Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Mona Lisa Here in Portland

Walking down NE Alberta today, I noticed this striking Mona Lisa. She looked as if she was waiting for a letter for Leonardo. Hopefully it will arrive soon and she can go upstairs and have a glass of wine while she's reading it...

Mona Lisa Watches for Letter from Leonardo

Update on 18 August...
Voice from the Couch and I sat around talking about color and black/white. Here's the color view of the Mona Lisa:

We both remembered this dialogue from the old Calvin and Hobbes comic strip.
See the comic here.
Calvin: Dad, how come old photographs are always black and white? Didn't they have color film back then?
Dad: Sure they did. In fact, those old photographs are in color. It's just the world was black and white then.
Calvin: Really?
Dad: Yep. The world didn't turn color until sometime in the 1930s, and it was pretty grainy color for a while, too.
Calvin: That's really weird.
Dad: Well, truth is stranger than fiction.
Calvin: But then why are old paintings in color?! If their world was black and white, wouldn't artists have painted it that way?
Dad: Not necessarily. A lot of great artists were insane.
Calvin: But... but how could they have painted in color anyway? Wouldn't their paints have been shades of gray back then?
Dad: Of course, but they turned colors like everything else did in the '30s.
Calvin: So why didn't old black and white photos turn color too?
Dad: Because they were color pictures of black and white, remember?

Calvin: The world is a complicated place, Hobbes.
Hobbes: Whenever it seem that way, I take a nap in a tree and wait for dinner.

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