I am dispatching this from the Elizabeth Dafoe library, where I've decamped to work on writing the third chapter for this degree. I've left the comforts of home and given myself the discipline of routine in order to concentrate on productivity.
1. a painting
But! Shhh! Don't tell anyone... I got a little distracted, going through the stacks in that section where there are art books, by a bright yellow cover with the words "Jane Freilicher." Perusing her artwork, I found my favourite painting; it is titled "In Broad Daylight." I like it because I find in it the vast prairie-like horizon, bouquets of colourful flowers on a pop-of-orange table, and the scene all set against a serene and clean white interior. I feel happy just looking at it!
2. expansiveness
In the introduction to the book above, John Ashbury writes,
For almost half a century, Jane Freilicher has often painted the views from her studios in Greenwich Village and Water Mill, Long Island. The more she has focused on them, the greater the variations in individual pictures have been. In this she resembles Giacometti or Morandi, two artists whose fanatical determination to "get it right" resulted in what looked like a narrowness of range but was in fact an expansiveness that could have been arrived at in no other way. The same fields, bouquets, slants of light, views out over water or streets and buildings seem to recur, but it is the tremendous difference in them from picture to picture that entraps and enthralls the viewer.
I like how what could seem like a dismissable range, or a limited view, is instead appreciated for its depth and attention.
3. nabokov
From his essay "Good Readers and Good Writers" the following:
There is nothing wrong about the moonshine of generalization when it comes after the suny trifles of the book have been lovingly collected. If one begins with a ready-made generalization, one begins at the wrong end and travels away from the book before one has started to understand it.
I feel like a similar thought could be applied to history. "Knowing about something" begins with generalizations, and then in research, one spends so much time gathering details so as to add nuance to the generalization.
4. Taste
A friend gave us a bundle of garlic scapes, which I'm tempted to steam and add to an omelet. In the meantime, I cut the white pointy cap and discovered its tiny pale green seeds and crushed one between my teeth, releasing a bright garlicky taste. In a magical kingdom somewhere, these bright little bulbils are as common as dandelions and are liberally sprinkled into salads.
5. The view
It's bright and sunny here and if it's as lovely where you are, I recommend you stop reading and go feel alive, away from the screen! Cheers!
