The Little Green Eye Winks On And Off

[poliphilo]

Internet connection keeps coming and going. Ailz says it's because of  the thaw. I write a comment on a friend's LJ, the link goes down, and I post it half an hour later. In the intervals I go tinker with my jig-saw of Renoir's Le Moulin de la Galette. The couple dancing on the left hand side- her dress is a glorious salmon pink-  now have heads attached to their bodies.

Renoir is winging it- dabbing away at this huge canvas at the very limits of his rather shaky technique. He's not Monet.  Monet always knows exactly what he's doing. Every brushstroke- however wild- means something. Renoir isn't that assured. He dabs and dabs and hopes it'll come out right in the end. Maybe he's praying under his breath.  Renoir knows he's not as good as his mate, but he's more ambitious. Did Monet ever attempt a figure composition on this scale?  Course not.  And sometimes when you chance your arm like this Fortune smiles.

Fortune seemed to smile on Buddy Holly too. Look at him smiling back. Always smiling back- so radiant. And then... Oh, if only they'd had a little more patience and hadn't chartered that fucking plane! Richie Valens tossed a coin for a seat.  And won- or lost. There's something Homeric about it. Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the day the music died. Only it didn't, did it? Musicians die; the music carries on.

The music could care less. The music is cruel. The music is a user.

Are we on line still? Yes, the little green eye is holding steady. Let me  post this while I can.

Comments

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

It could well be your connection but LJ was having issues, too, and has been extremely slow. I've had to wait ages to post replies and our internet is fine.

It was a real adventure being caught in the Great Snow of 2009 while I was in London. Amazing how a city of what? 9 million? can grind to a complete halt like that.

You are so right about Renoir.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We Brits are always caught on the hop by extreme weather. The argument goes that events like this are so rare we don't need to plan for them.

Doing a jig-saw brings you very close to the artist who was responsible for the original image.