never-ending gallery

[LisaLCFan]

Hi Lisa,
I have read the book and loved it. Much easier to "grasp" as a script that I had expected.
And then ... the wonderful Postscript discussing the various sources that Frayn drew on to create this masterpiece.
Thank you again for pointing me in its direction.

I will read it again soon as I must confess I missed the ice cream references.
Now I will withdraw and return this thread to the wonderful Geoffrey and the creations he shares with us.

Alan

Excellent!

Speaking of Geoffrey, he ought to be returning at some point to get this thread back on topic by sharing with us another lovely piece of artwork. In his absence, however, these little diversions can be very enjoyable, and I am sure he doesn't mind us borrowing this space while he is otherwise occupied!

[Geoffrey]

AlanM wrote:
>Now I will withdraw and return this thread to the wonderful Geoffrey and the creations he shares with us.
-----------------
LisaLCFan wrote:
>Speaking of Geoffrey, he ought to be returning at some point to get this thread back on topic by sharing with us another lovely piece of artwork. In his absence, however, these little diversions can be very enjoyable, and I am sure he doesn't mind us borrowing this space while he is otherwise occupied!
-----------------
it is an honour and a pleasure to follow the intelligent discussion that continued during my absence, and neither did my eyes glaze over. thank you for the encouraging adjectives 'wonderful' and 'lovely' - and i must add that there is no earthly reason to 'withdraw', alan. i am considering retiring from this job as resident illustrator, as age is gaining ground, and in any case feel saturation point has begun to reach these doodles of leonard.

today has been unusual, stayed home, nice and quiet, no visitors, have not seen a soul - wonderful and lovely! exchanged emails with jarkko this morning, watched 'exposed' (2016) again, rang a couple of friends, then made beef stroganoff for dinner. this afternoon practiced my automatic writing and, oh yes! - received a new poem from leonard! that inspired me to scrawl a rapid picture of him based on a bootleg CD cover that jarkko posted. apart from that nothing else worth mentioning has come to pass.
-----------------
posthumous poem -leonard cohen 2019

people can have great thoughts
just before going to sleep.
they think: "my god, i don't need
to get up and write that down -
it's so profound i'm bound to remember it
when i wake up," - and they never do.

[LisaLCFan]

..i am considering retiring from this job as resident illustrator, as age is gaining ground, and in any case feel saturation point has begun to reach these doodles of leonard.

...that inspired me to scrawl a rapid picture of him based on a bootleg CD cover that jarkko posted...

Since inspiration is not something over which one has much control, perhaps it is premature to declare that saturation has been reached. I recall your having made similar pronouncements previously (numerous times, in fact), always followed by renewed activity. So, please forgive me for my scepticism, but I suspect that we've not seen the last of you nor your art in this section of cyberspace!

Besides, clearly, you are still capable of being inspired to produce the occasional doodle: this latest one is fantastic! (What is the medium you used?). I like it very much!

I was actually quite taken by the photo of Leonard on that CD cover-- it is not one I'd seen before -- and thus I was delighted to see your interpretation of it. Thank you for sharing it!

[Geoffrey]

LisaLCFan asked:
>What is the medium you used?
---------------
hei lisa. have to go out. will be back late tonight, but wanted to quickly thank you for the things you wrote before leaving.
the picture was just a 'spur-of-the-moment' thing, with only two items being used. firstly, a black watercolour-type pencil. in this instance i kept it dry, no water was employed, and secondly, a thick ribbed-type (textured grain?) paper.

please find attached a close-up picture for better examination. i encourage everyone to try this. the application is not at all difficult, this one took maybe 15-20 minutes. the hardest part is getting the idea, and then resisting trying to make it as perfect as possible.

1. pencil: derwent inktense indian ink 2020.
2. paper: canson XL mix-media A3 (29x42cm) 300 g/m (140 lb).

[Sideways]

Hey, Godfrey I predict a roti. How about we find some spare time which simultaneously doesn’t work for either of us. Then Für Elise or Homer, or some other admiring fan, posts a subject and we race to complete our art. I write one of my witty pomes and you doodle one of your witty pics. Lisa then marks each for speed, fidelity to her chosen topic, and all-round goodosity. She then declares me the Winner.


Does this appeal?

Solongleonard (using Sideway’s account) (because she is account).

[Geoffrey]

Hey, Godfrey I predict a roti. How about we find some spare time which simultaneously doesn’t work for either of us. Then Für Elise or Homer, or some other admiring fan, posts a subject and we race to complete our art. I write one of my witty pomes and you doodle one of your witty pics. Lisa then marks each for speed, fidelity to her chosen topic, and all-round goodosity. She then declares me the Winner.

Does this appeal?

Solongleonard (using Sideway’s account) (because she is account).

good of you to make an appearance, regardless of who you are. a nose by any name could smell your feet. i came home a short while ago and was delighted to see you had gifted us with another of your sporadic examples of paronomasia. admittedly, i am not always able to discern whether i am too dim to understand your messages, or too bright, though in all modesty i suspect the latter - but let us not focus on such a bagatelle. instead, allow me to add a little culture into your life by presenting my latest artistic offering, preceded by an apt quote from leonard:

"most of the time i'm discouraged by my work, but now and again, by some grace, something stands out."

[LisaLCFan]

Geoffrey, thanks for the details about the medium for your sketch!

[Geoffrey]

Geoffrey, thanks for the details about the medium for your sketch!

you are more than welcome, dear lisa. it is lovely to know that someone is interested
-----------------
"I’ve noticed that whatever financial rewards that your work brings you generally tends to lower your standard of living rather than raise it. I know that before I made any money out of writing or music, I was living extremely well on a Greek island in a beautiful white house, with a lot of sunshine and swimming every day, and that as my work found more and more acceptance and presumably my bank account swelled I found myself living in hotel rooms, and going through traffic from one place to another, and generally the quality of life deteriorated quite considerably."
(radio luxemburg interview. 1974)

[LisaLCFan]

...Then Für Elise ...

... such a bagatelle. ... allow me to add a little culture into your life ...

Definitely, one can never get enough of the great Ludwig van B, played here with tremendous subtlety and nuance by Alfred Brendel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtwFOOOoGlo

By the way, it is Beethoven's 250th birthday next year -- mark your calendars, because 2020 will be full of musical celebrations for the sublime genius from Bonn!

[LisaLCFan]

P.S. By the way Geoffrey, interesting colours and styles in those last two portraits of Leonard. The one dated 19th Aug looks a bit like stained glass. Variety is the spice of life, after all, is it not?

Incidentally, William Cowper wrote, "Variety's the very spice of life, that gives it all its flavour", in a long and rambling poem called "The Task" (1785). People tend to use that quote in a very positive context, with the clear implication that seeking out and obtaining variety in life is an excellent and desirable thing to do. Indeed, that is how I have always thought of it, and how I have always used the phrase (and, I very much believe the sentiment!).

However, if one reads Cowper's poem -- which is actually a pessimistic diatribe against humanity which laments all its many and endless vices (as he perceives it) -- and manages to get through it to the place where he finally writes this now-famous quote, one will see that his words are actually dripping with irony. It is as if he is quoting an oft-repeated phrase, but his words are full of disdain for all those people who, in his estimation, can never be satisfied and are constantly seeking totally meaningless novelty, often at great personal expense.

Old Cowper seems to have been a bit of a wet blanket, and "The Task" is not a cheerful poem that celebrates life in all its wondrous diversity, despite the fact that one could easily get that impression if all they know of the poem is that one ubiquitous quotation.

[Sideways]

Dear Godfrey, I am not one of those who strongly criticises you for shirking my challenge. I appreciate that you may not move in mixed media and it would need a very special person to see the pictures in my pomes. Thus you are gracefully rejecting the chance to prove yourself “the better man”.

Oh
There is a war between the pic and verse
There is a war between the Doc and Nurse
There is a war between the Norse and the Brit


Why don't you come on back to the war, don't be silly
Why don't you come on back to the war, you can still marry Billy

etc etc
That’s it

[Geoffrey]

[LisaLCFan]

Hey, Godfrey ...How about we find some spare time which simultaneously doesn’t work for either of us. Then Für Elise or Homer, or some other admiring fan, posts a subject and we race to complete our art. I write one of my witty pomes and you doodle one of your witty pics. Lisa then marks each for speed, fidelity to her chosen topic, and all-round goodosity. ...

All right, both Sideways/solongleonard and Godfrey/Geoffrey have now submitted their entries. Taking my duties as judge very seriously, I have carefully assessed their work according to the aforementioned criteria.

Although Sideways/solong has not disappointed with his witty pome inspired by Leonard Cohen's song "There is a War" (amongst other references, some of which I think I get), it is, unfortunately, based on the wrong song, and thus it fails to meet the "fidelity criteria" to my chosen topic (although it was, obviously, written speedily, and is full of goodosity!).

I conveyed the topic for the challenge via telepathy, and undoubtedly it was revealed to Geoffrey during one of his Automatic Writing sessions, whereas Sideways seems to have got his wires crossed. My chosen topic was the song "Ballad of the Absent Mare" -- which I just listened to a couple days ago, as a matter of fact, and which has always been one of my favourite songs. I had also just read a discussion of the song and how it relates to the Ten Bulls Pictures representing a Buddhist's path to enlightenment.

Of course, as we all know, the song "Ballad of the Absent Mare", as recorded by Leonard on his Recent Songs album, featured a Mariachi band. Therefore, Godfrey's witty (speedy, and goodisity-filled) pic of a sombrero-topped Cohen fully and exceptionally satisfies all my criteria, and I therefore declare Geoffrey to be the winner!

Congratulations, Godfrey, well done! (Maybe next time, solong...)

[Geoffrey]

that's very nice, lisa - thank you. have to take a paralgin. can't stay on topic right now, headache, lot to drink last night, women trouble. one of them was already here when one more happened by, and sort of a catfight developed. jealousy is a destructive force. my lamp is even broken. i got out the way, pretty ugly it was, pure hate, now i don't know what's happening. all i did was be nice to everyone. people who hate you don't win until you hate them back, you know, and i've always tried to live by that. seek revenge by all means, they say - but first dig two graves.

a lot of male friends call by, mostly muslim men, and there's never any problems. it's the norwegian women is where it all gets complicated. i know what they come for, they are lonely, and now and again i do succumb, but always feel like i was raped after. it's my own fault, sure - i should make rules, insist they respect me as a person, not treat me like their property, their toy. haven't been to the vinmonopolet for months, these sirens they bring it with them. i know the moment they walk in, if they have a bottle with them, i know what's on their mind.

[LisaLCFan]

[WTMI: way too much information!]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kkrb4h4weW4