It really doesn't look very much like the original, does it. I'll try again.
My excuse is that I did it on the train, the contour on the 1 hour long trip in, and the values on the 35 minute trip home.
Took the wheelchair and ventured into the city yesterday to see a movie. In a movie theatre! In English! I'll say now that though I had really expected the Robert Downey Jr. and Jude I-can-barely-stand-to-type-his-name-so-much-do-I-loathe-him Law versions to be intollerably awful, I think they do fairly well as a kind of sub-Holmes genre of their own. Holmes as superhero. I will ever remain loyal to Jeremy Brett, of course, but I like explosions, so I do!
But Rome. Dear me! I go there so infrequently now for anything other than strictly medical reasons that I had forgotten many of the things that drive me nuts about it.
Rome is probably the most un-cosmopolitan city I've ever lived in or been to.
There is exactly ONE cinema left in this miserable city that shows lingua originale films.
All the "Chinese" restaurants are this weird thing; "Roman Chinese" where all the menus of every place in the city are exactly the same. Roman-Chinese cuisine: what we do out of desperation when we just can't face another carbonara/pizza-Margherita Sunday lunch. Not only is there almost no presence of any other country here, they don't even do anything from any othe part of Italy. I think I know of exactly one Tuscan place.
It also has cobbles.
Oh dear me! Let me give all the soon-to-have-major-surgery a piece of advice. A wheelchair and the Roman cobbles are not a good mix. Even using mostly taxis it was an uncomfortable ride.
Pretty tired today, and pretty achey, but I was SO glad to have got out of the house!
~
Its a good idea to , draw upside down it will help get the composition right .
ReplyDeleteThis decosmopolitanization has happened all over the West. We have all drawn in on ourselves; at least in Rome there's a lot there to contemplate. In Seattle, it's slightly less pretty. - Karen
ReplyDeleteI saw the same film yesterday in Boston, Massachusetts. I agree it was fun. I also like films like this which give us glimpses of cities like London and Paris in the 19th century, pre-automobile and modernist/brutalist architecture. And, of course, the clothing.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of clothing or the lack of it, the appearance of Stephen Fry was an unexpected...pleasure?
Globalization is all about standardization and uniformity, picking winners and losers. I'm sure it has its influence in Rome too.
ReplyDeleteRegarding your drawing, I think it looks great. Perhaps a bit of modulation of the width of the pencil outlines? I'm thinking around the creases in the finger joints -- thicker towards the outside, getting thiner and lighter as they go across the finger. At least that's what I see when looking at my own hand.
I made the mistake of going to a Roman "Chinese" restaurant once. I knew I shouldn't have but I was desperate for something un-Italian. My second mistake was ordering the 'wontons'. What I got were pieces of crostoli wth blobs of minced meat, coupled with a side dish of tomato sauce. I've never seen, or tasted, anything like it.
ReplyDeleteAt least it was memorable.
Lydia
You have to know what to order. The duck is often quite good and for some reason the xiao mai is almost exactly the way I remember it from Vancouver. But I usually avoid anything that is something with which I am familiar. Wontons would be right out. Dear me! but I do miss Vancouver sometimes.
ReplyDeleteLook at 'Bridgemans complete guide to drawing from life ' its diagrams although exaggerated ,describe well how muscles wrap around bones to form the body in a three dimensional manner. So when one draws the shapes that make up the overall picture , one can anticipate how it all sits in the drawn space and how it recedes toward the edges of what is visible . Also a paper with a warm tone would help to create the 3d illusion as in the Da Vinci drawing the highlights use the warm tone of the paper to bring out features against the receding cool whites .
ReplyDeleteAnon,
ReplyDeletePlease see the commbox rules before you post again.
Yes, I've seen many people recommending Bridgeman's Guide it is on my Amazon wishlist, but I may have to make a special book bleg for it.
Rather late to this post, but I'm not sure why you're complaining about Rome being uncosmopolitan; it's one of the things that makes it bearable. A city that's not ashamed of itself, where people can actually speak the local language, and the indigenous sweep the streets and drive the buses. Rome without the profusion of proud Romans would have all its drawbacks, plus a whole raft of new ones.
ReplyDeleteThere are by the way several cinemas which show original language films...
Roman chinese restaurants are exactly as you describe them (the trick is not to think of them as Chinese), but there are several Tuscan places, I know of at least two Sardinian restaurants off hand, Milanese, Neapolitan, Tirolese etc. You ought to get a curry when you next venture into town.
Somehow Rome has managed to remain Rome (i.e., hasn't gone cosmopolitan) without giving up on being the theatre of the world.
There's a difference between multicultural and cosmopolitan. - Karen
ReplyDelete