Francis Bacon and Cabbage

Francis Bacon looked at photographs of dogs moving to create this work. He smeared the paint to suggest that the dog may have been mentally ill. Bacon used animals to demonstrate danger and the fear of danger.

Mentally ill dogs..now there's food for thought...did they send them to the Dog House!?
                

Arty Farty Dog aka Eddie: She put her hair in a bun and ate it!

Arty Farty Dog aka Eddie: She put her hair in a bun and ate it!: "Did you know that Marcel Duchamp was a librarian? In 1913, Duchamp withdrew from painting circles and began working as a librarian in the ..."

She put her hair in a bun and ate it!

Did you know that Marcel Duchamp was a librarian?  In 1913, Duchamp withdrew from painting circles and began working as a librarian in the Bibliotèque Sainte-Geneviève to be able to earn a living wage while concentrating on scholarly realms and working on his Large Glass.

"Librarians are the secret masters of the universe. They control information. Never piss one off."  A character in "The Callahan Touch", one of science fiction writer Spider Robinson's books

Do you know any librarians?  You know I met a librarian the other day, and she was actually nice, and funny, and not at all geeky…she didn’t put her hair into a bun, and eat it!  She didn’t wear glasses and she had peroxide blond hair.  She drinks pints of Guinness..hey, not bad.  She liked the 80s band ‘Public Image’.   She told me some interesting facts about librarians…well I think they are interesting…..

Famous people who were librarians include -

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Casanova, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, former first lady Laura Bush and China's Mao Zedong, Lewis Carroll, the famous Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges, the English poet Philip Larkin,  Marcel Proust, Berlioz the French composer, Boris Pasternak – the Russian writer, Immanuel Kant, the German archaeologist JJ Winckelmann and Mike Tyson,  At one point in their lives, each of them either worked as librarian or in a library…yea, I did say Mike Tyson, during his stint in prison!!

Creative Librarians –

Even "Star Wars" creator George Lucas has his own research library on his Skywalker Ranch. Lucas started the library in 1978.

Heroic Librarians –

Alia Muhammad Baker, the chief librarian of Basra, Iraq, removed 30,000 books from the city's main library before it was destroyed during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

So now, so there….

Cheesy Puffs and Canines in Art History

Well Jim has got whiff of the question I posed about dogs in art history and this is the jist of what I got while sitting under the table in his art school this evening - nice M&S bikkies ..blackforest gateaux flavour I believe? Sorry I digress (please excuse spellings).  Well Freud and Picasso seem to be the obvious ones to him - Lucien Freud the English painter known for his cold and unflattering paintings of nudes (he painted a portrait of Kate Moss when she was pregnant) paints dogs alongside some of his nudes - miniature greyhounds and an array of whippets.  This inclusion of dogs seems to add some humanity (for want of a better word) or warmth to the paintings.  Pablo Picasso, as we know loved women, but he also loved dogs and he included his dachshund Lump in a series of his works.  There is even a book of photographs of Picasso and his dog entitled 'Picasso and Lump: A Dachshund's Odyssey'.  In response to my question on Facebook Tom Kavanagh the London based music photographer threw in his tuppence for which I am grateful because hey - William Wegman takes cool shots of dogs (obviously in the realm of photography not painting - and we won't get into that debate!!) but very interesting all the same - he is an American fine artist and photographer who photographs his Weimaraner dogs in costumes and mad settings.  Not everyone's cup of tea but check him out -

Oh and by the way if you throw Cheesy Puffs into an open fire, they will burst into flames!
Surprise, surprise!!

Louis de Bernieres and Chocolate Cake

Did you know that there is a statue of a dog called 'Red Dog' outside the town of Dampier in Western Australia?  Well now you do...and how do I know this?..I have just read 'Red Dog' by that guy Louis something or other who wrote that famous book about a mandolin!  You know the guy..well its kinda good.
He tries occasionally to get inside the head of a dog - to think like one. Brave of him really...now Red Dog was one kool dog.., had a mate John but also lots of other friends and liked to wander and travel over some distances ....now if I did that here in the Galway countryside I would get shot by the local farmer! 

I had a nice slice of M&S chocolate cake after Jim's art classes tonight...normally I just get the crumbs off the floor so that was a nice treat...his students are doing good work - its an eclectic mix this project - from Mona Lisa to Durer's hands - my favourite is a portrait of a sheep dog with a pup...now Jim has never painted a portrait of me (ex girlfriends yes but not ME his best friend!!).  I should have a word. 

Cheesecake forever!

Today I am just smelly

Startled Starlings and Human Genocide

I’m not the only thing pissing Jim off at the minute…I have been watching a ‘couple’ of starlings during the last week, sneaking under the corrugated roof into the chicken shed behind the kitchen, busily building a nest.  It’s interesting to watch as they come in a pair, and I can only assume that the male is the one with the twigs in its mouth gathering materials, while the female watches on – making sure it’s done properly – sound familiar?  Someone told me once that it only takes between 1-3 days to build a nest, and nearly half of the females return to the same nest each year.  Jim has attempted twice to block off entry into the shed, and he is going to be very cross having to do it again. Boy they are persistant. Wouldn’t we all..spending so much effort building a home, only to have it blocked by external forces.  I’m alright, I have my cozy bed in front of the radiator.  It could do with a wash though…

Some day I hope to see Eddie Izzard live on stage. Do you think I would be let in?  Maybe if I learned to speak French? I think he would be impressed.  A dog who is bilingual and called Eddie – in fact trilingual…I am learning some Gaeilge also, words like ‘leaba’, in fact that is probably the only word I know.  Oh dear...

Back to Mr Izzard -   “But with dogs, we do have “bad dog.” Bad dog exists. “Bad dog! Bad dog! Stole a biscuit, bad dog!” The dog is saying, “Who are you to judge me? You human beings who’ve had genocide, war against people of different creeds, colours, religions, and I stole a biscuit?! Is that a crime? People of the world!”

He is so right you know…