I put some dish soap in the fountain. Monte and I watched TV for awhile, but he wouldn't share the remote, so I went back to the computer. I admired my new can opener from Target. I thought how good my personal watermelon will taste. Even though it's called a "personal" watermelon, I'm going to wait until there's someone around to share it with, before I slice it.
Dish soap makes your fountain nice and clean...And bubbly.
It's outside so I won't get in trouble for the suds running over.
Monte has to wear these goofy looking glasses when he watches TV.
New can opener. Nice!
My watermelon.
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That was fun, now I think I'll listen and watch this for awhile.
P.O.V. - In the Realms of the Unreal . Henry Darger: Selected Works (1 of 8) | PBS
Henry Darger (1892 to 1973) was an amazing and eccentric artist. He wrote a 15,000 page novel, "The Story of the Vivian Girls, in what is Known as The Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnean War Storm, caused by the Child Slave Rebellion." and created thousands of drawings, murals and collages. He was one interesting cat. He would have lengthy conversations in his room, with himself, using different voices. He rummaged through garbage cans, saving paper scraps to use in his work. He cut out pictures from magazines, newspapers and comics to use in his collages (some of which he pasted into old phone books). He was an early recycler. I find the scope (bulk?), and obsessive nature of his work fascinating, the stories taking second stage to the bursting color of his paintings and collages. Interesting what a person like Henry could create, absent the distractions of TV, computers and other diversions of modern society. Listening to people talk who knew him, it's unclear if he was happy, or had many (any) friends or acquaintances. My impression is he lived a solitary existence, going to work and returning to his room to work in the Realms of the Unreal.
Henry was a devout Roman Catholic, going to Mass daily.
Henry's mother died when he was four years old. His father was unable to care for Henry or his sister. Henry and his sister were separated, never to see each other again. Henry was sent to an orphanage and later in the Illinois Home For Feeble Minded Children. He made multiple attempts to escape from those institutions. It's hard to imagine what those places may have been like, but for whatever reasons he retreated into a world he created. Henry marched to a different drummer.
As an adult Henry worked as a janitor at a Catholic hospital in Chicago and created his artwork alone in his room after work. His art was only discovered near the end of Henry's life, by his landlords Nathan and Kiyoko Lerner.
Wikipedia has a biographical summary of Henry Darger that provides a brief outline of his life and work.
I saw a show about Henry Darger on P.O.V. (Point of View) on PBS last night. Maybe someday I can go to the American Folk Art Museum to see his work, although for those of us who can't make it to the museum right away, the PBS TV and multimedia web material is very good too.
