Poetry Thursday - Reading Laozi by Bai Juyi

 

Picture of Bai Juyi from the book "Wan hsiao tang"

Reading Laozi
Bai Juyi

Those who speak do not know, those who know are silent,
I heard this saying from the old gentleman.
If the old gentleman was one who knew the way,
Why did he feel able to write five thousand words?

Bai Juyi (772-846; also known as Bo Juyi and Po Chuyi) wrote in the Mid-Tang period, living through the reigns of eight or nine emperors. A government official, his social and political criticism led to getting into official trouble, and subsequent exile, several times; he lived in "interesting times". 

One of the most prolific of all Chinese poets, Bai Juyi is best known for his short occasional verses written in simple language. Hei wrote over 2,800 poems, which he had copied and distributed to ensure their survival. They are notable for their relative accessibility: it is said that he would rewrite any part of a poem if one of his servants was unable to understand it.

His best-known poems are indexed on this site, appearing in characters, pinyin, and literal and literary English translation.

*Laozi (Lao Tzu, Lao-Tze) was an ancient Chinese philosopher and writer. He is the reputed author of the Tao Te Ching, and the founder of philosophical Taoism.

Drawing Tuesday - a long road

When I googled "a long road", this is what came up first in the list. So I had a listen, and a look. The winding scenery backing the singing becomes frenetic freeway footage. 

The version of the song from the Rambo soundtrack has this "into the sunset" shot at the start  -

But that "long road" is the literal interpretation. Other "long roads" might include evolution (the detours etc involved in natural selection, for instance), literacy (that entire process of learning to read), buying a house (with its many setbacks), migration.

The photo above shows a long straight road - there's also the "long and winding road" as in the 60s/70s song that plays in my head ... oh crikey, its by the Beatles and I've remembered the words all wrong! 

Phrases that include "long road" - the long road to freedom, a long road ahead, it's a long road that has no turning. Do those bring any peripheral subjects for drawing into view?

Here are 25 long road quotes -  quite a few from Nelson Mandela. My favourite is by Bai Juyi, a 9th century Chinese poet: "Fumes of wine shorten the long road." Those Chinese poets, 1200 years ago, liked their wine.

If you're looking for something more imaginative ... fairy tales often contain "long roads" as the youngest son (usually) sets out on his heroic quest and miscellaneous encounters. 

From Judith - Quick effort with unsurprising subject!

From Sue B - the crinkly wall in suffolk…done last year

From Richard - Still a lot to learn with the paints but went for graphic doodling this time. Spot the joke.

From Sue K - Decided on a collage based on Ravilious watercolour of Beachy Head. Collage with pastel rubbing.

From Mags - I took the prompt rather literally and recorded my regular walk down ' Abbeyfields' . I've recently discovered ' What3words' and 'MapMyWalk' apps and taking occasional photos of the road, I held my pen loosely over a narrow cutdown A5 landscape sketchbook , tracking my steps , wrote some of the 'what3words' locations ( and made up some of my own!) . It took longer scanning the sketches and combining them in Photoshop than it did to do the walk !

From Gill - This is the yellow brick road left to return to nature.

I wanted to remind myself than spring is coming along with sunny days in the future.

From Janet K - Light at the end of the tunnel?

From Joyce - Here’s my contribution to today’s topic, at the end of the long road, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Printed on my new toy, a Gelli plate.

From Ann - A collage...

A metaphor for life's journey.

From Jackie - apologies to Hobbema….I copied this whilst watching

Jo Biden’s inauguration..a long road ahead for him too...

The Avenue at Middelharnis is a Dutch Golden Age 

painting of 1689 by Meindert Hobbema,

 now in the National Gallery.

From me - Some scraps happened to be lying on my table, and you know how it is, you start arranging them ... and a story emerges ... the result being an abstract/imaginative scene based loosely on Scandinavian and Inuit folk/fairy tales, which often have an animal as a central character. 

My "instructions to myself" were to use every scrap. After a dozen rearrangements and cutting off one little corner, I chose one of the earliest versions as the best one.

Later, as the bits were still lying on the table (though some had shifted), I took a rubbing, then augmented it with pencil here and there - 

And Carol reports - I have gone off brief this week so no drawing about a long road. Instead I'm preparing art boxes to send to my 4 yr old grandson to help with home schooling. I'm doing around 2 a week, latest one below is a little theatre to make using the box for posting as well. Tiny curtains all included.

Poetry Thursday - The Sick Rose by William Blke

 

O Rose thou art sick.

The invisible worm,

That flies in the night

In the howling storm:

Has found out thy bed

Of crimson joy:

And his dark secret love

Does thy life destroy.

     - William Blake (author and artist)

The meaning of “The Sick Rose” is hotly contested (see here, and elsewhere, for the academic battlefield). 

The poem has been set to music by various people; my favourite is Benjamin Britten's setting as "The Elegy" in his Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings. Several versions are available on youtube, this one with a nice moonlit seascape to add further mood. A version sung by Ian Bostridge is here. 

Drawing Tuesday - impractical clothing

 For many people, an item of clothing is impractical if it doesn't have pockets. 

Or if a raincoat isn't waterproof.

But those are prosaic - do use your imagination and perhaps do some collage, making "hybrid" garments that serve no practical purpose! There are fashion designers whose creations fall into this category - google "impractical runway fashion" for a giggle and some ideas. I liked this one - reminds me of Flat Stanley, one of my young son's favourite books, back in the day -

This seems like a good subject for drawing on cloth, or with thread (or paper and glue). Why not go completely impractical and "adapt" something that's waiting to go to the charity shop? 

From Mags - Last August, when making lots of fabric masks,  carefully choosing high thread- count cloth , I  became  increasingly concerned  by what people regarded as suitable materials for  face coverings.  Designer offerings included  embellished  silk organza !  My interpretation    includes "fabric" of fruitnet  with  used Colour Catcher "Filter" 

An additional photo ( manipulated in Photoshop and printed on Colour Catcher)  of me wearing a '2 layered fabric face covering '( 2 fruitnets) 

From Najlaa - Man in gellabia

From Ann - Just had to have an excuse to paint this courtesan from the Edo period in her most impractical kimono. In watercolours.

From Judith - Things to be thankful for in 2021!

From Carol - These shoes are only any good for sitting around and being waited on hand and foot. Cannot walk, stand for any length or time or drive in them but they sparkle in a lovely way and make your feet feel like fairies.

From Sue K - Here’s my offering with influence of Kusama’s graphic novel clothes. A ‘pin up’ dress of covid life!

From Janet K - I bought this coat for £5 in a charity shop. Impractical for London winters - much too warm! But keeps me cosy in Winnipeg when it's -25C (with a sweater underneath).

From Joyce - who else remembers the exhibition at the VandA “Shoes, Pleasure and Pain"? Here are the platforms designed by Vivienne Westwood that Naomi Campbell famously fell off in 1993!

It was an interesting exhibition spanning many centuries and cultures, today’s footwear can be much more comfortable and kind to the feet.

From Gill - I’ve just watched all the PG Tips chimpanzee advertisements on YouTube (well it is lockdown) and they are still lol for me. I loved these when I was a little girl but of course it is totally inappropriate now to dress animals up and these clothes are impractical for them as they don’t have wardrobes.

PG Tips even had their own Bond........Brooke Bond.

From me - "The pocket handkerchief folding pocket book" - showing eight scaled-down examples of carefully folded squares of linen, cotton or silk (in this case, paper) to put in a jacket pocket, for display purposes only. There are conventions of what type of folds are appropriate for whichever occasions, which need not concern us here. The popular saying is "one for show and one [in trousers pocket] for blow". 

Sumi ink and felt-tip pens on packing paper ("use what you have"). 

Some further ideas:

- overcoat for a giraffe

- tights for centipedes

- cloak of obscurity (rather desirable, perhaps?)

- bubble wrap raincoat for hedgehog

- fur coats for sheep

- "pocket wardrobe" - in a pocket book, perhaps?

And the clothes for paper dolls always did have impractical tabs to hold them on.

Drawing Tuesday - from/to the charity shop

Something you found in a charity shop and brought home - or something you've put into the bag with all the other donations, waiting for the charity shops to open again so as to get rid of more "stuff". 

I walk past a charity shop most days and often something in the window catches my eye, either as desirable or as A Big Mistake. At the moment, with the new lockdown in place, the windows are frozen in time - containing not particularly nice things, in a not particularly nice time....

That little fellow came from a charity shop about a year ago; 25p was the price on his head. A waving chick half-hatched from its egg. Bonkers! Irresistibly ludicrous and it cheers me up!

From Janet K - Shoes waiting to go to the charity shop.

From Joyce - a toy dumper truck from a charity shop and soon to be on it’s way back, not played with anymore!

From Gill - This is a little vase I bought as it is perfect to put home grown flowers and greenery in for the dining table. After I had finished my collage I noticed that I had subconsciously taken the colour scheme from an old drawing next to it.

From Richard - My painting clutter grew so I found what I think must be a make-up container, in a charity shop. I think that was to be able to pack it all for our honeymoon, on which we did quite lot of painting, among other activities. 

From Judith - To Charity Shop: books, books and more books.

From Sue K - Deep concentration - kept losing my place! Why did l choose such a complex piece to draw?

From Mags - The tea strainer  bought  as  'shiny object' contribution  for City Lit drawing class has actually proved quite useful for its intended purpose. Which is more than can be said for Ian's cheese slicer which I haven't yet managed to sneak to the charity shop ... Practising drawing with left hand

From Jackie - I bought this beautiful wooden dolls house complete with furniture and occupants for £10.00 in a local charity shop. My grandsons aged 5 and 3 were delighted to invade it with their cars., parking them in the upstairs area…. however eventually, just before the family relocated to Sweden, Max, then aged 7, started to play with it the way I had hoped…  I am waiting for their next visit from Sweden, whenever that might be... to see if it will still hold their interest! It certainly holds mine… I think I must be still waiting to grow up….

From Ann - I found this pitcher in a charity shop some years ago ..it's such a great shape and texture I felt it would be great for still life paintings. Miss trips to charity shops ..such great finds!

From Carol - I brought this little egg cup with lid for 99p last year just because it was beautiful and I thought would be good to try and draw. It turned out to be ghost-like and a good challenge to look at the light shapes I really enjoyed drawing, it was 99p well spent.

PS it is too small even for small sized Tescos eggs! Perhaps that is why it was in the charity shop.
Am loving all the qurky things we feel compelled to buy.

From me - The cardinal virtues, from a manuscript from around the year 800. Found in "The Age of Charlemagne", published in 1965, which I got from a library book sale (Morley College) recently; the image in the book was monochrome, which made it "interesting" to get the tones -

The cardinal virtues are faith, hope, charity, justice, prudence/wisdom, temperance, courage/fortitude.