Flooded! (or I don't get it. What is the DEAL with Art?)

So last night, we were watching this show, Treasure Hunters, or Buried Treasure or something like that. These two identical twin brothers (their names are Leigh and Leslie Keno) are all smart and they go around appraising people's antiques. Sometimes (in fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that every time they go somewhere that is shown on the program, as I'm pretty sure that people wouldn't watch it otherwise because no one likes disappointment, even if it isn't your own), they find really amazing stuff. These two brothers get really excited about furniture. It's pretty cute. They'll go through the house looking at all kinds of stuff very calm and collected, but when they come across an old chest or table they immediately get all jittery and excited. They go into full twin-mode and one is talking while the other gestures, or they start finishing each others' sentences. They just love old furniture. They're all about it. Occasionally they have to ask other experts to help ascertain the authenticity of artwork or small collectibles, but doggone, if they don't know their furniture.

Anyway, on the episode last night, this one guy had two pieces of artwork that were possibly Rembrandt's. There was a big painting and a smaller etching. The Kenos weren't sure, so they took the pieces back to NYC to their friend the Rembrandt expert, who confirmed the smaller was indeed a Rembrandt (worth about $20K) and the bigger one was not. However, the bigger was by a 17th century Dutch painter, who was actually in school with Rembrandt, and even though it was a very similar style, it was only worth $10K, instead of the $30-odd million it would be worth if it was a Rembrandt. Can you believe that?? I just don't understand. This poor other painter. He goes to the same school, at the same time, gets the very same training, and his painting is so excellent that only the leading expert in the whole world could tell that it wasn't a Rembrandt, and yet, somehow, his painting is worth not even 1% of what a Rembrandt painting is worth. It just seems so unfair. I really don't get visual art. I mean, I can look at a painting and say, yeah, I like that, this guy has a lot of talent. But I don't know how to analyze the symbolism, what makes an amazing painting vs. what makes an okay or even good painting, and I certainly think this whole scenario is pretty unfair. I mean, come on. Its age alone and the fact that it's an original should be worth more than $10K. Obviously I won't be becoming an art dealer anytime soon.

I remember one time in the Art Museum in Ottawa, there was a painting that was literally all black. It's probably still there. On the little description it said, "See if you can find the two blacks." What? Why would anyone waste their time staring at a black painted canvas all day trying to figure out where one black starts and another black ends? This is what I'm talking about when I say I don't understand visual art. That kind of thing seems ridiculous to me. Don't even get me started on Andy Warhol. The Tate Modern was a wasted, and somewhat horrifying, hour of my life. However, that being said, I want to say that I do appreciate the importance of all art, and I would never discourage anyone from making any form of art, even weird art I didn't understand, and even if they weren't very talented. In my opinion, meeting other peoples' expectations is the not the point of art. And there are many pieces of visual art that I truly enjoy. I love Monet. I also especially enjoy sculptures and photography. There's just something about all that smooth marble that really appeals to me. And I love how photography is a perfect reflection of life. You can't take a fantastical photograph of mythical creatures or other planets (well, real ones, anyway), the way you can paint or draw them. Though I appreciate the creativity allowed in paintings, also. I do. But with a photograph, you can only mirror something that's already there. The world is beautiful on its own. I love how photography illustrates that. My dad and I had a great time in DC a few years ago, at the National Portrait Gallery. We walked around comparing all the portraits to each other. I felt like I really learned something that day. Like when you go to a wine tasting. You get to taste all the wines right next to each other, and it's a hundred times easier to tell which ones you like and which ones you don't like when you can compare them like that. 

I digress. How about some pictures of our flooded back yard this morning? That ought to cheer you up.

The street that runs along our side yard. Even if you've never seen this particular road before, it's safe to assume that it doesn't usually look like a river.

Close up of the bridge in the background of the last photo. Zowie.

Our garden, slightly left of the last two pictures. I don't know if those little zucchinis lasted the night.

This was flowing like a stream.

As I was taking the other photos, I thought, gosh, that's weird, something sounds like a waterfall. And ta da! There it was, on the other side of the stream. The little yard behind the stream was draining into the basin at a pretty rapid pace. Just off to the right is the bridge and road that's completely flooded.

Poor little garden. :(

I took these photos around 9:30 this morning, and now it's pretty much dried up. Well, not dried up, but it's not a flowing river anymore. I'm glad I got out there to take photos while I could. I need new wellies though. After about 5 minutes of walking in the water my left one starts to leak. Boooooo. It's still supposed to rain through the weekend and into next week, so this may only be the beginning!