May Art Show - The Prodigal Son's Return

Last month I was prompted to put this art show up on my Sidebar Art Gallery because of the third piece, The Prodigal Son in Modern Life: The Return by James Tissot. I have that one in my Scorpius picture file, which I gather like a storyboard. I grab lots of images from the web that put me in the middle of my story, and I have a picture file for all of my stories.

I also have several physical collages of my stories because my writers' group does collage workshops every now and then. I love doing them.

I was drawn to the art inspired by the Prodigal Son's story because of the dynamic between the father and son. Particularly for Scorpius, who isn't a Prodigal sort in any way, but who longs for his father because he was abandoned and never claimed.

In my Weekend Writer's Retreat serial fiction, this longing for a father figure finds refuge in his falconer master, Richolf.














Detail from The Prodigal Son by Duane Michals
























Prodigal son sketch by Charlie Mackesy



















The Prodigal Son in Modern Life: The Return by James Tissot

















The Return of the Prodigal Son by Guercino
























The Return of The Prodigal Son by Pompeo Batoni
























The Return of the Prodigal Son by J-L Stapleaux





















The Return of the Prodigal Son by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
























The Prodigal's Return by Edward John Poynter
























The Prodigal Son by Edward Stott

Never Give Up

You may know I've had a wonderful run of great luck in winning blog contests. I have had untold packages arrive at my house in the four years I've been blogging, all from fellow bloggers who have offered prizes on their blogs.

A little while ago, I received How I Got Published from Claudia at On a Limb With Claudia.


It's a really inspirational collection of stories from published writers on what it took for them personally to finally hold their books in their hands.

I'd like to share this passage with you, written by one of the editors of the book, Ray White:

"Never surrender, never give up, never quit. Those aren't just words to get published by; they're words to live by.

Less than one percent of writers get published in book-length fiction or nonfiction. Now I am absolutely, positively making these statistics up (though I did extrapolate them from all those agent Web sites where they claim to reject 99 percent of all submissions.)

As Yoda said, 'Do, or do not. There is no try.'

Let rejection roll off your back and even go so far as to see each rejection as another step toward success."

The Royal Shakespeare Company's Hamlet

Last Wednesday, one of those glorious, serendipitous moments happened to bring me to a production that has excited my spirit ever since.

As I sat tapping away at my keyboard, my husband scrolled through the menu on TV when he bumped into Great Performances. Knowing I wouldn't want to miss ballet if it was on, he checked out the upcoming broadcast.

I was disappointed for a fleeting second when it turned out to be a play. But only for a second.

Hamlet! My favorite of the Bard's plays. Yes, I have a movie poster from Zeffirelli's Hamlet in my living room.






















This Hamlet is played by David Tennant, who helped me hear new things in Shakespeare's lines, in a play I love dearly and have seen in many incarnations.














Ecstasy of ecstacies - both the Ghost of the slain king and Claudius are played by Patrick Stewart.














There is a highly imaginative use of different cameras as metaphor throughout the production, including security cameras that don't register the ghost of Hamlet's father.














I was always impressed by Glen Close's version of Hamlet's mother, Gertrude - but this interpretation by Penny Downie is my favorite by far.














I quite like the real concern for the state of the soul in this production. There is a compassionate motivation to the Ghost's distressing appearances, as he seeks to spare his wife from paying for a sin she's not aware she's committing. Often the Ghost comes across as merely being consumed by sibling rivalry from beyond the grave. But not Patrick Stewart's version.














This Queen of Denmark is genuinely moving on from the death of her first husband, finding solace in her former brother-in-law, a far stronger woman than we normally see. Instead of playing Gertrude as a pawn between heads of state, Penny Downie gives us someone evolving past widowhood into an optimistic bride. Hamlet's revelations splinter Gertrude's world more intimately than I've seen done elsewhere, because this is played as a true family drama and less as a clash of royal titans.
















The happy news - if you missed the broadcast, the film will be available on DVD on Tuesday, May 4th.

Until then, here is the trailer:



And here is my favorite scene from every version of Hamlet, the one I wait impatiently for - the scene in Hamlet's mother's room. It's posted here in two segments: