Digant Jha

Digant Jha

There is something ‘enticing’ in this painting. The weathered structure, the wood, the brick…The way the greenery is so fresh against the old, worn home with its layers and features is almost magical. Details like sunlight filtering through the trees make this feel so ‘real’.

The Matchmaker. 1625

Calling Chiaroscuro simply a ‘technique’ is saying very little. Telling the story through 3 facial expressions is beyond artisanship.

Gerard van Honthorst, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Egon Schiele – a style all his own.

His signature style comes across as ‘raw’, ‘strong’ and ‘earthy’.

Egon Schiele, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Egon Schiele, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Egon Schiele, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

obsessions.

My latest obsession is ‘interiors’ and contemporary museum/gallery/studio scenes in art.

Gretchen Scherer and Thomas Brossard. Two amazing artists. Their works are magnificent.

That is the notebook’s spotlight today.

The Writing on the Wall. or Slab.

image from @BiancoDavinci on X

East. West.

“Don’t be seduced into thinking that that which does not make a profit is without value.” – Arthur Miller


Ikigai – 生き甲斐 . Japanese word/concept defined by the idea that true value lies in what gives your life pleasure. Pursuing one’s passion in life, living for what gives you joy and meaning offers a sense of true accomplishment, worth, and value.

Medieval Moments in Stone

“A quirky stone sculpture, often interpreted as a form of medieval humor, located at the Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy in Conques, France. The sculpture is a small, carved figure appearing to be “stuck”….” Image and excerpt from ArchaeoHistories on X

“In front of the Antwerpen cathedral there’s a statue in memory of a homeless kid who dreamed about being a painter. He used to peek inside the cathedral, looking for the paintings to try to learn something from them. He died in his sleep, next to his only companion, right outside the cathedral.” Image and excerpt from DaVinci on X

So Nin And Very Vuong

“I am pregnant with the book. I feel its weight, its pressure, its stirrings.”

Anais Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Volume 1: 1931–1934


It is no accident, Ma, that the comma resembles a fetus— that curve of continuation. We were all once inside our mothers, saying with our entire curved and silenced selves, more, more, more. I want to insist that are being alive is beautiful enough to be worthy of replication. And so what? So what if all I ever made of my life was more of it?

Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

the couture bots.

Two characters that are food for thought…The Couture Bots.

Members of an elite guard – black tie by evening…this is their day wear on duty.

They have the ‘stance’. Quite Blasé.

Couture Bots from my Character Notebook

a ‘bourdaloue’. the need to pee. an eye. a rogue.

Une Femme Qui Pisse

The need to pee…Natural. Necessary. Discretion Required.

The urinal. Portable. ‘Made for women’. A necessary and convenient contraption.

This one has an inscription:

ha! je te vois, petit coquin

( ha! I see you, little rogue!)

I have a question. Who is addressing whom? The lady? Is addressing a voyeur? Or is there a reference to the view from the urinal???? Just wondering…

Image from Lauren Alwan on X

Image from Two Nerdy Girls
Image from Two Nerdy Girls

These two images above are bourdaloues… female urinals.

Portable. convenient for the times, perhaps. Artisan crafted.

This bourdaloue below is ‘beautiful’…seriously. It looks just like a gravy boat. But it isn’t.

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The bourdaloue above? It changed me…I used to LOVE drinking my coffee out of large, artistic ceramic mugs…NO MORE.

The image below? Guess? Nope. Not a bourdaloue. It is a gravy boat.


Andy Mabbett
CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What came first, the gravy boat or the gravy boat shaped bourdaloue???

I know most people dont use gravy boats today. But still. Gravy Boats are/were a thing. As were bourdaloues.

Aesthetics are aesthetics. Someone, somewhere, must have known better and could have made the difference – Perhaps, one could have used a little imagination and made the urinals or the gravy boats in a completely different style…

They look easily ‘interchangeable’…ew.