Vanessa Mae off piste

[cloughie]

I guess following this morning's news she's a bit piste off!

[Barbirollians]

A skiing fiddle it was described as in the Times - as she came last I imagine there was too much double stopping on the way down .

[cloughie]

A skiing fiddle it was described as in the Times - as she came last I imagine there was too much double stopping on the way down .

I guess it was a bridge too far!
Now she must bow out!

[Flosshilde]

I've just realised (while trying to come up with a suitable pun) that the bow in 'second string to your bow' refers to archery, not music.

[french frank]

I've just realised (while trying to come up with a suitable pun) that the bow in 'second string to your bow' refers to archery, not music.

Though, to confuse matters, a French translation would be 'le violin d'Ingres' because the painter Ingres also played the violin, albeit not so well.

[Flosshilde]

See this - which inspired this -

Man Ray was an admirer of the paintings of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and made a series of photographs, inspired by Ingres's languorous nudes, of the model Kiki in a turban. Painting the f-holes of a stringed instrument onto the photographic print and then rephotographing the print, Man Ray altered what was originally a classical nude. He also added the title Le Violon d'Ingres, a French idiom that means "hobby." The transformation of Kiki's body into a musical instrument with the crude addition of a few brushstrokes makes this a humorous image, but her armless form is also disturbing to contemplate. The title seems to suggest that, while playing the violin was Ingres's hobby, toying with Kiki was a pastime of Man Ray. The picture maintains a tension between objectification and appreciation of the female form.
(http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/...s?artobj=61240)

[vinteuil]

... the title Le Violon d'Ingres, a French idiom that means "hobby."

... not quite 'hobby', I think. Wiki's description is better - "..."violon d'Ingres", meaning a second skill beyond the one by which a person is mainly known... " Ingres was by all accounts a very proficient violinist. If you visit the - excellent - Ingres Museum in his home town of Montauban you can actually see the very 'violon d'Ingres', his own instrument.
.

http://www.museeingres.montauban.com/

.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=musee+ingres+montauban&rlz=1T4ADFA_enGB340GB340&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=6b1kVM3HO6mV7AbNw4Ao&ved=0CD0QsAQ&biw=1280&bih=576

.

[french frank]

If you visit the - excellent - Ingres Museum in his home town of Montauban

Indeed, when I visited there was a small Picasso exhibition, attended by a very appreciative local audience which stood considering each painting and discussing it in some detail for some while. "Scenes You Seldom See..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du2mcf4qkRc Sorry, a bit O(T)T :-)

Second string to his bow?

[Zucchini]

Now that's what I call a picture of a violinist:

http://www.wga.hu/html_m/i/ingres/08ingres.html

So beautiful (to me)