Entries in art (209)
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old poem
Greetings,
Seeing or watching
even blind people see
- the tailor on the Saigon sidewalk feeling threads,
a needle points magnetic north, true north? Such a question.
evolutionary GPS navigational systems inside his fingers
sharp diabolical edges of conversations
laying out splendid contorted plans
program expectancies
there is so much we do not
or will not or cannot know
where the inside is hidden
in the outside inside
old black and white portraits
of grandfathers from 1936 Spanish civil war years
feast or famine centuries
cover walls
eating grass soup
grandmothers doing their white
crochet handicrafts wearing fingernails
down to the bone into the lentil soup it goes
under watchful framed wedding dress prop remembering
how it was running with bulls
beneath grateful gladiolus spilling their blood
for tourist images
a day after climbing sharp stones steps
over valleys buried in mountains
to Cueva de la Pileta caves
seeing, feeling, hearing, touching, tasting, absorbing 27,000 year old Paleolithic paintings
bison, goats, seal, deer, archers, fish, traps, calendars, stalactites, stalagmite organ music
sweeter than dream time ancestor stories
dripping water pure pools
hibernating marsupials species specific
2,300 bats zooming toward night
fires for illumination
no cooking
eat it raw
fertility symbols
even the archaeologists
do not know
exactly what they mean
calcium carbonate
copper and iron
5 cm of animal fat pigment
traces of fingerprints
pure water
releases itself inside mountain
we took tea
near heavy ripe lemons
spring flowers struggled toward faint sun
crying words
sharing silence
pink and white petals dancing in a clear blue sky
Metta.
Sunday Scribbles
You are an object of endless fascination and speculation. This stranger in their midst. This creature alive and well singing a song about the disorientation, the unfolding process, dynamics. You are a ghost and people here have seen plenty of them. Before, now and later.
It's theoretically possible to say the local people have an EI or Emotional Intelligence of -7. This simple truth is revealed through behavior, attitudes and verbal communication. It has nothing to do with family, values, education or social skills. I witnessed the same reality while teaching and living in China. Or should living and learning come before teaching? Everyone is a student, especially on the street.
There are book smarts and street smarts. "Theatre of the Street," is opening on Broadway and coming to a theatre near you.
In Asia, it's always a theatre on the street. Hustler heaven on earth. Of course it's all a fake. I am a fake. I am pretending to be exactly who I am. My story is filled with contradictions and paradoxes.
Here's what a small sign said about Buddhist statues in Asia.
Gentility - China
Perfection - Japan
Refinement - Thailand
Meditation - Cambodia
Affection - Vietnam
If you sit still long enough someone will pass by ringing a bell.
Metta.
iPhone art
Greetings,
I read about David Hockney's new exhibit in London. He mentioned using a painting application on his iPhone.
"It's all part of the urge toward figuration. You look out at the world and you're called to make gestures in response. And that's a primordial calling: goes all the way back to the cave painters. May even have preceded language. People are always asking me about my ancestors, and I say, Well there must have been a cave painter back there somewhere. Him scratching away on his cave wall, me dragging my thumb over this iPhone's screen. All part of the same passion."
The application he favors is Brushes. I also found another app called Sketchbook by Autodesk.
I began learning, playing and experimenting with both. Fun. As Hockney said, it's a great little portable tool. In your pocket. No mess. No rags filled with pigment, oils and the usual artistic beauty. When you're finished you turn off the machine.
Easy to upload, email, and share your art. Here are two examples of playful visual storytelling. A new iPhone gallery is in process.
Metta.
Hockney article in The New York Review of Books...read more.
Yesterday's face.
Autumn has no boundaries.
New Front Page
Greetings,
So, as usual I'm experimenting with the site design and decided to make the "Living on the edge," blog the "Front Page," that opens when you visit.
'It's like this,' said the seer during discussions discussing this eclectic option. 'Why start with Myths and Innuendos when people can immediately access the blog slog?'
'Excellent point,' I said. 'Everyone already knows about myths because they are alive. Most subscribers, visitors and friends have already seen the Myth page, read the book blurb and assorted philosophical insights.
'They are probably bored to tears wondering, why don't those two genius types get their electronic act together and streamline this baby so we don't have to click through to explore new stuff?'
'Clearly,' said the seer. 'Take the ideas and forget the words.'
Enjoy your travels through the Ha Noi neighborhood of reality and dreams. Feel free to drop us a line.
Metta.
On the sidewalk is a feather and a q-tip. Existential awareness.
A broken building at a temple in Ha Noi. Loving lines.
A man hauls out his heavy trash. His destination is the cart. A distant speck, horizon.