My very own new Dance of Death picture

 

My son has just presented me with this beautiful version of a Dance of Death picture. I love it, but should perhaps explain a bit more about what is going on, for those of you who are not already addicted to the word game 'Snatch'.

In Snatch you sit with your opponent(s) and a pile of scrabble type tiles turned face down on the table. As you take it in turns to turn over a single tile, you see if there are now enough letters to make a word. It has to have at least 3 letters, and you can guess that C - A - T will be grabbed quickly. But the fun starts when the next letters are turned over. If you can add a letter to an opponent's word to make a new 4-letter word, then you win it. So if R comes up you can turn CAT into CART. And then if an E comes up your opponent might pinch it back by making CRATE. Then an S could allow someone to make TRACES, and so on and so on. So that is the context of the game being played. 

I love the cinematic panning that he has put into it too, and may encourage him to have a go at a graphic novel. But he is in a busy job and this is a labour of love. And I will print it out and frame it.

This receiving of pictures that are specially done for you is a very wonderful thing, and I can remember lots of ones I have seen people enjoying. A friend of ours is a fine artist and the Christmas card usually comes with a life-drawing on the outside of the envelope, so we have to save the envelope as well as the card. Here is an example:

 Cro would herself often decorate her letters with cartoons in the margin (did I mention that she worked for several years as a freelance cartoonist, and was very good at it?). I have some ones from way way back with a cartoon of a child who has done something wrong, and it looking down sulkily at their feet while their sibling basks in a little 'good as gold' aura. 

We also have a great picture which my niece made for me and Cro (very shortly before Cro died) which features two crocodiles staring into each others eyes, dressed like Bacall and Bogart. There is a very long and complicated story behind it, but I will just leave you with its beauty and the pleasure that comes from being gifted a personal work of art. 

Blessed again!