"There are .....
...abuses of light and dark, of violent contrasts, of singular colors, extravagant attitudes, draperies shattered and crumpled haphazardly; but in all that, there presides a depraved energy, an unhealthy strength that betrays the great painter and the madness of a genius." - Theophile Gautier on El Greco
Hee. I saw the works of El Greco at the Met today. It's just starting to sink in.
Karen and I took the train in, and learned how much we hate Hoval for not preparing us for such things, lol. The train ride into Penn Station was fine, but the subway.....well, twas an adventure. We were so confused (Solomon gave us directions but managed to miss a step, apparently........) and it was SO UNBEARABLY COLD. I would not have gone if tommorrow wasn't the last day for it. Lets put it this way: I had on jeans with stockings underneath, a long sleeve shirt, a placebo hoodie, and a poofy jacket, a hat, gloves, a scarf, and sneakers, and the cold pierced me. I had frostbite on my feet and my thighs, and my cheeks were on the way. The ceiling was dripping, and there were icicles hanging from the ceiling. Thtas how cold it was. And it was me, who has a cold intolerance (I had to take benedryl because I was shivering so badly that I couldn't even open the package...), and Karen, who HAS NO BLOOD. I really really hope her feet are feeling better......poor K. So we were cold, and tired, and totally confused (Not lost, mind you, we knew where WE were, and where the museum was, it was connecting the dots that was confusing). Was very tempting to turn back, but we didn't, and I am very glad that we didn't. Thanks, Karen- I am very aware of how much that sucked, and yet you stuck with me. So...we got directions from the teller-lady and got to the museum, and that was great. We went directly to the El Greco display...wow. I love this man. I mean, some of his work is certainly less than impressive (as far as I am concerned, they took up a whole room with portraits when 2 would have gotten the point across). And yet....View of Toledo. I love that painting. If I become a billionaire, I am buying that painting- but for now, I ordered a poster that should come soon. (Yes, I am a dork- normal teenage girls have Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp on their walls, I have Ansel Adams, my own work, and now View of Toledo and Laocoon--which my mom keeps teasing me is only for the naked men, lol). It is so much brighter and more detailed than you can tell in books. For example, the people all look black in books, if you can see them at all, but in life they aren't like that. The coloring is also different- in View of Toledo and ESPECIALLY in Laocoon (Prints change the color significantly at times; for example, in Laocoon, the background of the print is blue/purple/brown, but in life it is almost red). I realize I'm babbling here, and I'm sorry to bore you, so feel free to abandon reading this if you so choose. Hmmm.....and the wings! So much easier to understand in life. And, frankly, thats the main reason that I go to such things- only in life can you see the brush strokes and HOW the artist did things, so that you can copy those things and steal them for yourself. And I promise you, steal them I will- I want to take figuredrawing so badly now, because his are so fantastic. (Hey, anyone want to make five bucks? lol). After seeing his, there are a million things I want to change in my painting- which means that the trip was worthwhile. I saw a bunch that I recognized, but I discovered and fell for some new ones too, which was nice. Okay, I could go on, but I'll control myself....... Then, we went and saw Greek art, especially ceramics, which was fun- could probably spend a whole day doing that. We were pretty exhausted by then, though, and it was getting late, so we left and didn't spend a whole lot of time there- I feel bad, I spent so much time in the El Greco exhibit and in getting us lost, I ate up her time. All well- we can always go back (and by always I mean when it is 60 degrees warmer.) I could smack Solomon- we found out that to get home, all we had to do was hop on the M4 bus, which picks up right outside the met and stops right outside Penn Station, so that was easy (except we didn't know that it took only Metro cards, not cash, but the guy was nice and let us ride for free. Thats pretty much that- the ride home was a piece of cake. So, the lesson here is that buses are better than subways, and that Solomon bs's far too well to trust her with important things like giving directions (I'm only teasing here, I'm thrilled that she went out of her way to tell me about the exhibit and to try and explain everything to me.)
On a different note, I've decided that if I have kids, I am going to need to have sons. No daughters. Because I quite frankly would have no idea what to do with one when she became a teen. Seriously. I just.....I am a combination of a little kid and a senior citizen and a soccer mom, absolutely, but I am not a "teen" in any aspect except for my age. I don't give a damn about what other people wear or what they think of what I wear and I don't care about doing 'socially acceptable' activities and I don't go along with extremely stupid shit just because of my "friends" (moderately, hell yeah, but not extremely)too.......I'm ranting here, I am aware of this. Its just....it kills me when brilliant and driven girls get caught up in all that bullshit. Not that boys can't, because I know damn well that they can, but it seems to be less common. Atleast I certainly hope so, because otherwise forget having kids--I'd rather have a goldfish.
Blah. Damn its late. All well. Gnight.
"Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man stupid and blind in the eyes."