Katherine Keenum

Oct 28, 2017 8:14 AM EDT

I finished reading the fairy tales. I had to figure out how to turn the pages. If you want want to read any of it, click on the page itself, not on the edges of the page like a book.

I was glad to find a way to read this online. In trying to take the book out of the library, they didn't allow it. I would have had to go to the 42nd Street main library in NYC to read it without being able to take it with me.

They were entertaining, but dated for today's children's books. The female protagonists are always the ones at fault and must repent, or they must sacrifice their looks and then get them back. This book from 1920 is too close to the 19th-century. The author was definitely not a feminist.

- Patricia Franzino

Oct 28, 2017 10:21 AM EDT

So glad you figured out how to read the book on-line! That Archives source has many books that would otherwise be unavailable to most of us.

As to your well-taken point about the role of women and girls in most fairy tales, is it any wonder that revisionist versions have been a fruitful field for feminist writers to cultivate in recent decades?

- Katherine Keenum

Oct 19, 2017 10:11 AM EDT

Very beautiful and subtle work.

It's terrible she believed a doctor who sounds like he was against women artists. If she had found a deeper self-worth, she might not have taken her own life.

Whenever I hear of people doing this, for any reason, I feel they would have benefited from meditation to discover themselves as an expression of spirit where the real strength lies to continue living.

- Patricia Franzino

Oct 19, 2017 11:33 AM EDT

Even with greater understanding and better medications, life remains complicated and depression is real. We can only hope that more and more people find the help they need, and that we all find within ourselves the compassion that makes us human. Thanks for commenting, Pat.

- Katherine Keenum

Sep 21, 2017 7:02 AM EDT

Thank you for such an inspiring blog.

I remembered a quote from Churchill who was asked to cut arts funding to support the war effort. He said, "Then what would we be fighting for?"

A flamenco teacher was at a seminar I attended. He spoke about having dance, any dance form, social or otherwise, taught from the beginning of a child's education. He saw dance as a humanity course to help people learn we are all connected to each other.

- Patricia Franzino

Sep 21, 2017 9:14 AM EDT

Thanks, Pat. I had never seen the Churchill quotation before, but I'll certainly tuck it away now. And your flamenco teacher's observation is spot on. I've been reading recently about the evolution of music in the human species. Music is not only sound, but also rhythm. Movements like dancing and marching in formation are profoundly important to our mental and social development.

- Katherine Keenum

Sep 18, 2017 6:58 AM EDT

This is a gorgeous picture. The reflection of the light across the picture within the picture is glorious in the amazing talent it takes to produce something like this.

I like pictures I can walk into and feel a part of it all.

- Patricia Franzino

Sep 18, 2017 1:17 PM EDT

Yes, I loved it because it was a very particular space that I felt I could walk into—and then invent a similar space with differences.

- Katherine Keenum

Jun 25, 2017 5:52 AM EDT

Titcomb was an exquisite painter. How typical that one of her works sold for $120,000 in 2011, so many decades after her death. As you mentioned there are artists, writers and others in the arts that don't receive their due in their lifetimes no matter the gender.

- Patricia Franzino

Jun 18, 2017 6:18 AM EDT

The detail is astounding. The depth perception draws the viewer into the room. It has the feel of a photograph. Both father and daughter are great draftsman to produce the feeling of exploring and walking around these rooms.

- Patricia Franzino

Jun 18, 2017 9:06 AM EDT

Exactly right about the depth perception and drafting! She caught the textures of different materials, too, didn't she? It's a room to explore.

- Katherine Keenum

Apr 13, 2017 6:21 AM EDT

These paintings look like greetings cards, especially, "Ewes Watching Shooting Stars". I immediately saw a Christmas card or note card that someone could use for any purpose. Some look surreal and very beautiful. They are spiritual paintings, which are always deceptively simple. It gives a feeling of calmness and clarity of mind. Thanks for posting the works of this artist.

- Patricia Franzino