Landscape No. 2
Winter Light
The Impressionists loved the Paris landscape because it was often overcast and dim, allowing for sumptuous contrasts, variation in tones and expressive moodiness. The starkness of balmy Southern France could easily get tiresome. Although I love the light of the summer months, the palette of Canadian winter is something inspiring. There is warmth somehow, in the soft silvers and grays, and dots of pale almost white gold.
Torontonian side street
But I’ve also been thinking a lot about architecture. I have an unexplainable fascination with houses on Torontonian side streets. Tall, with narrow Victorian peaks, squished side by side. The have an almost human character to them, taken on by their many past and present residents. They sit squished and quiet, heavy with history and memory, peeling paint. Their windows are like tall, narrow eyes that in the evening, wink with lights from within.
Sky light
I’d like to start painting architecture, brush up on my perspectival skills (and I’ve lots to brush up on in that regard) and see what happens. Ever heard of The Poetics Of Space by Gaston Bachelard? Ever since theisis year at OCAD, I can’t get it out of my mind. I also can’t get past the forward to the 1994 edition which sparkles my imagination. The book, even before I’ve read its entirety, is I know, quite complex. I am almost afraid to read it, not wanting to unfold the mystery it holds for me. I think it’s time, though. Here’s the first paragraph to the forward:
Shells and doorknobs, closets and attics, old towers and peasant huts, all shimmer here, shimmer as points linked in the transcendental geometry of Gaston Bachelard. Ostensibly modest in compass, an inquiry focused on the house, its interior places and its outdoor context, The Poetics of Space resonates deeply, vibrating at the edges of imagination, exploring the recesses of the psyche, the hallways of the mind. In the house Bachelard discovers a metaphor of humanness.
Delicious!
December 22nd, 2008 21:15
God, I love it when you blog. And boy, would Marie every like this post, I think. I know why I love you both: you’re similar in many ways. She’s even studying architecture right now!
I’m amazed at the beauty you see in winter. I wish I could see the world as you do. Sometimes I think I see it best when I close my eyes. I’m more about feelings than anything else!
PS. Your apt looks lovely, and even huge! Can’t wait to be there.
Dickens gave a very good architectural picture of things, though, too, didn’t he?
PS. What a passage from that book! The first line already, I was reminded of Dickens. I think it was the doorknobs.
December 23rd, 2008 15:56
I would love to study architecture! Of course, winter is easier to appreciate when you can take time to relax in it. Having to drive in it, shop in it, and shovel in it isn’t always fun, but when you can stop and look at it, it’s much easier to enjoy.
Re: The Poetics of Space – Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell had a bit of that in it too, I think. And, yes, The Curiosity Shop?
December 24th, 2008 10:39
I love your apartment. I hope you’re there for a long time! I can’t wait to be there. See you in a couple of days!
Marie’s doing correspondence courses, which you could certainly do as well had you the money!