I have been half in love with easeful Death

Ray, He/Him, INFJ-T, Dark Academia, Victoriana, Anglophenia, Gothic Horror, Southern Gothic, Sublimity, Western Esotericism

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A portrait of one of my all time favorites; Nick Cave.

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This is the eleventh in my "Gentleman's Guide to Reading," series. A few days late, but what can you do. This book offers the most complex understanding to date of the emotional and spiritual life of the ancient Romans.

Roman Honor by Carlin Barton

The best book on honor — bar none. Barton masterfully explores how honor shaped the lives of ancient Rome from the early days of the Republic and all the way through the fall of the empire. She shows how small, intimate groups are vital for honor to survive and how imperialism kills it. This book is a hard read, but it’s well worth the effort. The insights are so brilliant that it’s almost startling, and even the footnotes are packed with fascinating asides.

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The tenth and final in my "A Beginner's Guide to Jazz," series.

The Blues and the Abstract Truth by Oliver Nelson (1961)

Oliver Nelson is one of the most underrated composers/songwriters. This album features several jazz greats, including Bill Evans, Freddie Hubbard, and Roy Haynes. This album’s best-known cut is ‘Stolen Moment’ — a classic.

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The tenth in my "Gentleman's Guide to Reading," is one of the most groundbreaking and timeless bestsellers of all time.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

The granddad of books about people skills, the advice found in How to Win Friends and Influence People is still sound and applicable 80 years later. Carnegie writes about skills like making people feel valued and appreciated, ensuring you don’t come across as manipulative (which happens unintentionally more than we think!), and essentially, “winning” people to your viewpoints and ideas. While it can sound a little disingenuous in its description, these are truly skills that people use every day, and this book is a great resource for boning up your social game.

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No. 9 in my "Beginner's Guide to Jazz."

For an example of a jazz vocalist trying to sound like a horn player, check out Sarah Vaughan. Her melodic phrasing is influenced by the harmonic sophistication and freedom of expression used by horn players. Her singer’s rendition of ‘Tenderly’ on this album is superb.

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No. 9 in my "Gentleman's Guide to Reading," is Aldous Huxley's satire of ultimate consumerist society.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Similar to 1984, but whereas that novel portends changes in governmental rule, Aldous Huxley’s 1931 classic looks at technological changes that would change society — babies are born in laboratories, entertainment is formulaic rather than narrative, individuality is frowned up, and society is hugely stratified. Bernard Marx is on the top levels of society, but can’t seem to fit in. So he takes an ill-advised vacation, only to discover some unsettling things about the world he left behind.

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Yes, another one.

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Another author's portrait; Jack Kerouac.

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'Morning, all!

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The eighth in my series "A Beginner's Guide to Jazz."

Somethin’ Else by Cannonball Adderley (1958)

Easily one of my favorite albums of all time. An alto saxophonist from Tampa, Florida, Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderley was initially viewed as the heir to Charlie Parker. He found his own individual voice on his instrument, though, as this 1958 album — his only release on blue note — clearly illustrated. Cannonball, who was playing in the Miles Davis sextet at the time (and would go on to record the iconic Kind of Blue with the trumpeter a year later), managed to rope his boss into the sessions. Miles rarely appeared as a sideman after 1955 but shines in a quintet opposite Cannonball using a muted horn on the tracks ‘Autumn Leaves’ and ‘Love For Sale.

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"War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength." For the eighth book in my series "A Gentleman's Guide to Reading," is George Orwell's dystopian novella "1984."

1984 by George Orwell

Set in a future dystopian world of perpetual war and constant government surveillance, our protagonist, Winston, is a quintessential everyman who works for the Ministry of Truth rewriting history to the government’s party lines rhetoric. He comes upon a secret organization which seeks to destroy the state, and together with a mysterious woman, joins the cause to fight against Big Brother. Although published in the late 1940s, it resonates today more strongly than ever. Will you be a lemming? Or will you be an independent thinker and actor?

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Finished up a couple of witch props. One goes in the upstairs window, and the other on the rocking chair on the front porch. You might say, but it's August, to that I retort "SPOOKY TIME!"

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I haven't posted one of these in a few days. As I come across them, I'll continue to do so, as they seem to be popular. As a portraitist, and a bookworm, my favorite authors offer a wide range of subjects for painting. Thanks for the likes and reblogs. Questions and inbox are open. Here's Mssr. F. Scott Fitzgerald.

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The seventh installment in my series "A Beginner's Guide to Jazz."

King of the Tenors by Ben Webster (1954)

Horn players often want to sound more like singers, and singers want to sound more like horn players. You can see a horn player sounding like a singer on Ben Webster’s King of the Tenors. Check out ‘Tenderly’ on this album. His vibrato and breathiness at the ends of phrases mimics the stylings of popular singers of the day. His treatment of the melody is so intimate and personal you can’t resist being pulled into his story.

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In the seventh in my series "A Gentleman's Guide to Reading," is the definitive trilogy of biographies chronicling the storied life of the United States' youngest President, Theodore Roosevelt.

Theodore Roosevelt Trilogy by Edmund Morris

Over the course of three volumes and about 2,500 pages, Edmund Morris takes us through the unprecedented and never duplicated life of President Theodore Roosevelt. Nobody accomplished more or lived as vigorously as TR. From his younger days as a weakling who learned to hone his body, to his final forays in politics and through the Amazon, Morris really covers it all. While beastly, this trilogy is well worth the time of anyone who’s ever felt a tinge of restlessness; reading about TR will turn that anxiety into action!

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Tuesday afternoon aesthetic.

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I'm not vain, I promise. All artists do this many self studies. Right? Right.