When we were out walking a few days ago, we spotted a golden shoe propped up against a balustrade. There was only the one. So, of course, we had to photograph it. Then, of course, I had to try my hand at collages based on the shoe. Above, the shoe is set in a painting by Ugo Flumiani (1876-1938) said to be titled “Glimpse of the Canal,” though I haven’t been able to confirm that.
Below, the shoe becomes a window into Rings End, Dublin (1935) by Harry Kernoff (1900-1974). Richard Morris wrote of the painting:
“Harry Kernoff’s vivid depiction shows Ringsend, Dublin in 1935. Located on the south bank of the River Liffey, it was named from the Gaelic Roinn Aun or Sea Point and in the 17thC, took over from Dalkey as Dublin’s main port. It went into commercial decline in the 19th and 20thC.”
Next, here is the golden shoe inserting itself into Blue-Striped Tablecloth (1959) by Mary Fedden (1915-2012).
Below, the shoe takes on the many-colored coat of a wall of autumn ivy that we also saw and photographed on our walk.
Lastly, for the “purists,” here is the golden shoe as we found it.
To accompany you on your journey with the golden shoe, here is a lovely set of works on kannel, performed by Estonian Anna-Liisa Eller, with many thanks to Bert for alerting me to this video.
Prufrock's Dilemma 
Brilliant! Love them ALL.
Great collages! Just what I needed to see this afternoon to break my unhealthy obsession with the news. … Interesting that the shoe appears silver in most of the collages (while it’s clearly “golden” in the photo). Metamerism?
George: Always so good to “see” you–and yup, it’s a tense time (understatement). Doing these little collages is sort of my sheltered workshop. Whether it works, going forward, is an entirely different matter, of course. Interesting, re the way the shoes appear silver–as I had “gold” imprinted from the original photograph, I didn’t really see that until you noted it. Keeping the color when taking a photograph of the collages is always tricky, and my rudimentary skill level on that score (and so many others!) make it a challenge to color-correct. Hmmm. Maybe fiddling around with that will be the best possible use of time tomorrow, hahahahaha. Well, I can only say it’s good to have good comrades in a time like this, and you are CERTAINLY one of them!
I’m awful at puns, but… the Goldshoe Variations? by Johann Sebastian Balustrade? Also, why am I reminded of jazz riffs? These, indisputably, are fun. And I always like your “framing” choices.
Ah, Curt, bad at puns or not, you did have me laughing out loud with yours! I’m glad you found these collages fun–it seemed to me that might be needed right about now–and I sure did have fun making them.
A truly great post. Just what I needed!
Oh, yay, Bert! That kannel music is so, so lovely. Thanks so much for scouting it out and sending it on. Sending fond wishes, as always.
Your collages are wonderful; the variety really sings. Speaking of singing, it took all of a half-minute for your Golden Shoe to become a Golden Slipper and carry me back to Sunday afternoon jams in the Wasatch mountains outside Salt Lake City. I never had a pair of golden shoes, but I learned to love songs like “Golden Slippers.” Tom Roush died last year, but his version is almost exactly like the one the Deseret String Band preferred. I’m a little rusty, but I still could play a mean set of spoons if you wanted some percussion to spice up the song.
OMG (as the young uns say), I do hope we meet up someday, for many, many reasons, but now, added to all, on my bucket list is the chance to hear you play the spoons to Golden Slippers!
Wouldn’t we have fun? The only thing better than spoons are fiddlesticks — like this!