Art Expectations Day 101
Summer Sunset on the Marsh
I celebrated my 100th day by painting a ton of other (non-Great Expectations) art. I was thinking about doing some paintings for my etsy site and started pricing small, about 4×4 inch, canvases. I wanted to buy a bunch. Then, a flash light went off in my head! I’ve been wanting to do something with all those 3.5 inch computer diskettes taking up space in my office. So I primed about 10 of them and started painting right away.
The one above is for Day 101, page 110: (I’ll show you the rest at the bottom. They are on my etsy site:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/JulieFlando
. Check it out please and let me know what you think.)
Pip wishes he could fall in love with Biddy (he says this outloud to her!) and stop playing “beggar my neighbor by candlelight in the room with the stopped clocks.” I love the way Dickens phrased that! Biddy tells Pip he will never love her.
They walk on more through the marsh. Near the churchyard they come upon some “ooze” and amongst that ooze is Orlick. He says he’ll see them home. So off they go. I can’t imagine that they want to be escourted by that gruff, rough (probably smelly) fellow!
ArtExpectations Day 97
Pip begins to take notice of Biddy, how now her shoe heels have become higher, her hair brighter, her hands cleaner. She’s not beautiful, like Estella. But she’s pleasant, wholesome and sweet-tempered – unlike Estella, Miss Havisham and his sister, the only other women he’s known.
He asks Biddy how she can seem to know as much as him. (How is she so wise?) He never sees her studying, as he does most nights after his work in the forge. Pip has been trying to increase his knowledge on his own and has become a little arrogant about it.
She reminds him that she was his first teacher. He believes he sees a tear from her as she continues her needlework.
Art Expectations Day 95
I am SERIOUSLY celebrating when I hit Day 100! (My 100th page read and 100th piece of artwork on Great Expectations.) So here I am on Page 104, Day 95 of the book (some pages had no text, only illustrations.) Here’s what happens: not much. But Biddy does come to live with them, helping out greatly around the house and with Mrs Joe, who is not herself after being attacked. The attacker is still unknown. Mrs Joe has been communicating by writing, in her poor English, with chalk on a slate. She has been scribbling some kind of shape that looks like a misshapen “T”. They finally figure out that it’s a HAMMER… Orlick’s hammer! Is he the culprit of the crime against Mrs Joe? Pip and Biddy go to the forge to fetch him for Mrs Joe.
Since one of my reasons for doing this project is to experiment with different mediums, techniques and styles, I decided to try Golden Fluid Acrylics. These are very expensive! About $15 for one bottle of just one color… and only 4 ounces! Of course, you need more than one color. I found a small – I’m talking TINY – set of eight 1/2 ounce bottles on eBay. I ordered the set on Tuesday and got it today, Thursday. I opened them immediately and did the painting above on the outside cover of a sketchbook. They are really different from other paints I’ve used so it will take some getting used to, but by then my tiny bottles will have run out! I am having fun with them anyway, trying something new! Till next time…
Art Expectations Day 92
WHOA! A bit of excitement…
(page 101 of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
As Pip, Mr Wopsle and Orlick make their way home on the dark misty night, they pass by the Three Jolly Bargemen and notice that something seems strange. Mr Wopsle finds out that there has been an intrusion at Pip’s home while Mrs Joe (his sister) was home alone. They race home to find all the village people on the lawn and in the kitchen. They crowd around Mrs Joe who lies on the floor. She is described as never being able to go on the Rampage again. Does that mean she’s dead???
I was at a loss as to what to draw for this page, so I went with my initial little sketchbook sketch of Mrs Joe lying in a casket holding onto her beloved Tickler, the weapon she used on Joe and Pip when she went on Rampages. I am sure I will find out on the next page or two about the future of Mrs Joe, if there is one, and also the plans for Pip’s future!
Art Expectations Day 77
Day 77 Page 86
Miss Havisham continues to question Joe about Pip’s blacksmithing apprenticeship. Joe continues to direct his answers to Pip, ignoring Miss H. This really embarrasses Pip, especially in front of Estella.
Miss H offers Joe some money (25 guineas) for Pip’s work (play?) with her at her house. So, Pip’s future is still in-the-air… undecided. Mrs Joe is hoping Miss H will “take on” Pip to provide him some great fortune and a prosperous future. Joe would love for Pip to stay with him and take on the family blacksmithing business. But Joe also does not want to stand in the way of Pip’s future, if Pip is better off doing something else. Pip, I believe at this point, would be happy as a clam being a blacksmith with Joe.
Happy Reading!
Art Expectations Day 75
Yeah, Day 75!
Pages 81 & 82:
Pip teaches Estella and Miss Havisham an old blacksmithing folk song. They sing it together as he pushes Miss H around in the garden-chair. It’s really quite catchy:
… hammer boys round – Old Clem!
With a thump and a sound – Old Clem!
Beat it out, beat it out – Old Clem!
With a clink for the stout – Old Clem!
Blow the fire, blow the fire – Old Clem!
Roaring dryer, soaring higher – Old Clem!
Pip admits to not discussing the details of his visits at Miss H’s with his family. He does, however, tell Biddy everything! She seems to have a deep concern for what he tells her. (hmmm….)
Mr Pumblechook often visits Pip’s home to discuss Pip’s future with Mrs Joe. Pip should be apprenticed to Joe as a blacksmith by now. But Mrs Joe and Mr P have other plans for Pip. Joe and Pip have no say in the matter. Mr Pumblechook supervises Pip as if he is the architect of Pip’s fortune and future.
Art Expectations Day 74
It’s SO good to be back online!!!
Day 74, pages 79 & 80 (I did two pages this time… so far behind!)
Chapter 12 starts with Pip worrying about being punished for his beating up the pale, young man at Miss Havisham’s house. The fight was the other boy’s idea! Pip feels guilty and expects the County Jail to come pick him up at any minute. He tries to wash the boy’s blood out of his trousers in the dead of night. He worries about his return to Miss H’s and a possible gang of boys getting back at him for beating the other boy up. He even imagines Miss H shooting him dead. (How a child’s imagination can run wild!)
But when he does return to her house, not a word is mentioned about the fight and the boy is nowhere to be seen. Whew! Only a “trace of his gore” is found by Pip in the spot where the fight took place. (ew!)
Pip goes on to describe what his life is like at Miss H’s for the next several months:
- he pushes her around in a garden-chair (a light chair on wheels)
- he starts going more often (every other day instead of every other week)
- he and the Miss H become better acquainted, she asking about his future but providing no money or help in the matter
- Estella is around and acting as moody as ever, no more kisses are granted
- Pip often overhears Miss H whispering to Estella to “break their hearts, my pride and hope, break their hearts and have no mercy!”
Poor Pip. He is in for it for sure. Have a great weekend!
Art Expectations Day 73
I’M BACK! Vacation and then dead computer…. argh. Mostly up and running again now after much frustration.
Page 78:
Love Charles’ wording: The pale young man is “eyeing my anatomy as if he were minutely choosing his bone.” The other young man, having asked (or TOLD) Pip to fight, is preparing for the fight in the neglected garden of Miss Havisham’s house. Pip surprises himself by throwing the first punch. And then the next and the next, leaving the young fellow flat on his back with a black eye and a bloody nose! The other young man declares Pip the winner. Pip walks to leave Miss Havisham’s, but is stopped by Estella who tells him that he may kiss her if he likes. He does, just a little peck on her cheek. He realizes she doesn’t really enjoy it as she lets him out the gate.
He arrives back home at night fall. “… when I neared home the light on the spit of sand off the point on the marshes was gleaming against a black night-sky.”
I hope everyone is having a great summer. Stay cool and do something creative!
Art Expectations Day 72
Hello! I have been on vacation, but now I am back and hope to get moving along on this great classic book (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens) and my daily (almost daily) art.
The boy who meets Pip in the neglected garden of Miss Havisham’s house tells Pip to “come and fight”. The boy then decides to give Pip a reason to fight by pulling Pip’s hair and by butting Pip in the stomach with his head! He then leads Pip to a nook in the garden and proceeds to take off his jacket, waistcoat and shirt in order to fight Pip.
What exactly is a waistcoat? Well, it’s basically a vest. And I wonder where “put up your dukes” came from?
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/put-up-your-dukes.html
What we do know is that put up your dukes was known by 1874 – the first record of it that I can find in print is in John C. Hotten’s 1874 edition of A dictionary of modern slang, cant, and vulgar words:
“Dooks, or dukes, the hands, originally modification of the rhyming slang ‘Duke of Yorks,’ forks = fingers, hands… The word is in very common use among low folk. ‘Put up your dooks’ is a kind of invitation to fight.”
Art Expectations Day 70!
(Un)happy Birthday, Miss H!
I glued an old dictionary page to a piece of cardboard. Then drew on top. It’s a birthday hat for Miss Havisham! Today is her birthday and some friends (?) and/or relatives have been visiting her while Pip is there to play for her. He’s just walking her around the dusty, neglected old living room. She says she doesn’t wish to speak of her birthday and that she is ready to be laid upon the table, dead. She also says that “that will be the final curse upon him“. Hmmmm…… wonder who the HIM is?
My name is Julie and I'm reading Great Expectations one page a day and also creating one little work of art (30 minutes or less) a day relating to what I read. Thanks for looking and reading. Leave a comment to let me know what you think!
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