Friday, October 11, 2013

A few of my favorite things from Sicily, shopped-up a bit

Of the hundreds of photos I took, here are a few of my faves enhanced or otherwise modified. Enjoy! In some browsers, if you click on a pic, it will pop you into a slideshow with enlarged images.


Farmhouse, seen from the bus on the way to Catania. Quite distant, I had to blow it up and then enhance it.



Entrance to a courtyard off the Via Etnea, Catania. That's Nancy on the right.


Fish market, Catania.


Palermo. From the balcony of our apartment, as we imagined it. A more literal version can be found in my previous Sicily post.


Paul. Righteous indignation, or just pissed off? Oh, right; this was a statue at one of the entrances to the main cathedral of Palermo.


I love looking in workshops and little factories. This was a key-maker's shop, just down the street from our apartment in Palermo.


In my last Sicily post I showed the unshopped version of this, the entrance to the Capella Palatina. I like this version more! HA!


A screened doorway in the Capella Palatina.


Monreale, as it might be sketched or watercolored.


Sitting in our apartment eating dinner as the sun set, the sky outside was an ethereal blue. I tried to capture it. Well the unshopped pic was pretty dull, but this restores the impression fairly effectively.
Over and out...

Monday, October 07, 2013

4 versions of an image

I am requesting your help in deciding which of these 4 images is most appealing. I have numbered them, so please refer to the number you like the most, when responding. Thanx.

#1.


#2.



#3.


#4.

A few of my favorite things from Sicily, unshopped

I took hundreds of pics while in Sicily, a few of which are memorable, at least to me. Here a few of the few: street scenes, architecture, a person or two. Enjoy! In some browsers, if you click on a pic, it will pop you into a slideshow with enlarged images.


Notice how his left arm (to your right) is coming alive with color. Catania, off the Duomo square.


She was soliciting tourists for pocket change. Gave her a euro, then stole this. Catania.


Catania, Roman theater, entrance.


Marzipan. Pretty package inside and out.


Catania, walking from the Duomo to Fred 2's castle (Castello Ursino).


Catania. A patch of yellow.


Palermo. The Gesu, the church at the end of our street.


The Gesu from the Ballaro street market.


The texture and sheen of stone.


From our apartment window in Palermo, night.


Palermo kiosk.


Palermo, on the waterfront. A touch of color.


Palermo. Entrance to the Capella Palatina.


Inside the Capella.


From a catwalk on the roof of the cathedral at Monreale.


Turned a corner in an alley in Monreale, and this, at dusk.

Thursday, October 03, 2013

4 images for Elmallah, Bouk 2

I am now preparing the manuscript (e-script? since little is being done by manu, hand, beyond keyboarding) for The Song ov Elmallahz Kumming, Bouk 2. All the audio is done - readings of the stanzas - so the reader can also listen to the text.

I am now preparing the images, most of which are based on cave paintings and ancient bas reliefs, in keeping with the setting of the poem, which takes place on the edge of prehistory, just before the emergence of powerful city-states and their conflicts with hunter-gatherer societies. We see Ertha being inspired by Elmallah.

Below are the first completed images. Your feedback, as ever, is of great value to me.

To accompany the introductory text, "Concerning Bouk 2: for Ertha it is set in a prehistoric moment, a timeless period from which she is emerging as she experiences a glorious expansion of her consciousness," this image:

 
The poem begins. With these lines from stanza 2:
   Befor I had seen the endz ov my luv
   And the fewcher chaenjez that I wuz impregnen,
   I left Erthaz prezzens
   Tu pray tu owr Lor
   And wen I reternd she wuz gon.


this image:


With these lines from stanza 7,
   Wen I reecht owt tu her
   With so much wizdem and no expeer

this image:


And finally, to accompany these lines from stanza 8,
   She ran awway like a woonded liyon
   And dissappeerd in a kovert.

this image:



I'll keep you posted as the project proceeds. Please keep me posted with your thoughts and impressions.