Happy Hour Friday

"I'm drinkin' sweet champagne, got my headphones up high..."
~ Joni Mitchell




What are you sipping?    ;-)
P.S.

Picture for One Moment

Born in 1941 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Bruce Nauman has been recognized since the early 1970s as one of the most innovative and provocative of America’s contemporary artists. Nauman finds inspiration in the activities, speech, and materials of everyday life.

 Art Knowledge News

 

Caution Sea Monsters (Watery Wednesday)

 And there it is! Spotted in or around Black Rock, Nova Scotia, on the Fundy Shore.

I did a net search for information on the history of this particular sea monster decoration and found absolutely nothing but if you click on the links below you will find some interesting tales about sea monsters, both real and make-believe.

This type of whimsy and fun is part of the cultural charm of  beautiful Nova Scotia.

Sea Monster Sightings

Sea Serpents

Watery Wednesday

Pagan Sphinx Photo © All Rights Reserved

An Apology

I want to tell all of you who commented on the post below how sorry I am that I caused you to try to justify your style of commenting. I appreciate how kind you all were in doing so. I wish I could say the same for myself. I know where my buttons were pushed and by whom and that person has only visited this blog once and left a comment. So why I decided to make it an issue by presenting it to all of you, I'm still trying to figure out.

I don't usually have "requirements" for comments. I see after re-reading my post and your comments, just how teachy and preachy and bitchy I came across in it. I am sorry and I hope you will forgive me. Not to make excuses but I've observed from outside of myself a lot of irritability and some intollerence toward others. I'm not sure if a depression is creeping in again or if it's a change-of-life issue or a combination of both. I have so much to make me happy and proud and I am so grateful for so many things. It's as if someone else wrote that post. I feel that way sometimes when I catch myself being impatient with others. "Was that me? Did I really say that?"  I know that no one is perfect, especially me and I am not trying to beat myself up here. I just want you to know that I'm aware of it. Maybe it was good, in some ways, that I wrote that post because re-reading something is often more helpful than trying to recall what it was I said in a interpersonal exchange. In the latter, there is always the tendency to say "Well, it takes two people to cause tension". In the case of the post, it took only one:  me. So maybe some self-awareness came out of it and I can forgive myself and move on and try harder the next time to be patient and accepting. The first step in doing so is to acknowledge the situation and hope that you, my cherised online friends, will forgive me for behaving so poorly.

Please tell me what you think and don't expect for a moment that I'm waiting for anyone to let me off the hook on this one!

P.S. I feel like I led some of  you to think that it's the brevity of a comment that I have a hard time with and that's not really it. It's about one person who simply stated they didn't like it. They are entitled to that opinion and yet it bugged me because I had put so much work into the post. I think it is I who is taking things too personally. Again, I am so sorry.

Love and Peace,
Pagan Sphinx

Blogging Notes

Comments on Art Posts

I want to share with you my feelings about comments on my art posts. This isn't meant to be taken by anyone personally, of my regular readers because I think you mostly are able to read through the lines and figure out a little bit about how I think and how I blog. Occasionally, I'll get really depressed over "drive-by" commenting. I get very few of those on "regular" Pagan Sphinx posts. But when I participate in photo "memes", which I love to do and post them to this blog because they relate to art or art history, I get the occasional "I don't like it" comment. Or the occasional " this is great". I want people to tell me why. Is that selfish of me? If you hate it, say why! That offends me much less, if you get my drift. I'll admit that my feeling is that if you're gonna leave a "drive-by" comment, the least you can do is be nice.  ;-)  If you can't be nice, click off! In the rare instance where blogging brings me somewhere I don't want to be, I click off. Isn't that the beauty of the electronic age social networks? 

What Does "Say why" Mean?

Whatever you want it to say!  I'm not a high-brow type! I know as much about art as a bright tenth grader!  :-)
Trust your immediate reaction and tell me why! If what you feel It's disgust, say it. If you are shocked, good! If you love that little splotch of globbie red with black outlines in the corner of the canvas, perfect.

 Any painting is an invitation to look. Two seconds or two hours. We can each decide for ourselves.

Give it a try with this work. I'll go first:  I like several details such as the manufactured tear from the eye and the "bowling pin" leg on the chair but trying to put it all together is a bit of a challenge!  :-)  The turquoise and red frame with the inner yellow is pretty. It has a primitive look. I wondered if Picasso liked this. :-)

Paul Klee

Pagan Sphinx Blog Design

A friend of the blog recently sent me a message that she finds the font colors and backgrounds hard to read. I'd like to know if anyone else is experiencing this. I've had more than a couple of complaints about the comments window format, but this is a first for the blog colors. If you have any suggestions for improving this, please let me know.

And speaking of the comments box, which do you prefer:  the embedded or the pop-up versions?

And so as not to leave abruptly, I hope you are having a good Sunday. It's clear and very chilly here. I'm going for a walk and coming in to have turkey soup for lunch.  I'm not much of a cook but I love to make soup and stew in the winter!

Love and Peace,

Pagan Sphinx