another althingsconsidered

an artist a day keeps the dark horse away ...

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1595

first posted in facebook june 6, 2026

arthur streeton -- "ariadne" (1898)

"a labyrinthine man never seeks the truth, but only his ariadne" … friedrich nietzsche

"i sit here in the upper circle surrounded by copper and gold, and smile with joy under my fly net as all the light, glory and quivering brightness passes slowly and freely before my eyes. nothing happier than this" … arthur streeton

"upon the shores of naxos, bleached and bare ariadne woke with tangled, salty hair the ship was gone—a smudge against the blue for theseus broke the only vow she knew she cried aloud, a desolate, thin sound with nothing but the silence all around" … monica rhodes

"it will be easy for us the first time we receive that ball of yarn from ariadne (love) and then go through all the mazes of the labyrinth (life) and kill the monster. but how many there are who plunge into life (the labyrinth) without taking that precaution?" … søren kierkegaard

"ariadne never sought untruth, but only her labyrinthine man" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1594

first posted in facebook june 5, 2026

fyodor bronnikov -- "the sick artist" (1861)

"no boundless fields here as you have in russia, no dense forests … and that's a pity. i love the vastness and our russian fields, like a limitless sea" … fyodor bronnikov

"the more i become decomposed, the more sick and fragile i am, the more i become an artist" … vincent van gogh

"pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. the really great men must, i think, have great sadness on earth" … fyodor dostoevsky

"no boundless quotes here as you have in shakespeare, no complicated words … just mysterious drops from an endless sea" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1593

first posted in facebook may 30, 2026

hurvin anderson -- "is it ok to be black?" (2016)

"some people say we've got a lot of malice some say it's a lot of nerve but i say we won't quit moving until we get what we deserve we have been 'buked and we have been scorned we've been treated bad, talked about as sure as you're born but just as sure as it takes two eyes to make a pair, ha brother we can't quit until we get our share" … james brown

"these thoughtful and poetic paintings are not without overt political commentary. in 'is it ok to be black (2015)?' anderson includes recognizable images of malcolm x and martin luther king, important in the civil rights movement, among a collection of other significant black figures in silhouette. the work's title, as anderson explained it, is at once serious and humorous. it refers to his mis-hearing of the ubiquitous barbershop question: 'is it all right at the back?' it also highlights the barbershop as a space for the black community" … beth williamson

"this ain't no goddamn school of the blind, calvin! this is the barbershop! the place where a black man means something! cornerstone of the neighborhood! our own country club! i mean, can't you see that? hell, that's the problem with your whole generation. you know, y'all… you don't believe in nothin'. but your father, he believed in something, calvin. he believed and understood that something as simple as a little haircut could change the way a man felt on the inside" … eddie (from the movie "barbershop")

"say it loud: i'm black and i'm proud! say it loud: i'm black and i'm proud!" … james brown

"i just hope that my kalvin understands that simple things CAN change the way folk feel inside" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1592

first posted in facebook may 28, 2026

woody gwyn -- "pacific curve" (2016)

"there has to be passion. there’s simply no other way to approach this life" … woody gwyn

"dead man's curve, it's no place to play dead man's curve (you best keep away) dead man's curve (i can hear 'em say) won't come back from dead man's curve" … brian wilson, artie kornfeld, roger christian, and jan berry

"there has to be crashing … there's simply no other way past doheny" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1591

first posted in facebook may 26, 2026

antonio mancini -- "the acrobat" (1879)

"art must be an integral part of life. it should breathe, move, and live" … antonio mancini

"sometimes a writer, like an acrobat, must try a trick that is too much for him" … e.b. white

"a fictive memory is like a cerebrAL acrobat … breathing, moving, and living a trick too difficult … now please help me down from the arm of this chair!" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1590

first posted in facebook may 23, 2026

aleksander gierymski -- "in the arbour" (1882)

"the wind in the trees is whispering whispering low that i love her she puts her hand over mine down in the lime tree arbour" … nick cave

"in the painting 'in the arbour', we can see the scene of an 18th-century social gathering, which takes place in a gazebo filled with light from behind. such scenes allowed him to play with colours and light. gierymski's work can be compared to contemporary french impressionists, even though he had not yet been in paris and there was no evidence that he had seen their work" … wikipedia

"i guess they thought a polak could never have come up with a notion of impressionism without "the help" of the french?" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1589

first posted in facebook may 20, 2026

tom roberts -- "slumbering sea, mentone" (1887)

"the sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever" … jacques yves cousteau

"smell the sea and feel the sky. let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic" … van morrison

"my soul is full of longing for the secret of the sea, and the heart of the great ocean sends a thrilling pulse through me" … henry wadsworth longfellow

"for whatever we lose (like a you or a me), it’s always our self we find in the sea" … e. e. cummings

"it seems to me that one of the best ideas spoken to an artist is, 'paint what you love and love what you paint' and on that i have worked" … tom roberts

"it seems to me that it is a good idea to post what you love and love what you post … just let your soul and spirit fly into the mystery" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1588

first posted in facebook may 19, 2026

charles conder -- "a holiday at mentone" (1888)

"oh, when the sun beats down and burns the tar up on the roof and your shoes get so hot you wish your tired feet were fire proof under the boardwalk, down by the sea, yeah on a blanket with my baby is where i'll be" … kenny young and arthur resnick

[the painting] "shows men and women at the beach relaxing while clothed from head to foot–the men in suits and hats; the ladies in long, girdled dresses with boots and pretty hats. the man and woman at the front of the painting face away from each other, yet possibly are interested in each other, each watching the other from the corner of their eye. the mood is one of simple elegance and with a relaxed feel, as in the background people are strolling along the beach into the distance" … wikipedia

"yeah, you got to fix it, kid, you got to mix it must be love, it's just a beach, ALright yeah, you got to fix it, kid, you got to mix it must be love, it's just a beach, ALright" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1587

first posted in facebook may 18, 2026

john frederick kensett -- "view of the beach at beverly massachusetts" (1860)

"between 1859 and 1872, kensett produced over thirty paintings of the north shore of massachusetts—then a popular vacation spot for bostonians. more than twenty works were scenes of beverly, a coastal town twenty-five miles north of boston" … national gallery of art

"never no more do i wonder why you don't never play with me anymore at any moment you could go under 'cause you're driftin’ too far from shore" … bob dylan

"so i find words i never thought to speak in streets i never thought i should revisit when i left my body on a distant shore" … t.s. eliot

"so THAT is where you left my body … i've been looking for it all day" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1586

first posted in facebook may 16, 2026

rupert bunny -- "jeanne reading" (ca. 1902)

"the aim of the artist should be the transmission of an emotion. he should paint only what appeals personally to himself. i do not believe in selecting extraordinary or unusual subjects. it is the quiet, everyday things that appeal to most people" … rupert bunny

"i declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! how much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! -- when i have a house of my own, i shall be miserable if i have not an excellent library" … caroline bingley (in jane austen's "pride and prejudice")

"then she opened up a book of poems and handed it to me written by an Italian poet from the thirteenth century and every one of them words rang true and glowed like burning coal pouring off of every page like it was written in my soul from me to you" … bob dylan

"the aim of a reader should be to finish the book … but it's not a mistake to leave one in a little library if it is not as appealing as one hoped … quitting is a highly underrated habit" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1585

first posted in facebook may 14, 2026

nzante spee -- "feeling at home" (1995)

"the destruction of our environment gently destroys us like every cigarette we smoke" … nzante spee

"smoke 'em if you got 'em" … a phrase originating in the u.s. military during world war ii

"castigat ridendo mores" [i.e., "one corrects customs by laughing at them"] … jean-baptiste de santeul

"a good cigar is ALways just a cigar" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1584

first posted in facebook may 12, 2026

gari melchers -- "the sermon" (1886)

"waar en klaar" … gari melchers

"and this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything" … william shakespeare

"'waar' is in the ear of the beholder … and nothing ever is 'klaar'" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1583

first posted in facebook may 11, 2026

laura theresa alma-tadema -- "at the doorway" (1898)

"someone's knocking at the door somebody ringing the bell someone knocking at the door somebody ringing the bell do me a favour open the door, and let 'em in" … paul mccartney

"but tell them i'm not at home" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1582

first posted in facebook may 9, 2026

samuel palmer -- "pear tree in a walled garden" (1829)

"a picture has been said to be something between a thing and a thought" … samuel palmer

"a man watches his pear-tree day after day, impatient for the ripening of the fruit. let him attempt to force the process, and he may spoil both fruit and tree. but let him patiently wait, and the ripe pear at length falls into his lap" … abraham lincoln

"prenez donc une des ces poires. a bonne dame d'en face m'en offre plus que je n'en peux savourer" … humbert humbert

"mais où est ma perdrix?" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1581

first posted in facebook may 8, 2026

elizabeth okie paxton -- "the breakfast tray" (ca. 1910)

"i can't understand she let go of my hand and left me here facing the wall i'd sure like to know why she did go but i can't get close to her at all though we kissed through the wild blazing nighttime she said she would never forget but now morning is clear it's like i ain't here she just acts like we never have met" … bob dylan

"the protagonist of 'the breakfast tray' is a New Woman. she is educated and the beneficiary of improved health care. she advocates for women’s right to vote, to work outside the home, to go to the theater on her own, and to buy objects she uses to create an intimate space all her own, just as we see in 'the breakfast tray.' but hers is not a world without men. she is finding new sexual freedom" … rena tobey

"and if anybody asks me 'is it easy to forget?' i'll say, 'it's easily done you just pick anyone and pretend that you never have met'" … bob dylan

"please don't bother to ask me … and furthermore, why couldn't the world in this painting be about two women?" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1580

first posted in facebook may 7, 2026

kinichiro ishikawa -- "untitled" (20th cent.)

"his brushwork was light and agile, colors were bright and appealing and he had a distinctive style of capturing pastoral scenes in a romantic, nostalgic atmosphere" … wikipedia

"i'm in the mood for beige simply because it is near me splash a black tree and and hear me i'm in the mood for beige" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1579

first posted in facebook may 2, 2026

jaqueline fahey -- "the birthday party" (1974)

"they say it's your birthday well, it's my birthday too, yeah" … paul mccartney

"overflowing with love, conflict and quiet despair, fahey’s paintings from the 1970s bristle with the intensity of domestic life. before 'the personal is political' became a rallying cry for feminism in the 1960s, artist jacqueline fahey began to survey the private realities of new zealand women, making paintings that challenged accepted archetypes of female experience and 'appropriate' subjects for art. often painting from the vantage point of the kitchen table, she positioned it as the nexus for the conflicts and complexities of family life" … felicity milburn (christchurch art gallery)

"yes, we're goin' to a party, party yes, we're goin' to a party, party yes, we're goin' to a party, party" … paul mccartney

"i really would like you to dance" … al janik