another althingsconsidered

first posted in facebook june 28, 2026

aleksandra waliszewska -- "cat with baby on the fence" (2021)

"i'm just sitting on a fence you can say i got no sense trying to make up my mind really is too horrifying so i'm sitting on a fence" … mick jagger

"i was full of illusions regarding the coolness of the artistic world at the time. luckily, school sobered me up … someone wrote 'LOUSY' in golden ink under one of my paintings" … aleksandra waliszewska

"in ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this" … terry pratchett

first posted in facebook june 27, 2026

károly ferenczy -- "red wall" (1910)

"a great work of art is created through the sum of perfect details" … károly ferenczy

"i read the news today, oh, boy" … john lennon

"i'm standing in the alley with my hands on a red brick wall" … the waco brothers

"well you can change tomorrow’s news now you’ve got nothing to lose is it really gone away? the red wall is coming back one day" … the samples

first posted in facebook june 26, 2026

jock macdonald -- "bird romance" (1946)

"a fine romance with no kisses a fine romance, my friend, this is" … dorothy fields

"a well a don't you know about the bird? well, everybody knows that the bird is the word!" … the rivingtons

"as it turns out, the sex life of birds is practically as complex and varied as that of humans, with strikingly similar, and equally aberrant, behavior. there are happily monogamous birds, deadbeat dads, trashy moms, polygamous males, ménages a trois, male and female harems, prostitution and just about every other quirk and kink found among humans" … bob bowers

"and that's why birds do it, bees do it even educated fleas do it let's do it, let's fall in love" … cole porter

first posted in facebook june 25, 2026

judith dana parker -- "head beach, maine" (ca. 2010)

"she was creative, beautiful, radiant, and kind—her million-dollar smile and warmth made life brighter for everyone around her. she was a quiet example of resilience and grace. many knew her as the owner of tavecchia, the clothing and jewelry shop she ran in the old port for 32 years; others as a wonderful mom, sister, and friend. she was the best mom and oma" … julie parker

first posted in facebook june 24, 2026

christine t. rafal -- "nighttime hiker" (2026)

"fly me to the moon let me play among the stars" … bart howard

"i paint moments of awe, hope, memory repair, etc." … christine t. rafal

"midnight moon on our shoulder daybreak another one older darlin' heavenly blue glories fade into view let's go under the stars that are beating under the moonlight" … patti smith

"the main reason [that i make art] would be to encourage everyone to make what they feel inspired to make … everyone who has the urge to make something, go for it! making art expresses love for yourself and for others (the subjects and the recipients)" … christine t. rafal

first posted in facebook june 23, 2026

henri le fauconnier -- "mountaineers attacked by bears" (1912)

first posted in facebook june 21, 2026

carroll cloar -- "my father was big as a tree" (1955)

"[my father] was big and far beyond, and i was never quite able to reach him" … carroll cloar

"who's your daddy?" … yankee fans (jeering/cheering at pedro martinez)

first posted in facebook june 20, 2026

george henry -- "beauty and the beast" (no date)

"tale as old as time song as old as rhyme beauty and the beast" … howard ashman

"'ha!' exclaimed beauty, almost angrily, 'know that i would lay down my life to save his, and that this monster, who is only one in form, has a heart so humane that he should not be persecuted for a deformity which he refrains from rendering more hideous by his actions. i will not repay his kindness with such black ingratitude'" … gabrielle-suzanne barbot de villeneuve

first posted in facebook june 19, 2026

charles napier kennedy -- "the woman who loves death" (1898)

"i wish, i wish, i wish in vain that we could sit simply in that room once again ten thousand dollars at the drop of a hat i'd give it all gladly if our lives could be like that" … bob dylan

"it takes, unhappily, no more than a desk and writing supplies to turn any room into a confessional. this may have nothing to do with the acts we have committed, or the humors we do go in and out of. it may be only the room--a cube--having no persuasive powers of its own. the room simply is. to occupy it, and find a metaphor there for memory, is our own fault" … fausto maijstral

"when you’re sad and when you're lonely and you haven't got a friend just remember that death is not the end" … bob dylan

first posted in facebook june 18, 2026

rogier van der weyden -- "portrait of a young woman with a winged bonnet" (ca. 1440)

"that conversation we were always on the edge of having, runs on in my head" … adrienne rich

"one only needs to see a smile in a white crape bonnet in order to enter the palace of dreams" … victor hugo

"i dreamed you were a poem, i say, a poem i wanted to show someone" … adrienne rich

"as is usual of van der weyden's female portraits, her hands are clasped tightly in prayer, while her expression is generally humble. unusually for a van der weyden, she does not bow her head or gaze into the middle distance. instead she looks directly at the viewer, creating an intimate relationship between sitter, viewer and artist" … lorne campbell

first posted in facebook june 17, 2026

arthur melville -- "homeward" (1880)

"homeward bound i wish i was homeward bound home, where my thought's escaping" … paul simon

"you can't go back home to your family, back home to your childhood, back home to romantic love, back home to a young man's dreams of glory and of fame, back home to exile, to escape to europe and some foreign land, back home to lyricism, to singing just for singing's sake, back home to aestheticism, to one's youthful idea of 'the artist' and the all-sufficiency of 'art' and 'beauty' and 'love,' back home to the ivory tower, back home to places in the country, to the cottage in bermude, away from all the strife and conflict of the world, back home to the father you have lost and have been looking for, back home to someone who can help you, save you, ease the burden for you, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time--back home to the escapes of time and memory" … thomas wolfe

first posted in facebook june 16, 2026

william s. schwartz -- "the green couch" (1940)

"i, i have been, i've been sleeping on the green couch and i don't want to anymore, i've seen it swallow people whole before i've been sleeping on the green couch" … blowout

"art depends upon color, line and form. and great art requires the harmony of these three elements" … william s. schwartz

"in internet slang, a 'green couch'—specifically a green velvet couch—refers to a viral meme popularized on tiktok and buzzfeed. it went viral when users noticed the furniture piece was an incredibly popular, recurring decor choice among bisexual women and the queer community" … google A.I. overview

first posted in facebook june 14, 2026

francis cadell -- "interior, the orange blind" (ca. 1914)

"cadell was a left-handed painter. while a student, the president of the royal scottish academy tried to stop him painting with his left hand because 'no artist ever became great who did so.' cadell swiftly replied 'sir and did not the great michelangelo paint with his left hand?' the rresident did not respond and left the room quickly. a fellow student asked cadell how he had known that michelangelo was left-handed. cadell confessed 'i didn't know but nor did the president'" … wikipedia

"if the left half of the brain controls the right half of the body then only left-handed people are in the right mind" … w.c. fields

first posted in facebook june 11, 2026

asher brown durand -- "kindred spirits" (1849)

"yet the sweet converse of an innocent mind, whose words are images of thought refin’d, is my soul's pleasure; and it sure must be almost the highest bliss of human-kind, when to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee" … john keats

"if you think you're hearing something and you can't think what it is if you feel a quiet longing lift your heart into the wind there you'll find my kindred spirit there you'll meet me as a friend it is just a kindred feeling and a song to let you in…" … cyndi lauper

first posted in facebook june 10, 2026

sanford robinson gifford -- "the artist sketching at mount desert, maine" (ca. 1865)

"landscape-painting is air-painting" … sanford robinson gifford

"for me, a landscape does not exist in its own right, since its appearance changes at every moment; but the surrounding atmosphere brings it to life - the light and the air which vary continually. for me, it is only the surrounding atmosphere which gives subjects their true value" … claude monet

"the landscape belongs to the person who looks at it" … ralph waldo emerson

"sometimes, when one is moving silently through such an utterly desolate landscape, an overwhelming hallucination can make one feel that oneself, as an individual human being, is slowly being unraveled. the surrounding space is so vast that it becomes increasingly difficult to keep a balanced grip on one's own being. the mind swells out to fill the entire landscape, becoming so diffuse in the process that one loses the ability to keep it fastened to the physical self" … haruki murakami

"the american landscape has no foreground and the american mind no background" … edith wharton

"i wanna go to maine" … noah kahan

first posted in facebook june 9, 2026

lovis corinth -- "swimming facility in jorst-ostee" (1902)

"land lies in water" … elizabeth bishop

"the stronger the individuality of an artist, the more he is exposed by the public to misunderstandings" … lovis corinth

"i caught a tremendous fish and held him beside the boat half out of the water, with my hook fast in a corner of his mouth" … elizabeth bishop

first posted in facebook june 8, 2026

benjamin west -- "venus consoling cupid stung by a bee" (ca. 1787)

"was you ever bit by a dead bee?" … eddie