By the Way....

It's Rubeus Hagrid's birthday!

Drawing by Cory Godbey. I love the little Harry! 

"NEVER-INSULT-ALBUS-DUMBLEDORE-IN-FRONT-OF-ME!" -Hagrid


"What's comin' will come, an' we'll meet it when it does." -Hagrid

Harry Potter, Chesterton, and Courage

   I will not be posting artwork this time- I am still working on my painting, and I thought about showing you the progress I've made, but I think I want to wait until it is finished. It is turning out well so far, and I am happy with it, and that is not a common occurrence.
   I have also thought about doing non look-at-my-artwork posts, and using my blog to share things I find, and to maybe share a thought or two here and there. I live a rather solitary life at the moment, which I like in some ways, but I must confess the idea of broadening my blogging horizons sounds attractive. That said, I want to share a new friend with you.
    I am a new Harry Potter fan. And I mean fan! (Yes, I do realize that I am about one million years late, but that's a long story- I was once a "Harry Potter has real curses and will have your kids killing kitties" misled little Catholic) I have been thinking about why this is. I've had my crosses, as we all do, and the topics of courage, love, and fighting have become both dreaded and loved by me over the past few years. They have become friends that are so close now, that the lovely sensitivity they cause is painfully and perpetually fresh. All the best friends wound you in some way or another.
    And so I love Harry Potter. It is a story of love and sacrifice and heroic suffering. Even if fate has dealt you a nasty blow, you don't have to become bitter or complacent- or seek out the One Ring, the best crystals for a super lightsaber, and the Deathly Hallows to undermine death, and take over the universe as the One All Powerful Overlord who spends her days planning out monologues to bellow to minions or enemies with her nails painted blood-red with the coolest black gothic outfit ever and stripes in her hair..... Ah hem, no, because suffering is not bad. (*gasp*) Yes, it is because of evil we suffer, but inn some ways, you could say we were born to live and suffer, and that is a gift, if we use it well. I am reminded of a F.J. Sheed quote I saw recently, "If Christ came to save us, then it must be noted that He did not come to save us trouble." Not that Harry was a saint to came to see all suffering as a gift to offer up- rather he is, as many other characters of the series are, struggling human beings who do what they can with themselves and their circumstances, and I think that is part of the luster of J.K. Rowling's series. They give and give and give- even if they are scared out of their wits, even until death. (I am not a completely brain-washed starry eyed fan-girl, I know the story has it's faults- but not all books that are good are written by saintly Catholic theologians, but they are written by people who have human hearts and are made in God's image... but that's about a dozen other topics in itself that I hardly feel qualified to discuss, at least at the moment)
    I think another reason I love the series is that while romance is not a prominent theme, it is still about the Great Romance- and I have found very few stories, at least in fantasy today (especially YA fantasy), that capture that Romance as well as J.K. Rowling did in her story. I will admit to not being nearly 1/gazillionth as literarily savvy as I'd like, but I have done a fair amount of reading in my life, fantasy being one of my favorite things in the world, and I have found few books that I love as much as these for that very reason. I think most if not all the books in my favorites list touch on it in some way, but these definitely make it to the top 5.
   Now, I could probably stay up all night giving you St. Therese quotes about suffering and digging up evidence in the Harry Potter books, but I think I will, of course, use Mr. Chesterton:

G.K. Chesterton on Romance

All romances consist of three characters… For the sake of argument they may be called St. George and the Dragon and the Princess. In every romance there must be the twin elements of loving and fighting. In every romance there must be the three characters: there must be the Princess, who is a thing to be loved; there must be the Dragon, who is a thing to be fought; and there must be St. George, who is a thing that both loves and fights. There have been many symptoms of cynicism and decay in our modern civilization. But of all the signs of modern feebleness, of lack of grasp on morals as they actually must be, there has been none quite so silly or so dangerous as this: that the philosophers of today have started to divide loving from fighting and to put them into opposite camps. [But] the two things imply each other; they implied each other in the old romance and in the old religion, which were the two permanent things of humanity. You cannot love a thing without wanting to fight for it. You cannot fight without something to fight for. To love a thing without wishing to fight for it is not love at all; it is lust. It may be an airy, philosophical, and disinterested lust… but it is lust, because it is wholly self-indulgent and invites no attack. On the other hand, fighting for a thing without loving it is not even fighting; it can only be called a kind of horse-play that is occasionally fatal. Wherever human nature is human and unspoilt by any special sophistry, there exists this natural kinship between war and wooing, and that natural kinship is called romance. It comes upon a man especially in the great hour of youth; and every man who has ever been young at all has felt, if only for a moment, this ultimate and poetic paradox. He knows that loving the world is the same thing as fighting the world.    

   I have been thinking on who Harry's "Princess" is that he was fighting for could be. You could say it was his love interest, Ginny, who fit this description, but I think it was more than that- much more. He was willing to leave Ginny for life for what he thought was right if he had to. No, he had his parents memory and their sacrifice, his friends and their sacrifices, and, encompassing all, love to fight for. He gave his life for Romance (How could a book embracing such Christian principles be satanic? Yes I know, that's another topic... ). 

   You may think I am stretching things: saying such things about Harry Potter (a tale with joke shops, the Chuddley Cannons, Hippogriffs, flying cars, remembrals, owl mail services, petrified kitties, etc) and connecting it to the Chesterton Quote, and all this talk of love, etc. But I tend to find connections everywhere for better or worse, and I am grateful for the comfort and even strength I find in little things such as stories. I find many things that connect back to the Chesterton quote, if not all things. Maybe I am overly simplistic, I am not sure. But while it is not advisable to underestimate evil, I think it is just as if not more tragic to underestimate the power of good. I know for my part I will take what I can, when I can- and I found much in Harry Potter. 

Excuse me... This muggle must go check her e-owls. (Couldn't resist) In the mean time, enjoy this fan video- I thought it was quite good. But be warned, it contains spoilers.

"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."

P.S. Ignore that last part about the Pope in the mtv link.... I truly believe there is more to that story, and I am not the only one. 

   Don't forget to check out  the Hogwarts Professor and Mark Shea's blog on the matter. God bless!

Harry and Hedwig!

What you guys don't know about Harry Potter is that he stole Hedwig from me.... when I was living in Ireland..... on the coast with my wild ponies and painting studio. But I still drew him out of the goodness of my heart.

    One of my favorite activities for a Sunday afternoon these days seems to be taking a movie I have seen, and drawing from it- especially if it has cute little kids in it. Yesterday I watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I tried drawing Ron- but it wasn't ideal, and I cropped him out of the picture to the left. I will have to draw him some other time. Besides, I got distracted drawing the picture below. Once I  can across that scene, I had to stop all I was doing and draw it! It's such a pretty movie! I love the snow parts! I love snow! (just shows how, again, Hedwig is my owl, and should be returned to me)

    

I am trying to fill up space so I can get to the next picture. 

     

It's not working.

Oh look at that- how did that extra space get there? 

By the way, I have started the fourth Harry Potter book, and it's only been about two weeks. I will have this done and the last movie watched before you know it! But then I will be sad.... oh well, just can't win. 

   Yay! Now we can get to the next picture! 

          Aren't they cute? Isn't the lighting lovely! I enjoyed myself with this one- and I put in a bit more time on it than I usually do while watching a movie/drawing. 

    Quote time. 

"God made us for joy. God is joy, and the joy of living reflects the original joy that God felt in creating us." -Pope John Paul II

"Literature and fiction are two entirely different things. Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity."- G.K. Chesterton  

I found that last quote on facebook of all places. I would like to read the rest of what he had to say on the subject someday, but for now the quote will do.

    Oh, ran across Brenna the kitty yesterday, doing her usual thing: sleeping anywhere that most people (or kitties) would not. She always does this! This is actually a rather comfortable place to find her sleeping.

LOAD ALREADY! I have a book to read!

Mischief managed.

Inspiration for the Day

Two things.

1) I am not sure why I have been putting the date on my posts, seeing as they are already dated- and so I think that that will come to an end. "I swear on my pretty floral bonnet that I will end you.".... Sorry. (Firefly anyone?)

2) This post is awesome! as is that entire blog I might add. It's art related, and while that's not quite a sketch, it's well worth reading none the less. Besides, it has Johnny Cash in it, which makes my Southern heart proud. Anyways, it's on a subject that has been in my thoughts lately, and it's always good to find a kindred spirit on the matter. Nothing creates art like suffering. Amazing how good can come out of evil, almost as if there is more good as a result of evil sometimes. Man that must frustrate the devil!

No, Three things.

3) I am reading Harry Potter LIKE CRAZY! I will finish this series on time to see the last movie! Even if the darn books just get longer and longer as I go! (I think the ever growing size of the books is a cruel joke to make me fail. Maybe the books ARE magic!!)

3 again) No way! A 13th follower!? Two in three days!? God is good and yall are awesome!

July 12th, 2011: Finding Neverland

So, last night I decided to watch a bit of Finding Neverland to pause it here and there to draw. I love drawing little kids apparently, and Freddie Highmore is one of the cutest! (at least, when he was little, I don't know what he's looking like nowa days) While it is rather depressing, I do like that movie quite a bit.  For one thing, it has the BEST soundtrack EVER! And it's cute and quirky and ridiculous.... I seem to e attracted to that more and more. Anyways, I love action movies and such as much as anybody, but, I don't know, I find the whole children's book industry (illustration, etc) a welcome retreat from, well, the world, and things that are just too complicated.
   I thought about drawing Johnny Depp, but, it was late, and I rather chickened out of drawing someone so well known for the public to see: at least while I was tired and wanting to read my book a bit before bed.  Speaking of cute kids, I am reading/watching Harry Potter! Yes, the bug bit me. I always thought "how on earth could something that popular be that good?" and surprise! It is that good. At least to me. Harry and Ron are so cute in the first two movies so far! Especially Ron! (I LOVE red hair- I WANT red hair) Hermione is cute, but a liiitttle bit annoying- at least this far. But somehow I think that is the point sometimes. I was hoping to read all the books on time to watch the last movie in theaters- and so far I have read 3 books in a week and a half ( That Is Alot for me, seeing as I am a slow reader)(click on the link! I was proud of that!). I have a feeling this will just get more challenging though, seeing as the books just get longer and longer.

       After I mention this fact, I will stop talking about Harry Potter: I WANT a snow owl to give me letters! I WANT Hedwig! Red hair, a snow owl, and Ireland- oh, and a baby grand piano- then my life will be complete. Ok, I'm done. For now. I'm afraid you will hear more about Potter later on.
    I need a quote for the week..... hmm... (going to look at my quote collection and my goodreads quotes)..... CHESTERTON!

         

        “Impartiality is a pompous name for indifference, which is an elegant name for ignorance.” – The Speaker (oops, I am rather impartial most of the time... )

        “What embitters the world is not excess of criticism, but an absence of self-criticism.” – Sidelights on New London and Newer New York

  

Now, just how I went from Finding Neverland, to Harry Potter, to G.K. Chesterton I am not sure- but somehow I think it fits: all roads lead to Chesterton. I think it makes sense, because he was so very common, normal, and charitable.