In the Bleak Midwinter

In the Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak midwinter, frost wind made moan, earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, in the bleak midwinter, long ago.

...lotsa snow... Merry Christmas.

Go West

Go West Young Man
...


Go East Young Man
...

or just


Stay Where You Are

Moth to the Flame

Moth to the Flame

Another moth for you, Jeem! You might get a kick out of comparing it to the other one if you still have it. All the best, Phil.

Celebration

Celebration

Nuke it up

Nuke it up

Out From Left Field

Out From Left Field

Art musing: Minimalism has its place but would you want a steady diet of it? Yes! Well, that's what you get for asking a rhetorical question! :-)

Go with the Flow

Go with the Flow

Not always the best advice.

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Ha, that and apple cider... that time of year again...

Artificial Horizon

Artificial Horizon

Fat Tuesday

Fat Tuesday

Plays

Plays

Ship of Fools

Ship of Fools

Opportunity Lost/ Lost Opportunity

Opportunity Lost/ Lost Opportunity

The first way sounds more poetic than the second.

Art musing: artists are supposed to have the soul of a poet. Hmmm. THE BOY STOOD ON THE BURNING DECK!!! Whence all but he had fled; The flame that lit the battle's wreck, Shone round him o'er the dead.

The boy stood on the burning deck
Whence all but he had fled -
The twit!

Thank you C-c-c-c-captain Subtle

Thank you C-c-c-c-captain Subtle

One Thing Leads to Another

One Thing Leads to Another

See What I Mean

See What I Mean

Descent into Detente

Descent into Detente

Glasnost, Perestroika!

Cigar Box Guitar

Cigar Box Guitar

Old Skool

Old Skool

...


New Skool


...

Londonderry Way

Londonderry Way

Lightning

Lightning

du u no wat? no, but i met hu at a party! text me baby, yeah

Power of the Prestidigitators

Power of the Prestidigitators

The Big Idea

The Big Idea

Just Like a Fractal on the Wall

Just Like a Fractal on the Wall

Hey, that is a fractal on the wall. Picture courtesy of dj. Thanks dj!

The "Wright" Stuff

The "Wright" Stuff

A tip of the hat to intrepid fractal artist, poet, and blogger, Terry Wright.

Thanks for the six word review, dude!

Having Writ

Having Writ

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on -- Omar Khayyam

If I could have my druthers...

Revolution

Revolution

Fly the flag high.

Saw a pic of the Titanic's 3rd class staircase. Didn't know they had one. Maybe it wasn't exactly known as such. Functional, if not quite as fancy as 1st and 2nd.

Move Along, Nothing to See Here

Move Along, Nothing to See Here

There's something about insubstantial art that invites the viewer to fill in the blanks. In my case, I fill them in with, "Why am I trying to envision what the art is supposed to be?! Isn't that what the artist is supposed to be doing for me?!" Haha, yes, I've been had again. The other one is supplying Chopsticks instead of a piano concerto. So there's another part of the art riddle for you: art ... is in ... the arrangement!

(but, but, but, ... I like Chopsticks! Well, Liberace's arrangement of it anyway...)

All Washed Up ... If You Get My Drift

All Washed Up ... If You Get My Drift

Archipelago

Archipelago

Statues peer out at you from behind the bushes on the islands of the fractal archipelago.

Communing with the Spirits

Communing with the Spirits

Ambient music is good for that. Listening to the muses. Music. Amusing. The Muse. Spirits.

My favourite amusing lyrics from pop music:

"Nothing came easy, nothing came free, nothing came at all until they... came after me!" - hmmm, then something came alright.

"What I choose... is my choice!" - haha, for a moment there, I thought I was actually getting something - Oh, I dunno, a pearl of wisdom, or something like that.

In a sense, when you appreciate the work of artists and composers who have passed away, you are communing with their spirits.

(lyrics from Alice Cooper and, I think, Smashing Pumpkins respectively)

Crossroads

Crossroads

Robert Johnson went down to the crossroads to get the magic pick. Wally Wood wanted the magic pencil. I'd like the magic - uh, whatever it is that makes fractals... uh, formula? Yeah, the magic formula... that old black magic, has got me under its skin. Hey, that didn't come out right!

Fallen World

Fallen World

I've often thought Religious Philosophy's "Problem of Evil" is just another way of saying "it's a fallen world", a point conceded very early on in most holy writings. We were kicked out of heaven. Are fractals heaven? In a way, yes. So what are fractals doing here?!

Saltland

Saltland

The reference shouldn't be too hard to figure out ... ;-)

May Day

May Day

Workers of the world unite! I heard a story the other day of workers in a factory in France holding managers hostage who had come to tell them they were laid off. I think someone missed the point somewhere. I don't know how it was finally resolved.

Speaking of France, I believe "mayday!", the distress call, is derived from the french, "m'aider!", meaning "help me!"

I think May Day, the workers day, is actually May 1, so I should have posted this fractal then.

Grape Stompers

Grape Stompers

Was watching a special on the prohibition. The ladies of the Women's Christian Temperance Union did have a point. There were cases where the breadwinner would come home having drunk up the pay leaving nothing for the dependents, and then take it out on their hides.

Walking on the Beach

Walking on the Beach

You know when you get the wet sand between your toes, yeah, and look out to the sky, think of the universe beyond, think of the world below the waves, sunken wrecks, sharks, then be so glad to feel the sun's warmth going right through ya...

Does anybody really know what time it is? Uh, 25 or 6 to four, man. As I was walking down the street, er, beach, one day...

What If I Got Nothing

What If I Got Nothing

WhadifIgutnuthin? Not a pleasant thought. OTOH, material things treasured, in the end can't be given away... "That's OK, I still got my guitar" - Jimi Hendrix.

Where the Truth Lies

Where the Truth Lies

A very fine Internet crank passed away the other day. John "Birdman" Bryant. His website has some pithy observations about truth in the abstract. However, when he applied them to certain subjects... watch out. Not for the easily offended. And yes, my ox got gored too upon occasion.

I was run over by the truth one day
Ever since the accident I've walked this way

- opening lines to Adrian Mitchell's poem, To Whom it May Concern. A counterculture classic from the counterculture decade. From time to time, YouTube has a clip of him reciting it in the Albert Hall. Very groovy, to borrow a phrase of the day. Adrian Mitchell passed away last December.

Desert Storm

Desert Storm

Not Operation Desert Storm, just a desert storm. Was the first operation desert storm really almost 20 years ago? How time flies. Saddam has met his Allah. The rout of all that old Soviet supplied hardware contributed to the collapse of the USSR. The cold war met its end... in the desert, you could say. There's some irony for you. Hey, I should have saved this fracky for Remembrance Day. Whoops!

Art

Art

That? Yes, actually. "What is Art?" I don't believe there's a definition that can sum it up in one sentence. Rather, we have bits and pieces. Is a beautiful sunset art? Is craftsmanship art? Art is Italian for skill. Art is whatever an artist says it is. Which begs the question. Please, question, pretty please!

The tale is as old as the Eden Tree, and new as the new-cut tooth
For each man knows ere his lip-thatch grows, he is master of Art and Truth;
And each man hears as the twilight nears, to the beat of his dying heart,
The Devil drum on the darkened pane: "You did it, but was it Art ?"

- excerpt from The Conundrum of the Workshops, by Rudyard Kipling, 1890

I wont give away his punchline, but I'm sure you can use Google to find the poem and read it for yourself. If I didn't know better, I'd say Rudyard was being very sly. What do you think the title of the poem refers to?

Tempest in a Teapot

Tempest in a Teapot

...