Thankful

Champagne tasting: great idea in theory.

Had way too much fun at Thanksgiving lunch this year. Was out by 7:30.

This year I'm thankful for my friends. Also thankful that I still have one more semester before I have to enter the real world. (At least grad school is good for something.)

Frederick Leighton, Flaming June

I love this painting. It is strikingly beautiful. The orange is so vibrant and lovely it really seduces you. Or me at least. It is part of the aesthetics movement in which artists were interested in creating art for art's sake (although the term came later). During this time the artists were interested in creating works that really demonstrated the play with the medium of paint. I love that they were interested in the craft itself and really making works that speak to this. Unfortunately, the works are also somewhat misogynist in that they most often show beautiful women that are lazy, sleeping, and passive. The stereotypical female during the 19th century.

More Whining

I hate not knowing what people are feeling. I don't understand why you just can't tell me outright. I know I'm the freak for telling everyone my feelings all of the time, but doesn't that make it easier for you? If you know, you don't have to wonder.

I hate fighting with the people I love. It seems like such a waste of time. I just want things to run smoothly and to resolve problems when they arise so I can sleep at night.

Gloomy

I'm missing John terribly. I knew it would be hard to go from having him here with me to being across the country from him but I didn't think that I would think about it as often as I do. Saying goodbye to him on the phone brings me to tears. I'm just feeling pathetic and horribly codependent. And after all of that I'm just so sad that he left. I wish that he had tried harder to find work in Syracuse. I don't understand why he didn't want to stay here with me.

Frantisek Kupka, Mme. Kupka Among Verticals

I saw this work yesterday at the MoMA and was really moved. I find it to be incredibly beautiful. The way that the face emerges from this forest of color and line is quite captivating. I love the abstract expressionist quality of the all-over painting, but with the really personal inclusion of the portrait hidden within the brush strokes.

Owl City, Fireflies

In love with this song right now. The video is also phenomenal.

Dorothea Tanning, Ignoti Nulla Cupido

Dorothea Tanning was associated with the surrealists through her husband, artist Max Ernst. This is one of her later, more abstract works which I find really captivating. It is a totally different style from her Surrealist paintings. There's something really wonderful about the color and movement in this work. I think the whole work has a very calming effect and it feels warm and comforting.

Update -- Just looked up a translation of the title. Quite lovely:

There is no desire for that which is unknown; our wants are increased by knowledge.

Vivid Dreams

This morning I woke up crying uncontrollably because of a dream that I had. I dreamed that my friend Matt had somehow come back from the dead and we were talking and it was as if nothing had ever happened. But I knew that he had died and so I hugged him and I wouldn't let go. I started to cry in the dream, and Matt was confused because he didn't know that he had died and come back. This is when I woke up with tears streaming down my eyes.

It's strange how these things sneak up on you when you don't expect them. I think it's unfair that it comes in my dreams when I can't control it.

On a lighter note, I have been having tons of school anxiety dreams as of late. Not sure if I'm anxious about school or if it's a manifestation of something else going on in my life. I need a dream interpreter.

Peter Paul Rubens, Leda and the Swan

This is one of my all time favorite paintings. I got to see it in Dresden, Germany and it was really fantastic in person. Nobody paints skin like Rubens. He really knows how to paint the sensuous quality of female flesh that makes his figures come alive. This is based on the lost painting by Michelangelo who was a master at creating great compositions involving the twisting human form. I think this painting demonstrates the beauty and sensual quality of the female figure in a manner that is less passive than the norm of the period.