Comments on: Stop Staring at My Secret Art

By: Emerald63

Emerald63 — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 22:48:10 +0000

@GFW: That's actually a pretty good theory. I've heard that's why some people won't allow virtual online tours when selling. Oh, and welcome GFW! Always good to "see" new faces here. :D

By: GFW

GFW — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 22:18:32 +0000

Maybe the artwork is valuable enough that they don’t want potential thieves casing the joint virtually.

By: Paradox

Paradox — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 04:31:58 +0000

@Emerald63: I missed your instruction to add an extra 'r', so I missed the fact that the house was above the dam. I was wrong, flooding wasn't the reason for the water level change, it's just electricity production. Sorry 'bout that... Go look at the property on Bing, using "Bird's Eye;" you can see that the impoundment has a quite large range of water level, and currently the photo on Bing shows a lot of the bank is exposed. The TVA dams are part of a hydroelectric system, and water is drawn down during the dry months, and rises during the wet.

By: Emerald63

Emerald63 — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 22:52:25 +0000

@Paradox: You know... I was looking at the map from farther out and realized that the Tennessee River runs south-to-north then on to the west at this point in its course. That makes the portion with all the boats above the dam (I know... another "duh" I should've caught). My point is, you usually don't have too much issue with flooding above a dam, especially not one that belongs to a multi-dam system, courtesy of the Tennessee Valley Authority. Yes, enough rain will cause flooding anywhere, but that should be ameliorated by opening various dams to various degrees, right? So I'm back to wondering if they couldn't have sent that incline rail car just a bit further down the hillside. Apparently not, but it does make me wonder.

By: Emerald63

Emerald63 — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 20:53:58 +0000

@Paradox: Flood stage... well DUH! Thanks for pointing out what should have been obvious. Der....

By: Paradox

Paradox — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 05:06:15 +0000

I got to wondering if the artwork was really blurred, or if it might actually look that way, but looking at the top photo full-size makes it obvious it was blurred.

So who knows? Maybe they are stolen erotic depictions of Teletubbies caught en flagrante- illicit, tasteless, and in violation of copyright all at once! The mind boggles…

There was a short-lived school of portraiture in the fifties and early sixties in which one painted a near-photographic representation of the subject, then took a palate knife and smeared together all the detail and colours outside of the face. The idea was that you were trying to replicate the way the eye would actually see the rest of the portrait when it were focused on the face. So, what if you got tired of looking just at the face? As I said, a short-lived school. My mother has in her possession a portrait done in that manner of me as a youngster; the artist saw it again when I was in my 40’s, and said it wasn’t very good…

ANYWAY- Emerald, “the insane stair-lift cum incline rail line leading to the boathouse” is like that because that platform where the lift ends is just a little above where the river in flood would generally crest, and to run it farther down the hillside would only guarantee frequent replacement. It’s pretty common to see this sort of two-stage construction on southern rivers, with the lower works being decidedly more rustic than the upper.

By: Emerald63

Emerald63 — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 22:56:30 +0000

My guess – the artwork is copyright protected and they don’t want anyone taking a screen grab without paying for the privilege. If it’s the occupant’s artwork, I can (sort of) understand, though the exposure might help sales. If it’s not the occupant’s artwork? Hmm… maybe they’re lawyers prudently preventing exposure to legal problems. And the wine cellar doodle? Yeah… ain’t no one gonna try and steal that image.

More intriguing – the insane stair-lift cum incline rail line leading to the boathouse. No, I wouldn’t want a climb every time I take the boat out either, which seems very popular in this area. But then again, there are still a lot of stairs after the lift deposits you at the halfway point. So… why’d they stop there? Even stranger, such lifts seem fairly common to the area. Huh.

BTW, if you want an aerial view (no street view available), you’ll need to correct the address to 865 Blue Herron (two ‘Rs’) Point. Either they really enjoy privacy or their agent doesn’t know how to spell. A problematic oversight in an industry whose byline is “location, location, location.”

The house itself has a nice, airy, open feel, and decor that’s a bit different but not at all outlandish. More color (besides the blurry artwork) would help, but the biggest improvement would be using spring, summer, or even autumn photos in the listing. The winter scenes only serve to underscore the interior neutral color scheme and make for an uber gloomy feel.