Da Vinci, Botticelli, Van Gogh, and… Ross? Weekly Recap 10/7/2024

When you think of “great art,” what first comes to your mind? Rembrandt? Michelangelo? Picasso?

Perhaps you think of Leonardo da Vinci painting the Mona Lisa.

(Honestly I’ve never seen what all the fuss is about.)

Perhaps you think of Sandro Botticelli painting The Birth of Venus.

Or perhaps Vincent van Gogh painting The Starry Night.

(Probably one of my favorite works of art, overall… and I’m okay if that makes me “basic.”)

And let’s not forget one of my favorite depictions of Greek mythology… Pan and Syrinx by Jean-François de Troy.

Yes, surely all of those qualify as “great art.”

The things is… I know I could never create something even 1/1000th as great as the works above. So why even try? My hands and paint brushes don’t get along.

As a testament to that statement, I painted the tattva for air on canvas a few months ago – and that’s just a red square with a blue circle on top. It took me three days to paint the background red. One color and I’m already struggling.

But art isn’t always about what other people can do or how well they can do it. And so far, I’ve neglected to mention one of the greatest artists of recent times. Someone who inspired an entire generation to paint.

Bob Ross.

Yes, Bob Ross.

I watched a lot of PBS programming as a kid, including The Joy of Painting. There were probably a couple of years where I watched Bob paint happy little clouds almost every single day.

An original Bob Ross might not be as highly valued as the Mona Lisa, The Starry Night, or The Birth of Venus… but he gave us something even better than dollar signs.

And that’s hope. Hope that maybe one day, even I could produce a passable painting. How can you put a price tag on that?

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Good morning and happy Monday, friends!

And the happiest start of October to all of you.

I’ve been doing lots of video editing this past week. As such, I completed two! You can watch Episode 5 of M3, featuring Alexian, or check out my silly review of Agatha All Along.

Sunflower status: unhappy

Snapped again. I brought it back inside, patched it up with a stick and twine, and I’m hoping it heals up. I’m not sure why the wind keeps messing our plants up this badly, but I guess hurricanes make for a poor growing season.

Speaking of that…

Florida status: potentially unhappy

We’ll have to keep an eye on this one because currently we’re right inside the track. I’m going to ask the weather spirits for some protection later — they’re usually pretty amiable.

Friday night, Selene and I went out for a little dinner date.

Check out this sandwich! It was spectacular.

On Saturday, we drove out to prison for a volunteer session and had a short class on astrology.

We had a misa scheduled at our house for Saturday night, but plans changed. Instead, we ended up spending Sunday at our padrino’s house to get a reading with an oba that was in town for a few days. This guy spoke English, so I was finally able to get read without translation. It was awesome.

Also, we got our Elegua back. He spent the past year sitting next to our Padrino’s Elegua.

Now he’s happily back in his place on a shelf by our door.

I think that’s all for now! We’ll be watching out for more storm updates and hoping everybody is safe.

Stay tuned for more!