Wild Swans and Carl Bloch

I finished my book Wild Swans about a week ago and have been in my usual post book depression (which is where I don't want to start a new book or project for about a week while I process the book). This book touched me in a way similar to Uncle Toms Cabin, opening my eyes to things that I never even conceived of before. The author of this book is amazingly honest and open about her own life and the life of her family and those close to her which gives the book a beautiful and sad authenticity. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about China and anyone who enjoys biographies. Although I devoured the book, I had to watch when I read it: too close to bedtime it gave me bad dreams. I loved the book but also loved when I finished the book because of the harsh realities it contained.

Today, my family went to the Carl Bloch art exhibit. It was breathtaking!!! He was an artist in the mid to late 1800's who was criticized in his time of painting women and Christ in the same setting and showing Christ as a loving empathetic being instead of more like an idol. You can see his website here. The paintings were amazing and showed moments of Christ's life that I had never seen before. I love, love, loved it! It will be at BYU for a few more months and is definitely worth the time and the free ticket. My favorite paintings were "Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane" which shows an angel comforting him, and "Christ after the Crucifixion" showing some of his followers kindly wrapping his body in cloth after just removing the nails and the crown of thorns. Beautiful!