Artemisia Gentileschi

Hello everyone!
It's Linda, the forever eluding presence on this blog. I come to you today in order to present something, or someone, or rather the creations of that someone. I recently finished Anna Banti's novel 'Artemisia' for one of my university courses. It was a novel that transferred me into a strange place where different voices meshed together, where charismatic personalities wouldn't let go of either me or the author. I felt like I knew Anna Banti's Artemisia. I felt like I was her, or maybe I was Anna Banti. Maybe both. I was transfixed, enchanted, I felt like the voices in the book were echoing my own voice. Yeah, I'll stop now. It doesn't make sense, I know, but it certainly is a book that engages.
Anyway, I'm not here to write about the novel, I'm here to introduce you the Artemisia Gentileschi. One of the classic painters. She breathed injustice, female power and beauty into her art.

Ladies and gentlemen, the art of Artemisia Gentileschi:

 Giaele e Sisara

Cleopatra

 Her most famous one perhaps: Judith slaying Holofernes

Cleopatra again

Aurora

Susanna and the Elders

Self portrait

I'm in love with her voluptuous shapes, her intense settings and use of colours. There is so much expression within her paintings, they are often seductive, dark and almost dangerous. I absolutely love her art. And her.

If you're interested, you can buy Anna Banti's novel about Artemisia here (although Amazon are horrible tax avoiders, so maybe look in a nice second hand book shop instead).

I've always wanted to have one of these to curl up in and read a book

I like old furniture. Especially when they come in velvet fabric. I really, really like them when they are free.
I was cruising around Blocket (which is the swedish version of Craigslist), and found this:

They were giving it away, saying they didn't have room for it. Even better, they lived one stop with the tram from me. Even more awesome, it was light, so it wasn't hard to get it home to my apartment. It might look bigger in the picture, but it is the perfect size for someone who has a small apartment.
I love everything about it, and I can't believe my luck.


Do you like this kind of furniture?

One Month of Living Without - Snoozing - Week 1

So it has now been one week since I started this challenge. Its outcome has been rather like a roller-coaster. One day I wake up at 6 in the morning. The next 8. After that, 12.

It's like my brain is telling me, after a few days of waking up too early, "Now you need to get those hours back".

And now I'm back on waking up too early. I woke up at 5 in the morning.

I just don't get this. Why aren't you cooperating, brain?

A Month Without - Snoozing.

So I decided to continue this challenge for the month of November. Inspired, as usual, by one of my favourite blogs, Minimalisterna, I'm going to tag along and live without snoozing during this month.

My initial thoughts:
- Geh.
- Do I really have the mental strengh to keep this up for a whole month?
- Let's do it.


I usually don't snooze 10-minute wise, but rather half an hour/hour wise. So a regular snoozing or alarm setting schedule for me looks like this:
07:20
08:20
08:50
09:00
09:20

These times are based on the morning news, so that I'll have time to get up and make breakfast for the news broadcast. 09:20 being at the latest, because 09:30 is the last broadcast for the morning. Can't miss it!


Rules:
- The latest time for me to wake up is 09:20.
- When the clock rings, I will get up immediately. No snuggling that often ends up with me falling asleep again.
- I will set the clock on two times in the morning - one early alarm setting, and the other one for 09:20, in case I fall asleep again. (Yes, I am human).



Uhh. Yeah. That's it. Let's do this!

Recently bought...

... These green shoes.

A Month of Living Without - Facebook - The End of the Challenge

It's now November 1st, and I've reached my goal. I've been living without Facebook through all of October.

Thoughts:
- It's been rather easy.
- ... Except when the notifications start adding up. Oh, the curiosity! When my notifications reached 22-28, it was rather hard not to check it.
- Facebook isn't a necessary part of everyday life.

Misses and negative effects:
- I let my friend check my notifications once. Nothing important.
- I did check invitations sent by friends.
- I've felt a bit left out at times, when friends have referred to certain amusing clips or news that gets spread around on Facebook. I couldn't relate, because I wasn't able to participate.

Positive effects:
- I cleaned my apartment more.
- I went out and saw my friends more. A day of just lounging around at home became frustrating. (This could also be because it's autumn, though, since it's my favourite season and I always get happier during this period.)
- I started watching TV-series and anime like crazy. Solved a lot more crossword puzzles.
- I started reading a lot more news. I usually do this anyway, but during September it had cooled down. It was satisfying to resume this habit.


All in all it's been a satisfying experience. Although I've felt a bit left outside of the loop at times, I've come to realise that Facebook isn't necessary in everyday life. I think maintaining a healthy distance from this social network is a good thing. Instead of writing to friends, it's a good idea to just call them and hang out.

So - Success!

Unsorted pictures from my desktop