Can Heaven - Bart Goes Shopping

As some might recall, Bart Brassica, has a colourised shadow (see The Oddity of Bart's Colourised Shadow). The  reason for this might, or might not, be made clear in a future episode. Of course, as any student of science knows, for every effect there is an equal and opposite effect, and in relation to Bart  Brassica , the colouric upkeep for his coloured shadow seems to sap certain places he visits of all grades of colour, leaving them like old black and white episodes of I Love Lucy ( except, mores the pity, that Lucille Ball does not appear). 
Here we see a rare photo of the back of Bart surveying what he calls Can Heaven, otherwise known as the Grocery Department in in the Lambertville Emporium, drained of all colour. All the store keepers are thoroughly sick of this effect and it is likely he will be escorted out.

PS Bart most usually avoids having his back to people or cameras, being touchh about the embossing on every single one of his shirts.

Antlered States -The Sine Curve of Curiosity

In this beautiful tonal study of grey, we find Mr Farmhand in amongst the j-curves of antlers. Curiousity and family ties gets Mr Farmhand into some odd places.  He was heard muttering something about the Aegean stables and why had ever agreed to work with Frank Winkler shifting this pile of Antlers.   You cant see Frank as he has fallen through to the bottom of this pile, after arriving this morning with  his balance slurred and his tie askew, saying excitedly that he had been up early meditating on Antlered States of Being. Mr Farmhand, after watching Frank's hoe flailing wildy about trying to get a grip on these polished points as he slid on the bottom of the heap, has not said a word but will no doubt keep digging till he gets to the bottom of it.


This photo courtesy of Ms Ingrid Periz.

Strange Eclesiastics

Like props from a nativity play for giants, robes for priests who's god is ovine,three quilts
hang, regal and relaxed, in the company of wedding gowns.

Repeat Persimmon, Persimmon - and go to heaven

 Two persimmons pictures, and the recollection of Caroline Caddy's wonderful poem 'Persimmon' arrives without asking. In a case of literature equaling life and having a much better shelf-life Caddy captures with delicious wit the trance, like euphoria of persimmoning. But why believe me ? Go directly to her entry in the UK Poetry Archive - and listen and read for yourself. Then go online to River Road Press and buy her Audio CD The Tibetan Cabinet, which holds much more than three persimmons.

Tribute to the Chrysler Building

The Chrysler Building exerts a similar magnetic force on Farmer Bart Brassica as the Eiffel Tower. (see The Tell Tale Tower) Naturally, given his antipathy to travel,  Bart has never seen the Chrysler Building, except once when a postcard of it was accidentally stuck in a poultry catalogue and arrived in his mail box, when it was addressed to his neighbour, Mrs Elvira Egg [more usually known as Granny Egg].

Bart decided to build his own tribute version based on this recollection of the Chrysler, using fancy tins he has reclaimed from  his Tin Pan Alley and art deco dress epaulets from the various things he says mother left in the Trousers Box. The Trouser Box is a contentious item, Frank Winkler has told Bart that he has misheard and it is a Treasure Box, and as such State Property,.  Mavis Eggwhistle, says 'Trouseau, Bart , Trouseau'  to which Bart replied, 'So True'.

Keirle Park - High Tide on Grass

Yesterday, a return to sketching Keirle Park after two washed out Wednesdays, the park was bubbling with folks, a girl doing handstands, pairs of mothers watching, ham-string stretchers prone on grass, ball throwers, droppers and catchers, and a wide acreage of green. Behind this the carpark was a different matter, a snarly knot of double-parkers, pushy types and the impatient who seem to have forgotten that giving way to those on the way out makes sense.

Apple-lications, Two Bites at the Same Location

The apple, a deceptively simple fruit, is a trick to get down on paper. Like the article itself, work at it too much, leaving it to wait and it takes a wooden, clumsy taste. And those sticker,  surely a subject for raillery. The odd thing is the apple is already set out with all the identifiers it need to determine if it's a golden delicious, pink lady, granny smith, cox's orange pippin, fuji, royal gala, et cetera, just by looking. But then a nod's as good as a bite to the page.

White Begonia, Pyrex ,Variations

Two takes of the same floral? One watercolour, one pencil and ink, both hasty, One on white, the other done on ecru, in a Fabriano Quadrato Artist's Journal - which is is great for dry work but buckles when wet.  One might say - good humoured?

Tin Panning - Bart Brassica's Percussive Venture into Metal

Bart, with his predilection for musicals ( see Bart and the Bowl of Cherries ), has a natural partiality to show songs of the last century. This is not surprising given the last time he listened to the radio was in 1964. Your average agriculturalist might gravitate to country music but Bart is a stalwart of Tin Pan Alley, so much so he has assembled his own Tin Pan Avenue, hoping that the tin might blossom in some way. Bart's first preference is for a mineral boom but failing that a crop of hit songs would hit the right note. Granny Eggwhistle, our ever resourceful photographer, says 'he's whistling Dixie'.

Rilke -Giant of the Duino Set

There is an elegance to Rilke that survives even his translation into Prussian Blue. Unwittingly I've drawn his ears too large, but that is all the better to overhear the conversation of angels.
This set of Prussian Blue sketches has made it over the line between a set and a series, though I speculate that perhaps some of the Blue-ed in characters from the Robert Capa series may well have been poets. 

Nestling with the Question of Balance

Three nests stacked, coir and dried grass, pills of jumper, puffs of bbq padding, an inventory of family life, in three storeys, well balanced on a bowl from Venice, where trees are scarce. Vacancy: Only birds need apply.