Promises in the dark

.....Blue Moon.....

What a great way to start the New Year with a Blue Moon!.   I had a very nice celebration, and although I went to bed well past 3am,  I was still up quite early and spent January 1st all day in my studio, feeling inspired and energized, drawing, painting and listening to a lot of Spanish music.. it did remind me of my flamenco years.   As I drove home in the evening, I moticed the moon for a split second between two rows of houses and couldn't believe its size and the intensity of its light!  I even thought for a moment that I was having a vision, but later it appeared again, bright and full, beautiful and magical!...   Once in a blue moon... indeed it is.. as the last time we had 13 moons in a year AND on New Year's eve, it was over 20 years ago...  
Back home I took a few photos as it was shining bright and high, right in front of the window of my sitting room.
I felt it as auspicious as well as the beginning of new directions, renewed energy and healing.  This year I would like to passionately follow my artistic and spiritual paths as ONE, paint at the feet of Ganga Devi, walks the streets of Kashi, learn sandhya-bhasa and meditate on the blue Hill..

kāmākhyāṁ kāmasampanāṁ kāmeśvarīṁ harapriyāṁ I
kāmanāṁ dehi me nityaṁ kāmeśvarī namostute II

kāmākhye varade devī nīla parvata vāsinī I

tvaṁ devī jagataṁ mātā yonimudre namostute II

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

KASHI - 12 months to find you.

My new 2010 calendar is now ready!  These photos bring so many special memories to me.  Each image has its own story. To preview or purchase click on the title of the calendar. Happy New Year!

Kashi - 12 months to find you

Sri Yantra clock

".....TIME.. IS ON MY SIDE...."
A song initially written by Jerry Ragovoy, but made famous by the Stones.. yet it is by Patti Smith that I remember it the most.

Autumnal walks

Wild leaves are falling...

The remains of Halloween...

This month I have enjoyed taking long walks in the Lea Valley.

Breathing.... the smell of earth, leaves..... wild leaves.... Crisp air entering my lungs.
Energized,  my mind opens towards the infinite sky.... cloudless blue autumnal sky... merging with space & silence. These moments are precious. In society but out of society.. this is my way.

Wild autumn leaves, eternal cycle to which I belong... so what is there to search? what is there to find? what is there to prove?

Realizing that "Nothing" IS the answer, I feel so free as I hear the sound of my own steps, just moving through a field of colours, everything else being illusion.

 

The Secret Supper Club

I have just discovered that one of my yoga student Uyen Luu is opening her home on several evenings and with Simon cook wonderful meals in their pleasant and vintage surroundings.

The "Secret Supper Club- Fernandez & Leluu" is located in London Fields, East London.
Check their website if you wish to book a meal and evening with your friends.

Uyen also has a fashion shop in Kingly Court, Carnaby Street, West End.
this is her website: http://www.fernandezandleluu.co.uk/

Back to the Cosmic Egg

Back to the cosmic egg, searching, creating new forms from the original shape, giving birth in the darkness....
Consciousness and Primal energy linked ad infinitum..
2 small oil paintings done recently, inspired by the lingams of the Narmada river (Madhya Pradesh)
Om Namah Shivaya!

The small black goat of Kamakhya

I drew a sheep... in my mind I wanted to draw a goat but I drew a sheep.

.... the small black goat of Kamakhya, how much I have observed her!... sheltered against the wall of the temple, warming up by the light of ghee lamps burning at her hooves. Sitting on the silent steps opposite, under a moonless night, I watched the heat, the flames, the fire under the belly of this small black goat creating gigantic shadows on the wall... I thought of sacrifice, life and death just by watching the shadows of this small black goat of Kamakhya...
In the darkness of this precinct, I could only see three colours: black, ochre and red.. MAA!
...but this morning in my studio I drew a sheep next to a small tree... why? as I looked around I then became aware that its skull was already on my wall, attached to the branch of a tree.. This beautiful skull that I found ten years ago in Wales while walking in the meadows... I often wandered what this creature looked like when it was alive?? the drawing was my answer.

... this morning I drew a sheep.. tomorrow I will return to Kamakhya.
"The skull from Wales"

Twenty years from now..

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.

So...Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Mark Twain

photo by Alessandro Visentin

३ देस ३ नाइट्स

3 Days ... 3 Nights....in my studio.
Opening the new series about "Ganga".. searching for the right colour scheme... but red keeps re-appearing everywhere. RED is MAA .. but I will try to focus on a palette of jade and ochre.
I spent some time also drawing stone lingams from the Narmada river.... turning them at times into the Cosmic egg, then back to their shapes.. very meditative..

Hommage to Lord Shiva with this little painting!

Now back at home.... back in front of the computer finalizing my partner Alessandro's website, in order for people to start booking trekkings with him in October. I hope one day to discover also the Himalayas, this region is calling me but I am not sure that I have the stamina for high altitude! Shankara will decide for me....

What an artist is or is not

Today I was "scanning" the bookshelves in my studio when I spotted a book that I'd forgotten I had: "Dance - from Magic to Art" by Lois Ellfeld.

Opening a page at random I came accross a list of characteristics of an artist. It made me laugh, some true and others not so true.. anyway if you are an artist read through and see if you recognize yourself;

Excerpt:

.. resume of fairly well-documented evidence of the behaviour of many creative people.

1. High perceptive acuity
2. sustained curiosity
3. independent and assertive
4. dedicated and involved
5. bold and courageous
6. spontaneous and enthusiastic
7. adventurous and original
8. adaptable and resourceful
9. honest and persistent
10. egocentric as well as introspective
11. emotionally responsive and excitable
12. dominant and domineering
13. irritable and stubborn
14. anxious and complex
15. skeptical, critical, and precise

The creative person is usually highly tolerant of:

1. ambiguity
2. disorder (!!! you should see my studio when I am not expecting anyone)
3. emotional instability
4. new experiences
5. puzzles and strange ideas
6. intellectual pursuits

and he has little regard for:

1. job security and routine
2. people and their opinion or trivia
3. traditional judment
4. order for the sake of orderliness
5. logic, as such
6. conventional morality
7. clubs, lodges, and social societies
8. many close friends
9. time and schedules

Well... reading the above does it make you want to be an artist or happy of being one, or grateful that you do not belong to that categorie? !!

thanks for your comments