Can I Walk There?

Sunday, January 17, 2021

Happy Legend --- Days 9/270 & 271

Walk: 1. Presidio Pickleball 2. Hood stroll

Distance: 1. 2.5 miles, 90 minutes pickle 2. 2.5 miles, yoga

Bob Ross shows us how on The Joy of Painting

Over the years, when people learn that Ciwt writes about art, a common reaction has been "Oh, you must be artistic." Same was true when she sold art.

Wrong, in both cases. Artists make paintings among other things, and only a small part of her questions exactly how they do that. To her the artist figures it out, just like someone in Silicon Valley figures out how to make the computer she's now typing on. It's like there is a Mona Lisa brush that Leonardo da Vinci dipped into his paint can, and when he slid it along the canvas, voila, a masterpiece

Not really, but most of what she knew was from books until she began spending her covid lockdown hours on PBS with Bob Ross. What a revelation! And what a nice and delightful man to explain how painting is really done on The Joy of Painting, the show he created and hosted. It came onto PBS in 1983 and the last original episode was actually aired in 1994. Then the internet gave it new life and today people are flocking to it.

Very few to learn to paint (less than 10 percent of viewers including Ciwt ever painted along with Ross), some like Ciwt to get an education in how paintings are actually made, and virtually all to spend time with Bob Ross. He is encouraging, soothing, comforting and self described "happy." One of his great expressions is "Let's add a few happy little trees..." or clouds or happy waves and birds. He's been described as 'liquid tranquilizer."

Ross died in 1995, but, as PBS continues to air The Joy of Painting, Ross's stardom continues to grow. There are Bob Ross clubs, tee shirts with his image and sayings, internet memes, Lego figures, Halloween costumes and cartoons. Despite his international following, Ross was as private a person as he could arrange and there are very few substantiated biographical facts about him. But that hasn't slowed his fans from narratives recorded in fanzines, posts on message boards, tribute pages, obituaries, feature stores, (or this CIWT post). The lack of vetted information has actually raised every day, low key, salt of the earth Bob Ross to legend level, happy legend level to be sure.

Friday, January 15, 2021

Cinema CIWT --- Day 9/269

Walk: Hood

Distance: 3.5 miles, Yoga (while watching)

So, on another no pickleball day Ciwt grabbed a bag of popcorn, took a front row seat at her computer and went to England:

Then she worked off a little of that popcorn by doing yoga as she went to Budapest and watched an online selection from her Cinema Club. Discussion with her excellent San Francisco moderator to follow tomorrow afternoon.

So, almost like having an impromptu movie escape. Oh, and both trips were quite good - as was the popcorn.

Thursday, January 14, 2021

How'd You Do That? --- Day 9/268

Walk: No, Day of Rest

Distance: n/a

See that rounded dome behind the frescoed ceiling?

Here it is a little closer:

It's at the highest point of the Church of Sant'Ignazio in Rome, near the Pantheon. And....it isn't a dome at all. Ie, the ceiling up there is flat.

Backtracking a bit, Ciwt was thinking about those high church ceilings and wondering how artists got up there to decorate them. Many of us, particularly those who read Irving Stone's The Agony and the Ecstacy or saw the movie, know Michelangelo worked from scaffolding to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling. He actually designed a unique system of platforms attached by brackets to the Chapel's walls. This was ingenius (of course), but he never did figure out a way to overcome the physical strain of the increasingly uncomfortable work. Definitely not by lying on his back to paint. Contrary to the movie image of Charlton Heston, he and his assistants stood and reached above their heads to paint, for years! Makes Ciwt's muscles ache just thinking about it.

So far Ciwt hasn't learned how other artists before the advent of modern technology went about painting those gorgeous vaulted and domed ceilings around the world. But she did learn about the false dome above which was a major accomplishment in its own right and executed by another Renaissance genius, Brother Andrea Pozzo (1642-1709).

Pozzo may have been a Brother in the Jesuit order, but he appears to be the Father of the illusionistic artistic technique called trompe d'oeil. The widely traveled virtuoso painter-priest was an expert in mathematics who wrote detailed treatises on theories of perspective. And, when he was put in charge of the interior decoration at Sant'Ignazio from 1685-94, he had a supreme opportunity to put his theories into practice.

The Catholic Church at the time was in the business of winning believers back from the new Protestant orders that had sprung up since Martin Luther. One of their main techniques was filling their churches with dazzling, theatrical art that stirred the hearts and astonished the minds of worshippers. So, the original plan for the new Sant'Ignazio church called for an impressive, soaring dome through which the light of the Lord would appear to stream.

But, some time before completion, either the church ran out of money or the locals objected to a massive dome that would block their sun. Enter Brother Pozzo who managed to make the bascilica's massive (and flat!) ceiling disappear, opening up an entirely convincing vista into the celestial world above. What he was standing or sitting or lying on, Ciwt doesn't know, but, however he did it, Pozzo's masterpiece is one of the most impressive pieces of artistic illusion ever painted.

Brother Andrea Pozzo, S.J., Self-Portrait, 17th C.

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Free Zone --- Day 9/267

Walk: Hood

Distance: 5 miles

Then you get there and start missing shots...

The thing about sports is they can become addictive or at least a distraction as you replay that shot you missed or try to figure out how you'll get better next time. So Ciwt is looking forward to a pickleball free zone while she lets a little cut heal and hopefully gets her mind off that game and around some interesting CIWT topics.

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Okay, Go Stand Behind THAT Lecturn --- Day 9/266

Walk: Presidio Pickleball

Distance: 3 miles, 45 minutes pickle before a little rain 😀

Can you imagine hosting the very first Jeopardy show since the death of its host? That is, it's utterly beloved, consummately professional host for 37 years, Alex Trebek.

Ken Jennings, the man who did just that last night, can hardly imagine himself. In his words, the experience was "surreal," "intense," "unimaginable," "nerve wracking" and more.*

But, very personable and professional himself, Jennings did an excellent job, beginning with a warm tribute to Alex that reportedly brought many viewers to tears. He also brought a calming sense of continuity to the discontinuity because he is the Jeopardy GOAT, has made many and extended appearances on the show, won a bundle and was known to admire and care deeply for Alex. In turn, Alex was visibly fond of Ken and all the Jennings brought to Jeopardy.

So, onward..

*You might want to hear more from Ken himself