• Guest Posts

    All of the Bach in the World

    I love learning new things about a person I’ve known for a long time. For example, I had no idea that William McDonald (Bill), this guest post’s writer (and my husband), considers himself a “completist.” I love the word he’s made up. I love the project idea. I love hearing Bach’s music floating in through our windows from the garage, where Bill has his “office-music listening studio.” I am going to think about whether I am a completist about anything. — PBB All of the Bach in the World by William McDonald I am listening to the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach as published by a label called “Brilliant…

  • Guest Posts

    Detecting Clues in Paintings

    We are excited to have Andrew McEwan’s post about William Kay Blacklock’s painting The Letter highlight our new “Guest Posts Salon.” With the probing eye of a detective and the perceptive eye of an historian, Andy uncovers amazing clues in this beautiful painting. Noticing and appreciating details makes life richer. Enjoy! William Kay Blacklock (1872-1922) was a painter very much of his time, the later Victorian and Edwardian periods, and, generally speaking, his oeuvre, in both content and style is very much like that of his many contemporaries who specialised in genre paintings in predominantly rural settings. It is probably fair to say that most of his pictures, again like those…