Responding to Praise

Thanks, all. Al's comment is apropos. Art is debrided by time and usage. No matter how hard I try, I can't see the Mona Lisa or even Weston's pepper with the astonishment they deserve, and which they got when they were new. Stravinsky and Tolkien and (in later imitations of Cranach &c) Picasso were able to evoke that feeling by remaking old things in a new idiom, but there are obvious limits to that approach. Argh, best not to think overmuch on such things. That way lies paralysis of the artsy-fartsy muscle.