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“Definitely expect more U2 art,” I said ten months ago. Yeah, okay.

Academic writing has wrung my brain dry and I fear I’ve forgotten how to formulate normal and sound thoughts (was a good chunk of my total page count over this past year about or somehow inspired by U2’s discography? Well, yes. That’s a whole other can of worms though), BUT I’m trying to revisit this fixation of mine from a visual art angle once again.

(WIP) c. 1986-87ish (probably) Bono. Dimensions: gargantuan.

I don’t usually post wips but this Bono portrait has been sitting on my floor dormant since January and that needs to change. Maybe I’ll actually finish it if I show the masses. He’s about the size of my own face. He’s practically sentient.

Am I satisfied with the proportions yet? Ehh. But we’ll get there. I think I’m more so focused on the emotional subtleties with this one, and it’s my hope that the movement of color (the sort of aggravated coexistence of color as opposed to the impression of a blended surface) will invoke that. It has been interesting to approach drawing Bono particularly from the TJT era/TJT-adjacent eras in this way.

For those who are curious, I’m using soft oil pastels, which historically is one of my favorite mediums next to oil paint. The pastels I own are quite chunky, and I recall that five months ago, this was a nice exercise in accepting that I cannot dictate every fine detail in a portrait, because that’s an entire human being on paper.

And here’s a better look at the details for my fellow U2 enjoyers. The contour of his nose is very satisfying in this one. No chin unfortunately, though I think the hand makes up for it.

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Huge shout to my friend from an undergraduate philosophy program who started working out every single day, not for health benefits or to become conventionally attractive or whatever, but because -- and this is a direct quote -- he was concerned that otherwise he might "become lost in the world of signs and forget the things they signify". I have thought about this every single time that I've worked out since.

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Super sick example of uilleann pipes from Ireland:

Yeah it was like my third top song on wrapped we don’t need to talk about that.

Plus there’s a really striking dialogue between the pipes and guitar toward the end of the track!

does tumblr know there are multiple kinds of bagpipes

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Bono, the acrobat, in a circus. Charlotte, North Carolina. March, 1992. 📷 Steve Double.

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Wishing all my U2 mutuals a very fine evening because this Absolutely Unreal performance of “One Tree Hill” happened on this day in 1989

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Our beautiful boys by Anton Corbijn 📷

Joshua Tree era.

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Yeah so this idea turned into an approximately 4,000-word paper that I wrote for a final project in one of my courses. Might be one of the coolest things I’ve done (wore a suede vest for my presentation today to vaguely embody Bono’s TJT-era vest-wearing shenanigans)

And what if I did a Roman numeral analysis of the opening chord progression in Where The Streets Have No Name to show how from the second it begins The Joshua Tree album harmonically conveys the character of vast desert-like landscapes; the feelings of uncertainty and doubt that are sort of intrinsic to belonging in/moving through a place; the searching for home and/or faith in a contemporary word, all within just seven chords? What would happen then?

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Congratulations to the guy who started this whole mess!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LARRY!

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"Wide awake I'm wide awake Wide awake I'm not sleeping Oh, no, no, no"

Bono - Stuttgart, Germany, 26th May 1985.

📷 Kevin Cummins

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the gardener

the gardener

picks apples from dappled groves

that he grew with his own two hands

weathered palms gently pluck the fruits from their slender stems

and they are placed in a small wicker basket.

the gardener

hums sweet simple tunes while he works

that make no sense, really, even if you listen close

(but rumors say that the songs give his fruits their flavor)

row by row, one by one he picks and plucks the fruits and vegetables:

malus domestica

capsicum annuum

pisum sativum

(he knows them all by name)

the gardener

claims the fruits of his labor are his children

he raised them from seedling to sprout to tree (or vine or bush)

but as they have grown up

so has he.

and as the peppers grow orange on their vines and the peas grow puffy in their pods

the gardener’s hands grow weary

and the sun has baked his skin

and he doesn’t hum as much

anymore.

one day the gardener will cease his work on his tenderly nurtured masterpiece

and the apples will stay in their dappled grove

and the peppers will weigh down their stalk

and the peas will spiral towards the heavens

and the gardener will sit on an old wicker chair

(not so different from the old wicker basket)

and he will gaze at his handiwork and smile.

and finally, with a sigh that breathes the final note of a requiem,

the gardener rests.

-novaazalea (12/12/21)

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Bono:

She turns the tide...

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"Like a rhythm unbroken Like drums in the night Like sweet soul music Like sunlight I need your love"

Hawkmoon 269 - Rattle and Hum

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Which do you prefer, conducting or composing? - I conduct to live. I live to compose.

MAHLER 1974, dir. Ken Russell

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I don’t think we as a society talk about The Joshua Tree outtakes enough. Every morning I have to listen to this song during my little commutes. I don’t think a day has gone by without me having some part of this song stuck in my head.

It is my understanding that this was an early jam session from which “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” was composed. Knowing that information, I can’t unhear it and I think it’s fascinating. Harmonically, I’m pretty sure the tracks share a chord progression, vi — IV — I. A very cool progression in its own right. Can’t believe I haven’t noticed this before haha.

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"I was cold and you clothed me, honey I was down, and you lifted me, honey"

Bono, Lovetown Tour, 1989.