Wednesday, August 31, 2011

An Opinion

I have a bit of a bone to pick today, an axe to grind or any other metaphor along the same line. I haven't really used this blog to voice my own political views before but I really feel that the way Australia seems to be dealing with dog attacks and dog violence is just not right.

It's a terrible thing when someone is hurt or even killed by a dog. I can understand that persons loved ones wanting the dog put down and I can see the need for having that particular dog put down, but these are only reactionary measures as are blanket bans on certain breeds and encouraging people to dob in others that may have a violent dog.

What we need to do is limit the cases of dog attacks, and this, as in anything, can be done with education. Information sheets given to any knew dog buyer on the nature and care instructions for their breed as well as their responsibilities as pet owners, and the laws and regulations that go along with owning a dog, with links to government (or other related) websites, could contribute to change. The problem is, not everyone will bother to read the information sheets or take the information on board. Therefore other, more prescriptive measures, could be implemented to prevent dogs from becoming violent, restrictions on breeding and selling, a requirement for potential dog owners to be licenced (similarly to reptile owners), or even a requirement to file proof of attending at least one dog training session after purchase. All or any of these things can reduce the number of neglectful, irresponsible or simply unknowledgable dog owners creating violent dogs, and by extension prevent deaths both human and canine. Responsible dog ownership should be the goal and knee jerk reactions will not contribute to it.

Molly
And here's a picture of a beautiful young miss in a lovely crochet collar made by my mum. For information on responsible pet ownership and issues similar to this one visit the RSPCA.

P.S. Sometime earlier this year I did a post in Dogs in Myth if you want to check it out.


To keep up to date with the words and pictures I'm sharing now head on over to my new website, www.sarahfallon.net.  I'm talking readingwriting and all kinds of daydreamy things.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Sweet Dreams

Last night I had three dreams and can still remember them all, which is unusual for me. I find dreams fascinating and have had a lot of strange ones in my 22 years. Some have been funny, some terrifying, some surreal and others completely mundane.
Here's a peek into the artistic world of dreams (and nightmares of course).

Circus Dream, Barnum & Bailey Circus Poster.

The song Sweet Dreams is originally by Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart, known collectively as Eurythmics. I love the original but am also fond of the cover featured in and made for the film Suckerpunch, sung by the lead Australian actress Emily Browning. From here on in I'm going to quote the lyrics of the song along with the pictures.

Sweet Dream by Simon Kim
Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree.

The Dream by Virginia Frances Sterrett.
I travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something.

The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli, 1790-91.
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you.
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused.

Emerald Dreams by Morgan Weistling.
 Sweet Dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree.

Dreamland by Emma Florence
 I travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something.

Nightmare by Sulamith Wulfing.
 Hold your head up, keep your head up, movin' on.
Hold your head up, movin' on, keep your head up, movin' on.

Paintbox Dreaming by Gillian Warden, 2008.
Hold your head up, movin' on, keep your head up, movin' on.
Hold your head up, mivon' on, keep your head up.

Dream Merchant by Norman Lindsay, 1997.

Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you.
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused.

We Found Ourselves Being Dreamt by Amy Sol.

Hold your head up, keep your head up, movin' on.
Hold your head up, movin' on, keep your head up, movin' on.

Day Dreaming by Michael Parkes.
Hold your head up, movin' on, keep your head up, movin' on.

Hold your head up, movin' on, keep your head up.

The Piper of Dreams by Estella Louisa Michaela Canziani.

Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree.

The Dreamer of Dreams by Edmund Dulac

 I travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something.

The Knight's Dream by Antonio de Perada.
Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree.

Dream of the Orient by Gustave Moreau, c. 1881.
 I travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something.

Dream and Death by Álmos Jaschik.

Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree.

The Dwarf's Dream by Jessie M. King.
I travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something.

 At that is Sweet Dreams Visions of Whimsy style.


To keep up to date with the words and pictures I'm sharing now head on over to my new website, www.sarahfallon.net.  I'm talking readingwriting and all kinds of daydreamy things.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

I really need to clean my work room

 As you can see I desperately need to clean my work area. I tend to do it once a month and within a week or two it looks like this, I put up with it for two or three weeks then have to clean it again or my brains might dribble out my ears. Now let me walk you through the mess.

 In this corner we have:
  • Barrel of Monkeys which also happens to be full of plastic farm animals. I like to think of it as a barrel full of necklace ideas I'm yet to pull off
  • Sheets of packaging tags waiting to be cut up (when I find the space to do it in).
  • An attempt at embroidery for cute embroidered earrings (if I kick my ass into gear they might be ready for the next markets; 2nd Sept).
  • A wooden doorknob, perhaps the head of a giant chess pawn once I have a whack at wood carving. I'm already sensing failure with that endeavour though.
  • And finally a little orange purse made by mwah two days ago, it's my first ever and I'm very proud.
 Centre stage we have:
  • A clipboard covered in buttons ready to become some more studs.
  • A bag of scrap fabric which I'm sure I'll find a use for one day.
  • Some more farm animals and a couple of knitting nancys.
  • And mostly just mess, this section of the table is very disappointing.
And in this corner:
  • A couple of postage boxes for when somebody buys something (please, please, please).
  • A bag full of beads (not sure what I'm doing with them yet).
  • And oil burner, peppermint oil (one of two essential oils that doesn't make me sneeze) and a lighter (for candle use only).
  • a Gloria Jeans takeaway box (original contents: citrus tart) now containing: two stanley knives, a craft knife, a nail file, pens, a wooden clay tool, pegs, and drumsticks to go with the drum kit I no longer play.
  • A Bag of self-cover buttons
  • two bottles of different types of sealant.
And so that is my mess.
P.S. Does anyone think I should make a separate blog for Hearsay and my own creative endeavours, leaving Visions of Whimsy in its original form?


To keep up to date with the words and pictures I'm sharing now head on over to my new website, www.sarahfallon.net.  I'm talking readingwriting and all kinds of daydreamy things.

    Friday, August 26, 2011

    Picture of the Week: Steph Holmes

    The Lost Boy by Steph Holmes.


    To keep up to date with the words and pictures I'm sharing now head on over to my new website, www.sarahfallon.net.  I'm talking readingwriting and all kinds of daydreamy things.

    Wednesday, August 24, 2011

    The Death of Orpheus

    Nymphs listening to the songs of Orpheus by Charles Francois Jalabert, 1853.

    Today's post is a continuation of the story of Orpheus, specifically, his rather gruesome death.

    After Eurydice's death Orpheus scorned all women. Some did not take kindly to this, particularly the bacchanals (female followers of Bacchus).
    These women mobbed poor Orpheus beating him blood and tearing him to pieces.

    Mort d'Orphée by Albrect Dürer, 1494.

    Death of Orpheus by Emile Levy, 1866.


    Orpheus’ limbs lay scattered around; but his lyre and
                    his head
    were thrown into the river Hebrus. Afloat mid-stream –
                    oh wonder! –
    the instrument uttered a plaintive moan, the lifeless
                    tongue
    emitted a feeble dirge and the banks re-echoed in
                    sorrow.
    Ovid, Metamorphoses, 11.50-53

    Nymphs finding the head of Orpheus by John William Waterhouse, 1905.

    Orphee Mort by Jean Delville, 1893.

    Orpheus' head eventually washed  up on the shore of Lesbos.

    Orpheus by Gustave Moreau, 1865.

    Meanwhile...

    Orpheus’ shade passed under the earth. He recognized
                    all
    the places he’d seen before. As he searched the Elýsian
                    Fields,
    he found the wife he had lost and held her close in his arms.
    At last the lovers could stroll together, side by side –
    or she went ahead and he followed; then Orpheus ventured
                    in front
    and knew he could now look back on his own Eurýdice
                    safely.
    Ovid, Metamorphoses, 11.61-66


    To keep up to date with the words and pictures I'm sharing now head on over to my new website, www.sarahfallon.net.  I'm talking readingwriting and all kinds of daydreamy things.

    Monday, August 22, 2011

    Orpheus and Eurydice

    Orpheus with animals in a landscape by Aelbert Cuyp, c.1640.

    Orpheus is the mythic Greek Musician who could charm the wild animals and even the trees and stone with his beautiful music. Eurydice was the woman he loved and would have married if it weren't for a pesky little snake biting her ankle and killing her on the very day of their wedding.

    Orphee et Euridice by Louis Ducis, 1825.
    Orpheus and Eurydice by George Frederick Watts.

    Orpheus decided to brave the underworld and beg Hades and his wife Persephone to return Eurydice to the world of the living.

     Orpheus by Franz Von Stuck, 1891.

    Orpheus in the Underworld by Henryk Hector Siemiradzki, 1880-90.


    As Orpheus pleaded his cause, enhancing his words
                    with music,
    He moved the bloodless spirits to tears. For a moment
                    Tántalus
    Ceased to clutche at the fleeting pool, Ixíon’s wheel
    was spellbound, the vultures halted their pecking at
                    Títyos’ liver,
    The Dánaids dropped their urns and Sísyphus sat on his
                    boulder.
    The Furies’ hearts were assuaged by the song, and the
    story goes
    that they wept real tears for the very first time. The king
                    and queen
    of the world below forbore to refuse such a moving
                    appeal,
    and they summoned Eurydice.
    Ovid, Metamorphoses, 10.39-48
    Orpheus and Eurydice by Michael Putz-Richard, 1868.
    Orpheus was told he could lead her away, on one
                    condition:
    to walk in front and never look back until he had left
    the Vale of Avérnus, or else the concession would count
                    for nothing.
    Ovid, Metamorphoses, 10.50-52

     Orpheus leading Eurydice from the Underworld by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, 1861.
     They made their way through the underlworld growing ever closer to the exit but Orpheus became afrais Eurydice was falling behind, and how could he know for certain she was even there if he could not look at her. He turned around.

    Orpheus and Eurydice by Edmund Dulac.
     
    …at once she sank back into
                    the dark.
    She stretched out her arms to him, struggled to feel his
                    hands on her own,
    But all she was able to catch, poor soul, was the
                    yielding air.
    Ovid, Metamorphoses, 10.57-59
    Orpheus and Eurydice by Charles de Sousy Ricketts, c.1922.

    Orpheus by Louis Francais, 1863.
     Orpheus never fully recovered from the double loss of Eurydice.


    To keep up to date with the words and pictures I'm sharing now head on over to my new website, www.sarahfallon.net.  I'm talking readingwriting and all kinds of daydreamy things.

    Friday, August 19, 2011

    Picture of the Week: Jean Delville

    I'm nearing my 100th post which is very exciting for me, I think I'm going to have to plan something special for it, but what? Suggestions are welcome.

    Today's picture of the week is by artist Jean Delville who I discovered while working on my Gustave Moreau post on Wednesday.

    La Meduse, 1893.

    It's just a pity I hadn't found this picture back when I was doing my Medusa post.


    To keep up to date with the words and pictures I'm sharing now head on over to my new website, www.sarahfallon.net.  I'm talking readingwriting and all kinds of daydreamy things.

    Wednesday, August 17, 2011

    Gustave Moreau

    French Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau lived from 1826 to 1898. The subjects of his paintings were often religious or mythological.

     Apparition, c.1874-6.

     Dream of the Orient or The Peri, c.1881.

     Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra, 1875-6.

     Night, c.1880.

     Oedipus and the Sphinx, 1864.

     Phaethon, 1878.

     The Mystic Flower, c.1890.
    This is one of my favourites, I just love the atmosphere it projects.

     Hesiod and the Muse.

     Europa and the Bull, c.1869.

    Prometheus, 1868.


    To keep up to date with the words and pictures I'm sharing now head on over to my new website, www.sarahfallon.net.  I'm talking readingwriting and all kinds of daydreamy things.

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