la instantánea No°4

la instantánea No°4

Flirting.

A smile within a smile.

Flirting

is the perfect way

of finding out

the impossible positivum.

Rain on Rhodes

Santorini, officially Thira, is an island located in the southern Aegean Sea. It is largest island of a small, circular archipelago which bears the same name and is the remnant of a volcanic caldera.

Rain on Rhodes

They warn me of the Rain.

Rain on Rhodes.

If it rains here, it rains.

The air is heavy with that rain.

Since days.

Like a pregnant woman.

First the sun dissapears,

than the clouds move in

slow clouds that hover

and do not move away

I can smell this rain too

nothing like a sudden shower

not even

as the English rain

that would just poor down, no

this rain

has a waiting list.

There is thunder in the air

while the wind

that slashes the leaves against my window

in the night,

that same wind

howls over the Sea

which turns dark green and grey

wearing a crown of short, bity waves

becoming one with those clouds.

They dampen,

thicken themselves

lay moist and heavy on your mind.

Cooling you down

your skin

cooling those walls

your linnen

there is no escape

from that rain, which still

does not appear.

In the morning

the rain is raining,

it drains.

My tree is crying haevily

big tears running down

on each treeleave

they build whole Avenues

to run back into the Agean Sea.

Yes, just as the cats

of Rhodes do,

those shy cats

who suddenly

all have dissappeared

into their hiding places

their street Palaces,

I like to take shelter in my pillows,

wait it out.

Than my alarmclock

knocks me out

reminds me

there is no space for such

trivial persuit

never mind the rain,

there still is business as usual,

and no umbrella in my suitcase.

On Greek Mentality.

Greek People, People living o Rhodes are friendly to their visitors.
Rhodes has been invaded, plundererd, taken advantage of or used for Strategic Purposes by foreigners over Centuries.

Yet their inhabitants remain proudly and calm in their full Greek identity, not being lost over or confused about their internal matters. I come to the following conclusion:

You are save being a Visitor in Greece. The Greek People will kindly ignore you.
Your belongings are save., It is considered highly unethical to steal from somebody, no matter of its origin.

But you may be on your toes, stay alert. The Greek are clever and business minded.
Although they would never steel from you, they will try their best to take advantage.
If you make a mistake in your daily business, if you are not well informed of your rights -
that is another matter, it is a highly honory way to make the best of someone's misfortune...

Greek Summer (1)

My Greek (Working) Summer.

I am ready for this Greek Experience.

Yet I feel no yearning for a Greek Disaster.
In case I should feel the need of Greek Tragedy, I resume to read Homer.

Painting versus Writing

I am a Painter-Writer.

Sometimes I can't make up my mind whether it should be Writer-Painter.

So far it does not support me to live from it.

However, there is no rule that says „Only if you are selling (enough) to support your lifestyle“..., you are a Painter or Writer. I am a Painter or Writer, because I do both. I paint, I write.

The rest is development and I am on my way, being a creative person, so much is clear.

If I am to loose my eye-sight, or if I am to loose my hands/arms, so that I could no longer paint, I can still continue describing with words. Although (of course) I'd be terribly sad, I'll never forget the EMOTION of colour and i would learn to rise to fully develope my writing. 
So I am fortunate, being able to express myself in both.

Still I am not such an intellectual whizz-kid such as the great writers are, but I can think, I can feel and therefor I write and express my poetry.

I will not write about the phenomena „Writer against Painter“ as such, more what it means to me, since I am doing both, and trying to explain –mainly to myself- why so far I can not (yet) combine the two, apart from some rare exceptions. 
Something I would love to do and will pursuit in future time to come.

I had my first real „Wow-effect“ in painting early on, in Kindergarden-time with scratchings on wax. I remember that clearly. Creating loose colour shapes with wax-crayons, overpainting in black, brown or dark blue... and the exploration of the underlying colour being freed by scratching over it.

A Facebook friend of mine, Mahhmud Mahmudzade (Baku) has turned this into his unique style, creating a mesmerising Art.

Colours have inspired me form early on. Even before I could read, Ottfried Presslers childrens book „Der kleine Wassermann“ („The little Waterman“) has intrigued me greatly, mainly because of those wonderful illustrations in blue and green.

The second „Wow“ came the first time I had the experience of using those charming Guache-paints at school, colours seemingly so much more lively than simple watercolours...

Painting a brown Swiss Cow, sitting in the green grass against the background of Mountains.

The Motive I saw for the first time on a holiday in Switzerland. (In Germany there is mainly the Holstein-variety, which is black and white. For those brown cows, I still feel the same kind of tenderness.)

I was slow to take on reading, really struggled.

Until my (Step)-Grandfather patiently took me for a ride in his care, always to the place, whichever sign I could properly read. That was a huge spark, he was also first to buy me a dictionary and I had tremendous pleasure, looking up words, opening up a complete Universe, 
I will always be grateful for that.

Strangely, I can't remember the first Poem that I enjoyed reading – but being a young developing Teenager, I was jumping into the love poems of Goethe and by this way glided into Schiller. From there it was a short jump into Shakespeare, later having lived in Britain, until today, Shakespeare pleases me a lot. I have also enjoyed reading great speaches through the Ages.

But I was really fired off completely the first time I was reading Pablo Neruda. 
I owe him. He is my greatest influencial teacher of poetry and will remain so. 

The first time I have been painted by others, I was 21 Yrs of Age, Oil on Canvas.

I was sleeping. Waking up I saw this painting of mine, on white canvas, in vivid Orange, Yellow, Blue and Violett lines... What an Experience!

The same guy really introduced me into the Arts.

I have been to many Exhibitions in Europe, we travelled a lot, and I believe I have been a good Muse to him. It was great fun. (Until than, so far I have been painted three times, and every time being a different type of pleasure... Thank you: Klaus, Dennis & Kala).

I was taken by storm and truly in love with his style, seeing Gustav Klimt's Art for the first time.

In was IN his paintings, and the same it was with the Impressionists.

Myself, I was trying out a few mediums, painting with Oils, Acrylics and enjoyed it all... But the moment I was hitting Silkpainting, I knew this was it. I found my Medium, maybe being 23 Years of Age.

The Fascination of Silk in combination with the flowing of colours in the process of applying...is just above the rest, Silkpainting is special, although not forgiving: You see every mistake and you can not „scribble it over“ or trying to hide it. 
Every peace is a most valuable learning curve.

Sadly, I have not explored it very long... I was side tracked. My life events took me away from it, or I have allowed this to happen... For some twenty years I was not creatively painting at all... 
Or better to say, I was not allowing my creativity to be expressed that way.

A huge gap, the one missing out was me, with the result that now I have to catch up on a lot..

Never mind, I have gained unique experiece in many different fields and they have made me the person I am now. Maybe I needed this time, encluding the experience of my own Cancer (and overcoming it) or the close the experience of a loved person dying so in turn becoming this more spiritual person that I am now, although I am not talking about Religion in its common sense.

I wrote my frist Poem 1988, sparked of by an Architect, one of our regular Hotel-clients. I had already finished working as a trained Dietician, changing into Hotelmanagement. Every morning, he came smiling to Reception and his general answer, on how was his morning, always has been „Super“.

Wow! I thought... Super … So early... I continued those words in my mind.

That was the start to my poetry. (Thank you, Mr Wilmsmann!)

I remember how pleased he was, even a little jealous, when I presented him my first two poems, being inspired by something he was saying to me those mornings.

The Process of writing or expressing my Poetry remained the same until today, only that by now I have savely managed to find my form, my style of writing.

First comes the emotion, always. I have to be touched by something, often an image, a picture, or a thought of mine... And then I write.

The inspiration, the spark usually is an expression, or a feeling, a certain WAVE. I am simply describing the way I am feeling about something. 
Let myself being carried from the emotion, I do not really have to search the words... Rarely. (Although a Thesaurus is a great toole...)

The good poems always develope very fast, I can easy arrange later the form, sometimes change a few words or lines against each other... Just play around or mirror my own words until it makes sense, until it flows the way I like it.

It is different in Painting. It seems to be a completely different intellectual process.

It is harder for me to paint.

I still have to search a lot. For the Motive, even the whole composition sometimes.

(Unless I find a real intriguing image that pleases my eyes so much, that I would really love to paint it, to „feel the Colour“ or the shape of it...)

Probably also, since I have had abundend it for so long and I am still struggling once again with technicalities. Even though I enjoy and love it deeply.

The advantage, it will certainly be easier to sell Work of Silkpaintings (or Fashion being created hanpainted) than publishing books, a much faster process and easier to market. (You „only“ have to be good at it, haha!) Plus, the process of painting is less lonely, the community of Silk-Painters exchanging their work and supporting each other is fantastic.

I can see that I am progressing fast and the fascination of painting on silk carries me through the struggle, my love is deeper than the trouble going alongside.

But I do not yet fully understand my process nvolved in painting, even though I have seen so many great pieces of Art. It is a process of finding the image, than its shape, the form is being developed first and than follows the Colour – unless it is freestyle, then once again it works the other way around... Still I have a long way to go.

So far, I have rarely managed to combine picture and words. It first happened once I saw a painting of Picasso („Die Badenden“) A painting of three girls, sitting on rocks with a boat in the backyard. I could immediately bond with that painting, having been sailing myself.

I could literally feel the wind, feel the summerheat and the cooling breeze of waters. Of I went writing! Another time my words accompanied a painting of Flowers – „Summercollection“- 1994 by Dilia Perez de Sehm, a friendly, naive painting in vivid dots creating summerflowers, so I simply called it „Your Flowers“ with my style of writing slowly developing.

A similar process being involved the day I saw a photograph made by my beloved Silkpainting-Artist Daniel Jean-Baptiste, when he published a photo taken of his garden, in his cottage in St.Lucia, a perspective from the inside out, accompanied by his words „Gate to Paradise...“ (Facebook)

It was his words as much as the actual photo, thinking of this garden almost growing into his House, what started me off... Yet I continued thinking about those sweet words and that was the beginning of my poem, I wrote „Sweetly you talk of paradise...“ HIS PARADISE, describing in the same manner in HIS ART, HIS COLOURS – It was all there for the taking. Thank you, Daniel.

Only lately, with the painting of my (two) Bulls, where I was touched to the heart, by the image of a Bull during a bullfight, that was dying in the Ring, already overcome by its Torroero.

Yet this animal so sweetly, innocently and curiously moved towards the „Killer“, almost tenderly yet already bleeding out of his mouth, with that pleading expression of fear in the eye... I felt so much love and just had to paint THIS moment AND write a Poem about it. (Poem came first!)

I am looking forward to more moments such this, to combine the two.

It will be lovely, and although it is yet rearly happening, although I am still in struggle, it feels great and I am happily looking forward to further creations whichever way it will take me.

I also want to express my gratitude, there are so many good Silk Painters, particular female Silkpainters. It is probably one of the few fields in Art, where Woman lead the field.

One of the earliest (German) Silk painters to inspire me, already in the Eighties, was Barbara Banach „Shahida“. Her free flow techniques are the most delicate and light designs. Adorable.

Another great Artist is John Carollo (Studio „The naked Eye“), his way of combining Silk Painting with Sculpture, moving it freestyle into a three-dimensionale Art in his beautiful way is simply amazing... 

So Inspiration comes from many sorts, and you have to open your heart and mind wide to let it in, giving it a home where it wishes to stay...

Thank you my Angel...

On Power of Dreams

Never, really NEVER underestimate
the Power
of your Dreams and wishes.

You are sending out strong wavelengths,
and they in turn
stimulate and synchronise the Reciever.

So it is simple: The more you (dare to) follow your inner path, the more it will free you.

la instantánea No°6

la instantánea No°6

Truth.

The only truth to find...
Is what you feel, is in your heart, 
is Nature itself.