Share Your Favorite Paintings and Classical Music

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http://www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org/165443/The-Dream-large.html.jpg

 

Sorry to hear you had a bad day, Cate. Hope you feel a bit better soon. I seem to be good during the night and awful during the day!! 

 

This painting, The Dream, by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, is rather gloomy but pertinent to my current situation except that I am unlikely to die any time soon.    sometimes I wish I would (not really). 

 

She spent chunks of her life in bed due to childhood polio and a bus crash at age 18. She had over 30 operations, several miscarriages and was in constant pain. It is not surprising that life & death is a theme in her paintings.

 

 

 

LF

 

Hugs LF, I was just coming to you!

 

Thank you for the Manet, it is very beautiful. And for Frida, I love her work. Her work has withstood the test of time better than her husband's I think, Diego Rivera, who was more famous than she was.

 

I am familiar with her lying in bed in pain for years, and it's something I can relate to. I can honestly understand the desire to want to leave your body. Sometimes you really want to die, sometimes, you just wish you could leave the pain and suffering of the body and float away in consciousness somewhere else. I won't speculate on what actually happens. I'm good either way I think. As long as there isn't MORE suffering.

 

Hope you're doing ok today! I don't know what's worse, bad days and being able to sleep or better days and no sleep. It all sucks really, except when you do a little better generally.

 

I'm a little better so far. 

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http://www.popspotsnyc.com/The_Scream/Munch_105.jpg

 

The Scream

Edvard Munch

 

This is me today

 

Chocolates help though.  Yum yum.

 

Glad you are feeling a bit better.

 

LF

 

:tickedoff: :tickedoff: :tickedoff:

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Aww, I'm sorry you are having a bad one. Darn it. 

 

I hope it passes soon.

 

i want to add that I find your story inspiring. It's takes courage after 40 years use to get off. Real bloody courage.

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I hear you. But still, I think to arrive at the conscious decision to do it at all, after relying on the drugs for so long, is an act of courage. Didn't you have some fear or anxiety about being able to live without the drug while you were making your decision?  It's another act of courage to keep going when it's all gone to hell.

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Some sublime beauty for the suffering. If you're a fan of the movie and series Hannibal, you might know this, if not, I think it would be impossible for anyone to dislike it, honestly. If anyone on this thread dislikes this music, I don't understand you and don't come back.  It was also used in Kingdom of Heaven.

 

Join me for a quick trip to Florence and Venice-Here is Patrick Cassidy's Vide Cor Meum that sounds like it was composed in another century, but was composed for the movie Hannibal. The video includes libretto in Latin/Italian and English translation.

 

 

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Hi Cate

 

I wrote a reply, posted it and only one sentence was posted so deleted it.  Will listen to the music and will definitely love it. 

 

I was terrified of coming off the drug. My GP wanted me to so I decided to give it a go. The strange thing was I had no symptoms during withdrawal so thought all was well. Then had 6 months of bad depression/emotional turmoil. Did not realise it was withdrawal symptoms. It was only then I was hit with the physical symptoms. Been in bed since.

 

No longer depressed after 40 years of depression. Often wondered if nitrazepam was a factor but took it for epilepsy so thought I had no choice and had learned to live with depression.  No longer have epilepsy.

 

So glad I came off nitrazepam.  Just get really low when physical symptoms are bad otherwise I am usually positive.

 

The last time I felt well, I was a teenager. I can't really remember how it felt. To feel well again would be a miracle for me.  I am hopeful most of the time.

 

Take care and hugs for you.

 

LF 

 

 

 

 

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That was a beautiful piece of music. So moving.

 

Enjoyed the video too.

 

Would love to travel if I get better.

 

LF 

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Hi Cate

 

I wrote a reply, posted it and only one sentence was posted so deleted it.  Will listen to the music and will definitely love it. 

 

I was terrified of coming off the drug. My GP wanted me to so I decided to give it a go. The strange thing was I had no symptoms during withdrawal so thought all was well. Then had 6 months of bad depression/emotional turmoil. Did not realise it was withdrawal symptoms. It was only then I was hit with the physical symptoms. Been in bed since.

 

No longer depressed after 40 years of depression. Often wondered if nitrazepam was a factor but took it for epilepsy so thought I had no choice and had learned to live with depression.  No longer have epilepsy.

 

So glad I came off nitrazepam.  Just get really low when physical symptoms are bad otherwise I am usually positive.

 

The last time I felt well, I was a teenager. I can't really remember how it felt. To feel well again would be a miracle for me.  I am hopeful most of the time.

 

Take care and hugs for you.

 

LF 

 

It's amazing you don't have epilepsy anymore. I know that terror of coming off. I couldn't do it for years, even though I knew the drugs were destroying my life. I can't remember what "well" or "normal" feels like either.

 

The benzos/z-drugs made me extremely depressed too and also other negative mood states. I've been on some kind of drug for over 20 years, if you count alcohol, then for over 30. Now, I'm seriously chronically ill with sometimes bad pain, always some kind of pain and I'VE DEVELOPED AN ALLERGY TO OPIATES. (We think-but it really looks that way.) It's hilarious really. Life. An absurd, mad comedy. And can't take the sleepers anymore when my illness includes a sleeping disorder. I've managed to avoid serious protracted withdrawal, but I'm worried now that this last bit may have done it.

 

Anyway, I'm hoping that stopping it all will eventually improve my health and that I can move on to a new chapter. The last one was way too long and getting really boring. I really want to travel too and spend a lot of my time looking up places I want to go. Like, you can stay at some monasteries in Europe for free-or a donation which is a lot cheaper than most hotels. It's looking up those things that keep me going.

 

Glad you liked the music. Hugs.

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Redevan, do you get an actual taste when you hear the music or are you ascribing the attributes of the candies to the music (sweet, smooth, etc)?

 

Well, it's somewhere in between, I guess. There's a sensation, which I compare to tasting chocolate. It's not the same as actually having a piece of chocolate in my mouth, but it's more than a metaphor. It's a feeling.

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Hi Cate

 

You have really been through the mill too. You are right. Life is a mad comedy.  I have to laugh (wryly) about the years I saw psychiatrists with all their different theories about my childhood, family dynamics causing my depression.  My childhood and family were pretty normal really.  Now I am pretty sure it was the nitrazepam. I have cost the NHS a fortune over the past 40 years!!!!  I am sorry you are in pain. I don't have that thankfully.

 

Let's hope we can both get well and travel the wold.

 

Tomorrow I will post a happy painting and you can post some more beautiful music.

 

Healing hugs 

 

LF

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Well what I'm doing isn't working, last night was a real nightmare, things getting worse, not better. I'm having to reinstate on zopiclone and taper from that.

 

So anyway, here is a plate from the scientific/art masterpiece book Art Forms in Nature (1904) by Ernst Haeckel.

 

Here's his hummingbird plate:

http://artcove.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/products_img/Ernst-Haeckel-Hummingbirds-1904.jpg

 

The rest of of the plates are all here: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Kunstformen_der_Natur  They are all creatures and are well worth looking at. I was so blown away by this book I bought it.

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http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/images/paintings/gny/large/nti_gny_121365_large.jpg

 

'Scotty', Monty Miller's dog, 1893

 

Nathaniel Hughes John Baird

 

A cheeky dog to cheer you up.

 

I am sorry that you are not doing well at all. I hope the zoplicone helps. You can only do what you can.  I was almost at the end of my tether the past few days but today has been better. I hope you feel better soon.

 

Hugs 

 

LF

 

 

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Thanks for the adorable dog LF.

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Here's some fun from Disney's Fantasia 2000. The music is The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns. Just move the video forward to :56 if you don't want to watch the intro.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtlfZrPDGNs&noredirect=1

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http://www.artvalue.com/photos/auction/0/44/44540/after-landseer-edwin-henry-180-dignity-and-impudence-2-2077195.jpg

 

Another cheeky dog, Cate.

 

Dignity and impudence.

Sir Edwin henry Landseer

 

I hope you are feeling a bit better. Thanks for thd music. Going to listen to it now.

 

I am off to sleep (hopefully) as it is past midnight here in Scotland.

 

LF

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Hi Cate

 

Thank you for the music. I loved the video clip too.

 

I have watched more cartoons in the past 10 months than ever before.

 

They lift my spirits.

 

I hope you are doing ok.

 

LF

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Thanks LF.

 

Sir Edwin Henry Landseer was an incredible painter of animals, I love it.

 

Scotland eh? I'm in Canada but have Scottish ancestry, as many do here. I'd love to go there one day.

 

Hope you're doing ok too. Hugs.

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http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/upload/img/beraud-after-misdeed-L688-fm.jpg

 

After the misdeed

Jean Beraud

 

Have been looking at lots of paintings and I am definitely drawn to people anf landscapes. I don't understand a lot of contemporary art.  This woman is clearly regretting her actions. This painting is in the National Gallery, London.

 

Hope you are ok.

 

Have been to Canada once with work. Was at a conference in Ottawa in 2000. It was very hot. Stayed on for a few days. Went to the art gallery there.

 

LF

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Thanks LF, a very powerful painting that I can relate to. I've been to the National Gallery, but don't remember that one. It's impossible to see them all at once of course. I so love London.

 

Here's Frederic Edwin Church and his Aurora Borealis 1865

 

http://nsavides.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/800px-frederic_edwin_church_aurora_borealis.jpg

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Hi cate

 

That is an amazing painting.  Where do you find them?

 

Not been good today. 

 

Hope you are a bit better.

 

LF 

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http://www.eastbergholt-bells.org.uk/constable/haywain.jpg

 

John Constable

The Hay Wain

 

A very famous English painting, not as impressive as the aurora borealis

Apparently it failed to sell in 1821

 

Listening to a Bach CD. Here is one of the pieces, Toccata and Fugue in D minor

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I just like the Hudson School guys. Always like the Tocatta, thanks for that. Scary movies wouldn't be the same without it. Read that Bach wrote it to clean the birds out of the organ pipes.

 

I LOVE your John Constable. I saw his stuff at the National Gallery. If I could step into that painting, into that time and land right now, I would, and stay there forever. It's a crime it didn't sell. Some things are beyond understanding.

 

I'm sorry you haven't been good. Honestly, I haven't either. Here's hoping we'll both see improvement in the new week. 

 

Here's Thomas Cole's The Return 1837

 

http://www.sinoorigin.com/images/art-background/hudson-river-school/thomas-cole/large/Cole_Thomas_The_Return_1837.jpg

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This pretty much sums up how I felt when I woke up this morning.

 

 

And for the last month...and coming month

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I finally went back and read your Glasgow Boys, very interesting article how they were influenced by the French painting outside and wanted to change Scottish art, thank you! Some great paintings there. Well worth reading:

http://gerryco23.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/the-glasgow-boys/

 

 

http://gerryco23.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/arthur-walton-berwickshire-fieldworkers.jpg

 

 

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Albert Bierstadt -Storm in the Rocky Mountains 1886

 

http://www.sinoorigin.com/images/art-background/hudson-river-school/albert-bierstadt/large/Bierstadt-storm-in-the-rocky-mountains-1886.jpg