We All Come From the Sea

St. Augustine, Florida

"We all come from the sea. But we are not all of the sea. Those of us who are, we children of the tides, must return to it again and again, until the day we don't come back, leaving behind only that which was touched along the way."

Caladesi Island, Florida with dad

I return to the sea again and again and again because she is beauty, she is clarity, she is humbling, she is my center.... she is home.... Jen (aka A Girl Named Fred)

St. Augustine, Florida

Orestes Pursued by the Furies, Chrysler Museum

Orestes Pursued by the Furies, 1862, oil on canvas, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, USA

Orestes Pursued by the Furies

Orestes Pursued by the Furies was painted by William-Adolphe Bouguereau in 1862 and is based on the myth of Orestes, the only son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra.   According to the Homeric account, Agamemnon on his return from Troy did not see his son, but was murdered by Aegisthus and Clytemnestra before he had an opportunity of seeing Orestes. In the eighth year after his father's murder Orestes came from Athens to Mycenae and slew the murderer of his father.  In the Greek mythology the Furies: Tisiphone, Alecto, and Megaera painted in the center of the painting are driving Orestes mad with their vengeance for his mother, Clytemnestra’s murder. 

Bouguereau’s Orestes Pursued by the Furies was painted in 1862 on the cusp of the Impressionist movement in art. His brushstrokes were extremely smooth, barely discernible, and created a glossy glass-like finish.  The tones of the colors and classical studies of painting the human body contributed to the beauty and emotion evoked by of this painting. 

The painting has five figures, Orethes, his mother Clytemnestra, and the three Furies: Tisiphone, Alecto, and Megaera are clustered tightly together in the center of the canvas. In the Greek mythology the Furies: Tisiphone, Alecto, and Megaera painted in the center of the painting, surrounding Orestes, are driving him mad in revenge for Clytemnestra’s murder.  Orestes, the main character of the painting, is the male clad in only a stark white mantle draped around his left arm and thigh, clutching his ears violently to avoid the screaming of his crimes by the three Furies.  Additionally, the pain caused by his actions and the Furies screams contorts Orestes’ face in pain and agony. Clytemnestra, Orestes’ mother, is on the far left of the canvas with her head thrown back, her long brown hair flowing down her back.  Her long hair echoes the long blood red mantle that drapes the lower half of her body and continues to flow along the ground toward the farthest right lower corner of the canvas. The right most Fury supports Clytemnestra’s upper torso. Clytemnestra, not yet dead is reaching with her right hand for the dagger impaling her thru her white night blouse. Her pallor is one of a person on thin veil between life and death.  All the Furies show anger, vengeance, and violence, which is portrayed in their faces and gestures.  The two Furies on the left of the canvas are difficult to see as they are in the background behind Orestes and Clytemnestra.  The Fury furthest to the right of the canvas is half nude in a blue-grey mantle flowing around the lower half of her body, which also drapes her left arm. She is carrying a torch in her left hand, a symbol of the illumination of a passage on a journey.  The three Furies all have Medusa like hair with snakes echoing the anger of the Furies themselves. The foreground illuminated by an unknown source of light, perhaps a mythical light source exemplifying the crime and punishment of Orestes’ deeds. The background of the painting is subordinated by chiaroscuro. In the right foreground a twisted and thorny vines creep across the path of the characters of this painting. 

Bouguereau utilized both actual line and implied line in this painting.  His use of implied lines via the pointing, accusing fingers of all the Furies directed toward the murdered Clytemnestra thereby directing the observers attention on her and away from the dramatic actions of Orestes.  Clytemnesta’s own hand and arm create an implied line in the opposite direction of the Furies pointing toward the dagger in her chest and therefore the crime.  The parallel lines created by the Furies’ arms pointing toward the impaled Clytemnestra indicate the equality of their position both in the painting and as “demi-gods”.  The red, orange, and yellow flames from the far right Furies’ torch makes an implied diagonal line from the torch’s flame downward toward the left and flows alongside the outside of Clytemnestra’s red robe down to the far left bottom of the canvas.  The effect of this implied line redirects the sight of the observer in the direction of the original source of this scene.  All the actual and implied lines of this painting serve to continuously redirect the observer’s attention to different parts of the drama being performed on the canvas.

Bouguereau balanced this painting, which created unity as well as discord via many methods including the use of several perceived triangles.  Traditionally, the main character would be placed at the apex of the triangle thus creating a hierarchy of people within the painting.  In this painting there is an inverted triangle with Clytemnestra and the three Furies creating the long line of the triangle and the lower point of Orestes’ white robe creating the apex.  There may be many reasons for the inverted triangle, however it makes sense that Orestes would be the apex as he is the center of the story, the inversion of the triangle creates a discord in the theme of the painting.  A triangle created by Orestes’ legs on the ground serves to visually stabilize the painting as is traditional in classical painting.

Bouguereau utilized a restricted pallet on this canvas with grand effect.  The main colors utilized by the artist were reds, slate blue, browns and a small amount of yellow and orange.  The use of color furthers the inhuman characteristics of the Furies with an eerie gray bluish skin tone and the pale white skin of Clytemnestra as compared to the sun warmed skin tone of Orestes.  The use of red on the clothing of the murdered mother serve to create a dramatic focal point and strong emotion in the observer as it flows down the right side of the canvas much like the blood flowing down her chest from the dagger impaling her.  The red is then repeated in a muted shade in small amounts dotted throughout the “Medusa like hair” of the Furies in the snakes’ mouths and their forked tongues.  The red ends to the right of the canvas in a torch held by the outstretched arm of the right most Fury which is draped in a slate blue mantle and continues down her back, then wraps around her lower torso to cover her nude body.  The red, orange and yellow of the torch are muted in comparison with the red of the blood and robe of Clytemnestra on the far left of the canvas. The torch, however small and muted in color draws the eye back to the murdered Clytemnestra by creating an implied diagonal line from the torch to the red robe. It must be noted that the red, orange, and yellow of the torch’s colors pale in comparison to the red of the blood and robe of the murdered Clytemnestra, much like the punishment for Orestes pales in comparison to his crime.

The use of tone and value are also employed for both uniformity and contrast. The stark white paint for Orestes’ robe surrounding his left arm and his central torso is repeated on his mother, Clytemnestra’s white night blouse on her upper torso and arms unifying the relationship of the two figures. Bouguereau utilized chiaroscuro, with black and brown tones to create a subordination of the background thus further drawing attention back to the focal point of the painting.

When painting Orestes Pursued by the Furies, Bouguereau painted the canvas and the figures larger than life.  There are two plausible reasons for the size of both the canvas and the figures.  The painting itself refers to a classical theme, time, and style, which would have made the size of the painting quite appropriate.  Moreover, the moral lessons themselves are larger than life and were reflected in the size of the canvas and the figures.

~ A Girl Named Fred

If the Glass is Already Broken....

“Someone gave me this glass. I really like this glass. It holds water admirably, and it glistens in the sunlight. I touch it and it rings. One day the wind may blow it off my shelf, or my elbow may knock it from my table. I know this glass is already broken, so I enjoy it incredibly” (Achaan Chah Subato)

We

As grown humans philosophy ner' occur -

            irrevocably, uniquely are we 

Whence upbringing, socialization strain -

            individuality, spirituality wane

Earthly morals, norms, insecurities lend –

loss of self, spirituality, Zen

Akin boxes we conform -

mourning

With age miracles fade – 

mercifully

til’, prepared we are to see

Introspection -

Love,

Hope,

Pray

Move - 

stir anew what lies dormant

Lovingness, Lightness, Joy –

Hopefulness, Wonderment, Glee

Reawaken souls, 

Irrevocably, Uniquely

We ~ A Girl Named Fred

Francois Boucher, Pygmalion and Galatea 

Show Your Soul

"One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul." ~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes

A Girl Named Fred Telling Thor to 'bring it'

The urge to defend, attack, insult, refute, or ignore during turmoil or attacks from others is often a gut reaction and at times may be warranted; however  while it may bring a short term sense of accomplishment or vindication it will not solve the problem, in fact it is likely to make it worse.  By being who you are at your core, at your soul level and striving daily to show that to the world during the sunny days and the storms is what has long term effects on people around you.  There will always be those one or two who do not 'get' it, but that is alright. Their karma is their responsibility, your karma is yours.

Love and Friendship

I have two of my best friends who have driven home a point about love this week.  

I said to Whit, I just wish someone would truly love me. She said, "I love you" and she has since I was 13.  

I said to Misty, I miss having that day to day time spent hanging out with someone who loves me.  She said hang out with your family and with me, they love you and I love you. Misty has loved me for 19 years.  

While both knew I meant romantic love, I knew they meant to appreciate love in any form, especially the true love which has grown over time and with great respect - for better or worse; for richer or poorer; in sickness or health; and on into all future lifetimes... 

I love you all.... 

Thank you for loving me and never treading on my dreams but raising them up instead.... This poem was written about romantic love which I inquired about but suits the love of trust, respect, friendship, and light we share, 

A Girl Named Fred

'Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet;
But I, being poor, have only my dreams; a
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."

~Yeats

Kismet

 

 So here I am... The Girl Named Fred

As a firm believer that kismet exits and is best reaped with preparation I am beginning this blog today.

There are many reasons that today is the reason I am beginning this blog rather than yesterday or tomorrow, but here are four which were most instrumental.

First, I began thinking about blogging quite some time ago and I thought, why? for whom? about what? to what end? where? who would read anything by a dork like me? 


.....and today I got an answer which brings me to the other three reasons...

Second, I began a course today with UF and Dr. D about Globalization in Art and for extra credit we may work on a blog daily about anything, so hence I have extra incentive to begin my blog.  I wanted to begin one anyway but needed an extra push.

Third,  I have another course this summer in studio art and I am reading a book I am actually not completely in agreement with called 'The Creative Habit' and while I find the author interesting, her life interesting, and her narrative about what has worked for HER interesting I find her stance on all things creative a bit one sided.  I am trying to remain openminded as I have not finished her book and as I feel there is great merit in other people's opinions and experiences.  While I profoundly disagreed with her on many issues, especially the need to deprive yourself/herself of movies, multitasking, numbers, and various other items for a week in order to properly prepare to be creative or be creative may prove practical for some, but her seemingly insistence that this works for all was off putting to those of us that thrive in what she may perceive as chaos and distraction.  What I did take away in a positive manner was her section on rituals.  She discusses her ritual of getting in a cab to go to the gym and while to some people this may seem trivial, but to those of us who struggle to get to a workout in the first place this is a major ritual.  This got me thinking.  Perhaps I do need a ritual to get my creativity going. FB is great for posting my musings on philosophical and artistic finds but it is not exactly the outlet I imagined and it is not a daily ritualistic search for that creative beginning of the day so this will be.  This brings me to why FB is brought up so much and the other person I have to thank along with many friends concerning the same....

Lastly,  A dear friend planted the seed a short while ago to begin a blog when I posted yet another post on FB about a philosophical issue, specifically, Sir Ken Robinson's YouTube Video, 'Do Schools Kill Creativity' http://youtu.be/iG9CE55wbtY  to which he wrote, "You should focus your energies in one consolidated place. Like maybe a blog or facebook page, so that you have an aggregation or a compendium - if you will - of your ideas, thoughts, musings and ponderances...jus' say'" (<----Kevin H.)


So it begins.