272 / views

Sporadic scanning: part of the really great view from the house

we rented in Dalhousie. One could sit on the patch

of green beside the steps coming up to the ramshackle old house

& beside the small house Michael built near Bangalow

-in northern NSW, Australia- 

were four large Moreton Bay fig trees.

243 / slight changes

In India, in the 70's, it was hard to get colour film;

b/w just didn't do it for me, & then some I only have as contact prints,

so thats when a computer was great: I can not only fix the
scratched little contacts, but also add a little colour.
India is always magnificently coloured.

Went twice to the Pushkar Mela, an unforgettable treat.

The saddler used vivid colour, but I used paler ones to give 

that old memory feel

This was around '69, in Ubud, Bali

also in Pushkar - & all parts of India -
lighting up a bedi

this worked much better with 2 photos

- its a self portrait. The silhouette is me taking a one handed

shot at the beach.

241 / altered photos

At some time in the 1980's I realised I could add 

a bit of paint to my photos

(Dalhousie)

to bring out things that were almost visible

(London)

sometimes just a couple of strokes were enough

& I liked that it should be such a surprise, since

people were expecting just a photo

(Bangalow)

some photos were old, & I didn't find the hiding folk 

till later, at other times I took the photo because

they were visible

& sometimes it reflected states of mind,

no doubt

Some I've subsequently used in books,

& then I usually had to fix them up a bit on the computer

I stayed at this hotel while I finished the I Ching book,

in San Miguel Allende

Some friends were renting a place here, in southern Mexico.

With the photos, its possible to turn them in the light,

& see where the paint is, this one comes slowly

without that aid

& the tree person/spirit I could see in this

rather mysterious forest in Chiapas

Although I'd been at least one winter in Canada, in Colorado

it was really full on, in the country

the forest was full of entities

there were very few people around, & you know that

hush in snow, & when you hear the plop of falling snow:

I felt they were playing with me

as I've probably said before, nature seems to love

to be admired.. thats not quite the way to say it, but there

is a sense of something reciprocal ~

wouldn't you say?

239 / Kashmir

Was several times in Kashmir in the '70's, 

these are scanned from old prints

It is or was a very beautiful place

though not without some difficulties, 

in the city especially

It could look so calm, & peaceful

Once we took a 'picnic' boat for a week,

with 2 crew, the country people were just great,

sometimes kids would run beside us on the shore;

doubt if thats possible now.

210 / stone stories

Every time I walked past these walls in Istanbul,

& now when I look at the photos, I saw them

as masterworks

Depending on the light, the stones glowed  

  

more like jewels

not just here, in many areas,

the masons clearly loved what they did

& those who repaired, also

I saw many walls where there was a deep respect for

their predecessor's work, even when matching stones or bricks

weren't available

at least those are the stories the walls spoke to me

there might not be too many 

as interested as I was/am

so this is just one area near our hotel, I took hundreds..

theres an extra dimension, being there, of course.

I love how photographs can put one back there, as if its real

204 / slow fade..

In San Miguel de Allende, I stayed 2 summers in 

this beautiful hotel, the Posada Carmina.

A wonderful old Spanish lady ran it. I had a room with this outlook,

& also a corner room overlooking the street.

I was in my room a lot, painting, & came to love the building,

& Carmina

There was a restaurant below, & a cantina next door.
There is a place named Hotel Posada Carmina,
am doubtful it could still be her; it has been 'upgraded',
unfortunately. It was over 30 years ago..

So was the trip down the Yangtze. The print has been a pinkish brown

all that time (dirty chemicals I suppose) so even photos

reflect the unreliability of memory.

I also enjoy to make changes in memory:
more recently, for the 2nd edition of A Recipe for Dreaming,
I used this as part of one illustration.
click to enlarge

191 / usa

From a road trip with a friend, from New Mexico

to Canyon de Chelly 

in Arizona

though it might be Chaco Canyon,

both have such spectacular country.

Memory is becoming nomadic..

181 / dance

In Dalhousie, where I lived long ago:

a misty day, Tibetans at a picnic, dancing,

its like a mirage in memory.

I used b/w film because thats what was available.

96 / marks

a fascinating door in Istanbul, marked with symbols,

verdigris, time

I wanted to touch it, but wasn't sure of the protocol

this part looked more cross cultural.

Don't you love how we can recall the sights of faraway places

so clearly, from photos? 

It extends time & space in an interesting way..

82 / Lhasa

With strange juxtapositions like the Potala behind the bainmarie,

Lhasa seemed to be several different time zones:

yesteryear

now & future times within a few steps

a lot of the old city was being torn up, but the end

result will probably look traditional again.

80 / what we build

Angkor Wat

Nepal

Kathmandu

Varanasi..

amazing the varieties of expression, isn't it?

There would have been master craftsmen, sculptors,

builders, & so on, though rarely a town planner.