A Corroded Spike

This summer I’ve been involved in an informal deal — in exchange for a house to inhabit I agreed to do a few tasks. One of these tasks involved pouring concrete, a type of work I’ve more-or-less successfully avoided in recent years.

Part of this work involved digging in the scanty and rocky soil which partially cloaks this Southeast Arizona canyon. I’ve encountered several cast-off human artifacts during this project, mostly items which didn’t interest me, like old bottle-caps and pull-tabs. Yesterday I happened upon something a bit different, a chunk of eroded iron which I picked up and examined. I stuck the chunk into a back jeans pocket and photographed it later.

The piece of iron looks like the younger brother of a railroad spike. It’s just four inches long:

After I shot a few photos of the spike it occurred to me that this miniature spike is most likely a relic of the old shaft-mining days here in Bisbee, a spike which held down the narrow-gauge rails along which ore-carts traveled to and fro, carrying copper ore to the surface from the Stygian depths. This was during the early twentieth century, before open-pit mining became prevalent.

In the above photo the shadow cast by the late-afternoon sun caught my interest. I was reminded of a Hokusai print, one of the series “36 Views of Mount Fuji”.

This wood-block print is called “Great Wave Off Kanagawa”. Fishing boats in trouble can be seen in the foreground, while Mt. Fuji broods in the background. I must confess that graphic artists such as Hokusai, Escher, and botanical illustrators interest me; life is too short to pay much attention to urban artists feted by the insular “fine” arts people. Here are a couple of fine waterfall prints by Hokusai, who was a major influence upon early 20th-century illustrators such as Arthur Rackham and Sidney Sime.

Larry

The Night Of The Hunter

Bisbee, Arizona has a population of just six thousand people, but this summer I have learned that the local public library is an invaluable resource. The Copper Queen Library, along with a good book collection, also has an extensive library of classic films on DVD.

Last night, as I ate freshly-made pesto with home-made bread, I watched a movie which impressed me deeply, the 1955 film The Night Of The Hunter. Charles Laughton directed this dark film, and the amazing cinematography of Stanley Cortez has the feel of German Expressionist movies of the 1920s.

Robert Mitchum’s performance as the evil and psychotic preacher is the role of a lifetime. Shelley Winters shines as a widow who falls under the preacher’s spell.

This review of the film effectively explains its power, even fifty-seven years later:

Noir of the Week article

You can watch the movie in seven parts on Youtube; here’s the first fourteen minutes.

Larry

The Fiji Mermaid

When I got here a week ago Bev had just agreed to do an art installation for a show in downtown Bisbee. Such installations are an ephemeral type of art and it doesn’t make sense to spend much money for materials.

She had decided to make a painted fortune-teller’s booth and dress up as the fortune-teller herself. As atmospheric props she has been making the kind of biological freakish oddities which might be found in a carnival freak show. The figures will be suspended from the ceiling near the booths.

I am not a practioner of the visual and plastic arts, thus I was fascinated to see the weird little figures take shape. Bev had seen the papier maché variant technique on a teacher’s web-site and had been wanting to try it. It’s a simple technique involving a wire armature, wadded-up newspapers, paper towels, and white glue.

Mummified mermaids, often called “The Fiji Mermaid” in the carnival sideshows, have been exhibited far and wide. They are horrifying but fascinating little mummies and doubtless have inspired many a bad dream. Here’s Bev’s take on the garish tradition. The eyes are the bottom discs cut from a cardboard egg carton. I might help with the acrylic painting of the creature’s details:

Another common feature of the sideshows is the display of the remains of a deformed or mutated animal. Two heads, an unusual number of limbs, or inappropriate skin surfaces are commonly seen. I suggested to Bev that a two-headed snake might be appropriate, and why not give it two tails as well? Here’s what she came up with:

Larry

Religion Flowchart

I like flowcharts created by geeks trying to make sense of the world! Thanks go to Michelle Beissel for this image.

Larry

Mervyn Peake Revisited

During my tumultuous but reserved adolescence I was a reader of fantasy, as well as works of the common English canon, notably Charles Dickens.

I was a devotee of the novels of J.R.R. Tolkien, reading them over and over, but later in life I’ve found them to be unreadable. I looked farther afield for similar works of literature.

During the late 1960s fantasy writer Lin Carter edited a series of paperback books for Ballantine, a publisher which was attempting to capitalize on the mass-market success of Tolkien. Ballantine published three wonderful novels by Mervyn Peake, the Gormenghast Trilogy. I just loved those novels, they were like Dickens with even more of a touch of the grotesque, psychological fantasies informed by Freudian and Jungian readings, I suppose. The first paperback Ballantine releases featured a center section of Peake’s wonderful drawings of many of the characters. The later editions lacked that section, no doubt due to the costs involved.

I urge you to seek out Peake’s novels. I need to re-read them. Here are a few of Mervyn Peake’s drawings:

Larry

Camels, Etc.

How would you like to see a unique graphic composed by my friend Bev Wigney? She used a photo of a discarded cigarette pack and a page from a Kipling story and came up with this. I was impressed and amused. What do you think of it?

I posted this and saw that the text was too small; here’s a link to the full-size graphic:

Camel Story

Larry

Early Botanical Paintings

I’m very fond of botanical art, perhaps because I have no skill in the visual arts. I appreciate the works of those who do have that gift, though!

Here are two paintings by a seventeenth-century woman, Maria Sibylla Merian:

These paintings brings back memories. Back in my Knox County, Missouri days I grew both species of fritillaries. The Crown Fritillary shown in the second painting lasted for just one year, as the species requires well-drained soil. The Guinea-Hen Flower, Fritillaria meleagris, naturalized well in some open hickory woodland and might still be blooming there. The checkerboard blooms are a sight to see!

Larry

Another Thanksgiving

Here’s another good graphic offering from Grant Snider:

I like his work, and you can see more of it here

Incidental Comics

Last Thanksgiving Day I was at a low point in my life, as documented here:

Thanksgiving 2010

Things are marginally better for me now, thanks to some help from my parents; I lived with them last winter while I tried to figure out what to do with what remains of my life.

I’m solvent enough to maintain a place to live and internet access, like food and water for me.

I’m thankful that my health has been good and that I can eat well, as I have to admit that I cook well! Reading, music, and correspondence with certain distant friends (you know who you are!) keeps me happy.

I hope that whoever wanders by here has a good day today!

Larry

Scenes From My Writing Workshop

I suspect that cartoonist Grant Snider visited my shop one day when I was off at work and sketched some of my tools:

I’m quite fond of Grant’s work; you can see more of it here, and even buy posters!

Incidental Comics

My Personification Press was given to me by a grateful grove of talking trees!

Larry

Spooky and Mysterious

I’ve always enjoyed paintings and illustrations which seem to imply dark and mystic depths, images which make you look twice as a shiver travels up your spine. John Tenniel, Maurice Sendak, and Sidney Sime are three illustrators who come to mind, and traveling back in time, Hieronymous Bosch and Pieter Brueghel the Elder certainly had that power to disturb and inspire my imagination.

Here are three more image-masters to add to the list.

Isabelle Cardinal is a Canadian graphics designer and illustrator who has produced some very nicely surreal images. This one is a depiction of a Tarot card in another world much like ours:

The next two are part of a series depicting the Seven Deadly Sins:

This last one of Isabelle’s is a dream or fairy tale scene, it seems. Will the scary cat find the little guy? This reminds me of Maurice Sendak’s work:

You can see more of Isabelle Cardinal’s work here:

Eyecreate

Just this morning I happened across the paintings of Alexander Jansson. I don’t know much about him, other than what can be gleaned from this page:

Mystical Illustrations

More weird fairy-tale illustrations! I liked this example of Alexander’s work:

I’d gladly play in such a band! It reminds me of the alien combo scene in the first Star Wars movie.

Last but not least, here are some witty and well-executed pastiches inspired by the paintings of Hieronymous Bosch. My friend and commenter Bev Wigney is responsible for these:

You can see more of Bev’s work here:

Crocodile Paintings

I’ll now let you return to the world of the mundane!

Larry