One of the more frustrating things that can happen when attempting to get a true image of a painting is the result you see here. The tree trunks have almost no yellow when I look at the painting, but no matter what settings I used for the scanner or how I tried to manipulate the colors with my rudimentary PhotoShop program, I simply couldn't get it any closer to how the picture looks in reality. So this is it - pretty enough that I wanted to share it with you, but hardly satisfactory when it comes to a real translation of the image. If you've ever looked through Google images of famous paintings you'll see I'm not the only one to have had this kind of problem.
Recently, I came across some words in languages other than English that describe things familiar to all of us. The more words we have about the natural world, in my opinion, the better.
Mangata (Swedish): The road-like reflection of the moon in the water.
Ammil (English, old Devon): The thin film of ice that lacquers the outdoors when a freeze follows a partial thaw, and that in sunlight can cause a whole landscape to glitter.
Komorebi (Japanese): The sunlight that filters through the leaves of the trees.
Gurfa (Arabic): The amount of water that can be held in one hand.
Poronkusema (Finnish): The distance a reindeer can comfortably travel before taking a break.
Eit (Gaelic): The practice of placing shiny stones in streams so that they sparkle in moonlight and attract salmon in the late summer and autumn.
Murr-ma (Wagiman): The act of searching for something in the water with only your feet.
Kalpa (Sanskrit): The passing of time on a grand cosmological scale.
Waldeinsamkeit (German): The feeling of being alone in the woods, an easy solitude and a connectedness to nature.
Kintsukuroi (Japan): the art of repairing pottery with gold or silver joining the pieces and understanding that the piece is more beautiful for having been broken.
Quote of the week:
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
~ Bertrand Russell
♡
I know of the frustrations of getting true colours onto the web! Still your work looks wonderful.
ReplyDeleteA fascinating list of words from different languages. Being Finnish, but not always familiar with all its words, the meaning of the Finnish word stumped me as not quite correct. My dictionaries were not very helpful or rather vague but I think it really means reindeer's pee. Perhaps the above translation was trying to be more delicate :-)
It's a hard thing to be so color sensitive, isn't it? I'm rarely completely happy with a screen reproduction but this one was worse than usual.
DeleteThat explanation of the word would certainly work for me but I'm not sure reindeer, like horses and elephants, care much about delicacy in these matters. :)
Indeed! I always found it fascinating that the Inuit had many different words for snow.
ReplyDeleteI guess it makes sense to describe something cogently when a misunderstanding could be fatal. I like this one: qautsaulittuq, ice that breaks after its strength has been tested with a harpoon. There's a good explanation here.
DeleteHi Susan
ReplyDeleteI think your lovely picture is highly creative and evocative so to my untrained eye the lack of intended colour on the tree trunks doesn't detract at all from your very detailed work.
Great use of words - becoming a lost art. On the cracked pottery - like life- are we not all crackpots ? By that I mean we all have our failings or cracks at times but we can still view ourselves and others favourably. In other words in humility accept ourselves and others for who we are and see the humanity that binds us in spirit and fellowship. A rather long bow to draw from just seeing a picture of cracked pottery but I wonder if that was the intention of the artist ?
best wishes
Hi Lindsay
DeleteThanks so much for your fine compliment about the picture. I'm sure you'd see the difference if you saw the original but I'm happy you like it as is.
Yes, different words for concepts we rarely think of provide a fresh way of envisioning the world. I think you've hit the nail on the head in regard to the Japanese art of pottery repair acting as a simile for people growing in wisdom along the lines of the cracks. The golden joins are like threads of mutual affection and respect.
All the best
The repaired pottery - you can be more beautiful after having been broken - a life lesson
ReplyDeletethe Ol'Buzzard
Very true, OB.
Deletelove the picture and the words. I remember getting the colour problem when printing photos and printing the same picture several times and using photoshope to adjust things.. now I don't have a printer and anything sent for printing is just accepted by me.. easier!!
ReplyDeleteSorry I missed your comment til now, Claire - it didn't show up in the email.
DeleteBack when all photographs were made on film photographers and technicians often used grey cards. The first photo had the card on the outer edge that the person developing could adjust the shades to for subsequent shots. It worked well. On line we only ever see what our individual screens can show.
You're right that we might as well forget the whole thing. :)
Sometimes I come here with the express purpose of quieting my mind. That's not to mean shutting down or closing off, but rather to focus on things that make me feel calmer and mentally stimulated by color and light and softness and creativity instead of anger, confusion and sadness. Thank you for this post. xoxo
ReplyDeleteThis morning I found myself remembering Columbine with fondness for the good old days. So much is happening so fast it's hard to catch your breath.
DeleteI do keep working, Lisa, and I'm glad the results make you feel a little better.
xoxo