Dave's Journal / July2021
No one asked, but I have an opinion about this (though I try hard to leave politics out of my journal here - sometimes, like now, I fail at that).
The national anthem and the pledge of allegiance are two events where we can show that, despite that we in this country disagree with each other on nearly every issue, we stand united in our allegiance to the USA and to each other. And . . . in my opinion . . . if you can't stand there respectfully at those events, you need to find someplace else to live.
( https://www.godelfineart.com/artists/john-evers-jr )
No one asked but . . . what's in my bag today?
Bag is the Domke F-8 (their smallest), camera is Fuji X-A1 (pretty small), light weight (plastic) zoomy, ear implant batteries and controller, 2 spare camera batteries.
(Having lunch at Lakeside in Brookfield.)
Went there yesterday. Nice event.
My pictures are here: BritCars2021
Deb left me stranded while she visits HS friends up in Maine, so I took the commuter rail into Boston just to get out of the house. Walked around a little near North Station, then hopped back aboard and rode home.
Still must wear a mask on the train (not a big deal for me); but the windows were so dirty the video clips look like worn out old movies.
My Favorite
And one in Color
I'm not talking about the absurd $$$$ people spend on "art". I'm talking about how I feel about some pictures. And about the lesson I am learning at the moment (after reading an article in the New Yorker ).
Here is a painting by Paul Cezanne.
Looks to me like a preliminary rough sketch that he plans to paint some time in the future. But, no .... it's finished as far as he was concerned.
??? . . . I ask. What's going on here? If that's "finished", what about the millions of very detailed, exquisitely completed paintings? What are they? "Ultra-mega-finished"?
Well . . . here's the story . . . Cezanne had a lifetime of painting detailed, really "finished" (if mildly abstract) art. These works showed viewers what he saw in that table of vegetables (or whatever it was). The viewers then look at his paintings and their brains interpreted what he saw (as shown in the painting) into what they see (looking at his painting).
Then he got to a point . . . "Hey what if I just sketch out what's there and let the viewers mind finish the picture? How would that work?"
And there you have it. He (and other artists too) let the viewers' minds finish the pictures as they desire.
This kind of reverses the whole intent of making pictures throughout history. And it does explain to me what's going on with this "unfinished" work . . . you, the viewer can stare at it and finish however you desire. You are not constrained by an exquisitely detailed description of what it shows in the picture
I'm not saying this is good or bad, I'm just explaining things. Personally, I let mildly abstract stuff just float through my head the way it is. I (sometimes) enjoy the colors and shapes, but I don't finish anyone's pictures.
The current discussions of minimum wage, unemployment, etc etc, got me investigating my wage history, using internet inflation data.
In 1966,when I got out of school, I made $8800/year (about $4.25/hr) in 1966 dollars.
In 2021 dollars, that equates to about $73,800/year (about $35.50/hr) for an engineering (or similar professional) college graduate with no experience.
Looking up current data, new engineering college graduates average $72,000/yr with no experience, which is very similar (in constant dollars) to what I was paid in 1966.
On another topic, my engineering loan debt was about $6000 in 1966 dollars (that's about $50,300 in 2021 dollars).
