Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Stalking Artistic Excellence

Stalking Artistic Excellence



Ewell Gibbons, the famous naturalist, wrote an essay, stalking the Wild Asparagus. I have always liked a double play on words and his title amused me. Yesterday on our morning walk Linda picked a whole handful. It grows wild along the road and at this time of year people are out in hoards, walking the back lanes in search of it. We ate it last night for supper and it was delicious.

In the EWW class I posted my example submission and example critique. I try and use examples wherever I can. The down-side is that a student might read one and conclude… That Percy is not such a hot-shot writer, if this is any example of his work… The upside is that they are unlikely to be overwhelmed and will more likely conclude… Shucks! I can do what he is doing and maybe even a bit better!

The pictures seem to be boosting my blog views. I have been running about 50 views a day but since the photographs it has nearly doubled. I guess it proves the adage, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” It is either that or readers like the analogies between figurines and writing. Well art is art. Today I am showing a close-up of the right side of the desk. Yesterday I took a figure we picked up on the Kansas trip and put her into a green pin cushion base. Let me talk a little about this piece.

If you can see the eyes they are extremely well done. So is the composition and the glaze, except for the hat. I hate the hat and am tempted to cut it off with a Dremmel saw and fill the hole in with auto body filler (Bondo). Women used to use these dolls in their sewing and the old porcelain ones are very collectable. This one however is not old. She is too good to be true and I thought so at the time. Then down the road I saw another that was an exact copy. That is too much of a coincidence and I suspect this cushion figure was reproduced recently in a studio shop in Europe or Asia. The fact remains however that the figure is of high quality and shows that knock offs are often rendered better than the real antiques.

The search for excellence in natural foods, figurines and writing is an unending task and it is amazing how our writing is influenced by the beauty of the environment and the full range of artistic media and accomplishments.