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Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Travel + Leisure: Your Best Shot: Zoe Osborne

On the last page of its magazine, Travel + Leisure features photographs submitted by their readers. In this particular November 2020 issue, a photograph by award-winning journalist Zoe M. Osborne, of her boyfriend sipping yak-butter tea caught my attention. 

As she explained in the issue, "Oi,' I called to my boyfriend as he sipped yak-butter tea in our mountainside hut. He came to the door and I snapped a quick shot, capturing this much needed moment of reprieve. We had just arrived at a tiny village near the Kali Gandhi River, in Nepal, after three days of hiking the surreal landscapes of the Upper Mustang, in the remote Himalayas." 

Looking at the photo, you can feel the relief from his posture and grin behind the mug. 

She added, "We were tired and sore: believe it or not, I hadn't brought proper hiking shoes for the expedition. But the chilly air was energizing and the smell of dal bhat -- steamed rice and lentil curry -- simmering on the wood-fired stove filled me with so much joy."


Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Willem Drost

Art Appreciation

Since I started this blog, back in 2008, I've been featuring artists found via the internet -- Wikipedia being my primary source. This one is a particular find. More so because this artist lived a short life.

Willem Drost was a Dutch Golden Age painter and printmaker of historical allegories. He was a student of Rembrandt before traveling to Rome with painters Karel Lot, Joan vander Meer, and Lieve Verschuier. He died in Venice on February 25, 1659.

Several paintings that were thought to be Rembrandt's were later attributed to Willem Drost such as Portrait of a Young Woman with her Hands Folded on a Book


Portrait of a Man (c. 1655)


Portrait of a Young Woman with her Hands Folded on a Book (1653)


Bathsheba (1654)

Sources:

Wikipedia, metmuseum.org


Thursday, April 14, 2022

Fiona Apple - Sleep to Dream

Music Appreciation

As I've mentioned in previous posts HERE and HERE, I had a thing for Fiona Apple. To me, when in my teens, she was that perfect image of what I wanted in a companion: gorgeous eyes, seductive contralto voice, beautiful hair, and thin. 

The classically trained pianist began writing her own songs at age eight. Her debut album, Tidal, was released when she was 17. 

The second single, "Sleep to Dream" was released on April 14, 1997. The song is one of Fiona's most successful singles. She won the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist in a Video for this song. The music video was directed by French director Stephane Sednaoui.




https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtuF-p5_86ajFS-49gXIlHw





Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Simone Cantarini

Art Appreciation

Simone Cantarini was an Italian painter and etcher best known for his paintings and portraits of religious subjects. 

Born on April 12, 1612 in Pesaro, Cantarini's artistic abilities was discovered by a church parishioner who accompanied the young artist to Venice. While in Venice, Cantarini was guided by artists Sante Peranda, and Francesco Mingucci.

His first commissions included Saint Rita of Cascia and The Immaculate Conception with Saints. An early Cantarini masterpiece was the St. Peter Healing the Lame Man, which reveals influence from Italian Baroque painter Guido Reni. 

In 1634, Cantarini joined Reni's studio in Bologna. While there, Reni taught Cantarini etching. His stay with Reni was short since the two eventually had a fall-out. There are several speculations as to what caused the breakup. 

Cantarini did return to Bologna after Reni's death in 1642 where he opened his own studio training artists like Lorenzo Pasinelli, Flaminio Torre, and Giovanni Battista Venanzi.  


Archangel Michael with Hagar and Ishmael in the Desert

Noli me tangere (Don't touch me)


Saint Peter healing the cripple


Sources: Wikipedia