On the topic of books....

I've picked up a copy of Ursula Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness. Has anybody read it? I remember it being on the book list in high school many moons ago, but I picked the other book [can't remember now]... I'm not really into sci-fi fantasy, but so many people have recommended it and I found it on the shelf and thought, meh!

Anybody?

Austen & Life in the Integrity Lane

I have just finished reading Austen's 'Persuasion' for the umpteenth time. It would have to be one of my favourite Austen novels.


The fairy-tale aspects of this beautifully written novel, including three sisters, the gentlest and most level-headed being Anne, an idiotic, vain Father, and the God Mother Lady Russell,who drives away the hero and later favors an impostor as a perfect match for Anne for it suits her to have Anne settled as her pet neighbour. All of this I find, contribute to its appeal. But the book also contains a great deal of subtle structure which may help explain why plot and narrative produce such a satisfying whole....and should help a film adaptation live up to the book's potential. In fact, it was the dissatisfaction with existing film versions that sent me back to the novel to try to find out what it is in the plot that somehow fails to be properly interpreted on the screen.


The answer seems to lie in Austen's complex way in which she writes. No character is just written in for the sake of it, they all serve a purpose and yet most are overlooked in all the screen adaptations. There are minor characters in this novel that we can learn by and help us understand Anne and Frederick's sway in affection that films tend to lose. The parallels between Anne’s friendship with Mrs. Smith and Frederick's friendship with Harville fall into several broad categories. First, when Anne and Frederick form these friendships, both of them are, for various reason, vulnerable. Second, when they are reunited with their friends, after a prolonged break, the roles are reversed. It is now the friends who are vulnerable, each having experienced serious hardship. Third, each friend not only displays remarkable resiliency in his or her present difficult situation but also plays a significant role in the reconciliation between Anne and Frederick. The movie adaptations merely have them there to fill in space only, throwing Harville a few lines here and there but gives no substance or history in his sway with his friend... sometimes when you're adapting a brilliantly written novel, it is essential to look for the space in between the spaces, if it is spaces you are needing to fill. What about Benwick's feelings for Anne and how Frederick suddenly felt that there may be a chance that Benwick and Anne could end up together... that subtle feeling of jealousy he never knew was there? Oh people please, this book is just brilliant in it's interpretation of human nature.. it has stupid people, smart people, victims of circumstance, ignorant people and people dancing to the beat of their own drum.


Don't get me started on Anne's lack of dialogue on the screen... like she's some mute girl with no independent thoughts... enough said there for now...Is there nobody out there, in our modern world, that can successfully arrange a proper adaptation of this book that was written a long time ago? They leave so much out that it is impossible to feel the complexity that is Austen. Is it any wonder that those of the male species find Austen a little too girly? They concentrate on the hurt ego's in the beginning of the movie, totally miss the turning point where Anne and Frederick begin to love each other again, and go straight for the uniting. At least they all remember to put the letter in... which in my opinion is one of the BEST declaration of love, ever written in the history of literature.
'You pierce my soul, I am half agony, half hope" Ugh, swoon factor of 100, I always look forward to chapter 23....The one thing that I've always admired in Austen's writing is the chances she gives her hero's to say their piece. Never underestimate the power of a letter, even in today's time. If a woman can honestly say that a love letter from a love interest doesn't get her swooning, even for a bit, she has ice water in her veins and not worth the stamp to post it.




Look, I can go on about this forever, and I probably would, if I didn't have dinner to cook, a painting to work on, and basically a life. What I should have done was become a script writer... then this blog post would be whistling a different tune, not to mention I'd be able to make sense when I write.


If you haven't as yet read Persuasion by Jane Austen, I strongly urge you to read it. It is worth the read.


Happy Reading and thanks for stopping by

Red Shoes up and running again soon.....

Hello People
Classes will be starting shortly. Now that the worst of winter is behind us, [yes it is still cold] I will be starting Monday night classes again. This time I have a new strategy, new method to the madness. I am taking smaller classes and I only need 1 or 2 more to enrol and we're raring to go. Minimum 4 and no more than 6 per class so that we can be more comfortable. I am doing other nights but at a later date. 6 week terms with 2 week breaks in between.
Art Journal play & inspiration
Process not Product painting
Fun times to be had
Creativity Unleashed

Just a few of the things that happen at Red Shoes.
Can't wait to get going again

I need to tire my eyes

2:08am, my head is heavy, but sleep does not visit. My back aches, my right foot is numb and I keep clenching my jaw and when I realise and let go, there is a slight pain before the relief. Why do I do that? Infomercials! All from America. Dear Australia, can you please do something about this? My shirt is hanging over my bed railing, looking forlorn. Lost. Like it doesn't belong here. I don't think it does actually, it should be in the cupboard with all the other shirt friends, coming alive when I'm sleeping. My bed is uncomfortable tonight. Actually it's the pillows. The pillows are giving me grief. They're fighting back, they don't want to carry my head no more. It's 2:24am already. It didn't take me 16 minutes to write the above. I just stared into nothingness for a while. I can't even remember what I was thinking about. I wonder where that thought went? It's working. My eyes are getting heavy from the glare of the laptop. Sleep is peeking though and I need to befriend it. Make peace with it. I am a peacemaker. Goodnight. Sleep tight. New pillows tomorrow

A Dancing Language

Have I told you fine people that Brother #2, David, is fluent in Auslan? He has a large circle of deaf friends and a few years ago decided to go and learn the language so that he could communicate with them better.



The other day we spent the day together, we went out for lunch to Moskito Bar in Clifton Hill, I had an amazing Caesar Salad, and we talked about Art History.. David's cool, he can talk about soooooo many topics, he knows a little about a lot and it is nice to sit and share a meal with someone who can talk about things that I am interested in. Afterwards, we went off to the city to see a friend of his by the name of Peter Adams who was having a solo exhibition on Bourke St. at Self Preservation... a darling gallery I must say. Gorgeous hand-made jewelry and a cafe downstairs, all this higgly piggly placed art in the back room, then a gorgeous room upstairs that was just as higgly piggly. So much character. David is also a photographer and Peter asked him if he would take the photos for his catalog, so we set up the tripod and laughed at how off the chart the floor was... Now Peter is deaf and so were about 4 other people that were there and off they went signing away and having a right old time, and I watched on in awe. My brother David signs to me all the time but I never pay any attention, I just think he's showing off but I was so impressed with him that day. The only problem is David can't sign and talk at the same time so a lot of what was said was lost on me. Yeah what a downer right? But he translated sometimes.

Anyway, Pellegrini's is next door....... HOOPAH!!! I love that place. But don't take it from me, just read what 'your Restaurants' review it as: A Melbourne institution, Pellegrini's has been serving its faithful customers great coffee and authentic Italian food for generations. Pellegrini's buzzes, especially when there's something on at the nearby theatres. Hearty is the key word to this place where there's no pretension - just honest Italian home cooking. Serving sizes are huge to say the least and not for Atkins dieters. Enjoy enormous bowls of spaghetti or a mountain of lasagna.
And let me tell you, they're right about the pretension... little Italian lady comes and shouts at you to get out of her way so she can clear the dishes..... now I am so big on customer service, and as far as I'm concerned that lady can scream away for all I care, that place has the BEST coffee and pasta AND OH MY GOD YOU HAVE TO TRY THE WATERMELON GRANITA..... bloody hell I feel like hopping in the car right now and driving the 30 minutes to get there...It's YUM!

Anyway I'm freaking digressing here... so about 5 more friends turned up, all hearing impaired, then another lady came who was hearing abled and was an Auslan tutor as well as doing all the gigs around Melbourne, like the comedy festival etc... it was awesome... 5 hearing and about 7 hearing impaired people all standing around doing what looked like to me a dance of language. I fell in love with every single one of those people and wanted to put them in my pocket and take them everywhere I go... so I've made a decision... I'm going to learn Auslan!
I've always wanted to learn another language, so I'm giving it a go.
It really is a dancing language!

~New Painting~

'It Happened in the Red Room'
Acrylic on stretched canvas
60 x 91cm
$400

WeBsiTe iS fiNallY UP aNd rUnNinG

Website up and running, but only the basics are up. I will be elaborating on it a bit more but not this week I don't think. It's real brain numbing stuff really, I don't like working like that. I can't believe I did it all by myself, it is amazing what a person can do when money is a problem.
Anyway, feel free to check it out and please let me know what you think. I'd be grateful for any feedback good or bad.
here's the link ~ Red Shoes Studios

Have a great day people

Veiled Girl ~ Finally Finished ~

Veiled Girl
75 x 100 cm
Acrylic on Canvas
$600

She's finally finished. It has black border and is ready to hang.

© Susan Yammouni

Daily Meditation email today....

Through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate. Darkness cannot put out darkness. Only light can do that.... Difficult and painful as it is, we must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future. When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Martin Luther King Jr