leonine

Two buddhas from Bangkok

& a lion from Nepal, wishing happy birthday to all

the Leos (that includes me).

In the early 1970's I went to the Gir forest to see lions,

sad to hear politics get in the way of
their territory being extended.

birds

Sometimes while on the phone
I fiddle with whatever

is nearby. 

earliest cave painting

tapestry

A painting I did years ago, it lives in a house with

lots of glass, I think it faded due to sun,

or it could be my memory that's faded..

& two ends of a tapestry I designed & had made

in Kashmir, which has lost some colour.

It was supposed to look like a mat with cushions;

they kept so closely to my painting, that they even rendered

how the paint had flaked off, in transit. I was living

in Dalhousie then, a hill station in northern India.

& I knew a lovely woman who ran a womens' handicraft

centre in Srinagar.

Interesting patterns: Sara Haraigue

folk

More small folk art from India, these are gods

& godesses. They are tiny, I have the feeling they were

painted by children.

amy stein's blog

egg

Have a few small heaps of things that may or may not

find themselves in a glass-fronted box, it's a race between

being sick of the mess & finding time, or ..who knows.

I got them in Varanasi a long time ago; tiny things

could always find a spot in my bag, while on the road.

miwa matreyek

opposite

These are from a folder of travel scans, it was before
digital cameras. I was in Japan in 1982, it was so
carefully tended, leaf by leaf, & a polar opposite to
the fantastic chaos of a Pushkar mela. My first one
was in 1971, again a few years later. I loved it.

windyskies

gods

Right is a shrine in India, the door was in a museum,
& the Kalighat painting was in the British Museum when
I photographed it.

interesting craft exhibition
I like the tiny hand made plants!

colour

One is in India, the rest in Mexico or Guatemala

From the early '70's I've taken lots of doors, windows &
old walls. I always wanted to find them open, &
photograph that, but it rarely happened, perhaps because
so many people were looking for work, or to sell something.
Jeffrey Becom has quite similar results
(probably more professional) as do many others, surely
~ the subject dictates the composition, more or less.
This, however - is it more than a co-incidence?

Gauguin: Since colour itself is mysterious in the sensation
that it gives, we can logically enjoy it mysteriously..
.. as a source of.. sensations proceeding from it's own nature,
from it's inner, mysterious, enigmatic force.

wel come

Am happy to have heard from some old friends in India,
thought we'd lost touch.They were incredibly welcoming
when I first arrived there. Then I went to Dalhousie at their
suggestion. I stayed there on & off for years, in the 1970's
a very big influence in my painting, & every thing.

Tadanori Yokoo

touching earth

Here's a few good luck buddhas for the end of 2010,
above are from Thai & Lao temples

& these are from Indian museums, so possibly a lot older.
The hands are in the earth touching mudra.

If you are reading this, it probably means
the world didn't end today ~
that's good, isn't it
!!!!!

I'll be back in a few days.
jaoa colagem, heimir bjorgulfsson, & my favourite eduardo recife

old prints

Maybe I'll have to go again to India, this time with a good
digital camera, it's upsetting to see the prints from
long ago in such poor condition. I tended to think of
photos more as reference material for my paintings, then.
Living there for 5 years, there were so many
unique opportunities..
time travel is what I need now.

joakimeskildsen

time travel

Varanasi is an intense experience, even for India ~
as if remembered from past lives, with great affection,
also a bit tatty around the edges since the first time.
Still that oasis of calm at Sarnath.

some facts on mapping the marvellous

ganga

On this shorter trip to Varanasi, the Ganges was in flood:
another great river with a presence like no other. It's easy to
feel the city has been there for thousands of years, that perhaps
the same pilgrims have crossed for lifetimes, the same buffalo
cooling off, the maze of narrow alleys leading one into
countless stories.

sophie blackall's missed connections

wet seasons

In the months I was there, it was rainy, damp, with misty
mornings, it's no wonder most old buildings were in
a state of advanced decay, always washing optimistically
draped over railings, rooves, shrubs. Picturesque too.

herbertpfostl's art

damp

There are small temples in the surroundings, wall paintings
often peeling from damp. In the mornings I could hear Hindu
bells, Tibetan & Nepali chanting & muslim muezzin,
apparently all existing harmoniously.

extraordinary colour from Poras Chaudhary

darjeeling tea

Shall add more scans from Darjeeling photos.

My hotel room looked onto this view, though it was often
obscured by clouds. The Gymkhana club was still well kept,
but time & the climate had ravaged much of the town.



Tea plantations thrive on the steep terraced hills
around the town.

Lots of great talks on Ted global in July

b/w

Have tried to get a bit more out of these; only have tiny
contact prints, even their surface has begun to crack.
Scanning at 1200 dpi means I can enlarge them,
but lots of unwanted detail.

They date from a trip across to Ladahk from Srinagar.
By bus, in the early 70's. Also a week on the Jhelum river.

tomorrowmuseum

drawings-1

Something different for a while ~ some old drawings.
three from Sri Lanka, that's Ananda left,
& another I did in a Bangkok temple c '72.
It interests me how the forms changed as Buddhism
moved east from India, even though there were
apparently artists, stone carvers etc from very diverse
cultures, who had, for instance, moved from
the Mediterranean area to escape persecution.

always plenty of inspiration: anindiansummer
Andrew Moore's wonderful photographs

high

Have been scanning again, here's the view from the hotel
I stayed at for about 4 months ~ every so often the clouds
would pull back to reveal the mountains ~ in Darjeeling.
Liked the hotel too, hardly changed since the raj.
Some of that snow would be very nice today.

inspirationally elevated art/design, & shoveling snow

because

Because a friend sent me a link about an Indian movie that
looks just wonderful, I found some of my old photos,
these are in Kashmir, Leh & Varanasi; the movie is set in
south India, & it's a lovely website too: Vanaja
With luck they'll have it at the video store.