Bubble Life

Greetings from a sleepy little town down south along the mighty Mekong,

After finding a pillow and delicious local cold java swimming in a glass you get a hair cut and your ears cleaned.

It's essential, as we've said previously, from China, Vietnam, Cambodia and now Laos to relax.

Sit back close your eyes hearing the whirling overhead fan rotating like helicopter rotor blades over rapid cobalt rivers inside deep forested green jungles, skimming granite mountains, swooping toward rice valleys allowing a thin man with shiny silver tools to clean, vibrate, scrape, identify, probe, assess, magnify, illustrate and remove old historical debris, leaves, brooms, the click-clack of shuttles, blue and yellow butterflies, children's laughter, language acquisition cycles, tonal frequencies, vibrational shifts and so forth.

A new marveLaos gallery is live.

http://tmleonard.squarespace.com/marvelaos/

It contains clouds, art, design, black & white, wats, paper making, rice threshing, weavers, kids and big serious humans.

The Luang Prabang airport has one simple concrete runway. The control tower needs a coat of paint.

There are two gates. A French tourist is worried because their boarding pass has a big number approaching infinity. "We only have two gates," said the serene and helpful girl behind a desk.

"Oh, my goodness," said the tourist holding a can of white paint and a brown sable hair brush. "I was so worried I wouldn't get home for Christmas. I mean I was feeling so anxious and neurotic and lost and dazed and confused and sullen and tired and suddenly I felt comfortable in a calm way knowing I will realize my vacation dream and paint a control tower at a small airport in Asia." 

"Be a work of art or wear a work of art," said the smiling girl, or, as Picasso asked, "what is color?"

Metta.

Paper is an essential part of Lao life. The art of paper is in the making, using, honoring paper in the community and burning paper to honor ancestors. Artists use white fibers from plant stems to make paper. To soften it they mix it with ash and soak it in wood fired 55 gallon drums. They pound it to a pulp. The woman spreads fibers over a screen. It is dried in the sun and used to create tactile textured paper books, umbrellas, bags, cards, lanterns, envelopes and airport control towers.

Cloe and Younn

Greetings,

I'm sitting in the market drawling in my Moleskine. Three travelers sit and sketch their environment. They use pencil, ink, watercolor pens and cool tools. They are excellent. Many Khmer people, as is all too common, just sit and stare. A few curious ones wander over to see the creativity. 

The next day I am drawing and Cloe, one of the French artists stops by for a chat. She and Younn, her boyfriend artist left France for year of total land travel. 

"We went south to the Balkans, Greece, Turkey, Iran and across Central Asia to China, Mongolia, back to China, bought bikes and rode to Laos, now Cambodia then we go to Thailand and south to Malaysia, then eventually to Australia."

How was Iran? "It was great. We hardly ever stayed in a hostel. The people invited us into their homes. The culture and art and history is amazing. Everyone was friendly and kind and helpful. They talked about everything. They were totally connected and engaged with the world. We felt really safe and secure."

We exchanged links. You can read their French blog and see Younn and Cloe's amazing art from their travels. 

chez Younnecloe

Metta.

what is red for you?

Greetings,

Many thanks to Kerstin Klein for featuring my photography work on her site: What is Red for you?

Kerstin is a graphic designer, movie lover and Moleskine aficionado in Berlin.

Have a look-see and send her your Red inspirations, your visually articulate Red creativity.

People should talk less and draw more. 

Metta.

Viviparous

Greetings,

Good things happen when you take risks. You risk expanding your perception. You risk losing everything in the expansion. Are you prepared to lose everything?

What is the most beautiful word you know?

Less talk and more drawing is essential. Circles, triangles, squares, lines, curves and dots. Connect the dots.

The asylum IS both a prison and protection.

New life as the wet season shimmers rice paddies to the horizon. Green promise, beauty, creativity, dance, music. How do you describe this sensation of green? Memories of Chinese rice planters inside swirling monsoon. The sound between the notes. How do you manifest this waking dream? Lightning dances from cloud to ground. Bolt. Flash.

You create art to explore your sense of self and find out how you feel you are, rather than who you think you should or ought to be.

Make the right choice for the wrong reason. Make the wrong choice for the right reason. 

Your life is not a test. If it is an actual life your invisible friend will protect you.

Metta.
 

This woman loves her computer and social networking skills. She is very popular and has lots of friends.

In the medical and insurance business.

This woman doesn't use machines and machines don't use her. She is very wise and observant. Her experience is direct and immediate. She dreams about being a European international lawyer with enhanced software development skills. She knows that every heartbeat is a universe of possibilities. 

smell

Greetings,

I love the smell of Cambodian garbage and rubbish in the morning. It is a sweet sick smell.

Did you know the nose has trillions of sensors? It's one of the most highly developed human senses. This delicious aroma wafts through the air on ballet slippers. Why do you love the smell of garbage and rubbish in the morning? It reminds me of human consumption and dancing dervishes in Konya. Where is Konya? It is in Turkey. Turkey is a tomato based culture with a long history between east and west. Sniff.

Really? How is it possible to live between east and west? Well, they have an Asian side and a European side, like a double edged sword. One edge of said sword is fired to a fine point in Asia with Chinese propaganda tools. The other side of said sword is forged near Greece by Amazonian warrior women. 

They wear sunglasses and ride around in horse drawn carts finding tomatoes, natural gas (a buy product of consumption) expired optical dioramas and an emotionally withdrawn fictitious computer hacker named Salander in Sweden.

Can you show us the connection between: the smell of garbage in Cambodia, Konya, Turkey, a computer hacker and one breasted Amazonian warrior women? The mathematical uncertainty principle is an equation.

Metta.