Summer Update

 

 Summer Update and Romanov videos

I thought I would post this ABN collage I made ...in 1978. It's interesting how in our past, often there are  glimpses of our future. The image is a photo copy. There was a time when they came out that  ghostly grey. The pressed leaves and flowers I found in an 1906 copy of " The Tenet of Wildfell Hall"  It pleased me to think they had bloomed while Arthur still lived. So indeed, Rev. Nicholls has been on my radar for some time .

 Brontë Novel

For years I thought if I simply string together all the many , many scenes I have written into their correct chronological order, my Bronte novel will be completed

( HAHAHA!!!)

Pardon my laughter

I now realize that is like putting up a fine, sturdy scaffolding and calling it a building

Nope; there's much more to it than that.

 However I love the feeling of a new, creative  wave arising within to deal with the situation , to fill out the scaffolding and also, the freedom one has because the scaffolding is there.

This is a process and every step is necessary. I tell people it's like climbing Everest, one step at a time; that's what is required. Charlotte said  something similar when her siblings were dying all about her and so much was up to her...she said endeavored to look forward;  if she looked down or  back around , she'd likely lose her nerve.  My situation is not nearly as dyer as hers of course, but I think I know what Charlotte meant. If I thought about all there is yet to do , I would be overwhelmed and often I am ...the only thing that helps is to get back to work . Keep paddling for shore.  

Learning patience has been a great lesson in this experience ...you are leaving on the field, giving much to the project in life force and years, which at ,my time of life, one will never replenished. In such a project, you are asked do to that. But I will point out, one does not get to keep the years and life force if you don't hand them over for what you deem worthy of the gift. They will be spent or not, but you don't get to hoard your stores, a what would be the point? The evening will and is drawing in...go out with a blaze instead of a flicker, go out open handed instead of in a fist.

I can see where's the book is at and is going and that nurtures me greatly. But I well  understand why it's harder for others to wait. They can't see the vision . I wish they could and eventually I hope  they will , once the book is done. All I can do until then is keep working.

In Praise of Papa  Brontë, and

 author, Dudley Green

 Anyone writing about the Brontes, or is simply  interested in the family ,  owes author  Dudley Green, many thanks. He collected  and edited Patrick's letters, which are a treasure trove,  and Mr. Green also  wrote an excellent biography of Rev Bronte as well. It happens also to be very good over all portrait of the family. As I say else where, Mr. Green's rendition of the events leading to Charlotte's wedding( just as an example )  is better than some books about Charlotte! His Papa centered  books are a must for the  Brontë, enthusiast, in my opinion.

I've uploaded a number of Romanov videos lately. The family is reasserting themselves again! I very much look forward to painting them after the novel is finished...and Arthur and Papa Bronte too...eventually Charlotte, of course.

Romanov Videos  

 The titles are live links

The Romanovs. Our Hospital 1914 -1916

The Romanovs. Young OTMAA

The Romanovs. Olga Nicholaievna

The Romanovs. Dance

 The Romanovs. Dance Two

The Romanovs.  Olga and Alexei : A sister's smile  


 The main reason I am posting so many Romanov videos is my internet copper wire  connection will end ...like tomorrow. It's an old system, my older PC is not in great shape either , however it's the system I know and it works. But copper, they tell me,  is out . Indeed, I maybe one of the last ones holding on to my landline to the end. Well the end is here.  Consequently  I have been busy finishing  and uploading a good many  Romanov  videos which were " in production " , some for years. I'm gratified the videos  get a good many views and somehow have I nearly 500 subscribers !

Okay, have a great summer, see you later, and now  it's back to work!

 Grand Duchess Maria 1915

 

Let's talk about the writing

When people talk about Brontë novels, it seems to me , the discussion centers on the exciting  Gothic plots. But let's look at the writing....which is amazing in my view

Here is a piece
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It was a deep voice, and foreign in tone; yet there was something in the manner of pronouncing my name which made it sound familiar.  I turned about to discover who spoke, fearfully; for the doors were shut, and I had seen nobody on approaching the steps.  Something stirred in the porch; and, moving nearer, I distinguished a tall man dressed in dark clothes, with dark face and hair. He leant against the side, and held his fingers on the latch as if intending to open for himself. 
  ‘Who can it be?’ I thought.  ‘Mr. Earnshaw? Oh, no!  The voice has no resemblance to his.’ ‘I have waited here an hour,’ he resumed, while I continued staring; ‘and the whole of that time all round has been as still as death. I dared not enter. You do not know me? Look, I’m not a stranger!’ A ray fell on his features; the cheeks were sallow, and half covered with black whiskers; the brows lowering, the eyes deep-set and singular.  I remembered the eyes.

_________________________________

That last sentence is so simple, imperative and modern, it is startlingly. This is, of course,  when Heathcliff returns. Nelly Dean is speaking. She knew him from childhood, yet she was unsure who this was... it was  the deep memory of his eyes that convinced her.  

He leant against the side, and held his fingers on the latch as if intending to open for himself.

Here Emily's shows the danger, and Nelly's notice right away...wow. 
 

 Reading Brontë....they don't use Victorian language because they are not Victorians...if anything they are romantic Georgians , a spectacular throw back to an earlier age, its last, brilliant crescendo ....indeed, most, if not all the novels, are even set in that earlier age.  If Charlotte had lived, she would have likely  found it difficult to keep write as she would  in the increasingly straitjacketed Victorian years ahead. The cries of " coarseness ! " would have increased  to even more of din as the age wore on.

As it was in 1857, Mrs Gaskell spent a good deal of ink  to  apologize  and make excuses for Charlotte's supposed "coarseness" when she was dead...One can see  the difficulties CBN , the living author would have had.  The Victorians were embarrassed by their free wheeling ancestors....a clamp down trend that  continued  to tighten until  the 1890's began to loosen it  and WW1 broke up the social straight jacket altogether.

Renewed interest in  the Brontës cropped up every decade during the last half of the 19th century as almost a permissible relief ( They were dead and long ago after all) ...it's fun to read the Victorian articles declaring, " Surely, interest in the Brontës must finally wain? " lol...Why, no, it won't and it hasn't. 

What is also interesting in reading  the fragment of Charlotte's last effort," Emma", she seemed to be  returning to her "sober as  Monday morning " kind of novel. She  always answered one kind with another. There was  quite "The Professor" and then " oh damn it! I'll write as I please,"  "Jane Eyre.". The purposely prosaic "Shirley"  and then she indulged herself again with " Villette" ....an emotional  see saw which answered to Charlotte's duel nature of  forbidding sober sides and molten lava fount  lol 

Perhaps it's because I'm writing myself ,and for years now, but I see and experience reading differently ...and my admiration for the Brontë's writing grows. As I have said, if you would know these young women, read their books.

In researching for a historical novel it's a mistake  to only look for information....information and facts  are vital of course, I stick to them ...but you must stop , consider, even dwell on,  how your protagonists felt. That  is what bridges our time to theirs. How such information as you just read in a source material, would have effected them emotionally? It's simply information to us; to them it could be a life and death development . 

The aim and point of an historical novel is to show the reader how the people felt. If you have the desire to show that, you should do well, or at least be able to jog on. If it wasn't for the emotions in the story, my book would be three pages long. But I have read about this story for decades,  written about it for years and have talked about it for hours at a time. Emotion is the jet fuel .

Meanwhile I'm working away. There is awhile yet until it's done, but the pieces/ scenes  are coming together. What is interesting is running into an idea or insight  placed in different scenes. Such as the observation that in all the eight years Arthur was at Haworth, before his proposal to Charlotte, there was never a moment where he could declare himself, until he did. Arthur did so at the first real opportunity.

It was only a little over a month into Arthur's  Haworth career when Mr. Robinson sacked Branwell . So there were the years of young Patrick's decline and the ensuing domestic upset to go though. Then everyone is dying , then Arthur learns Charlotte is a world renowned author, with London calling for her presence. ( How even further beyond his grasp she must of seemed then.) So it was a bit ingenuous of Papa to storm Arthur had " long hidden his aim!". When during all that turmoil could ABN have spoken up? 

This insight could be placed in a number of areas and was. Now I have to choose exactly in which scene to place it for good. I love also how things mentioned earlier come into play later...that redoubles the effect later. I have some themes that pop up and develop though out the book.

I have been thinking of painting Romanovs again...it's been four years ( amazing) since I finished my painting of the Tsar and Alexi. I do intend to take up painting the family again some day. It's too much fun not to! When you engage in a creative project, be it painting or writing, you truly enter into your subject's world. Meanwhile I recently uploaded a new video 

The Romanovs. Olga Nicholaievna

Okay ,  til next time, back to work!
.

OTMA and the railroad children 1916

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Update and New videos . Hello, 2019

Arthur in old age

A friend of mine said this blog as been quite and they kindly asked for a book  update. I assured them; silence means I'm at work and it is going well. This is one of the most fulfilling times during this project

It's fascinating that things often do not  turn out as we expect. I expected to put together my scenes and thus form the book in a straight forward manner ...yet even as I do so, more material is coming in to be included. I also expected to dread this time of pulling the many scenes into one coherent piece, but I love it. 

What has also been interesting lately is that as I isolate myself in order to have more time for the book , Emily has come to the fore more. While this is Arthur and Charlotte's story , I had some scenes with Emily of course. But as I have somewhat duplicate her chosen life of , at least mental, solitude, in order to steep myself into a creative endeavor, her emotional voice resonates more and a few more scenes with her were created.

It's said Emily Jane Brontë is a mystery....but it's no mystery to me why she wanted to be left mostly alone, even by her nearest and dearest. It was in order to dwell as undisturbed  as possible within her own world....to not feel the yank  of " the chain" , as she described the sensation of being wholly in her body and sensible only to the outer world we all inhabit.

 Household chores, moor walks, music and certainly writing , do not intrude upon that world like every day human discourse does. The types of attention these two conscious states call for are very different . ..and remember; Emily was expected to follow Victorian social modes while interacting ...not use our far more casual ways. I can see her  fostering  a cantankerous reputation with a purpose....besides likely being cantankerous!  We cannot imagine Emily would find us bores to avoid too...well, likely she would have. lol.

 Whatever mental distress is in the news, Emily seems gets saddled with it. I seem to recall over the years she has been described  as being" Bi-polar", " Bulimic,"  having "Asperger," "Autism,"  "Turrets Syndrome " etc. I may be  forgetting one or two. Anything; but she was a mystic,  a woman of genius, who wanted to be left alone!  If you want to know this young woman on her terms, read her novel and her poems. Much is right before us.


                                                              THE OLD STOIC.

                                                   Riches I hold in light esteem,
                                                      And Love I laugh to scorn;
                                                  And Lust of Fame was but a dream,
                                                    That vanished with the morn.

                                                And if I pray, the only prayer
                                                    That moves my lips for me
                                                Is '' Leave the heart that now I bear,
                                                     And give me liberty!"

                                               Yes, as my swift days near their goal,
                                                  'Tis all that I implore:
                                                In life and death a changeless soul
                                                   With courage to endure.

                                        

                                                                                                     EJB


When I think of the great material we have to know the Brontës ; their books, I'm a little overawed. The Brontë mind is open to all who read their books. For example, when was the last time you read "  Wildfell Hall "?  Good Lord, its like being invited to the Parsonage sitting room itself. ..particularly the early parts when village life goes under the Brontë magnifying glass.  I have found it very helpful to periodically look again and again where one has looked before. Far more often than not, one sees something "new" .

 And Charlotte's letters! How many have read only the passages that are quoted in biographies ? If one cannot afford the Oxford  three volume edition of CB's letters, Clement K. Shorter's book of Charlotte's letters is available, free, online..

 Charlotte Bronte and Her Circle, by Clement K. Shorter

While there are omissions and mistakes in a publication over a hundred years old, you will still find Charlotte's voice there, in her own words.

Video Round Up

I recently upload some videos on my You Tube channel

Mr Nicholls in Banagher 1904

This is a video I made using photos I had taken on our trip to Banagher, and two of the three photos we have of him in old age. It also features my painting of The Rev Nicholls. About the picture of ABN and the little girl, she  was Helen Sharrard,  the Rector's daughter, she coincided Arthur  her extra "grandfather ."


The Brontes. Where You Are 

This next one was made when I heard a great Josh Groban song," To where you are"  and it seemed perfect for the Arthur's story. It's a tribute to his ever lasting love for and the Richmond portrait of , his wife, Charlotte.The prints of this portrait, which everyone has seen many times,  bares little resemblance to the original.The original is stunning. Charlotte is not frowning at all as she appears to be doing in the prints...and I have a  2016 photo I took of it at the end. I can see why Arthur loved it.

Here are a group of Romanov videos

One of the  interesting thing about being an enthusiast for both  The Brontës and Romanovs is the vast difference of valuable images  between them. With  the Brontës, it's very  limited.
I have to reused a good number of them already posted  in my video " The Brontës. To the Marriage of True Minds"

Then there is  the tens of thousands photos of the Romanovs! Every month there seems to be more " new " ones posted. The family all had cameras and they loved recording everything. The only photo we have of a Bronte, is Papa. I wish Branwell had taken up  the  then fledgling art of photography instead of painting. Then we would have Brontës photos. He got even Emily to pose for him !
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The Romanovs. What was and will never be again.

The Romanovs. Their faces

The Romanovs children. Remember the beauty

_____________________________

I was surprised to see recently this blog listed as a" Brontë  blog" on the web. I'm flattered, but here I thought I  was toiling away in obscurity ...but no!  Also  my pics files have  appeared elsewhere,  from now on they will have a watermark. I have long said one should not leave their insights in the comments of other blogs...now it seems I should muzzle discoveries and working methods on this blog as well. I'm sitting on a lot and will continue to do so, and keep it for the book . Last December was 6 years I have been working on my Brontë novel. I have to say I'm enjoying the work as never before. I use to bemoan how long it is taking, now I just enjoy the ride.

Back to work! See you next time!

Tatiana and Alix  1905