Oh, Are You Leaving ? --- Day 9/254

Walk: No

Distance: 3/4 mile up and down stairs, turning book pages, etc.

Ciwt didn't have this kid's energy for the end of the year.  She read, groomed her cats, brought in the mail, home stuff like that and just let 2020 go on its way.

No More Noir --- Day 9/253

Walk: Hood

Distance: 4 miles, Yoga

Odilon Redon, Guardian Spirit of the Waters, 1878, charcoal on treated paper

Odilon Redon, Bouquet of Flowers, ca. 1905, pastel on paper

Young artists often go through several stages reaching their statement/their look.  But, once established with regular patronage, it is quite rare for them to radically change their imagery and style.  Not so with the French artist, Odilon Redon, as you can see above.

From her art selling days Ciwt personally remembers the uproar from collectors when their beloved artist suddenly started making very different works.  There is the sadness that they won't be able to add more of the look they like to their collections.  But also shock if they have been collecting in hopes of some day selling at a profit because is often difficult to develop a following for an established artist's new style. Same goes for the gallery or dealer representing the artist.

But, again, not so Redon. The many floral still lifes that he created at the end of his career are actually among his most popular and recognizable works and have been widely reproduced.  Some critics feel the bouquets of  nearly floating and glowing color are simply another form of Redon's noirs as they all come from Redon's intense imagination and inner vision.  Certainly more colorful, but, rather than mere elements of home decor, the flowers appear to them to be apparitions on a par with his monochromes.

Whatever the critics' or Redon's thinking, Ciwt is sure she would only have collected his new look if she had been buying art in the early 20th century.  And, she would have made that profit.  Oh, and she also would have bought a bunch of early Matisses....

Speaking of vivid imaginations.......

Court 1 --- Day 9/252

Walk: Presidio Pickleball

Distance: 2.5 miles, 90 minutes pickleball

Watch that yellow pickleball!  Presidio Wall Court #1 today

Maybe next week rain.  But for now the weather holds and allows Ciwt and others to have an outdoor activity during our shutdown - 6 feet away in masks.

Blue Doors --- Day 9/251

Walk: No, Monday Home Chores

Distance: 1/2 mile, Yoga

So several people in Ciwt's neighborhood apparently decided covid lockdown was a good time to give their houses fresh coats of paint.  She doesn't remember ever before seeing glossy royal blue used for front doors, but now it seems to be all over the place.  (Maybe the owners were all working with the same color consultant?)

Anyway, Ciwt thinks the blue doors are very snappy and make the classic Victorians more lively and fresh.  You?

For Justice --- Day 9/250

 Walk: Presidio Pickleball

Distance: 2.5 miles, 90 minutes pickle, small yog

So, Ciwt is thinking our new President might consider Michael Connelly for his Justice Department appointment.  Not really of course.  But Connelly probably knows as much about criminal justice as anyone - and has done more than his fair share keeping Ciwt absorbed and entertained - as well as informed - throughout our Covid shutdown.  She's read quite a few of his books, and each one is exceedingly well researched and filled with interesting, accurate procedural information, complex characters and compelling action.  

Connelly's  fascination with the crime beat may have begun as a Florida teenager when he witnessed a man running and dropping something into the hedges. Connelly went over to them, pulled back the branches and found a gun wrapped in a shirt - the first time he'd held a gun - and, later dealt (disappointingly)* with the police.  But Connelly's the real start came when he discovered Raymond Chandler's books in college and decided to become a writer himself.  As he tells it, “I read all of Chandler’s novels in two weeks, and it really turned my head. That’s when I started saying I don’t want to just read this stuff. I want to write it. It wasn’t a decision to become a writer. I wanted to become a writer of crime fiction. I was very specific.” So the always thoroughly prepared Connelly, switched his major from Engineering to Journalism with a minor in Creative Writing.

After college he worked at several prestigious Florida papers specializing in the crime beat.  Six years after graduating, Connelly had already been short-listed for a Pulitzer Prize when he was hired by the Los Angeles Times and elevated to the top level of journalism. And five years into his stint there, his book series history began with the publication of The Black Echo which won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, and introduced his anti-hero detective, Hieronymus Bosch.  

By the mid 90's Connelly felt confident enough in his prospects to leave journalism and write his own books full time.  Since then, well ... he has published 36 books and counting, sold 80 million of them so far and seen several of those go onto the big screen, created and hosted the podcast Murder Book, been executive producer of the Amazon series Bosch and more.  But Connolly never left his reporter's demands behind.  Every book is exactingly researched before he even begins writing and checked again and again for accuracy throughout the process from page to publication.

Come to think of it, what would Ciwt and millions of other Connelly readers do for compelling reading if he was stuck in the Justice Department?!

Michael Connelly

*The man turned out to be a robber and Connelly had seen him.  So as a fascinated but fearful teen, he worked the lineup with the police.  The man the cops identified wasn't the right one, but Connelly couldn't convince them they had the wrong guy.  As he tells it, "They thought I was this white kid from the suburbs...I was telling the truth.  But I was found guilty by those cops and it really bothered me."  Many years later, reportedly, it still does.  

Let There Be Color --- Day 9/249

Walk: Presidio Pickleball Courts

Distance: 2.9 miles, 1 hour pickle, small yoga

So, Ciwt has always thought the interiors of most Gothic cathedrals were bare stone with the only distinct interior color coming from their stained glass windows. Then during this holiday season she stumbled on some of these pictures.  Wrong, Ciwt -  and  how Beautiful.

Sainte-Chapelle, ceiling of the lower chapel: Saint Louis’ Sainte-Chapelle epitomizes the Rayonnant Gothic style as was King Louis IX’s personal chapel.

Duomo di Sienna

 

Orvietto Cathedral 

Cloister of Cathédrale Sainte-Marie de Bayonne

'Our' Santa Appears --- Day 9/248

 Walk: Maybe later (cold and showery) or maybe a cozy at home Christmas

Distance: We'll see, Yoga

Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), Extra Good Boys and Girls (Santa on Ladder with Map), 1939. Cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, December 16, 1939

Among his many Americana accomplishments, Norman Rockwell brought us our present day image of Santa Claus.  Before Rockwell, American Santa had many looks including a thin elflike man dressed in green, a skinny gnarly looking man with a scraggly beard.  For a while he had no hat, then, when he did, there was no uniform look or color to it.  Sometimes it was black, sometimes red.

Then along came Norman Rockwell, age 19 and already a very young Art Director of the Boy Scouts of America Magazine, Boy's Life.  And his  December 1913 cover with its round jollyish Santa dressed in his red suit and hat  and, ho, ho, ho, there was our Santa.  

Open Door --- Day 9/247

 Walk: Hood

Distance: 3 miles

Ciwt welcomes good holiday spirit to all