238 / ocean paintings

These have been stored for a while

unpacked them to show to someone who'd seen others 

from that time

there's some I'd like to fiddle with, but don't wish to

interrupt the mountain ones in progress

for me, theres something like a water 'zone',

its very different to an earth zone
(zone being the state of mind the pictures happen in)

maybe if

 you are a super competitive mountain climber

or swimmer etc, its different - more of a race

this is more about the difference between the elements

216 / calligraphy

These were all in a marvellous Istanbul museum where photos were allowed; 

there were few signs I could read, so I trust its not

offending anyone to show them. 

Each is the most wonderful

masterpiece

possibly most would be a group effort, with paper makers, binders,

calligraphy, painters, gilders, marbellers etc

even without understanding a word, its possible to recognise a certain hand,

or time/script

& to enjoy the pleasure they found

in their work

also how all these books were so carefully preserved

& valued to this day for their beauty

some covers were tooled leather 

I was there for days, not ideal lighting, yet they

must have been painted by candlelight, sometimes. 

(more coming)

a good site for history of Istanbul & all over Turkey

194 / walls

Some walls in San Cristobal de las Casas

gave me such pleasure ~ live paintings

I hope everything hasn't been 'fixed up'

186 / dream remedies 3

I became interested in homeopathic remedies in India -

where they are in wide use - bought some (large!) books about it, 

& took them to the mountains

the next series of paintings

 seemed to change, depending on what my main

interest was that year

& for an earlier series there is unfortunately 

no record .. I was reminded of that today when I heard someone

say they had been meditating etc in India, & found it 

difficult to meet the practicalities of being back in Australia

that is, I forgot to get them properly photographed

In my mind they all relate, in some way,

or perhaps its simply the same sensibility:

even though the current paintings are quite large,

in acrylics, & at first sight quite straightforward.

Anyway, its what's happening now.

In these years - this series was around the late 80's -

I certainly needed to exhibit & sell them, 

yet didn't think a lot about who might be interested,

its where my own interests went

Hopefully a few people will like my next series 

(mountains)

if I decide to exhibit, but it may not be the same people

as before.

185 / Dream Remedies 2

There are transparencies of the whole set, 

I've just done a fairly quick fix of these, 

(in the unforgiving light of my big screen)

perhaps it was coming to the time when I needed glasses

They were small, perhaps 8x6", I did them in a

book of that size, then framed them for an

exhibition in Sydney, later. A friend bought the series (22)

which just about gave me enough to go travelling again

I painted a lot of pictures in one hotel, looking back,
in San Miguel Allende

Mexico was good for me in that way

Perhaps its just being somewhere I like 

~ India was the same ~ with no particular worries,

& affordable

actually not sure these are the finished versions,

as I haven't compared them to the transparencies

if/when I find the book with words to each,

I might come back & add the name of each

remedy.

however, if you have a dream containing many of these

elements, for instance, it doesn't necessarily mean you

need that remedy, there will be a complete 'picture' ~

for which you need a practitioner.

184 / dream remedies 1

Posted small versions of some of these, already.

All taken from inadequate prints, as I don't have a

scanner that will do it

I chose 22 homeopathic remedies 

which have symptoms in dreams.. unless you are

interested in homeopathics it won't mean much.

If you are, email me, maybe I can identify them

Quite a few have 'dreams of falling',

& these are not in order because the falling figure

gradually falls further.

I used a lot of historical references, as I figure

our dreams - & states of ill health -

probably haven't changed too much

Although I'm not a homeopath, I know quite a bit about it.

I also started writing trance inductions to go with each one, as 

I'd been studying hypnosis. 

For some of the time I was in San Miguel Allende, in

northern Mexico, staying about 6 months in a wonderful old 

Spanish colonial hotel, with large spare rooms,

whose owner moved to Mexico during the Spanish civil war,

I liked her so much, & the Posada Carmina was a lovely

calm reflection of her.

While I didn't 'prove' any of the remedies, there was some

amazing synchronicity happening, it seemed all I had to do was tune

in to each one.. have rarely been sick, but have dreamt a lot,

some of them scary. & travelling, one gets stomach bugs,

or eats unknown foods, which account for some weird dreams.. 

Don't you think?

181 / stones

'sailing along the coast'

At the time I made these small pictures, my living arrangements

were temporary. I would walk on the beach each day

'ancient angel'

& bring home the stones that caught my eye

'precarious moment'

the so-called smart scanner made its own decision

re the borders

'you need not know all the why & how, there is no end to questions'

'I am That 
everything / nothing'

178 / traveller's palm

took some photos with my iPad of travellers palms

there's a bunch growing a few streets from me

they have fan shaped leaves at the top, 

the older ones turn brown & fall

They have a distinctive flat growing habit

An old painting of mine:

 'a Traveller's Palm gives me itchy feet'

117 / painting

The Chuang Tzu  butterfly series was completed

while I lived in Dalhousie

Most days I painted all day; the cottage was too cold in winter,

so I travelled in other parts of India then.

bldg blog - one of my favourites