Sandra NewmanI once knew an artist who painted portraits that were widely acclaimed but in midlife he suddenly switched to making glass boxes with rocks in them, just ordinary rocks that to him looked meaningful in a particular arrangement. Nobody else ever liked the rocks, even his wife didn't like them, and after a few years he went back to portraits without having gotten anyone to see what he saw. Now, whenever I try to do something really different in my writing, I think, "Is this my rocks?"
Fidel Destro@sannewman I'm glad he went on his rock adventure, and a little sad no one else saw what he was trying to show them.
@cjrando I couldn't see it either. The pieces totally looked like any other rocks in any other boxes to me.
@sannewman I meant no one other than him. 😅
@cjrando But yeah, I agree. I wish we lived in a world where we could all spend a few years on our rocks.
@sannewman Indeed, though now having spent most of my adult life packing various kinds of rocks into a plethora of boxes, I'd recommend visiting and not sticking around too long.
rob mclennan@sannewman apparently folk got mad at Canadian painter Robert Bateman in the 1980s, when he attempted to include trash/garbage in his otherwise idyllic wildlife scenes (offering a kind of commentary into what otherwise would be airbrushed nature): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bateman_(painter)
Slacker Ramberg@sannewman My entire writing career is arranging rocks no one else understands. Too bad I don't have portrait painting to fall back on. All I have is rocks no one understands. #nothingbutrocks #rocksallthewaydown
Court Cantrell won't conform@grebmar @sannewman I feel like all of my writing is my rocks, as well. I'm okay with that most of the time, but sometimes I get sad that no one else seems to see these rocks the way I do.
@sannewman Also, I'm really curious about these rocks. Any pictures?
@grebmar No, no one seems to have ever photographed the rocks. The closest I could find is this painting of rocks https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/500278
ccount@sannewman
Brave guy. I'd never willingly let anyone see my rocks. Maybe I shouldn't even admit they exist
Brave guy. I'd never willingly let anyone see my rocks. Maybe I shouldn't even admit they exist
Dan Shick@sannewman speaking only and alone for myself, this sounds like a state i have been trying to achieve all my artistic career. i need to find my rocks
Jon Gilbert@sannewman this maps EXACTLY to what I'm doing right now, and I love how you've described it.
@jgilbert Yeah, I think I might be working on a rocks project now. I'm just trying to see where it goes without worrying
Sam@sannewman
i often get hung up on an idea that no-one else can relate to.
it can be a lonely experience.
oddly enough, just imagining a coarse lump of amorphous rock in a perfect cube of glass gives me a little frisson.
@ozofriendly yeah, thinking about the rocks often makes me feel better because in my heart, I have no doubt that he was right about the rocks
Peter Relph@sannewman
Sounds a bit existentialist to me.
Sounds a bit existentialist to me.
Ángela Stella MatutinaBoxes? Like Cornell?
@angelastella Sort of? They were glass boxes with rocks in them.
Flatbush Gardener 🌈Me too. I'm afraid we lost the metaphor, @sannewman .
vekta@sannewman I want to see the rocks so bad now
David McMullin@sannewman
What makes this story remarkable to me isn’t the rocks phase, but the acclaimed portraitist phases before and after.
What makes this story remarkable to me isn’t the rocks phase, but the acclaimed portraitist phases before and after.
gkrnours@sannewman @skamille I believe kandisky spend his whole life painting portrait and landscape to afford food and lodging to paint his rock^k^k^k abstract art.
Anthony Michael Morena@sannewman I've been thinking about this for two days now