Image of the Month

The Climax features Salome kissing the severed head of John the Baptist, and the original drawing was completed by Aubrey Beardsley in 1893, just before it was first published. It was one of many drawings that he contributed to Salome, a British publication of an Oscar Wilde play. The artwork shown here is contemporary in style, with just a few lines creating each form. The most intensive area of the composition is within a series of circles in the top left corner which contrasts with the simpler parts of the illustration elsewhere. Aside from the two figures, nearer the bottom we also find some flourishes of nature. Beardsley regularly used flowers, trees and also peacock feathers as a means to illuminate his drawings, placing elements of them around the central theme. In this case we find Salome floating in mid air, whilst holding the head in both hands. Less detail is given to her clothing than in other Salome drawings, and it is just simple white plains, with black lines which signify the rolls of material.

Source: https://www.thehistoryofart.org/aubrey-beardsley/climax/

Respectable

“Of course I’m respectable. I’m old. Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.”

John Huston as Noah Cross in the movie Chinatown (1974)

Red Feather and Shell

Once a month I highlight a piece of art I have created and posted on my Fine Art America site. This one is titled Red Feather and Shell from the Scan Art Collection.

Early Harvest, Garden and A Prowler

The last of our garden and lots of field corn to harvest

The harvest of crops along our road started September 12 and continues now into October. Just sections at a time have been taken so far, with the entire field to the south of us finally all gone while we are still surrounded by beautiful golden corn on the other three sides.

I write this on October 3^rd and only a few trees have begun to change color. The garden is winding down, with only the tomatoes left producing. The forecast calls for widespread frost this coming weekend, so that might be the end of it. Our son-in-law has offered in the past to bring out several containers of turkey manure to spread on the garden and I think we will take him up on the offer once we have the garden cleared out.

A few weeks ago I was cleaning up part of the machine shed when I noticed a couple of piles of animal scat, long and dark, on the floor. My first thought was raccoon, but there was no other evidence of them such as the usual chewing and general destruction. My second was a cat, for two reasons. We have seen one on our property a couple of times over the summer, and the rabbits and mice have almost disappeared. I have not seen a rabbit for maybe two months, which is roughly how long it has been since I have emptied a mouse trap around here. We might have an unseen visitor prowling the acreage.