When you're left holding the sublime
My weekend got me thinking about how we experience art up close, particularly when you’ve got Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on the menu one evening, followed by Turner’s paintings of the sea the morning after. What do you do with the sublime when it’s right in front of your face, and no longer just through the speaker or the screen of your phone?
I don’t know how you experience Vivaldi’s ‘Winter’ when you’re in the privacy of your own home - which limbs move first and at what point you start unconsciously conducting (press play below if you’re unsure) - but all I can say is that the chair I was sat in during Friday night’s live performance was not the right container. Too much of a container probably. I was as impressed with the audience as I was with La Serenissima - with how we were all managing to sit so still.
The thing is, I’m a firm rule follower with these sorts of things; in an alternate career path I’m a librarian, keeping the quiet to a level no other library has ever experienced before. But certain situations call for us to let go, right?
The following morning I listened to a talk at Turner’s ‘Dark Waters’ exhibition, and the word ‘sublime’ kept popping up; how Turner was drawn to the intensity of the sea, how he was capturing the sensations and not just the light - he wanted to get close, and for you to feel that too.
So tell me, reader - what do we do when we’re handed all of that? Maybe it’s slightly easier to bottle up when you’re drifting from painting to painting through an art gallery, pondering the awe and the terror so respectfully and quietly because that’s what we do.
But what about when sound is included, deep and haunting experimental sound designed specifically to make you feel even more immersed in an artist’s work?
And what about live music? The lid of my bottle wasn’t up for the job last Friday night. It did what it could until I got home, back where I could move what had moved me.
Peace for your walls
I’m breathing some life back into my Etsy print shop. If you’d like some extra moments of calm in your home - like those brief pauses when you’re done thrashing around to Vivaldi, for example - a print could be just what you need to bring your heart rate back down 😉
You can have a browse here: Etsy Print Shop.
I’d love to create more dream-like images for some new prints in the coming months - more abstract, more movement, more experimentation, and sharing of the behind-the-scenes on here too.
Cosy November portrait shoots
My calendar is now closed for October virtual shoot bookings, however if you fancy some relaxed & artistic portraits of yourself during November in the cosy comfort of your own home, my calendar reopens on Monday 9th October for one week for you to book a November shoot.
You can be anywhere in the world, and all you need is your phone! 🌎📱
If you’d like a reminder when my calendar reopens, just fill out your info here: Virtual Shoot - November Sign Up and I’ll send you everything you need.
Thanks so much for being here! I’m looking forward to posting once a week from now on, and as always feel free to say hello in the comment section on Substack 😌
