertory, and the moment arrived when the priest, after consecrating the sacred wafer, took it in his hands and began to elevate it. A cloud of incense filled the church in bluish undulations. The little bells rang out in vibrating peals, and Maese Perez placed his aged fingers upon the organ keys.

 

The multitudinous voices of the metal tubes gave forth a prolonged and majestic chord, which died away little by little, as if a gentle breeze had borne away its last echoes.

 

To this opening burst, which seemed like a voice lifted up to heaven from earth, responded a sweet and distant note, which went on swelling and swelling in volume until it became a torrent of overpowering harmony. It was the voice of the angels, traversing space, and reaching the world.

 

Then distant hymns began to be heard, intoned by the hierarchies of seraphim; a thousand hymns at once, mingling to form a single one, though this one was only an accompaniment to a strange melody which seemed to float above that ocean of mysterious echoes, as a strip of fog above the waves of the sea.

 

One song after another died away. The movement grew simpler. Now only two voices were heard, whose echoes blended. Then but one remained, and alone sustained a note as brilliant as a thread of light. The priest bowed his face, and above his gray head appeared the host. At that moment the note which Maese Perez was holding began to swell and swell, and an explosion of unspeakable joy filled the church.

 

From each of the notes forming that magnificent chord a theme was developed; and some near, others far away, these brilliant, those muffled, one would have said that the waters and the birds, the breezes and the forests, men and angels, earth and heaven, were singing, each in its own language, a hymn in praise of the Saviour's birth.

 

The people listened, amazed and breathless. The officiating priest felt his hands trembling; for it seemed as if he had seen the heavens opened and the host transfigured.

 

The organ kept on, but its voice sank away gradually, like a tone going from echo to echo, and dying as it goes. Suddenly a cry was heard in the organ-loft--a piercing, shrill cry, the cry of a woman.

 

The organ gave a strange, discordant sound, like a sob, and then was silent.

 

The multitude flocked to the stairs leading up to the organ-loft, towards which the anxious gaze of the faithful was turned.

 

"What has happened? What is the matter?" one asked the other, and no one knew what to reply. The confusion increased. The excitement threatened to disturb the good order and decorum fitting within a church.

 

"What was that?" asked the great ladies of the chief judge. He had been one of the first to ascend to the organ-loft. Now, pale and displaying signs of deep grief, he was going to the archbishop, who was anxious, like everybody else, to know the cause of the disturbance.

 

"What's the matter?"

 

"Maese Perez has just expired."

[Flex Mentallo]

Lot's of hidden faces in this one. An Illustration based on the character Maese Pérez, la organist from the story by GUSTAVO ADOLFO BÉCQUER

 

 

That is brilliant - and highly original.

 

[Flex Mentallo]

I have a complete set of this title, Master Morello, so you could hardly escape notice!

 

 

Edited January 15, 2013 by alanna