Daniel Merriam – Walking on Air
Unguided Tour, 1983, Susan Sontag
Picture found here.
Windows of the World Andre Vicente Goncalves – Venice
Picture found here.
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This December felt long and days passed as in a dream. From the first to the thirty-first, it feels like a whole novel, a little century of different feelings and sensations. This month I was living in the world of love and Chagall’s paintings and, despite the winter’s coldness, my path was covered with roses, and even the snow that fell felt more like powdered sugar than actual snow. Yellow roses were smiling to me, and the green-grey waters of the river murmured to me that spring is around the corner. I know they were lying to me but it brought me comfort indeed. The mist over the hills felt mysterious and inviting. Southern winds caressed my cheeks. Strange days. Every corner I turn is echoing with memories. Another spring will come soon. I really enjoyed many different fairy tale illustrations this month, mostly by Warwick Goble and Edmund Dulac, but also some others, in particular for the fairy tales The Princess and the Pea and The Frog Prince. Roses and frost, frilly dresses and red kisses, winter castles forgotten under layers of memories and frost, Degas’ pastels, Zinaida Serebriakova’s ballerinas and nudes, colourful houses in Gdansk, gorgeous Marine Vacth with a white parasol and adorable Brooke Shields with a white veil… an overall fairy tale mood.
“The years had gone by like a dream.”
(Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Family Moskat)
“Take me out tonight
Where there’s music and there’s people
And they’re young and alive…”
(The Smiths, There is a light that never goes out)
“You are everything to me. What wouldn’t I want to be for you. I’d like to follow you when you’re dead, look back to see you even if I might be turned into stone.”
(Ingeborg Bachmann, In the Storm of Roses from ‘The Poem for the Reader’, tr. Mark Anderson)
Sai Pallavi and Dhanush
Roseraie du jardin des plantes Paris 1909, autochrome frères Lumière , plaque de verre
九水巷 aka 999999999sx (Chinese) – Evening Pond, 2022, Paintings
九水巷 aka 999999999sx (Chinese) – Evening Pond, 2022, Paintings
Gdańsk, Poland by Martyna Damska
Picture found here.
Camille Rowe for Urban Outfitters Shoot – Fashion Gone Rogue
love letter from 1913 that opens up to form an art gallery (x)
Picture found here.
‘Rose’ by Beatrix Potter, 25 September 1896.
Picture found here.
Marine Vatch photographed by Cédric Klapisch for Madame Le Figaro (2011).
New Orleans, Louisiana // Valerie Esparza
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This October was a strange month for me; it felt like it was a century long and it feels like it’s still going on… I really enjoyed Georgia O’Keeffe’s watercolours, Depeche Mode and Caspar David Friedrich’s landscapes, Yoshio Markino’s wonderful foggy watercolours, also I discovered a painting, and wrote about it here, called “Solitude, If I Must Thee Accept” by a contemporary artist Arjun Shivaji Jain and I must say that it really left an impact on me because it is so relatable. I read Stephen King’s novel “Misery” which I enjoyed immensely, and I finally read Douglas Murray’s brilliant but depressing book “The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam” in which he criticises Europe’s loss of tradition and identity and points out at the horrible damage done by the mass immigration of people from countries whose values don’t match ours, that is, European values. I don’t see the book being “controversial”, I only see it being true and perhaps truth is controversy these days. An artistic hint for November: Georgia O’Keeffe.
“Before the wedding, she had believed herself in love. But not having obtained the happiness that should have resulted from that love, she now fancied that she must have been mistaken. And Emma wondered exactly what was meant in life by the worlds ‘bliss’, ‘passion’, ‘ecstasy’ which had looked so beautiful in books.”
(Flaubert, Madame Bovary)
“And when nobody wakes you up in the morning, and when nobody waits for you at night, and when you can do whatever you want. What do you call it, freedom or lonelines?”
(Charles Bukowski)
“Autumn is no time to lie alone”
(Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji)
Roses, picture found here.
Picture found here.
Picture found here.
Painting found here.
Autumn in Istria | Croatia (by Robert Maric)
Eliot Porter | Frozen Apples, Tesuque, New Mexico (1966) | Artsy
Picture by Ellen Rogers.
Picture found here.
This September I really enjoyed reading Paula Hawkins’ novel “The Girl on the Train” and watching the film adaptation starring Emily Blunt as the main character Rachel. Rachel is a miserable drunkard called who pretends to still have a job (which she lost because of drinking…) and through the window of the train she watches people in their houses, and she imagines what their lives must be like, how happy they all must be… And she is also often found stalking her ex-husband and there is a surprising twist in the end which I will not reveal. I can relate to Rachel because I also love watching people from the train and I wonder about their life, and my ‘people watching’ is usually accompanied with a constant longing and envy that their lives are more thrilling than my own is. I also watched a South-Korean thriller called “Midnight” (2021) which I, surprisingly, enjoyed. I loved discovering the rainy day scenes in art, spooky paintings by Leon Spilliaert and Serafino Macchiati, circus scenes in art, I had fun rereading Anais Nin’s Journal of Love…
“Give me a few days of peace in your arms. I need it terribly. I’m ragged, worn, exhausted. After that I can face the world.”
(Henry Miller, From a letter to Anais Nin, featured in A Literate Passion: Letters of Anais Nin & Henry Miller, 1932-1953)
“You were a dream. Then a reality. Now a memory.”
(Iain Thomas)
Marine Vatch photographed by Cédric Klapisch for Madame Le Figaro (2011)
Picture found here.
Picture here.
nimue smit shot by venetia scott for orla kiely
Picture found here.
The Lovely Omens Tarot Deck from Keely Elle Art
shore of my life | © víctor m. alonso
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This August I very much enjoyed rediscovering some wonderful and underappreciated seascapes by the Romantic painter John Constable, and also many other beach scenes by artists such as Maurice Prendergast, Eugene Boudin and Philip Wilson Steer… As you may have seen in my book review, I read Shirley Jackson’s novel “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” and I thought it was amazing, I also read and enjoyed Stephen King’s novel “It”, John Ajvide Lindquist’s vampire-novel “Let the Right One In”, Jack Kerouac’s “Dharma Bums”, poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay and Tennessee Williams. I’ve had moments of great inspiration, particularly for collages and playing with words, but also moments of intense waves of inexplicable sadness. I am now assured that Kierkegaard is right when he says; “do it or do not do it – you will regret both”, for which ever thing I choose in life, misery seems to come along with it. A desire fulfilled is always tinged with a regret for something else and a longing for something that’s lost. My biggest discovery this month is surely the Cannadian singer-songwriter Michelle Gurevich and her songs “Lovers Are Strangers” and “The First Six Months of Love” which I absolutely adore.
“Life was then brilliant; I began to learn to hope and what brings a more bitter despair to the heart than hope destroyed?”
(Mary Shelley, Mathilda)
“I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations — one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it — you will regret both.”
(Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or: A Fragment of Life)
“Why was life so unsatisfying? (…) Each smile hid a yawn of boredom, each joy a curse, each pleasure its own disgust; and the sweetest kisses only left on one’s lips a hopeless longing for a higher ecstasy.”
(Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert)
Picture found here. March 1995. ‘What makes a good finale? Gowns that look just as good on the way out.’
Picture: untitled by christanoelle.tumblr.com on Flickr.
Picture by Alex Murison, found here.
Picture found here.
Photo by Elisabeth Novick, 1970.
Picture found here.
Picture found here.
Picture found here.
A Meandering Path: A walk in the desert, Willwood Badlands, Wyoming
by riverwindphotography, March 2017
Picture found here.
Alexandra Spencer by Sybil Steele for Spell Designs February/March 2016
Picture found here.
Picture found here.
Picture found here.
Picture found here.
Thay Temple- Hanoi, Vietnam
farandaway.com
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This July I was into the Rust Belt, mostly through reading Anne Trubek’s collection of essay by different authors called “Voices from the Rust Belt” and Springsteen’s songs, floral print facades, horror films such as “It” (2017), “Creep” (2014) and “It Follows” (2014) and novels such as Stephen King’s Pet Sematary which I found particularly fascinating, the idea behind it especially, Charles Burchfield’s watercolour of strange, creepy buildings, Emil Nolde’s paintings of vibrant flowers, Edward Hopper’s paintings of lonely streets, acoustic version of the song “Joey” by Concrete Blonde which is very emotional, passionate and raw. I read two fascinating books that give a great analysis and commentary on the situation in the modern western world regarding GenZ especially; “iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious by Jean M. Twenge and “I find that offensive” by Claire Fox.
“I am solitary as grass.
What is it I miss?
Shall I ever find it, whatever it is?”
(Sylvia Plath)
“It’s funny. I used to daydream about being old enough to go out on dates, driving around with my friends in their cars. I had this image of myself, holding hands with a really cute guy, listening to the radio, driving along some pretty road, up north maybe, and the trees start to change colors. It was never about going anywhere really. Just having some sort of freedom I guess. Now that we’re old enough, where the hell do we go?”
-It Follows (2014)
Romeo and Juliet mural, Shoreditch
This mural marks the site of original Shakespearean theatre and where Romeo and Juliet was first performed. It is unlike the typical street art found in Shoreditch, plenty of examples of which can be found on London Edge.
Thomasin McKenzie on set of ‘Last Night in Soho’. Photo by Greg Williams.
Little Castle by Martin
Via Flickr:
Loenen (NL)
Sarah Loven Photography
ig @labohemejulia.
Flower Valley in Himalaya by Samiran Sarkar, found here.
Instagram by elise.buch
Photo by Tom Leighton.
“Storm and Forest” by Samiran Sarkar.
Runaway Bride, Isabeli Fontana by Peter Lindbergh for Vogue Paris April 2012
This June I really enjoyed Georgia O’Keeffe’s simple, meditative and vibrant watercolour, some watercolours by Berthe Morisot and Winslow Homer, some Japanese short stories of which I will write about soon, witchy vibes found in the film “Love Witch” (2016) and the painting “Morgan-le-Fay” (1863-64) by Frederick Sandys which I have included in the selection of pictures bellow…
“No permanence is ours, we are a wave that flows to fit whatever form it finds.”
(Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game)
“Solitude devastates me, company oppresses me.”
(Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet)
“Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists.”
(Kurt Vonnegut – Cat’s Cradle)
Picture found here.
Picture found here.
Instagram: liberty.mai
Instagram: liberty.mai
untitled by nicolette clara iles on Flickr.
Instagram: sofie.in.wonderland
Found here.
Picture found here.
Picture found here.
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“I am still ashamed of myself, afraid to let myself go, to let things pour out of me; I am dreadfully inhibited, and that is because I have not yet learned to accept myself as I am.”
“Etty Hillesum, from a diary entry featured in An Interrupted Life: the Diaries, 1941-1943 and Letters from Westerbork (translated from the Dutch by Arnold J. Pomerans)
Instagram: elise.buch
Picture found here.
Reylia Slaby, Ophelia – Tales from Japan series – Nara, Japan – 2013
Picture found here.
Picture found here.
(Allen Ginsberg, from The Book of Martyrdom and Artifice: First Journals and Poems: 1937-1952)
Amorous Couple (Mithuna), ca. A.D. 500, Madhya Pradesh, India, Pink sandstone.
Picture found here: Etsy shop: ‘Blessed Damozel’ necklace, inspired by the poem and Pre-Raphaelite painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Picture found here.
Aerial sculpture of the Brihadisvara Temple, Gangaikonda Cholapuram, Tamil Nadu.
Picture found here.
Victorian Decorated chancel ceiling by Spencer Means.
Picture found here.
Patrick Bergsma’s unusual kintsugi sculptures combine the art of ceramics with bonsai.
By Glen Martin Taylor, @glenmartintaylor – “….if you die in one piece, perhaps you haven’t lived.” “Death’s Cabinet Door”, vintage plate and cabinet door, bones, silver solder.
By Glen Martin Taylor
Nijo Castle details. Japan. Photography by Matt Ritter on Flickr
photographed by Ben Toms for Vogue China, November 2017
This month I really enjoyed gazing at the dreamy and magical Oriental illustrations by Edmund Dulac and Warwick Goble, some of my favourites are featured here in this post. My other favourites were the Japanese inspired postcards by Raphael Kirchner. I enjoyed rereading Natsume Soseki’s wonderful, meditative and poetic novel “The Three-Cornered World” and also the poetry of Kobayashi Issa and Tagore. Here is a poem by Issa which struck me the most because it conveys such a lovely image:
“In spring rain
A pretty girl
Yawning.”
(Kobayashi Issa)
Picture found here.
Picture found here.
Picture found here.
Picture found here.
Picture found here.
Picture by Laura Makabresku.
Two pictures above found on liberty.mai Instagram.
Yayoi Kusama — Self Portrait (collage with pastel, ballpoint pen, and ink on paper, 1972)
Picture found here.
Vogue 1971
there… by Jane Ha
Byron's muse 