Oh May, you have bestowed upon my life your utmost charms, you’ve showered me with rose petals, kindness, gemstones, moonshine and poetry. Thy flowery sweetness I shan’t forget!
My two favourite paintings of the month were John Singer Sargent’s beautiful and magical garden scene “Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose” and Berthe Morisot’s “Julie Daydreaming”. I’ve been inspired by The Smiths, poems by Percy Shelley, Elizabeth Siddal, Heinrich Heine and Emily Dickinson, Iggy Pop’s album “Raw Power”, Donovan, Jane Asher in her groovy bedroom, Jean Shrimpton, poppy fields and gloomy roofs of Edinburgh, Broken Blossom (1919) with Lillian Gish who has been my favourite style inspiration lately and her face is hauntingly beautiful, her portrayal of the beautiful, downtrodden waif virgin Lucy Burrows is brilliant and poignant, Debussy’s oriental melodies that seemed to go perfectly with the short stories from Thomas Burke’s collection Limehouse Nights which are all full of lyrical beauty, set in the seedy district of London’s Limehouse with street lamps, roses and opium dens, and interesting female characters who are all quirky and unique, full of life, or fragile. I’ve read: Love Story by Erich Segal which I read because I wanted something light and swift, and I remembered that Johnny Depp or Barnabas Collins was reading the book in “Dark Shadows” (2012), La Morte Amoureuse by Theophile Gautier, Belle de Jour by Joseph Kessel which I thought was fantastic; it was fast-paced and gave a good insight into Severine’s thoughts and emotions. I was not too crazy about the film, admittedly, but I did have the image of Catherine Deneuve while I was reading the story because I think she is perfect in that “cold-blonde” roles.
Oh, and I just started watching “Anne with an E”; it is the new adaptation of the book Anne of Green Gables, and I absolutely adore it! It’s witty, fun, and quirky, and I like the costumes as well. My darling May, I shall weep many and many a tear for you, and then, I shall wipe my tears to see what pearls June has to offer. Enjoy the pictures!
Storm Fiddle · Portnockie © Ian Cameron
Byron's Muse 