Winter, 1842 --- Days 14/355 & 356

Walks: Hood

Distance: 3.5 cold miles

JMW Turner (1775-1851), Snow Storm - Steam Boat of a Harbour's Mouth Making Signals in Shallow Water, and going by the Lead. (The Author was in this Storm on the Night the "Ariel" left Harwich), 1842, Oil on canvas

So when Ciwt thinks of the great JMW Turner's art she tends to picture his ethereal, glowing orange/yellow skies and peaceful images of English manor house estates and his paintings of the English seas and river Thames close to London: 

JMW Turner (1775-1851), Norham Castle Sunrise, ca 1845, oil on canvas

JMW Turner, Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), The Fighting Temeraire,Tugged to Her Last Berth to be Broken UP, 1839 , Oil on canvas.

This thinking overlooks the many intensely dramatic paintings he executed during his middle and late years.  It also overlooks the fact that Turner often painted winter, and it was never charming, snow covered, quiet winter. Like the Snow Storm painting above, his winters were violent, dangerous and then sublime, which to Turner meant the overwhelming beauty and awe-inspiring grandeur of the elements.

She also forgets that Turner painted in the midst of the Industrial Revolution in England. Although Turner had a wide range of interests and was open to technology, his paintings make clear his deeply felt conclusion that no human invention could match the far greater might of nature, the sublime. In Snow Storm, Turner has chosen to feature a steamboat, a symbol of new 19th century technology, being utterly overwhelmed by the power of the sea.  

Overlooked by Ciwt too is Turner's propensity toward the highly dramatic combination of real world and fiction - particularly in his later art. He was a highly focused, technically inventive and painter with an increasingly romantic mindset that believed man's emotional, individual responses to the world were of supreme importance.  

This whether true or served better by dramatic fiction as shown by announcing in the title of Snow Storm that he had been on this boat and in this storm. He claimed that he had been lashed to the mast of the ship in order to truly experience and convey nature's turbulent ferocity.  In fact Turner was 67 when the painting was made and no sailors came forward to confirm they had tied Turner to the mast.  

As was often common because Turner was ahead of his critics and already opening the door to future art movements like impressionism and expressionism, reaction to Snow Storm was deeply divided when it was made public. "Soap suds and white wash," one critic announced. Turner was reportedly hurt by the negative remarks, but continued on his passionate, inventive - obsessive really - artistic journey.  Luckily and importantly so. Monet, Rothko and countless artists after Turner were transformed or emboldened upon encountering Turner's paintings, and Turner is widely regarded as the "Father of Modern Art."

Winter, 1565 --- Day 14/354

Walk: Hood 

Distance: 3 v. cold miles

Pieter Bruegel, The Elder (Dutch, @1525-30-1569), Landscape with Ice-Skaters and Bird Trap, 1565, oil on wood 

Like all the seasons, winter has its complexities.  In the northern countries and states for instance it can be full of forbidding weather and solitude as well as a time of warm memories and get togethers with family and friends.  

Perhaps no one has captured winter's multiplicity better than the Dutch painter and printmaker Pieter Bruegel, The Elder in his 1565 Cycle of the Seasons paintings.  The most beloved of those may be the one above, Winter Landscape with Ice-skaters and Bird Trap.  It has been copied or imitated in art countless times, including exact 50 copies made by his son, Pieter Bruegel, the Younger and is a present day mainstay on calendars and winter memorbilia.

In it, Dutch villagers have gathered on a cold winter afternoon to enjoy ice activities together: skating at varying levels of skill, playing ice hockey (which may have started in Holland), curling and other sports as well as just walking on the ice and enjoying each other's company.  The white snow is cold as is the almost empty winter sky, but Bruegel's masterful choice of golden tones throughout makes his scene feel warm and inviting. It is full of heartwarming humanity, neighborly comraderie, spirited engagement and fun in spite of the freezing weather.  This warm portrayal of the best of winter has made the painting beloved for centuries.

But the year Bruegel painted this work, 1565, was in the midst of the Little Ice Age, an unexpected and relentless period of immensely harsh winters in Holland and throughout Northern Europe. And in the many non-human details throughout the painting Bruegel captures the cruel aspects of severe winter.  People are having fun on it but ice is unpredictable and people fall through and drown as Bruegel cautions with his dark open hole at the bottom. Winter puts food in short supply and the active little birds in the snow on the right are in imminent danger of being crushed by the heavy wooden trap set by occupants of a nearby house.  Most striking are the two large solitary black birds in the very center of the painting that sit on bare limbs looking down on the villagers as impassively as nature itself.  

The enduring power of Bruegel's straightforward, non-idealized portrayal of winter is all the more remarkable for his inventiveness.  Until shortly before Bruegel painted his winter scenes, Holland was part of Catholic Spain and virtually all the art produced was religious, patronized by the church. So when Holland won freedom from Spain there was no precedent or training in landscape art and everyday human activities.  This meant that Dutch artists had to re-invent Durch art, and Pieter Bruegel with his realistic rendering of nature, his creative use of color and brushwork, the precise detailing of human vivacity, grit, daily activity was one of the most famous and masterful pioneer. His paintings and prints also made him a formative influence on the Dutch Golden Age painters (Vermeer, Rembrandt, Hals in particular) who together created a turning point in art history.   

https://artsandculture.google.com/story/winter-through-bruegel-s-eyes-royal-museums-of-fine-arts-of-belgium/PwVx23r1GuwWIg?hl=en

Bows are IN --- Days 14/352 & 353

Walks: Hood

Distances: 3.5 miles

So, in her Neighborhood Holdiday Decoration travels Ciwt doesn't remember seeing a single bow that wasn't attached to a wreath.  This year they've freed themselves from their wreaths and been attached  everywhere!  Not very showy but quite dear up close.

Official Balloons --- Days 14/350 & 351

Walks: yes, hood

Distances: yes, 3 miles

Ciwt is not usually a fan of balloon decorations, but these are cute and festive so she's making them official entrants in her Neighborhood Holidays Decorating Contest.

Holiday Friends To Be(?) --- Days 14/348 & 349

Walks: Hood

Distances: 3 cold (for San Francisco) miles

Ciwt is looking forward to her amaryllises' showy company.  First comes the biting her fingernails part because they always look so unpromising.

Bargain Vacation --- Days 14/346 & 347

Walk: Asian Art Museum, Apple Cinema

Distance: 3.75 miles average

So Ciwt saved the plane fare and general travel hassles by traveling locally to one of her favorite places - a local theater.  And Wake Up Dead Man, the next installment of the Knives Out murder mystery movies, proved to be a delightful way to take a between holidays vacation.  Playing the role of Detective Benoit Blanc is such a romp for Daniel Craig who has actually upped his campy-hammy game, and Ciwt enjoyed going right along with him (as well as admiring his acting range).  This time Craig is matched with new-to-Ciwt Josh O'Connor who balances Craig perfectly both in story line and acting skills.  The rest of the cast is star studded, especially by Glenn Close who can do no wrong in Ciwt's book (but not necessarily in her role...).  As promised in the Knives Out series, the murder is wrapped up, but it takes many thought provoking twists and pscho-spiritual turns getting there.

Wake Up Dead Man will begin soon on Netflix (who produced it), but if you watch it there, you won't get the full over the top movie experience or the mini vacation actual theaters provide.  

First One --- 14/343-345

Walks: Hood

Distances: 3.5 miles average

Looks like Ciwt's last (but not least) 2025 Neighborhood Home Decorationg contest has begun. 

Neighborhood Thanksgiving Welcomes --- Days 14/340-342

Walks: Hood

Distance: 3 miles average

So, on her Thanksgiving morning walk today. Ciwt was delighted to see that may of her neighbors had gone from "Thanksgiving, yawn" to "Thanksgiving, Yay!"  with their welcoming decorations.  

Happy Thanksgiving