as if its real

Have another site, asifitsreal

~ private until now ~ will post there instead.

I'll add some of my new paintings, & 

photos from my Tibet & Nepal, China & other trips. 

Email me if you want details of prints etc

address in right hand column under 'about'.

At present, painting is more compelling than digital artwork.

trick

Today I thought this painting was completed, but a 

photograph shows that it isnt. 

Not quite sure how that works, I suppose its like the 

Indian rope trick: the first photos showed a crowd 

gazing upward, the rope on the ground..
The camera doesn't come with all my baggage,
though it does matter how we are with the subject
& the camera, wouldn't you say?

see with your tongue

head

An old piece, they were one off,I only did a few.
They were painted
on chip board that had been cut out; 

it needs to be a very simple shape.

paint

Still working on this new painting, the weather has

turned cold after all the rain, that helps

Somehow it reminds me of this piece of abstract art

I shot at a building site, it was gone next day.

But to make a painting look 'real' is a different process.

What is spontaneous: the figures that are appearing. 

variations

Have begun painting again, after a long time.

About 10 years!

Today I tried out this idea on the computer, its

crumpled waxed paper superimposed with a photo

I took in Nepal; perhaps I'll try out a variation as a print.

Probably wont paint it, am enjoying attempting to get 

the mountains as I saw them there: 

simultaneously solid & ethereal.

lovely piece on earthsky

shell fan

At one stage I lived right at a beach, & collected

shells on my walks, I did a few paintings, & also painted

some on the furniture I was making at the time.

That is, a cabinet maker made them, I painted them,

Finished with high gloss, they were easier to sell,

though quite hard work. 

the daily ocean

sky mandala

Another of my painting from long ago, long before

computers. I mostly worked in gouache, its a little tricky 

when working for a few weeks, a sneeze can

take a long time to repair.

classic movies in miniature style

timetables

Posting some old work for while I'm away for a few days.

Back then I made a few small tables ~ timetables ~

with screenprints, collage & 3D elements, then 

added glass on top. This one had 

2 pieces that were collaged noses, I named it

'Time will Tell'. 

shadows ~ lots of interesting posts on this site

2 ways

Two paintings from the 1980's, don't know if I've put them

here before. The meditative chakra one was closer to my

interest, while the one of Jesus was at the suggestion of

a friend who thought ~ I don't know what exactly, except that

his interest must have been more this way.

I doubt whether this was what he meant, however..

the universe might not be the same all over

shells

Another of my older paintings, it came from

something I read about an experiment with sounds,

& how sound can make patterns.

how the universe works..

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

similar

Looked today at Jo Whaley's site, & was struck by the

similarity in our work at a certain time. I painted a lot of

butterflies about 1977, while living in India;

she was or is photographing, & playing with

the patterns or conjunctions with the backgrounds.

I like them a lot. Tell me what you think?

Mine (5 above) began with Chuang Tzu's famous

words, I exhibited them in Sydney, in 1978.

one day old baby (elephant)

space

Stayed a few days at a beautiful house

with people I love,

who have a large collection of my paintings & digital art.

I like to see how they work in a different setting.

The setting can be quite spectacular!

we watched an old movie with this setting

poetry

In the late 80's I met a workshop leader who also wrote

poetry, these pictures date from that time, about 1991.

It was winter in Colorado, unbelievably cold outside,

but mostly blue skies that looked like summer

in Australia, it tricked me many times.

I moved between there & Mexico.

Kiki Suarez, an artist friend in Mexico

eighties

These date from month long intensives at Esalen, in the

80's, holotropic breath work with Dr Stanislav Grof.

There is a special celebration this month at Esalen

for Stan's 80th birthday. They were really memorable

workshops, not only for the depth of the sessions, & the

interesting cross section of teachers he assembled, but

especially for his presence: generous, wise, loving.

A great one!

a short video on his early LSD experience

all my books

Here are all 5 of my books:

Images from the I Ching was the first, you may still find

used copies. 64 paintings of the hexagrams, I also wrote

the comment on each, Ralph Metzner wrote the foreword.

Published by Craftsman House.

A Family Frying Pan was the 3rd book, I illustrated

Bryce Courtenay's stories

Before that I illustrated A Recipe for Dreaming,

with small paintings, words by Bryce Courtenay,

& several years later we did another edition, this time with

my altered photographs; the 2nd edition top was published by

Penguin, (still available), while the 1st edition above is

no doubt available at Australian 2nd hand booksellers.

My 5th book is Burning Questions, it's available from

here ~ where you can also see further pages, they are

mostly my paintings, a few photographs,

Isaac Shapiro's words. You can also purchase from

his website

details

Details from from 4 older paintings.
I can also do prints of some paintings.

How about a comment ?

art & science together

types

The first sketches I did for 3 of the 9 personality types
of the Enneagram (5, 6, 7). I did them all as masks.
Then I did the finished art which
was used in Eli Jaxon-Bear's book on the subject.
At least the first edition.

Later I did a smaller version above with all 9 together.
These days I'm not much interested in
developing/working on the personal, but the enneagram
can give a good sense of the basic types.

Great shots of young people by Danielle Levitt

maya

This sketch book, from the mid 80's, was partly from museums
the rest from other sources, also with the aim to have
multiple (portable) references while travelling.

Here's one I used:
a woman carrying a baby on her head.
The painting right is in Burning Questions, it was initially
inspired by the old story of the teacher who asks his
student to first fetch him a glass of water
before he gives him an explanation of maya.
I think the flooded river is all too real for many

in Brisbane & other parts of Queensland,

this year.

farshidmesghali

mural

Did I post this before? I heard the educational facility
that has owned it for past 20 years needs funds,
& is trying to find a buyer for my mural, it's 5 metres wide,
this is the right-hand third.
(See the Life Education Centre on the Gold Coast, Qld.
It's behind Pacific Fair, near the library)
I am leaving in a few days, then wont be posting till October.

!! istanbul !!