\nHaving read all of Chatwin\u2019s almost-fiction, the biography was simply too tempting. Despite risking a near-indigestion of quotes (everybody on the planet seems to have a quote about Chatwin), the tracing of his life, madcap, awry and poignant is really a wonderful read. Is it possible to know too much about writers one admires? Nearly 500 pages later, the answer is no (along with the comforting confirmation that Chatwin may not really have grasped Songlines either).
\nAnd, since one more quote won\u2019t matter amongst the multitude, in the words of Frank Thornlin:
\n\u201cPoor little boy, born on a Black Hill,
\nFirst he runs \u2018round, then he lies down, then he lies still.\u201d<\/p>\n
Went to an audition at the Early Music School where our son played his lute pieces. He looked very handsome amongst all the other students, so I was thus inordinately proud (his mom was static with joy, and floating 3 inches above her chair, I swear). For we former Ugly Ducklings (who have grown simply older with no miraculous transformation or moral to the story) a certain vicarious contentment a generation removed is permitted I think. (It\u2019s also very good to be the wholly anonymous \u201cfather of\u2026\u201d, a role at which I hope to excell.)<\/p>\n
Wandering briefly on the Moors in Devon a few weeks ago, up in Hound of the Baskervilles territory, (though it was admittedly clement and sunny and populated by hounds of basking tourists) it struck me forcibly that one\u2019s roots are not necessarily where you think they are. The same thought struck me when we attended the Lord of the Rings Symphony in Lucerne two weeks ago, and that familiar shiver snaked up three Howe spines simultaneously. I think it is possible to set down roots in a land composed not of geographics but of experiences. An eclectography of home\u2026<\/p>\n
Just realized that my laboriously written introduction to the web site, which I thought I have equally laboriously updated a short time ago, is now two years old. Have often puzzled over this web site business, and besides the clear professional and commercial aspects, the REAL reason I have one (besides the fact that I have a wonderful webmaster to spontaneously set it up and troubleshoot for me) is that I would very much like it to be the kind of thing I wish I could have stumbled on when I was a kid. Here\u2019s an illustration, in the form of a letter I received a few weeks ago:<\/p>\n
Hallo!<\/em><\/p>\n I am 10 years old and living in Sweden and goes in school, but I don\u2019t like it there. My classmates give me some hard times but they seems to like me when I draw. Drawing and painting is the best I know, and I will always do it.<\/p>\n I like to look in books with pictures and drawings. Ps! A neighbour\u2019s older brother has translated this for me. Hope you can read it?<\/em><\/p>\n There you go. Isn\u2019t that a wonderful letter? If that\u2019s not enough reason to have chosen making pictures as a life, I don\u2019t know what is. (Yes, of course I wrote a proper letter in reply, did a drawing, and sent a few things.) Or the Ins and Outs of Applied Creativity Been reading a lot of books lately – who would have thought that making images would involve so many words? This of course has the fringe benefit of allowing me a totally frivolous series of purchases on amazon, (\u201cYes, it\u2019s all for the book I\u2019m writing. Yep, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[369],"class_list":["post-1605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles","tag-fantasy-art-workshop"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1PY8Y-pT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1605\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nJohn Bauer is my idol, but he is dead. Have you seen his paintings? I like your paintings and drawings as much as his, and now I wonder if you can do a quick little sketch to me? My dad says that I should not write you a letter as waste money on stamps and so because he don\u2019t think you will answer because you don\u2019t have time, but I think he is just envious because he can\u2019t draw, like you and I.<\/p>\n
\nFantasy Art Workshop is now shaping up and going to final proof. Here\u2019s a little taste of it. This is the blad that was shopped around the last few book fairs. (A blad, by the way, is the acronym for \u201cBook Layout and Design\u201d, which had me stumped too, so I nodded sagely – and likely rather blankly – every time the word came up in the sales conference and got on Google straight after to do my homework.) The layout has changed a good deal, and we have reworked the cover, but it give you a taste of the book to come. I\u2019ll be posting more material as the publishing date draws nearer.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.john-howe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/FAW-thumb.jpg\" "\\"FAW-thumb\\"")
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