I am incredibly calm at the moment. In actuality, I'm probably just in need of much, much sleep. All the same I feel serene, especially after reading another story out of The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury). It's a very thought-provoking book; I'm glad I had some time to read it today. I think my cat is going deaf. She never seems to notice me until I'm right there next to her and I have to call her name loudly multiple times for her to hear me. I think I'm going to work on incorporating more visual communication techniques when I'm with her.
The other day whilst strolling the internet, as I so often do, I came across this illustration:
Isn't it beautiful? The young man who's standing second from the left especially caught my eye. He's positively glowing, at least to me. I found out later that his name is Charles Beach and the artist's name is J. C. Leyendecker. It's a 1907 illustration for Arrow Collar, an ad campaign for shirts with detachable collars. Apparently Leyendecker did a whole collection featuring Arrow Collar men. While I was researching all this, I learned a little about Leyendecker's life and work. I love learning about people. Lots of times I get sidetracked reading biographical articles when I ought to be doing homework. There's so much to know about so many people!
Anyway, the more I look at Leyendecker's illustrations, the more fond I grow of him as an artist. I truly admire artists who create beautiful things. To be so talented and to be able to share that talent with the world is such a miraculous thing. Human beings can be a lot of awful and ugly things, but sometimes they can be beautiful. The human figure, when skillfully portrayed, is absolutely stunning.These are a couple more of examples of Leyendecker's work.
