Footnotes to a Conversation, October 16, 2023
“The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most.” – John Ruskin
Violettomania
Take a look at Impressionist paintings and you’ll notice the prevalence of blueish-violet colours. Traditional painters and critics termed it a sign of madness as a result of “violettomania”. Could it be the result of spending too much time outdoors in sunny yellow landscapes resulting in a permanent negative after-image? No.
“Their preference for violet was the result of two new-minted theories. One was the Impressionists’ conviction that shadows were never really black or grey, but coloured; the second concerned complementary colours. Since the complimentary colour to the yellow of sunlight was violet, it made sense that this would be the colour of the shade.” [The Secret Lives of Colour, Kassia St Clair]
Happy Birthday, Paddington!
Paddington Bear is 65 years old and still going strong. But why? Perhaps because he’s an outsider commenting on what he finds in the world. He’s also thoughtful, without a mean bone is his body.
“Paddington came about, it is said, when [Michael] Bond, then a BBC cameraman, found a solitary bear on a shelf in a shop on Christmas Eve. Inspired by memories of child evacuees during the second world war, he bought the bear as a gift for his wife, and wrote A Bear Named Paddington in 10 days.” [The Guardian]
“Rebellious, irascible, horny. Older people are reassuringly off the rails these days”
How’s that for a headline! It certainly led me to read the article. The author says:
“I suspect we want older people to be staid or predictable, because that makes them a more manageable population. Sadly, a lot of the older people I know are astonishingly blunt, hilarious, irascible, rebellious and horny. Dignity resides in having all of our energy and personality seen and valued. If ageing no longer means what it once did, that’s a fantastic thing.
“There’s no defying our mortality. But the lesson of Hoffner and company is that while we’re here, we should do what makes us feel alive – be it aerial daredevilry, prison breaks, or bloodless aquatic coups. Or maybe it’s Sunday evenings with Fiona Bruce, slightly chilled Pinot and contentment. Whatever gives our days meaning, so that when our time approaches, we’re leading the jump, rather than being pushed out.” [The Guardian]
Thought-Provoking
Some mysteries are comfortable reads. Others challenge the status quo, dwell in ambiguity, and make you think. Blackwater Falls by Ausma Zehanat Khan is one of those. Inaya Rahman, a Muslim woman police officer, is a member of a community response unit. When young immigrant girls are missing and murdered, the team sets out to uncover what’s going on. In the process, we encounter good cops and bad cops, evangelical bikers, immigrant workers, high-tech industries, and frightened families. In the process we also consider ways of expressing one’s faith, the friendship between women, and family loyalty. I’ve read some of Khan’s earlier books and they were good, but this one takes it up a notch. [Ausma Zehanat Khan]
Footnotes to a Conversation is a weekly Monday feature covering an assortment of topics that I’ve come across in the preceding week – books, art, travel, food, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I also post occasional articles on other dates, including frequent book reviews and travel tales.
If you share my love of nature, check out EcoFriendly West, an online publication encouraging environmental initiatives in Western Canada, and Nature Companion, a free nature app for Canada’s four western provinces.