Thursday, January 01, 2009

silver linings

Anxiety about many things has kept me from being able to sleep through the night for several months. Since I cannot change the circumstances, I've become determined to adjust. One of these adjustments is reading books I've always wanted to read at 4am until I can fall asleep again. This has been kind of wonderful, as I've lamented not having the time to read for a very long time. I just finished The Hearing Trumpet, by Leonora Carrington, an English surrealist painter who hung out with Remedios Varo and Frida Kahlo in Mexico and thought a lot about alchemy and art and animal-headed people. Some of my favorite bits:

"'There is nothing wrong about painting,' she told me. 'I paint boxes myself for jumble sales. There is a difference though in being artistic and in actually being an artist.... Artists are immoral, they live together in attics.'"

"' There is nobody that can make you happy, you must take care of this matter yourself.'"

"The rest of that ill-omened night was spent burying the Prince in the kitchen garden."

It's fantastic. 


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