volcano

There is some kind of internal logic to these posts. Usually.
What can happen, too, is while searching in a large box of prints
I see some photo that looks right for today, eg these 2
from Maui, inside the volcano. (Someone blew up yesterday)

Here's one of my earlier paintings 'Peace' (Shanti), made in
Bali, after I quit being an art director at JWT to paint full time.
The tiny print was impossible to restore. Wonder how well
dvd's will pass the time test?

Often the blogs I like best are French, though I can't read much.
Love the look of this one, (surely fascinating to read too?)
& there's a vast array of artist sites here.

varanasi

I took a break from rainy Darjeeling, & went to that truly

amazing city, Varanasi, & surrounds; in the early 70's I'd stayed
in a tiny hotel near Dasaswamedh ghat for several months,
painting, but also sitting for hours by the Ganges.

Finally I took a train to Lucknow, in order to meet Papaji.
Though I stayed 4-5 months ( he gave me the name Shanti),
I found the place an aesthetic wilderness, & took few photos.
& yes, the teacher had a profound effect.

I like this site & artist & this painter

red bellied black

Today in the garden I was surprised by a red bellied black
snake, (they should be hibernating). Reminded me that I started
these 'carpetsnakes' a while back. We were taught to be afraid
of snakes, growing up in the outback, & I haven't been able
to change my reaction.

Some wonderfully original jewellery

trees

It feels a little like spring, sunny after big rains.

So I was playing with some ideas, from photos I took in Bavaria
several years ago. I like the creatures that show up.

My sister has begun radiation, this link was opportune.

watery

A water-horse I saw in Mexico, a wall in san Cristobal de las Casas,
a painting from my time at Springbrook in south east Queensland,
& a photo at Shelleys Beach. Everything is still wet, here,
though the sun appears now & then.

Some really interesting book art.

winter, there

When making the paintings for my book Images from the I Ching,
I was travelling in the USA & Mexico. Left is hexagram 63,
'Before Completion', I was at a friend's house in the woods near
Lincoln then, & came across many funny snow figures.
Right is the breathtaking Canyon de Chelly.
(Incidentally, there are new projects, just not for show yet)

Recently bought a copy of Lynd Ward's God's Man, with his
great b/w pictures, see more on a blog I like a lot.
The one I have (reprint) came out the week of the 1929 crash,
bad timing in one way, but he was so in tune with his times.

shells

Sometimes I find small crab shells at the beach, but the Pacific
is always too rough to find these other fragile shells, I get
them at the market. Lower right captures smaller shells
& glues them to it's own !

These windows, fabulous installations, & delicate inspirations.

big seas

The weather tends to be at the forefront of attention lately,
the ocean is enormous, impossible to give a sense of it. Standing
looking at the bay, it's 180 degrees of unruly frothing motion,
easy to imagine how it might just keep coming..

Looking for something different, I found this fascinating site.
& an amazing kinetic sculptor.

which ones?

I'd like to offer 4 or 5 limited edition prints from my book, the
question is which images. Do you have a favourite ?
As you may know, the pictures in Burning Questions were made
over many years, during which my interests have focused
in much the same direction, while the styles have followed
artistic directions: I enjoyed a realistic approach, then found
an element of the surreal in photographs, & so on.

I'm getting prices for giclee prints, approx A4 size, archival paper.
Let me know if you're interested by writing a comment/email.

very wet

Should have known there would be big rains ~ a few days ago
I discovered the African textile housed a million ants.
Today the ocean has huge waves to a dim horizon. Could hear the
wind thrashing the trees all night.The cat is near the sacred bamboo
it's leaves formed the basis for the green mandala (was seduced
by complexity when I first used a computer).

Can't believe how much spam there is, surely there is never a bite?
Clever idea on that. Have you tried this lovely time-waster?

wet

It's wet, windy, dark ~ cyclonic weather.

There's been some beautiful singing, perhaps a Silvereye.
I'd like to see this show. What a fascinating life Ibn Battuta had.
A friend in London plans to visit the Eden Project.

in between

Here we are, in between summer & winter. Not winter as
it's meant in Colorado right. I stayed there one winter, it was
sometimes -36 degrees; I could never quite believe how cold
it was outside because the sky could be a brilliant blue.

Looks like an exquisite winter garden, & lush green ones

illustration

Right: some of my illustrations for A Family Frying Pan,
with author Bryce Courtenay. Story set early 1900's, I gave the
images a faint feel of that time. Afterwards I did the still life
at a workshop with James Guppy, & then left that style ~
it changes quite often, depending on my subject/interest,
though I feel the same sensibility shows through.

Some food that looks great here & here, if I ate those on the
same day I'd have very vivid dreams.

workshops

As most artists do, I've participated in many workshops,
over the years, these results date from the 80's.
While living in San Francisco, I did a weekend with a Zen artist.
I wrote a quote from Huang Po on the side, about how we can't
let go the mind, thinking we'll fall through the void with nothing
to cling to. The etching I did in Maui. Fun to try new things, no?

Here's a different approach to showing the Still Point.

plants speak

This little chap fell off his tree, I picked him up on my walk
home from town. The oh from my garden.

I haven't yet been to the South American rain forest,
only in Australia & parts of Asia. Here's a big site.

shrines

It's a quiet day. I opened a folder at random, & these are the
photos that caught my attention, funny how that happens.

Not sure about posting this link. I guess it's like everything else,
when we are sick, we find ourselves following one course
of treatment or another. There must be many plants
that indigenous cultures knew about.

time tables

Found another small stash of photos of old works.It's not that
I'm really messy, I just haven't looked some places,
since I moved. The above collage/paintings/screenprints
were exploring images that could be read on any side.
I made a few into tables, & might make postcards,
as I've many photos with ambiguous orientation.

& a collage card. I did a number of monoprints, which now
look too rough ~from the digital perspective, I suppose.
Which is also why I'm not painting, perhaps.
Or time really is speeding up..do you think so?

Just read a great novel by Marya Hornbacher: The Centre
of Winter. I don't have tv, read several books a week, & know it's
quite rare to savour every line. An enjoyable surprise, the series
by Sergei Lukyanenko. Anything by Haruki Murakami.

clouds

A cloud machine, & clouds watcher

A real cloud. For Milli, whose short life ended on Sunday.
With love to her family & friends, & heartfelt sympathy.

darjeeling

c.1994, I stayed 4 months in an old hotel in Darjeeling.
It dated from raj times, I had a room with attached 'sun room',
very occasionally the clouds would lift, for
a sensational view of Kanchenjunga. The trees trimmed
for firewood conjured strange shapes in the mist/clouds.

The dhobi was a fine man. Paths were vertical,
the tea pickers had especially hard lives; the place
was lovely, looking out, early in the day. After noon the
vast crowds of tourists kept me inside, that was fine too.
The prayer flags were near the Ghoom monastery.

I had to fix all these prints. An interesting article.

wild things

These plants seem too wild for towns. Grass trees might swish
their skirts & move closer when you're not looking.
Cycad seeds like these, eaten by men on Flinders' expedition,
made them very ill. Ferdinand Bauer made wonderful
paintings of all the new & strange things they saw.
The wildest creatures I've ever seen: snow leopards at
a small Darjeeling sanctuary.

There's a movie coming, from Maurice Sendak's classic

hearts

Continuing ~ sporadically ~ the spring clean/throw-out.
Gave this picture to my darling mother c.1972, it's a good
example of what not to do: the gold paint corroded, & the framer
glued the paper to masonite. However when I took it out
of the frame today, I saw that the gold paint, which was higher
off the paper ground, had left a ghost image on the glass.
Much nicer effect, if only there was a way to etch it on.

Here's a link to a kind of Phillip K. Dick world, who's one of
my favourites in the sf genre, but I certainly don't want to live
there. What do you think?

carvings

My grandmother has quite a strong presence in my place,
she carved these frames, chair & cupboard, I guess before
the first world war. I think then it was fine to be 'accomplished'
but you'd have to be really driven to be an artist. Our mother
(her daughter) also had a real skill, & then 4 children came.
Lower right is an image I made of her ~ before we happened.
How fortunate, to be free to do what we love!

Check the huge & often rewarding art for housewives site.

drawings

Several pages from an old drawing book
I probably did them in different museums.

I like these: one, two, three.

gold

A large pagoda faced in gold, in Chiang Mai near sunset, was
a convincing example of why gold has held such allure
down the ages, it seemed incandescent, alive with light.
The attention to a variation in scale, in many temples,
gives a great sense of space, with gold leafed
artifacts glowing in a quiet gloom.

Here's a clever & amusing short film .
A local artist who who makes good use of gold leaf.
Sebastiao Salgado's mindblowing photographs here & here.

a visible energy

I noticed photos of this wonderfully open-faced monk at several
wats & other locations in Chiang Mai. Somehow he
goes together with the new (banana) leaf. A certain purity.

Some articles of interest here, here & another great teacher,
I saw him sitting under the Bo tree, in Bodh Gaya, long ago,
& can still feel that riveting attention.

Bali

At that time I had a small half frame camera, & a canon that
never recovered from a rice paddy immersion. I loved the
Balinese practice of exquisite daily offerings.
Above two paintings from a bit later, also Bali.

Jose Miguel Covarrubias wrote a marvellous book with
his drawings, in the 30's, still relevant in today's Bali.

surprises

There's always some surprise at the beach.
Here's a small 'island' at Shelley Beach, a crab shell,
a sand landscape, a stranded fish.

Further up the coast is Fingal, with its unusual rock formations.

Australian petroglyphs & early rock art
The latter look incredibly similar to photos I've seen in a
French book of north african rock art, but I can't recall
the reference at the moment.

sun & rain

We've had some glittering sunny days, now it's raining again.

Here's a great use of plastic bottles, & an Australian sculptor

papercuts

Over the years, I've collected papercuts in many
countries, these are from Laos, China, Thailand, &
are generally too flimsy to use as stencils. Around the
Day of the Dead in Mexico there are marvellous ones, too.
I really enjoy Peter Callesen, Rob Ryan & Elsa Mora
Am sure they'd be exceptional in any medium, but
the paper & knife generate a particular originality.