House of Literature // Art Repeats Itself

Two Studies of A Bird of Paradise (Rembrandt)

"Ladies and gentleman! Art repeats. The history of art is rife with allusion and self-reference. Art is cumulative. The most modern art comments upon, and reflects, everything that came before it. So, although this 1434 van Eyck does not look like a Pollock, Pollock would not exist without van Eyck, and every artist who came between them. Art that looks different is a reaction against, but it is nevertheless a reaction. I'll give you a train of for-instance."

-The Art Thief by Noah Charney, pg. 35
[On the influence of Jan van Eyck as a great artist and influencer of the art that came after his time.]

A Portrait of Titia van Uylenburg (Rembrandt)

I love these Rembrandt drawings...

Thanks for reading!

Nostalgia // Romantic Virginia, Part Tow-Truck

My mother suggested recently that I share an incident that occurred on one of our many road trips to Virginia. In keeping with my Virginia memory series, I'd love to share. Keep in mind that this happened many years ago and I am relying on what was my teenage brain at the time to remember the details.

This is what happened...

Every trip to Virginia, we stopped halfway in Emporia, which is a small town off I-95 where we redirect onto I-58 to head towards the Virginia coast. Emporia was our bathroom break town and for some reason, probably because it was the nicest place there, we always went into Peebles to use the restroom. Peebles is a small department store, similiar to Kohl's, where while we waited for each other, we could browse.

We had just finished our 30 minute bathroom break--seriously though, 6 girls using the bathroom at the same time took forever...--and climbed into our trusty gray Caravan.

Still in the parking lot, as we pulled away from Peebles to jump back on the interstate, an incredibly loud sound caused all of us to jump and my dad to slam on the brakes. It sounded like rocks were hitting the side of the van but as we looked around, we could see there were no rocks. My dad eased the gas pedal down and, again, rocks. Since there wasn't anything actually hitting the outside of the van, he decided to pop the hood to see what was wrong. He found the culprit under the hood: a broken belt that would rotate and slap the inside of the hood of the van whenever the gas pedal was pushed. To be honest, I have no idea what kind of belt it was or what it was used for.

So, we had to call a tow truck. My parents were troopers though. Dealing with five young girls, in the heat of the afternoon already tired from a couple hours of driving, couldn't have been easy.

The tow truck showed up and the driver didn't quite know what to do with all of us. Those trucks usually just have enough room in them to fit the driver and few passengers from the car being towed. Well there were seven of us and he didn't know what to do. I'm not sure if this was legal, but he hooked the van up to his truck and then all seven of us rode, tilted backwards in the van to the shop. This was, of course, great fun for all of us kids. We thought the whole thing was hilarious.

Now, I don't remember the rest of the story in detail, but somehow the van got fixed and we made it to Virginia, much later in the day than we anticipated. Very animatedly, we told the story to Nanny and Pops when we arrived at their house and they were amused. Or possibly annoyed, since they had to wait up for us to get there.

Anyways, a fun memory that I feel very blessed to have. We have had more than our fair share of car trouble on the way to Virginia, but we always made it. Every single time.

Thanks for reading--sorry I don't have any pictures to share this time!

In Theory // What does it mean to be well read?

I was recently pouring over a poets and writer's magazine and something I read in an article has stuck in my mind. The author of the article is an agent who works for writers, helping them to get their work published. She said that she loves reviewing work from writers who she can tell are 'well read'. As I thought about it, I realized I didn't really have a great definition for the phrase. 

What does it mean to be well read?

The dictionary defines well read as: (adj.) (of a person) knowledgeable and informed as a result of extensive reading. 

That's not a very clear definition. So I went hunting for a better one. 

As it turns out, there are quite a few other people who have asked the same question and multiple book blogs have their own interpretation of the idea.

Amanda, from bookriot.com, expresses frustration with the term's ambiguity in that it implies having read lots of classics as well as thorough knowledge of the obscure authors as well. You know, the ones that wrote something brilliant and then went and hid under a rock so no one would know who they were. She goes on to give her definition on the BookRiot blog:

"...reading thoughtfully from a wide variety of genres (not limited to, but definitely including, the classics) and a multicultural array of authors in such a way that allows you to think and converse about the human experience thoughtfully."

She then urges us to pursue our own reading journey with the above loose boundaries. I like that. 

As a side note, Jeff from BookRiot does offer a 100-book suggested reading list alongside their definition of well read. You can look at it here.

I didn't want just one opinion so I got a second. I visited the 101Books blog where Robert is reading his way through Time Magazine's 100 Greatest Novels since 1923. I was very inspired by his goal. He also agrees that it is an equation involving diversity in your reading and not necessarily quantity, that determines whether or not you are well read. 

A third opinion came from The Literature Network Forum. Some of their interesting ideas include the fact that it is very difficult to say you are well read through many different genres, cultures, time periods, and subject matter simply because of the sheer number of them. On a different note, they also clarified that reading crap can help you discern between good and poor writing. However only reading crap will not further your goal of being well read.

So...that being read (yes, that was an effort to be clever), these are my four take-aways for perspective and taking action:

1. It is impossible to define well read beyond a very general definition where plenty is left to interpretation.

2. Challenge yourself to your own reading goals focused on the different genres, time periods, cultures, and subject matter you enjoy. If you're diversifying and reading quality--you're headed in the right direction.

3. With 129 million books published, and plenty more on the way, don't let yourself get overwhelmed with the quantity. Set your goals, stay current, and don't forget about the greats from the past.

4. Talk to other readers and get recommendations! If you don't know where to start, let someone else help you get started. 

That's all I got--sorry this post was a little long and has no pictures. For those of you who truly love to read that shouldn't matter to you. :) I hope that helps/inspires you to challenge yourself!

"The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." - Mark Twain

Thanks for reading and please let me know your thoughts!

In Theory // Monthly Musings as Writing Inspiration

It started with my friend Val and I, who works with me at Theo Davis Printing, wanting to meet outside of work and vent about our mutual [how do I put this? Dislike, Frustration, Despair??] feelings toward project management. We were both project managers at the time and wanted to encourage each other and even do some brainstorming about how we could improve the position. 

We got bored of that subject, not surprisingly, and moved on to getting to know more about each others' interests. Quickly, we discovered that we both have a love for writing and shared accounts of our experiences with writing:  for me, my obsession with journaling and for her, a sports-related short story/novel. 

It was flippantly mentioned by one of us that we should meet on some sort of regular happening to write together. Not on the same project but in the same room somewhere we enjoyed being. So that's what we started doing.

We have met three times, once in March, April, and most recently May 10th. Twice at Barnes and Nobles and once at a coffee shop. It has been very helpful for both of us to be working on our own projects and when we get writer's block or just need a brain break, be encouraged to keep going when we see the other person scribbling away on something. We of course chat some--if I come across something interesting, I share it and vice versa. We have decided to call our time 'Monthly Musings', until we come up with something that we like better.

My goal when we get together is to fill at least one page in my notebook of ideas, concepts, things to research later, etc. Since I've been doing this monthly, I have yet to run out of fun things to do as projects, read about, and blog about. This is very important to me as a creative person--I have to stay inspired or I drive myself crazy. Sometimes I drive myself crazy anyways. 

My favorite place to go for this is Barnes and Nobles because it is comfortable to hang out in and if I run dry of inspiration inside of myself, I am completely surrounded by other authors and artists wanting to inspire. I usually take about ten minutes of the hours I'm there and browse the magazine, art and literature sections mainly. I pick up a few books/magazines that jump out at me and take them back to our space to look through. These are the four items that jumped out at me on May 10th: An art project book on Maps, a collection of poems, HOW design magazine, and a travel/photography magazine. 

I flipped through each one, taking notes on things I wanted to look into or try myself. Ideas for projects and things I wanted to do. 

I'd love to be more specific but this post has been long enough. I will be posting more about my Monthly Musings adventures with Val as they happen in the future. 

Thanks for reading!

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Art + Design // A Mini Book Project

I recently bought a book on How to Make Books. I know, kind of circular. But it really inspired me to create so that evening, I spent exactly one hour and made this little mini book.

My materials: Old book pages (that I folded to create signatures), fabric scraps, thick cover stock, hot glue gun, and thread/needle.          

                           

                                     

Very simple, I just made it up as I went and like I said, it only took me an hour. How cute would a gift like this be for someone special in your life! I'm planning on painting the pages in it with white gesso so I can write over top of the words. Verses, inspirational quotes, lists, dreams, ideas you don't want to forget. The finished size was only about 2.5 x 3.5--small enough to fit in my little wallet bag. 

If I made it again, I would change a few things to make it a little neater but it is still very functional as is.

I now have the pages painted over in white and keep it with me in my wallet to make little notes in. Let me know if you want to see a tutorial for the next one I put together. Thanks for reading!! 

In Theory // Apartment Revamp--Paint in Many Colors

One of my favorite Disney songs is "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas and that is the song that comes to mind when I think about my color choices for where I live. I have a wonderful, tolerant husband that, even though he doesn't completely understand or identify with my need for color, is supportive and even helped choose a couple of them.

This post will be mostly pictures but I wanted to share what I get to enjoy on a day to day basis. I love being home here...

JD's office/piano room/library: Green and dark gray

JD chose the green and I love it.

Dark gray in the kitchen. It gives it a more modern look. Also makes everything look whiter, even when it's not.

Bright blue accent wall in the living room. In the corner is a paper lantern from our wedding reception as well. :)

Light gray to balance the blue on the other walls in the living room. 

Lime green in the dining room! One of my favorite colors we chose. I had to work hard at convincing JD to let me do this one.

Dark Plum in our bedroom--I'd like to put a gallery wall behind our bed. 

My 'Creative Space' where the art happens. It's always a mess.

Teal in our bathroom and half the bedroom to offset the dark purple.

Me excited about my blue bathroom...

Bright blue in the guest bathroom.

The large vases and feather are decorations from my wedding I just didn't want to throw away. So they were repurposed.

Thanks for reading!