30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 26

Lydia

"Lydia" - mixed media on reclaimed wood, 15" x 6".  Ready to hang.  Available on Artfinder.

KNIGHT: There! Look!
LAUNCELOT: What does it say?
GALAHAD: What language is that?
ARTHUR: Brother Maynard, you're our scholar!
MAYNARD: It's Aramaic! GALAHAD: Of course! Joseph of Aramathea!
LAUNCELOT: Course!
KNIGHT: What does it say?
MAYNARD: It reads, 'Here may be found the last words of Joseph of Aramathea. He who is valiant and pure of spirit may find the Holy Grail in the Castle of uuggggggh'.
ARTHUR: What?
MAYNARD: '... the Castle of uuggggggh'.
BEDEMIR: What is that?
MAYNARD: He must have died while carving it.
LAUNCELOT: Oh, come on!
MAYNARD: Well, that's what it says.
ARTHUR: Look, if he was dying, he wouldn't bother to carve 'aaggggh'. He'd just say it!
     -from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Scene 34

It may be my sense of humor is odd, but I find this scene simply brilliant.  It tickles my funny bone in just the right spot.

But let's talk about this little piece of whimsy, which was inspired by a photo shared by a fellow artist.  Apparently there are some very interesting things you can do with photos on snapchat, and her granddaughter had done just that.  The ENORMOUS round glasses made me giggle, and so I had to put some on a girl.  And then named her after my own granddaughter, who may just wear glasses some day.

I have worn spectacles since I was seven years old.  And truly, I can hardly see without them.  Before cell phones, buying glasses each year was a complete crap shoot.  Because I would put on the frames, smash my nose against the mirror and still have no clue how I looked in them.  Now I can take a selfie, put my real glasses on and examine the photo before deciding.

Sometimes my exaggerated imagination wonders if I would have been cast out by my tribe if we lived in primitive times.  What a liability I would be!  Stumbling into trees, grabbing scorpions instead of shrimp, sleeping in poison ivy.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I would have walked off a cliff before I was old enough to be a burden! Ha!

Well, at least I live in modern times, where glasses are available, sometimes make people look scholarly, and generally prevent daily accidents from occurring.  Perhaps Arthur's scholar, Maynard, might have been a smarter dude with glasses?

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