Laguna Revisited in Time Machine

In my last post, I asked if anyone would like to see Photoshop's version of my Laguna de Santa Rosa pastel. One person said yes—and one person is a very important person to listen to and to please. I'll show the Photoshop version of the painting—that is, the way it came up in Photoshop before adjusting levels to make it look like the real thing—and then I'll tell you a story about the specialness of one person.

The one person who asked to see the alternate painting is a fine artist, Joyce Ripley, of New Brunswick, Canada. She too has a place on Blogger: http://hermitthrushstudio.blogspot.com/ . Go have a look.

Here's Photoshop's version of the picture. Something else, isn't it? Wish I'd done that! ; )

I promised you a story, and it's a true one. Long ago, I and my husband created a computer magazine, called Softalk. In one issue I wrote a fancy article about what makes good games. I began by likening good game making to good architecture—form follows function and so forth—and I called the article The Art and Craft of Games, taking after Frank Lloyd Wright's The Art and Craft of Architecture. Of course "form follows function" came from earlier architectural genius Louis Sullivan. (If you haven't read his Kindergarten Chats, you have a treat ahead.)

Our art director, Kurt Wahlner, being an aficionado of Wright and Sullivan, chose to decorate the pages of the article with Sullivan ornamentation—exquisite finely detailed filigree. He spent hours for each of several nights recreating this very special adornment for the story—each page having a different Sullivan filigree—and, when the magazine came out, it looked wonderful. Some people thought he was a little crazy to spend all that time when, they surmised, no one would know what it was anyway. But someone did, and one was all it took.

It was several days after that issue went out that one woman called to exclaim over the Louis Sullivan ornamentation. She said how it thrilled her, and how she recognized it was hand done and wanted to thank the person who did it for making the presentation so beautiful and so true.

She was the only person to call. But everyone who knew Kurt, and everyone who worked on the magazine, felt justified and proud because of her recognition of Kurt's work. She was a very special person, who, unknowing, wielded a huge amount of power for good.

Ever since, I try never to dismiss the input of one person. Thank you, Joyce!