This is a most wonderful article, Mari, and I want you to know how much I enjoyed it. I never really had the opportunity to learn much about art and am getting a bit too old for wandering around galleries now, but you have given me a few pointers for even looking at photos of art works.
On a trip to Columbia in 2017 I was bowled over by the paintings of Botero with all of these huge people and some of them so funny - the apple as a symbol of deliciously enjoyable sin, really made me laugh 😃 I can't help but wonder what Ruskin, so shocked by public hair, would have made of Botero? (I had never heard that story before. It is both funny and really sad at the same time. I was so glad to know that his wife did re-marry.) I also loved the Botero sculptures, particularly one I saw in a park of a Chinese face; it was so huge and yet so gentle and delicate.
The Australian artist, Ben Quilty, has also painted some extraordinary powerful - in my opinion - portraits of soldiers in leisure moments, in Afghanistan. I was again bowled over effect on me of these paintings, which I saw at a gallery in South Australia. Thanks again for your article and all your insightful, interesting contributions to the slow reads we have done.
Oh thank you so much for this lovely, thoughtful comment!
I love Botero too. Way back in the nineties, there was an exhibition of several of his sculptures all around downtown Chicago. I had never seen his work before and was totally delighted! There is such a playful quality to his massive, sturdy people.
Since Christmas 2021, Rich and I have gotten into collecting fragrances as a means of experiencing world travel destinations within our home. We've sampled and collected fragrances that smell of grass, greenery, wood, flowers, fruits, nuts, amber, vanilla, chocolate,(synthetic) musks, soil, burning leaves, resins, incense, soaps, and many more scent notes. There are expert "noses" who create fragrances for designer fragrance houses and niche fragrances houses: these are the people who create new fragrances for the extensive fragrance market. We have had so much fun learning from expert noses, and online amateur fragrance collectors. Almost two years in, we've become quite knowledgeable about a collection we enjoy right at home every day! 🦋🧡🦋
Mine is definitely cooking and baking. I absolutely love both. As a result of growing up with my mother and her mother teaching me, I have absolutely no idea once I've finished making something how I did it. People ask for recipes and I laugh. I simply don't know how much a "grammas handful" Is.nor do I know how much fits in my cupped hand. I tried to remake something once by measurements, dutifully pouring ingredients from my hand into measuring devices, it was beef stroganoff, it was so horrible. So I cook and bake and most love my results . But, I can't share a recipe, as a matter of fact, I can't follow one either because I adjust them all to what I think.
I am the same way with cooking--I never measure precisely and so my recipes are never accurate. I think cooking is a perfect example of being able to enjoy something without being an expert, or, rather, we're all experts in what we like best! Thanks for sharing this lovely memory of your mom!
This is a most wonderful article, Mari, and I want you to know how much I enjoyed it. I never really had the opportunity to learn much about art and am getting a bit too old for wandering around galleries now, but you have given me a few pointers for even looking at photos of art works.
On a trip to Columbia in 2017 I was bowled over by the paintings of Botero with all of these huge people and some of them so funny - the apple as a symbol of deliciously enjoyable sin, really made me laugh 😃 I can't help but wonder what Ruskin, so shocked by public hair, would have made of Botero? (I had never heard that story before. It is both funny and really sad at the same time. I was so glad to know that his wife did re-marry.) I also loved the Botero sculptures, particularly one I saw in a park of a Chinese face; it was so huge and yet so gentle and delicate.
The Australian artist, Ben Quilty, has also painted some extraordinary powerful - in my opinion - portraits of soldiers in leisure moments, in Afghanistan. I was again bowled over effect on me of these paintings, which I saw at a gallery in South Australia. Thanks again for your article and all your insightful, interesting contributions to the slow reads we have done.
Oh thank you so much for this lovely, thoughtful comment!
I love Botero too. Way back in the nineties, there was an exhibition of several of his sculptures all around downtown Chicago. I had never seen his work before and was totally delighted! There is such a playful quality to his massive, sturdy people.
I will have to check out Quilty’s work!
Since Christmas 2021, Rich and I have gotten into collecting fragrances as a means of experiencing world travel destinations within our home. We've sampled and collected fragrances that smell of grass, greenery, wood, flowers, fruits, nuts, amber, vanilla, chocolate,(synthetic) musks, soil, burning leaves, resins, incense, soaps, and many more scent notes. There are expert "noses" who create fragrances for designer fragrance houses and niche fragrances houses: these are the people who create new fragrances for the extensive fragrance market. We have had so much fun learning from expert noses, and online amateur fragrance collectors. Almost two years in, we've become quite knowledgeable about a collection we enjoy right at home every day! 🦋🧡🦋
Oh fun! My mom has an extraordinary sense of smell, and I suspect she would enjoy this too!
The last story was so funny, lol!
I'm just glad that poor Effie got a happy marriage in the end!
Mine is definitely cooking and baking. I absolutely love both. As a result of growing up with my mother and her mother teaching me, I have absolutely no idea once I've finished making something how I did it. People ask for recipes and I laugh. I simply don't know how much a "grammas handful" Is.nor do I know how much fits in my cupped hand. I tried to remake something once by measurements, dutifully pouring ingredients from my hand into measuring devices, it was beef stroganoff, it was so horrible. So I cook and bake and most love my results . But, I can't share a recipe, as a matter of fact, I can't follow one either because I adjust them all to what I think.
I am the same way with cooking--I never measure precisely and so my recipes are never accurate. I think cooking is a perfect example of being able to enjoy something without being an expert, or, rather, we're all experts in what we like best! Thanks for sharing this lovely memory of your mom!