Antigua

This is a sketch of the ruined façade of the El Carmen church in Antigua, Guatemala. Antigua was once the capitol city, but it lies in the valley below three volcanoes and has been subject to multiple earthquakes and volcanic mudflows that have required the city to be rebuilt on several occasions.

I apologize for the glare. The paper I drew it on was worn incredibly thin due to months of travel and I didn't want to risk taking it out of the frame where it now resides.

Here's a photo of the church:

Raccoon

Raton Laveur

Quelle pauvre bête, car la vie qu'il a choisi,

reste couincé dans les gouttières et les déchets moisis.

Ce bandit, si maudit,

qui doit voler sans un bruit.

Est-ce qu'il a vraiment choisi ce malheur:

de sortir dans les ténèbres et l'absence de chaleur?

A-t-il demandé de vivre

dans sa fourrure sans valeur?

Oui, bien sûr. Car quelle exsitence pourra

lui offrir autant que cette libèrté lui donnera?

Quand il sera connu partout en notoriété,

mais en solitude il vivra.

TRANSLATION:

Raccoon

What a poor beast, for the life he has chosen

remains stuck in the gutters and molding waste.

This bandit, so cursed

Who must steal without a sound.

Did he really choose this misfortune:

to emerge in the darkness and the absence of warmth?

Did he ask to live

in his worthless fur?

Yes, of course. For what existence could

grant him as much as that freedom could give?

When he will be known everywhere in notoriety,

but live in solitude.

________________________________________

French conjugation can make rhyming really hard >_< This ran through 6 drafts before it started making grammatical sense, but now I'm quite proud of it and it's a ton of fun to read aloud.

Music Monday - Take V

Steph


This is one of my first compositions on the piano. Like any beginner I started in C major, and the rest developed by ear when I realized I liked the sound of a fifth played with the third and octave above (That's the lower notes you're hearing from the left hand). I didn't know what that meant as I didn't know as much theory then, but it was something neat I could do while making use of the 10 note span my hands can cover. Some of the chords are dissonant and some of the rhythms feel a little off-kilter, but I was experimenting as all I ever really played before this was the 1-4-1-4-5-4-1 of a twelve bar blues.

For the time being this is the best recording I have although the EQ could stand some tweaking.