Have a Heart: Happy Valentine's Day

love is thicker than forget

more thinner than recall

more seldom than a wave is wet

more frequent than to fail

it is most mad and moonly

and less it shall unbe

than all the sea which only

is deeper than the sea

love is less always than to win

less never than alive

less bigger than the least begin

less littler than forgive

it is most sane and sunly

and more it cannot die

than all the sky which only

is higher than the sky

~e.e. cummings

Itō Jakuchū (1716-1800), Japanese, White Phoenix and Pine

W. W. Denslow (1856-1915), American, Denslow's Mother Goose

Cover of the American musical comedy, Have a Heart, 1917

A Tale of Two Cities: California Homes Magazine February 2012

Happy Birthday: To a Son of Ireland

'I am of Ireland,
And the Holy Land of Ireland,
And time runs on,' cried she.
'Come out of charity,
Come dance with me in Ireland.'

One man, one man alone
In that outlandish gear,
One solitary man
Of all that rambled there
Had turned his stately head.
That is a long way off,
And time runs on,' he said,
'And the night grows rough.'

'I am of Ireland,
And the Holy Land of Ireland,
And time runs on,' cried she.
'Come out of charity
And dance with me in Ireland.'

'The fiddlers are all thumbs,
Or the fiddle-string accursed,
The drums and the kettledrums
And the trumpets all are burst,
And the trombone,' cried he,
'The trumpet and trombone,'
And cocked a malicious eye,
'But time runs on, runs on.'

I am of Ireland,
And the Holy Land of Ireland,
And time runs on,' cried she.
"Come out of charity
And dance with me in Ireland.'

William Butler Yeats

Happy Birthday Frank Carr!

Age of Aquarius: The Star

We have entered into the Sun sign of Aquarius the Water-Carrier. Aquarius is associated with the Greek mythical figure of the youth Ganymede. The most beautiful of mortals he was abducted by Zeus, in the form of an eagle to be the cup-bearer to the gods. The ruler of the Olympians granted Ganymede eternal youth and immortality placing him in the sky as the constellation Aquarius. The cup bearer is shown on an Attic red figure krater fleeing the advances of Zeus while rolling along a hoop and holding high the gift of a cockerel. Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) depicted Ganymede being abducted by the eagle Zeus as a banquet is being held on Mt. Olympus. The goddess Hēbē hands him a gold cup in anticipation of his new role. Over time the image of Aquarius evolved into that of a beautiful young woman. In the Tarot deck it is The Star card. English occultist Aleister Crowley's (1875-1947) Thoth Tarot shows a naked woman kneeling at the edge of a small pool carrying two urns of water. She has one foot on the ground indicating the practical world and the other aloft representing intuition. Above her she is illuminated by The Star.

Happy Birthday Suzanna Allen, You are always The Star!

Red January: Garnets and Carnations

The icy month of January is warmed by its red birthstone the garnet and its corresponding birth flower the carnation. The name garnet may have derived from the jeweled fruit the pomegranate. A garnet body centers the mid-seventeenth century Polish eagle that was commissioned by Władysław IV Vasa for his wife Cecilia Renata of Austria. In a detail from the painting of a Madonna and Child by Flemish painter Joos Van Cleve (1485-1540), a single carnation is surmounted by a passion flower. The passion flower was not discovered by Europeans until 1610; the new world flower was added to the old world one by a later artist. Italian artist Antonio del Pollaiolo (1429-1498) depicts a reflective young woman gazing into the future wearing a red dress with a pomegranate motif.

Dreamscapes: The Cult of Beauty

San Francisco will be graced in February with The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant-Garde, 1860–1900 exhibition at the Legion of Honor. It will explore the evolution of the British Aesthetic Movement that promoted "Art for Art's Sake". In contrast to the rigid restraints of Victorian society, followers created an enigmatic world. Ideas on art, sex and death were commingled. One of the artists represented in the show will be American born, British based James Abbott McNeil Whistler (1834-1903). The man who painted like a butterfly but had the verbal sting of a wasp, captured Christine Spartali wearing a sensuous Japanese kimono posed in front of an oriental screen. The Aesthetic Movement was influenced by the exotic wares that had become available in Europe during the nineteenth century from the Far East. Pre-Raphaelite artist Frederick Sandys (1829-1904) painted the Arthurian temptress Vivien crowned with peacock feathers holding the apple of temptation. The model was his gypsy lover Keomi, who he took up with after abandoning his wife. Louise Jopling (1843-1933) was a prominent woman artist of Victorian England, she was painted by one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, John Everett Millais (1829-1896). In addition to being remembered for his contributions to "The Cult of Beauty", Millais is notable for marrying Effie Gray the former wife of the art critic John Ruskin. Sadly Ruskin was not able to consummate their six year marriage. The art critic had been a strong supporter of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood but did not understand the Aesthetic Movement. Ruskin believed that art had to be realistic and have a moral reason, not the nuanced dreamscapes of "The Cult of Beauty".

Dreams: Happy New Year

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Langston Hughes

American

(1901-1967)

Images:

Charles R. Knight, American (1874-1953)

Sukenobu, Japanese (1671-1750)

Al-Jazari, Mesopotamian (1136-1206)

Blue Winter: Happy Holidays

Winter uses all the blues there are. One shade of blue for water, one for ice, Another blue for shadows over snow. The clear or cloudy sky uses blue twice- Both different blues. And hills row after row Are colored blue according to how for. You know the bluejay's double-blur device Shows best when there are no green leaves to show. And Sirius is a winterbluegreen star. Robert Francis American (1901-1987) Images: Harald Sohlberg, Norwegian (1869-1935) Errol Le Cain, British (1941-1989) Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German (1880-1938)

Sagittarius: Animal Nature Versus Civilized Man

We are now in the astrological sign of Sagittarius the Archer. It is also the sun sign of Porcelains and Peacocks' friend Kirk Phillips of Shears & Window. The Archer is a centaur, half- man and half- horse symbolizing the conflict between animal nature and civilized man. Those born under the sign share with the centaur of Greek mythology an adventurous spirit and the wisdom of Chrion. They are also honest and direct like the point of an arrow. A sixteenth century Persian tile mosaic of Sagittarius depicts the Archer aiming at his own dragon headed tail. In the constellation card from the English Urania's Mirror of 1825, he is shooting into the heavenly sky. Lithuanian painter and composer, Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875-1911) painted Sagittarius as a man hunting a large bird of prey, part of his Cycle of Twelve Pictures (1907).

Happy Birthday Kirk!

California's Unique Masterpieces: California Homes Magazine December 2011