Wednesday Whimsy

(One in a continuing series!) (Thrills and excitement to follow!)(Don't get too excited!)

Passages through DT Pburgh on a lunch-hour walk: Belgian blocks in Market Square, blockades at PNC, empty storefronts on Fifth Avenue. All attempts at reconstruction still don't address the fact that, for whatever reason, Market Square attracts a lot of people who don't have much to do except hang out. So. We shall see. And, by the way, my grandfather, Edward Hurley, loved Market Square, except in his day, the space was called the New Diamond Market.

I found the image below at the Carnegie Library Online site; it dates to after Grandad Hurley's day, but shows that Market Square actually was a covered market, kind of like Les Halles (much smaller scale!)

Here it is. Thank you, Caroline!

Art Appreciation: Milton Avery

This is "Conversation" by Milton Avery, from 1956.

I have a large framed print of this work, presently hanging in our basement family room but deserving of better display.

This painting speaks to me on a primary level, that of kinship between two women, but there are so many other things that I love about it.

Number one is the seeming ambiguity between the two women. They are touching, but leaning away from each other despite the conversational tone of their poses. The viewer is left to wonder what kind of intimacy exists between these two people. Anger? A disagreement between longtime friends? Or just a momentary shift in positions during a long conversation?

I also wonder what the artist intended in painting one person in sharp detail, the purple girl, and another in softer, fuzzier more ethereal fashion, the blue girl. Blue is so ephemeral she looks ready to float away. Purple has her legs crossed, on firmly on the ground, hands clasped and a shoulder on the sofa. She is not going anywhere.

This painting also has a strong horizontal composition: The four bands of background color; the women's gazes, seemingly pulling the women toward each other, and the placements of their hands. Even the shapes of their heads mirror the shapes of their knees.

What, finally, I love about this painting, is, that like a wonderful biography or piece of fiction, I never tire of it. Each time I enjoy it, I see something new it it.

Shake Up at La VieC!

I’m sitting in my living room, thunder rolling outside in a very rainy dusk. Power is out, but the laptop has a full battery. Still daylight-ish, and I am wishing it was a Saturday or Sunday morning (as it was not when this was written) so I could be snuggling under the bedcovers and drowsing to the symphony of thunder and rain. Another wish: I wish I had another good day for every day that I wished time away.

(Warning! Another paragraph beginning with “I” to follow.)

I have been mentally constructing a new direction for this blog. I do fairly well, usually, writing off the cuff, but off the cuff has no structure. So, new direction means “topics,” as the Mackenzie Brothers of Second City TV called them. Structure means schedule and so I will address each of these topics in a Sunday and Wednesday posting schedule. Posting every day, I have come to realize is unrealistic and exhausting.

This list will be edited down for expediency, but as of now, here are the subjects I want to cover:
*Art and Design
*Birds and Dogs (birds, with help from family, dogs, mostly mine)
*Family and Girlfriends.
*Pittsburgh (My Mom was born here!)
And the occasional piece of whimsy, craziness and/or sarcastic humor. That last will be a challenge. I (think I) have become a more compassionate/less critical person thanks to therapy but I hope I have not lost my very precious prickliness (VPP).

Shall I call it Katy And? No, there will be no voting on the name. None of this community crap. I will decide, you will read.

Love and air kisses.

Kate