The Devil's Organ, Art's Fairy Tail Houses, Carousel Horse

The Death of the Lewd, Knotty-Spotted, Pinch-Pated Cripple!

Warning: this post is politically incorrect.

Midsummer Night's Dream

"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,

Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,

Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,

With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:"

Oberon: Midsummer Night's Dream (W.Shakespeare: Circa 1595)

Do you know 'resonance'?

When I was a kid I had a book entitled "Tales from Shakespeare" by Charles and Mary Lamb. On the cover it had a picture of this strange creature which seemed to be half man half donkey. Later I found out it 'were' Nick Bottom, a character from "Midsummer Night's Dream."  At about the same time I discovered that Bottom wasn't a donkey at all. In fact, in keeping with his name, he was an 'ass'.

So what's that have to do with 'resonance'?

Well, to be perfectly honest, all and nothing.

Shakespeare is wonderful for 'resonance'. You can immediately make a book appear to be more important by putting a Shakespearean quote in the frontispiece. It could be a book about cooking chooks, or a book on how to raise a two year old child with one leg longer than the other.

All the world's a stage,

and all the men and women merely players:

they have their exits and their entrances;

but the boy with one leg longer than the other,

he doth walk round and round:

Loves Labours Lost (W.Shakespeare (Act V, Scene II).

 
Regardless of the subject, including a Shakespearean quote will lift that book to another plane. Even if you have to make the quote up yourself  :)

And that's what resonance is all about.

Before I stop blahing, I need to tell you about another "Resonance by Association." Did you know that I rub shoulders with some wonderously talented people?

Yep! My friend Jack Foster has another book out. The man never sleeps. He's even set up a portfolio site with a list of  his  creations. About  time.

And then there's Amalia K. She just let slip about a few new books she'd forgoten about! What a memory eh? If I had those books out I'd be walking up and down the street shouting. You can see some of her influence in the little girl in this image.

And I shouldn't leave out Mita, whose list of books I discovered accidently while waiting for a bus the other day. The web address was written on the side of the bus shelter. Can  you believe that?

These three talented artists are really really starting to annoy me. :)

But not as much as Linda Hensley   whose latest work has me feeling itchy. :)

Three Good Witches

Well, where did the inspiration come for this? It wasn't the quote below, that's for sure! But you get three guesses, if not wishes,  as to the real inspiration. Clues at the end of the post.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

from Macbeth (a short excerpt)



A dark Cave. In the middle, a Caldron boiling. Thunder.
Enter the three Witches.


2 WITCH. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

3 WITCH. Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Witches' mummy; maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock digg'd i the dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,—
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingrediants of our caldron.

ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

 Clicking for big gives you a bowl of brew - yuck! :)

The possible nominees for the three witches' identities, in no particular order, are:

Bella, Susan, Krista, Amariah, Lolo, Kinga, Theresa, Cyn,

Wanda, Ces, Amalia, Janne, Justin, Ginger, Elizabeth,

Vanessa, Mita, Pat, Karen

Of course each of these people are all marvellous artists. The clues are on their sites.

The first correct guessee for all three witches wins a weekend for two at either 1) one of Ces' water side luxury apartments or 2) At Saint Enrico the Dwarven Acrobat and Chicken Sexer's apartment in Paris, Tasmania. Or eight free lessons at Maria's Exotic Dance Academy for Young Ladies (PG recommended)*

thanks for looking :)

PS thanks to everyone who remarked on the new banner :)

And to set the record straight: All three young witches are appropriately dressed, and it is lolly water in the bottles.

Footnote * Prizes subject to availability