Thursday 31 January 2013

The Mushy Peas Artist

For someone who enjoys being creative, I find art rather baffling. So when I do find a painting that captivates me, I usually make a point to add them to my small list of favourites.

Cor Blok has now become one of these. He is probably best known (although being "best known" does not necessarily mean that you are well known at all) as the artist who painted over 100 pictures of The Lord of the Rings and when he showed a small collection of them to Tolkien, the author said they were attractive, but "bad as illustrations". Others have described Blok's work as "childish", in both positive and negative ways.

If you've come this far, you're probably curious now. Here's an example of Blok's work:

The Cow Jumped Over the Moon - Cor Blok
I once watched one of those addictive TV reality series' in which ordinary men and women are made to cook extraordinary dishes in order to win some form of a prize. One of the contestants decided that she was going to serve up mushy peas. That's right: peas that have been rendered soft and unattractive. The judges were perplexed, taken aback...and impressed. The audacity of it! Serving mushy peas as a delicacy! In the end, the contestant was commended on grounds that the peas were actually quite good, and she went on to the next level.

When I saw Blok's work, I immediately thought of the mushy pea incident. For here was the same brand of audaciousness. For all those who haven't been able to recognize what this picture is supposed to depict, it's the scene at The Prancing Pony in which Frodo dons the ring for the first time and disappears. Now can you see it?

It's childish, almost smacking of comic-material, but the characters, for all their simplicity, are recognizable. There's Strider in the black, looking mysterious. And Frodo in the centre in the midst of disappearing. And the patrons of The Prancing Pony in various stages of shock as they behold the scene. Only much later do you realize that they're not even sitting in chairs. Cor Blok apparently deemed chairs unnecessary to the scene and had the patrons sitting in mid-air instead. The audacity!

Yet, I couldn't help but enjoy it. Some part of me was laughing when I saw it. I didn't care that the scene was incomplete, or that the painting was "childish". I understood it! And to me, that's what art is: this ability to evoke a sense of kinship, whether through humour or sadness, between the artist and the viewer. This is something I continue to aspire to with my own creations and will continue to use that as a measure of success in this strange world of art.

You can view more of Cor Blok's work here: www.corblok.com

Tuesday 29 January 2013

The Elephant Lugger

28/01/13 copyright Diane Davenport
The Elephant Lugger is found in many parts of the world. He may not always be found with a wagon. Sometimes it is a backpack. Other times it may be a two-tonne truck. Whatever it is, he is always pulling it and he will tell you that it is very heavy. This is probably because of the elephant that is sitting inside it.

"Why, if I had an elephant, I would ride it," you might say.

But no, this has never occurred to the Elephant Lugger. It is unthinkable. He will tell you that the elephant has a mind of its own and cannot be trained. In fact, to the Elephant Lugger, having an elephant is rather unfortunate. It is not a creature that is delightful, like an otter or a platypus. This kind of elephant cannot even have its tusks harvested for the precious ivory (something I would not recommend since a tusk without an elephant means that there is a dead one lying somewhere around).

If you meet an Elephant Lugger, you must always be careful not to insult his elephant. You may think this strange since he seems to detest it so much in the first place. And you would be right. But the relationship between a Lugger and his elephant is much like the relationship between siblings. For whether you deem this relationship parasitic or symbiotic, between the Lugger and the elephant there is both loathing and love.

Monday 28 January 2013

Boy in Wolf's Clothing

My friends gave me an unusual desk calendar for my birthday. Each day presents an incomplete picture and a directive to make it complete. It was perfect for me: a few short minutes each day spent doodling, doing what I really should be doing more of.

On January 27th, I was presented with this:


For some reason, I was stuck. I think it was a simple reason of knowing that the pre-existing lines were going to interfere with my doodle. Maybe it was more complicated than that. I left it for the moment.

Today, I decided to give myself a bit more freedom and scanned it into my computer to be completed digitally. As I was drawing, I was constantly reminded of the teens whose paths I frequently cross. I don't know if it's the area, the culture or simply the age that we're in, but so many of them are hurting. But they don't want you to see it. So they throw you off with (what they think is) witty sarcasm and a don't-care attitude. Of course, we've always had these kinds of kids. But I'm struck by how a "normal" healthy kid is now the minority.

So here is my dangerous wolf dedicated to all those teens I see so often:

27/01/13 copyright Diane Davenport


Sunday 27 January 2013

"The way you spend your life is the way you spend your days."

I saw this quote recently and it resonated with thoughts that had been nagging at me since the start of 2013. I have an increasing urge to do something significant - something that will create a positive footprint that will outlast me. Yet I think that one thing that keeps me from doing this one significant thing is that I'm not a "one thing" kind of person. I am so fascinated by life, by why things are and how things came to be; I am a specialist in a generalist sort of way, the voluntary eternal student. How then to focus on just one thing when everything seems so special?

Can anyone relate?

Having said that, there are a few things that I suspect will remain at the forefront of my personality throughout my days. One of these is my art. There have been so many lost doodlings created in snatches of time; so many pictures given to others without a second thought that I might want to see them again. And I think that in a way, my art summarizes much of what is going on personally at the time, whether it's an emotional high, or whether I've just discovered the history of pale ale. I hope to capture most of that here and hope that, for all the other eternal, expressive and creative students of life out there, that as you read this, you'll be inspired to keep savouring this world we live in.