The Narrative Within

Insect Repellent

Posted on May 25, 2017 by Art for Housewives

Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis was published in 1915. It’s the story of Gregor Samsa who wakes up one morning and realizes he’s become a giant insect. Before being a bug, Gregor provided for his family by working as a traveling salesman. Unable to work now, Gregor’s famiy now sees him as a burden.

Gregor, now an insect, can no longer speak. Unable to express himself, his way of thinking changes. Realizing that he is unwanted, Gregor dies. Kafka doesn’t explain what was the cause of this metamorphosis, but the reason why seems fairly obvious. Gregor hated his life because it made him feel like he was worth little more than an insect. So he was.

Your thoughts determine the life you have. Therefore, before turning into a giant bug myself, I’m going to initiate some intentional transformations and will myself into being what I want to be—like being happy. More than something magical, often happiness is just a result of practicing the right kinds of habits. The standard blueprint towards any self-imposed transformation takes energy. And to have energy, one needs exercise, diet and enough sleep. Plus dancing daily helps, too!

Transformation

drawing

Posted in Books, Drawings & Paintings, THE DIARY OF LUZ CORRAZZINI | Tagged Franz Kafka, THE DIARY OF LUZ CORAZZINI, Transformation | Leave a comment

Critique Sheet for Every Day Life

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Art for Housewives

Instead of a selfie, why not photograph a moment such as when sitting at the kitchen table, or looking out the window, or stopping on a walk around the block then critiquing the photograph as if it were a painting.

Just as a critique sheet is used to evaluate a work of art, we could use a critique sheet to evaluate certain moments of our day treating these moments as if they were works of art, too.

La Sussurrata

Identification of the Moment: a Parian Porch, May 2017

Description: it is a color photograph showing a partial view of a porch with plants and a partial view of a patio with plants.

Analysis: the picture plane is divided into foreground and background. This division is enhanced by the effect of controluce with the foreground being darker than the background.

The picture is dominated by nature’s biomorphic plants that contrast with man’s geometrical architecture. It takes the eye longer to move around biomorphic contours than it does to move around geometric ones. Natures wants attention.

Interpretation: the presence of a foreground and a background suggests “Here and There”–the distance that divides one place from another. One thought from another. One person from another. But our eyes help us go beyond boundaries permitting ” there” to become ”here”.

La Sussurrata

Conclusion: observation brings things closer to us even when they are far away.

My memories are paintings.

drawing

Posted in Beauty, Paros, THE DIARY OF LUZ CORRAZZINI | Tagged background, critique sheet, foreground, here and there, photogenic lifestyle | 1 Comment

Daily Aesthetics

Posted on May 23, 2017 by Art for Housewives

My friend Anthy is an expert at making life photogenic. She can turn even a simple act such as serving water into a photo shoot. Anthy’s Daily Aesthetics transforms the world around her into a magical place.

Anthy's Glasses

Anthy’s Refreshment Glasses

Below are some thoughts as to why daily aesthetics are so important:

We are part of our environment whether or not we want to be. When you react to your environment with your own aesthetic code, you change your rapport with the environment. You, in some way, possess the place where you are just by being there. Because by being there, you, too, are part of the environment. So, if the world around us becomes a part of us, why not turn it into art?

Creating personal daily aesthetics implies creating a rapport with our environment. Art should be integrated into daily experience because it enhances life. Art is a form of consciousness and consciousness transforms us.

Anthy-s Potted Plant

Anthy’s Potted Bouquet

The use of the imagination in everyday life is fundamental. Imagination is a form of insight. It helps us interact with our environment.

Aesthetics are ideals that help guide us.

Aesthetics don’t come from what’s in front of us but from what’s inside of us.

Art helps us integrate with our environment. Art is the fusion of the inside and out.

Reacting to our environment helps maintain the flow of consciousness.

Attitude determines our aesthetics.

Anthy's Table Decor

Anthy’s Centerpiece

If we change our canons of beauty, we change our rapport with our environment. Our destiny is, in part, determined by how we interact with our environment. If the gap between ourselves and our environment is too wide, psychologically or physically we die. Vital adaption comes thru expansion.

Our thoughts keep us company. That’s why we must cultivate them.

Stasis does not lead to experience. And it is experience that shapes our sense of aesthetics.

Jean Renoir said that ‘true art is in the doing of it’.

drawing

Posted in Beauty, Paros, People, Women and Paros | Tagged Anthy, art, Daily Aesthetics, experience, imagination, photogenic lifestyle | 1 Comment

Towards Paros

Posted on May 20, 2017 by Art for Housewives

Finally, Paros!

We took a taxi to the airport. On the way, motorists were honking, zigzagging, driving aggressively. But, when asked, our driver said driving a taxi in Rome didn’t stress him out. Like Don Ruiz who says “don’t take it personally”, he’d learned over the years to detach himself from emotional driving and just concentrate on getting where he had to go.

Departure, In The Taxi

At an intersection, our driver cut in front of a woman on a scooter because, he explained, she’d hesitated. Whoever is not sure about what they are doing will be obliterated by someone who does. Furthermore, to avoid a traffic buildup the number one rule is to keep traffic moving.

So from the taxi driver I learned that “hesitation breaks the flow” and “impose upon others before others impose upon you”.

Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport is better known as Fiumicino because it’s near the canal of Fiumicino. It’s an airport like all the others in that it’s a transition space filled with strangers who submit themselves to invasive security checks and high prices just to get from somewhere to somewhere else.

Airport Security with Volver the Cat

According to French anthropologist, Marc Augé, airports are non-places. A non-place depersonalizes. In airports, we’re no longer individuals but simply part of a multitude that’s herded from one space to another. The only thing we have in common with others is our transience.

An airport is a place where the generic and not the specific is created. An airport is about transition and temporality. An airport, because it incites no sense of belonging, leaves one anchorless.

Rome - Athens

On the plane I thought about all the destinations I’ve had. And how ephemeral a destination is because once you arrive, “destination” no longer exists.

from the Colosseum to the Parthenon

You know you’ve arrived when there becomes here.

Bibliography:

Augé, Marc. Non-Places: An Introduction to Supermodernity. Verso Books. London. 2009

drawing

Posted in Drawings & Paintings, Paros, Rome/Italy, THE DIARY OF LUZ CORRAZZINI | Tagged airports, Athens, ballpoint pen drawings, departure, destinations, kalo taxidi, Marc Augé, non-places, Paros map, Rome, taxi ride, Volver the cat | Leave a comment

Sloughing

Posted on May 15, 2017 by Art for Housewives

Every day we shed dead skin and make dust. As with snakes, old skin must be eliminated to make room for the new. And the longer one lives, the more renewals are necessary. Stagnation is static whereas life is motion. So sometimes you just have to dust yourself off and make some changes.

Renew Yourself

There are basically three things to do for intentional change: 1. Analyze the situation 2. Set objectives 3. Create a strategy.

A diary can be helpful in making these changes.

Using a diary, we can reconstruct our day and observe it from a distance. After analyzing our actions, we can decide whether or not changes need to be made.

If changes are necessary, then objectives need to be set. Once goals are visualized, a strategy is needed to actualize them.

Renew Yourself

Lao Tzu said “Every journey begins with a single step.” Like the one you take when walking out your front door.

Renew Yourself

A diary can also help us stay focus and document our progress.

Here’s an example:

Analyze the situation… while objectively looking in the mirror, you decide that it’s time for a change and that you need to lose weight.

Renew Yourself

2. Set objectives…you decide to lose 10 kilos in 5 months.

Renew Yourself 3. Create a strategy…. after some research, you realize to reach your objective you need to consume no more than 1200 calories and to exercise for 30 minutes every day. To help you stay on track, you keep a food diary. You also find ways to compensate for excesses. If one evening you want to go out with friends and drink wine, remember that a glass of wine has about 85 calories so 3 glasses of wine is about, 255 calories which means walking about 40 minutes extra to burn it off.