beach

Went to the beach, hoping it would be as calm as the other day,
it was like this instead. I think the red colour is from Ti trees,
a small stream comes across the beach.

Watch this: quantum explanation of everything arising in Nothing

walls

Love to notice the huge variety of wall surfaces
though there are odd looks from passers by, sometimes,
when they see I'm photographing.

Gold leaf, decoration, colour or just the patina of age,
better than a gallery, quite often..

One of the masters, Roger Ballen

strange

Choosing images is sometimes like selecting tarot cards,
there seems to be an inherent meaning, but today it's
just what caught my eye, all from Thailand. The ostrich was
part of a large concrete or stucco menagerie around a temple.

Want a deck of Tony Meeuwissen cards, the cleverest I've seen.

ornamental

May have already posted these pattern details from Bangkok,
though it's unlikely, I took hundreds, I love their exuberance.
Definitely not minimalist.

Am making dinner for friends tonight.
Here's a thought provoking link about how much we eat.

passed on

Had word today that Marcey Jacobson has passed on.
We became friends when I lived in San Cristobal de las Casas.
She'd lived there since the 1950's, & took
splendid photographs, now in a book The Burden of Time.
published by Stanford University Press.
I was allowed to take the top two because I was with her, on
a trip into the countryside. She was a wonderful lady, & I hope
she's finding that whatever comes next is also really fine.

monks & buddhas

Experimenting with different versions of the same general
idea, my favourite so far has a gold background.

Happy to find the Design Files blog & see the terrific art scene in
Melbourne & Sydney, looks way more interesting to me than
recent graduate work in UK
(Maybe I miss out on a few things, by not watching tv.. have the
dvd's of the tv series Deadwood, which I think is great ~
acting, sets, script, editing ~ the lot.)

in the palm

Another ambulatory buddha: from Laos to my garden
(I doubled a shot of a palm leaf). Somehow I'm reminded of
that scene in Monkey, where he boasts of adventures at the
end of the world, only to discover he's still in the palm of
the buddha.. our grandiose notions.

Here's another place to see ricefield/land art, love the sequence.
On this blog the beguiling Women in Art video,
& here are all the referenced paintings

tiger bars

The tiger came from the words of Stephen Levine, about
how we polish the bars of our cage, ignoring the fact that the
cage is open. As I looked for a link, I read of their
difficulties; it's dated 2008, perhaps a donation will still be
appreciated. My friend from Lincoln (right), introduced me
to his book Who Dies. Our family had an Irish setter named Zoe,
for 18 years ~ a wonderful dog who understood every spoken word.
..the link between the two pictures would take too long to explain..

one morning

Have been playing around with some of the images from Laos.
While in Luang Prabang I overcame a reluctance to photograph
the monks collecting alms, because they are like young buddhas
to my eyes. 

TLS ~ for wide ranging diversions.

virtual travel

A Sukhothai buddha journeyed to Canyon de Chelly..

Check out Youngna Park's photos

namaskar

More from my old drawing books.

an interesting site, & Kew Gardens

brilliant day

Today was like this: intoxicated by the perfumed trees,
captivated by the shadows now the sun is at it's winter angle
(or we are), & intrigued by the almost readable messages
at the beach ~ except you don't need an interpreter on
such a day, isn't that so?

Yesterday I looked at hi & low, this inventory,
this photographer, & John Meaney's blog, as I'd just finished
another of his remarkably visual novels, Bone Song . .

heart sutra

Although the heart shaped clouds have little to do with the words
of the heart sutra, (Form is emptiness, emptiness is form),
understanding comes from the heart, mind wont help here.

Short film of the great Milton Glaser

beneath a tree

A Casuarina. Love how they look both dry & watery,
& sigh in the wind.

Looks like there's a series of buddhas, appearing.
This one was against a wonderful old brick wall at Ayutthaya,
have transposed him to a stone wall from Sydney with
a similar shape, a time shadow.

A gorgeous little handmade house.

wattle

The wattles (acacias) are out, I thought that was meant to be
in spring? Computer was being fixed for a day, the fans died.
Debated whether to change to a mac,
but I'm happy with a pc, why bother?

I've seen one grain of rice engraved, but this is new

embroidery

Bought the Virgin of Guadalupe piece in Chiapas, southern Mexico,
(the vendor was selling those embroidery hoops, & made this while
he waited) & the larger piece in Guatemala. The crafts in both
countries are spectacularly colourful & varied, cant find any sites
that show a good range, you'll just have to go there !

A few days ago I mentioned a sculptor/artist friend
in Mexico who designs wonderful buildings of all kinds.
Isn't this small chapel just perfect? They sent me this photo
last year. The residences also have a wonderfully organic form,
with such sympathetic proportions & materials.
Write a comment if you want more details.

patterns

Patterns at the beach.
Woke this morning with some old patterns/habits running
full blast. Once again. Entertained them for a grumpy breakfast,
luckily saw something of how those ones work.. then had the day
making a slide show for my new digital photo frame.

other extravagances I'd like: any/all these Bibliodyssey books

like summer

It was like a summers day, went to the beach with friends &
their dog. Lots of dunes & their trees have been washed away.
Walking through the reserve, there are vines & grasses
& mostly native species like Banksias. The ball of dry sea grass
is a natural process, I think, a little like when spinifex grass
is blown in the wind, only underwater. The calligraphic grass
isn't thriving in my garden ~ looks good dry, too.

No longer being updated, still good Pingmag

pagodas

In 1982 I took a boat down the Yangtze from Chungking
to Shanghai, through the fabled gorges. Really marvellous.
Much of the built-up areas were oppressively industrial & ugly,
the air heavy with pollution, dripping with humidity ~
these pagodas meant more than a glimpse through time.
My plan had been to go to Urumchi, so I could get to the caves
of the thousand Buddhas, but almost immediately revised it,
it was just so difficult as a single traveller without the language,
on a budget. Besides, I really wanted to visit at the
time of Sir Aurel Stein. Read many of his accounts of the different
explorations, with incredibly detailed maps.

One of the great chinese classics in a brilliant translation

colour of time

More of colourful Mexico. There are new modern buildings
of course, though I'm always drawn to textured surfaces that
show the passage of time.

Needless to say I love these works by Valerie Hegarty

mexico

A dear friend in Mexico called me yesterday, he makes
wonderfully sculptural buildings, can't find where I filed the photos.
These were sitting on my desk. He said tourism there
has been hard hit, as the media is still calling it 'mexican' flu.
A good time to go, except I'm staying here for next several months.

I like these drawings & find these ones really interesting

cold

Getting hot under the collar, trying to upload my first
animated gif file. (It doesn't work.. maybe you can
tell me how to do it? The file is under 1MB.)
Instead I saved it as avi file, a very short movie. Did a
drawing like this, long ago; the computer made it easy,
the animate gif is more fun, as it's a loop.

Into one of the other senses ~ a fascinating perfume blog

afternoon

Having such fun making little animated gifs, figuring out what
works best; but just can't get them to load here.
Guess I'll morph in a smaller size & try again. Any suggestions?
Instead here's 4 photos from Laos in February.

Nice that we can look at old books online, a splendid Ramayana.

doorways

Some gold leafed doors in Laos. Doorways..
Check out my friend's site.
Kiki has discovered she has very limited sight.
Any artist can empathise with how that might feel, surely?
(& how annoying to hear theories like 'things you won't see,' etc.)
Don't you love her pictures?

ninety-one

Yesterday, July 5, our mother would have been 91.
That's her on the left, holding me; her mother has my twin,
& our great-grandmother is centre. She was born in Denmark.
Today our group (with Meike) was exploring how this seemingly
solid body comes to believe in an 'I'... this is my body..
if/as there is no-one here, then no-one dies. Check it out.
The angel/s were in London. Words seem nonsensical.

Interesting work from Thomas Allen
& great photos to put us in a more realistic perspective.

faces

Might have done this before? Love to watch clouds, there are
often faces, nice to see the clouds looking at us.

Recordings of photographers,
eg Weegee, talking about their work.
Interesting to add sound to what has only been visual so far.

with my twin

We all saw every sunrise, every day a surprise: sensationally
red one day, a smokey monotone the next.

Endlessly inventive nature.
The radiation treatments are nearly over. It looks (& is) very
uncomfortable, & my sister is so tired. I think it's like going
every day for a torture session ~ it doesn't really hurt,
but it burns badly later, especially where there is sun damage.
Please send healing thoughts.

Some terrific articles on photographers.