No fooling – Spring is just around the corner!

 

 

On this Mardi Gras eve, I'm going to ignore the pouring rain and the wind rattling the roof vent and dream ahead to warm days and beautiful gardens.  The photo shows a very special one I'll aim to visit again in 2022.  I was introduced to it by my friend M, who used to take me for wonderful jaunts in her part of town – until her part of town became a ferry ride away.

 

As the sign says, it's Il Giardino Italiano, a collective gift of the Italian community to the City of Vancouver – an enchanting pocket of gorgeous landscaping and ingenious sculptures that sits near the grounds of the PNE.  One of its special features is "The Opera Walk," which you can view in close-up in this article.

 

Who cannot love Italian artistry?  As I semi-seriously study art history, I can never tear myself away from the Italian artists of the 13^th through 16^th centuries.  And so it happened that in my imaginings, something else came just around the corner at Il Giardino – a figure from this fresco showing "The Investiture of St. Martin" at a historic chapel in Assisi, Italy, part of a series by notable painter Simone Martini.

 

Sometimes I find that the faces in the crowds of famous paintings are as interesting as the key subject.  While St. Martin is being invested as a knight, musicians play on the sidelines.  I totally fell for this rather goofy-looking guy, clever musician that he is – playing two pipes, one from each side of his mouth!

  

 

It must have been that hat that twigged my memory about The Opera Walk and the sculpture representing Canio, no doubt, of the opera "Pagliacci" ("Clowns").

  

 

Serious opera fans might choose to bow out at this point.  There's nothing at all lighthearted about the story in "Pagliacci," and – spoiler alert -- things are going to get a bit irreverent from here on.  

 

But it's the hat!  Make that plural:  the hats!!  I had to put these two guys together, and their convergence is totally within the bounds and spirits of "Chromo-Surrealism" where anything goes as long as it's colourful.  Here's my thumbnail plan:--

 

 An early phase:--

 

 

And the final version (imagine musicians playing offstage) -- "Clowning Around at Il Giardino," (copyright 2022).

 

There are so many motifs to relish at Il Giardino – have you guessed that you haven't seen the last of it yet?  Yup, I think I'm sensing a small series in the works, as long as no one throws any stuff in the waterworks!