His stuff is good.

I didn’t. A coworker was talking about him the other day, and despite my art history background, the name wasn’t really ringing any bells with me. I thought perhaps that I simply wasn’t remembering his work, but when I researched him, I discovered that I had never learned about Erte. His work is pretty fascinating; to see samples click here. Here’s a short bio from the same site:

The Russian-born painter Romain de Tirtoff, who called himself Erté after the French pronunciation of his initials, was one of the foremost fashion and stage designers of the early twentieth century. From the sensational silver lamé costume, complete with pearl wings and ebony-plumed cap, that he wore to a ball in 1914, to his magical and elegant designs for the Broadway musical Stardust in 1988, Erté pursued his chosen career with unflagging zest and creativity for almost 80 years. On his death in 1990, he was hailed as the "prince of the music hall" and "a mirror of fashion for 75 years."

Neat.

Heather Nova, Only Love

I used to think that I knew what we needed.
Just assumed we would always be fine.
Now I don’t think that we lost the feeling
but we let everything build up inside.It’s only love,
but love should make us strong.
It’s only love,
but love has been hurting so long.

What a challenge, honesty.
What a struggle to learn to speak.
Who’d have thought that
pretending was easier?

It’s only love,
but love should make us strong.
It’s only love,
but love has been hurting so long.

And its all a part of me, it tears at my heart.
Only love.
And it’s all an eternity, hoping to learn.
Only love.

There’s a part of you I’m trying to reach;
still a part I don’t know.
Tell me, is devotion a gift or a thief?
Do you wish I’d let go?

Artists run in my family. My grandmother is an artist, and so are some of her children, while I like to dabble in painting and collage. My husband’s family also is artsy; he’s a graphic designer and photographer, and his late grandfather was a painter and photographer as well. Unfortunately, I can’t reveal his name for privacy reasons, but take it from me, Pops did some cool work. A lot of the time his subject of choice was his wife, and I have some really neat photographs that he took of her. The painting above is also of my husband’s grandmother; my mother-in-law recently unearthed it (along with some others) and sent a scanned copy to me. I hope to see the original one day, because this piece has style and flair!

My husband and I both love music (he blogs about it, I used to make a living from it) but we approach music quite differently, and therefore have vastly different opinions about what makes a piece or a song “good.” He is supremely interested in the actual music, i.e. the notes, chords, arrangements, etc. While I also appreciate these aspects, lyrics are also very important to me. I’ve always been a word person; I love to read and write, and I have a true love of poetry. Therefore, my favorite music occurs when an artist combines beautiful words with fantastic music arrangement. So, without further ado, here are today’s lyrics of the day. I really like Jewel’s 1998 album Spirit, so I’m offering up the lyrics from two different songs:

Absence Of Fear

Inside my skin there is this space
It twists and turns
It bleeds and aches
Inside my heart there’s an empty room
It’s waiting for lightning
It’s waiting for you
And I am wanting
And I am needing you here
Inside the absence of fear
Muscle and sinew
Velvet and stone
This vessel is haunted
It creaks and moans
My bones call to you
In their separate skin
I make myself translucent
To let you in, for
I am wanting
And I am needing of you here
Inside the absence of fear
there is this hunger
This restlessness inside of me
and it knows that you’re no stranger
you’re my gravity
My hands will adore you through all darkness aim
They will lay you out in moonlight
And reinvent your name
For I am wanting you
And I am needing you here
I need you near
Inside the absence of fear

Life Uncommon

Don’t worry mother, it’ll be all right
And don’t worry sister, say your prayers and sleep tight
It’ll be fine lover of mine
It’ll be just fine
Lend your voices only to sounds of freedom
No longer lend you strength to that which you wish to be free from
Fill your lives with love and bravery
And you shall lead a life uncommon
I’ve heard your anguish
I’ve heard your hearts cry out
We are tired, we are weary, but we aren’t worn out
set down your chains, until only faith remains
Set down your chains
And lend your voices only to sounds of freedom
No longer lend your strength to that
which you wish to be free from
Fill your lives with love and bravery
And we shall lead a life uncommon
There are plenty of people who pray for peace
But if praying were enough it would have come to be
Let your words enslave no one and the heavens will hush themselves
To hear our voices ring out clear
with sounds of freedom
sounds of freedom
Come on you unbelievers, move out of the way
there is a new army coming and we are armed with faith
To live, we must give
To live
And lend our voices only to sounds of freedom
No longer lend our strength to that which we with to be free
from
Fill your lives with love and bravery
And we shall lead
Lend our voices only to sounds of freedom
No longer lent our strength to that which we with to be free from
Fill your lives with love and bravery
And we shall lead a life uncommon