An Artist in St.Maarten

Works that were in the Exhibition

2010-02-12T12:12:00.000-08:00

This is a group of paintings that I showed in the Exhibition. I sent out quite a lot of this info to the paper media at the beginning of Feb but I will have to remind myself to do this at least 3/4 weeks before any exhibition date because its now half way into Feb and only a small bit has go into the paper and no photos. There is a lot going on here in Feb and its easy to get lost in all the bigger exhibitions and events. Which is one of the reasons for posting this virtual exhibition here.
First one is:Stephanie TIHANYI Exhibition at Escale Des Iles Art Gallery

The Artist explains about the paintings:

1) Valentine Choco Kitty Oil on canvas 24”x19”

This awesome kitty sits at the kitchen table eating your chocolates! , what a ting. What can you do?. Don’t panic because the box says “I Love You”. Originally I called this painting, “I hate you! (but I love you really) but I am still angry”. Sometimes it’s difficult to let go of your anger when you know that you should, put anger outside the door otherwise its going to finish off all of your chocolates!

2) The Shadow and the Fire Cat Oil on canvas 21”x 25”

The Shadow and the Fire Cat are in confrontation. The Shadow is sinister and so is the Shark that lurks on the ceiling. The Shadow is that aspect of ourselves that we are afraid to see. The Fire Cat defends its ground, protecting its space as hot flames from its wings drive out the devouring fears represented by the Shark toward the light. The glass shards in the window and table indicate pain and the knife under it, hidden domestic violence. Trapped inside the room all avenues of escape are blocked. The only way to resolve this situation is to pass between the protagonists (denial of self and need to self protect) and out the door.

3) The Compassion of the Birds Acrylic on canvas 20”x 26”

The luminous trio of heavenly, gentle birds has flown in through the window to rain pretty and sweet smelling flowers upon the terrified child below. The face of the child frozen in fear looks out appearing to be able to not acknowledge the birds or their gifts. Whether trauma faced by children is from natural disasters or human inter-relational violence, feelings of aloneness and helplessness affect them deeply. What are the gifts the birds bring? Perhaps they are gifts of the instinct to survive and the instinct to heal.

4) Sanctuary of Kali Oil on wood panel 20”x 20”

Here is the image of the divine feminine. The High Priestess is at the door of her Sanctuary. Her arms out-stretched as she passes between time and space, along the corridor between worlds. Above her head is the crescent moon, symbolizing her divine and sublime nature. She is the dark goddess ‘Kali of the Limitless Sky’, awesome, yet sensual and compassionate. She teaches transcendence. Her blackness is made and consists of all the colors ever made. She absorbs everything that has ever been created in the universe and from her darkness everything is created. She is absolutely naked, just as your mind was originally naked and will ultimately return to nakedness when life is done.

5) Cosmic Sea Oil on canvas 19”x 24”

The heavens roil and expand. Immense clouds of dust and gasses explode; universes are sprouting into existence around us all the time, immediately collapse back into themselves again. Dynamism and change, a churning eternal infinite sea. In some parts of the super cosmos things have a chance to settle down long enough for gravity to mold galxies to come into existence. Such a sobering thought leaves me wondering about a Creator as much in fear and awe and so many questions to the meaning of life. Mankind comforts itself with answers to its own questions.
‘When you bow deeply to the universe, it bows back to you,
When you call out the name of God, it echoes inside you’.
Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido

6) Spiritual Islands Oil on canvas 36”x 29”

The Spirit stepped forth from the stone, emerging softly, without sound except for a chiming, tinkering of small glass bells or birdsong in quartz. Sparkling notes tumbled and cascaded and ran ahead in to hard won spaces.
The Queen of sedition put logic to flight in an empty lot of rubble and weeds, a derelict stone site. Lifting the fabric that covered the infinite mirror of God, at that moment a host of altered forces stepped through.
Her many parts, a multiplicity of bright forms…and winged!. Consisting of many elements, both part and separate. The golden skin was silver sheen ed, the aspect of the face alien, yet curiously familiar. Around the crowned head sprung twelve spinning galaxies of bright suns.
Rising now upon a flame, her thoughts sending out waves or taken to flight, out under the air and into the night. A spoken whisper, a departing glance, a charmed spell like a silver lance. Charms souls to legend and myth of treasures in forgotten places.

7) String Theory and the Emotional Heart Oil on wood 24” 26”

This is a personal Mandala incorporating my own attempt to understand String Theory after I had read in an article on Quantum physics. This is a cross section of a string. The principal of universal love, of which human compassion is an expression is at the center, the elements, space and all matter are enfolded within the tube (string) of time.

8) Guardian of Dreams Acrylic on canvas 34”x 28”

The female figure is inspired by a trope that came to participate in St. Maarten’s carnival from Guadeloupe. The creative costumes and artistic decoration and make up were all hand made from natural materials. There were no sequins or tinsel. Everything was made artfully and had a sense of authenticity and mystery that was a hit with the crowed. I have juxtaposition-ed this ideal of Caribbean art and culture against what I feel it to be threatened by, commercialization, over development and the destruction of natural beauty. The woman stands before a beautiful landscape of tropical beauty that is peeling here and there reveling more and more ugly concrete developments and resorts.
9) Electric Flamboyant Acrylic on canvas 20”x 26”

This is a study of the flower as the center of the universe These are the individual flowers of the Flamboyant tree. These bright flowers cover the tree as a red mass but close up individually they have a special beauty. An electric like energy flows outward from the center of the petals. It is felt rather than seen. This feeling explains the belief that all life gives off its own unique energy that can be perceived by humans.

10) Sunset Flower Acrylic on canvas 34”x 34”

The Sunset Flower is a painting expressing joy of life and the warmth and maturing of love. The flower is not in the sunset, it is the sunset. It is a symbol of fulfillment. The sun is setting but it is not an ending. The tight new buds promise future blooms.

11) Sunset at Grand Case Acrylic on canvas 34”x28”

Grand case is a place to view many spectacular sunsets. The sun sets rather rapidly in the tropics so every moment of a glorious sunset is to be cherished. The whole sky is sometimes is transformed into a gold furnace and the sea into liquid gold.

12) The Scarlet Sea Acrylic on canvas 20”x 26”

The woman kneels upon the dark sand her back to a blood red shore. The sky is darkening and night is descending. Darkness seems to fall within and the mood is melancholy and somber. This is a time for reflection and seeking understanding.

13) Fire birds in French Quarter Linocut print on paper 12”x 12”

Two Fire Birds (phoenixes) fly and swoop through the neighborhood. Two Birds, maybe they are a pair in courtship. The phoenixes symbolize good fortune, the power of self- transformation, strength and the courage to fight injustice.

My painting style

2010-02-12T11:47:00.000-08:00

This is the info I sent out at my Exhibition. Its just a short piece to try at explain the style of painting I do. Many people do not see the difference between fantasy art and magic realism. Basically the former rejects ordinary objective reality, invents a total new reality and sakes you to believe in it. The latter, takes current reality as fact but asks you to find something sublime in the mundane or asks you to question some of our long held beliefs about ordinary reality in order to expand our thinking about reality.

The Artist explains ‘Magical Realist’ style: “Lies that tell the truth”

Magical reality is an enquiry into human thought, legend becomes reality, folktales fact, dreams and fears tangible and metaphors are true. Magical realist technique whether in literature or painting suggests that reality is not merely a matter of the physical senses and empirical observation, but that often non material factors such as language and belief enter into human constructs about the world and therefore must be acknowledged. This is not to say that the magical realist painter seeks to propagate mystical, new age beliefs, a transcendental reality, the existence of paranormal phenomena or the viability of magic, not at all, far from it!. Any notion of uncritical faith is undercut by the works ironic, self-conscious and subversive attitude. Unlike Fantasy art, it’s not about the suspension, but the creation of disbelief that is magic realisms hallmark, the constructed nature of human knowledge, that is magic realism’s topic.

Magical realists seek to de-mythologicalize, making a rational inquiry into the way people rely on a multiplicity of meaning-making strategies in order to know and understand the world around them. To the extent that knowledge and belief are the basis of all human interaction, such constructs of reality must be taken into account if one wants to understand what makes people tick. Regardless of their empirical validity dreams are real. Dreams are in fact perfectly real, they are real as dreams. They are full of real meaning as dreams. There is a materiality to symbols and a materiality to the imaginative life of a society which should be taken seriously.

Art Exhibition

2010-02-05T06:49:00.000-08:00

My exhibition at Escale des Iles has completed its first week, I hung the paintings on Monday morning with the expert help of Isabelle the owner. 12 paintings were choosen and one full color linocut print. I chose the works to show my magic realist style. I was busy Monday writing up my Cv, artist statement and short paragraphs explaining the content of each painting, which I left at the gallery for people to read. While in the gallery , a lady called Audrey from St.Martins week news came and did an interview and photos. That will not appear in print until next week. I have written and sent material to the Herald and I can go for an interview next Wednesday for it to go in the weekender. I have been going around putting my poster up where I can. Its surprising in most the big hotels they will not allow any art posters, (not much support for the arts, no surprise there) or only at the activities desks but most are over plastered with boat trips and excursion tours which they take commission for, so none will give you any room. Cafes and boutiques are good as long as they are not friends with another artist or friends of another gallery. Boy, is the competition in the mean here, LOL. Art Lovers had a meeting again to discuss the annual show in March. This year its in the Grand case Community Center, who will not ask us for any fees, but wants us to decorate the outside of the building with art, fair enough!.
Art in the Park is doing a Sunday again on the 14th. Busy busy busy. Like most artists all I want to do is get into my studio and create more. Not right now.

My New Exhibition at Escale Des Isles

2010-02-02T19:44:00.000-08:00

My new exhibtion opened today at the Escale des Isles Art Gallery on the waterfront in Marigot. It will run the whole of February, ending on the 26th, just before the weekend. I will write a bit more about the exhibited paintings soon.

Up Comming Exhibition at Escale de Isles

2010-01-23T12:45:00.000-08:00

Just to announce I will be having an exhibition at the Marigot waterfront art gallery, Escale de Isles, from 1st of February for the whole month. This is the first time I have exhibited at this gallery. I am working on the selection and press release at the moment and of course making up my posters. I will post up more very shortly.

Grand Case Harmony Nights

2010-01-23T12:35:00.000-08:00

Harmony Nights cultural event has started again every Tuesday till end of March of sometime there a bouts. I have my stall again set up. I have been working on a new set of hand made full color lino cut prints, on hand made cotton paper for sale. I will add some photos soon. Above, hard at work over the press.

The paintings I exhibited at West Indies

2010-01-23T12:27:00.000-08:00

Just to show the two paintings I exhibited that week.
Flamboyant Flux & Grand Case Sunset

Artists Week at Le West Indies Mall

2010-01-23T11:50:00.000-08:00

The Artists week organized by the Art Lovers association took place from the 11th DEC to the 19th Dec. 68 Artists displayed two of theie large artworks each in the West Indies Mall in the French side capital Marigot. I displayed two new large paintings, one 34"x28" called 'Grand Case Sunset' (a view from my garden) and the other 34'x34' painting called 'Flamboyant Flux', (a painting showing the felt energies of the Flamboyant tree flowers). There was an open evening for all and a couple of artists volunteered to be on hand to answer questions and inquiries in turns during the week. I was there with artist friend Do Rann on the Wednesday. The exhibition closed with an activities day of live painting with Catherine Millot and free 20min sketch portraits by me. other artists helped with the Christmas gift drop off point for the children of the I-Can Children's home

More artwork from Paris Texas Restaurant

2010-01-23T09:37:00.000-08:00

Here is some more of my murals

Murals at Paris Texas, Bikini Beach

2010-01-23T09:15:00.000-08:00

Just before Christmas, I completed a set of murals for the owner of Bikini Beach Bar & Restaurant. The murals were for the new Paris Texas restaurant across the road to Bikini Beach. I drew the inspiration and images from various sources of Texan art and Mexican folk art to make a bright colorful and humorist ambiance. The artwork is done in acrylic paint. I didn't work every day, as at the time I was doing the West Indies Art Event at the same time, but it took me a little less than 2 weeks.

I Can Children's Home Decoration

2010-01-23T08:07:00.000-08:00

Last year on 14th November, 2009 I joined 8 other local artist's in volunteering to decorate the newly built I Can Children's Home in Dutch Quarter. The 2 story 6 bed-roomed house was completed 2 years after the previous one was gutted by fire. Cassandra who runs the home had been residing in a container while the kids where in a tiny cramped apartment next door. Joyfully and with much relief she and the children moved into the new home on December 15, 2009. At the opening there was a happy ceremony that we were invited to, but unfortunately due to an e-mail failure, we artists didn't get the info. Sorry I missed that event. There is still some more art work to be done in the relaxation (time out) room that couldn't get done before because there was no electricity before and the room is window-less. But some of us will go back and complete it in the near future. You can find info about the home which is a charity refuge for abused, abandoned and homeless children at: http://www.i-canfoundation.org/

Above is my mural that was done in the boys 8-14 bedroom. I used the character Spiderman from Spiderman 3 - Venom's Bite, where Spiderman has to struggle to overcome his destructive shadow side. The inspirational caption is from the films poster. More photos can be seen at the Art Lovers website- Art Lovers SXM.

Back on the Blog

2010-01-23T07:53:00.000-08:00

Back again, my poor ole' neglected blog, how are ya!
Haven't been here for a while, I have been feeling guilty, been thinking for ages its time I made some posts again, and keep making them. Got a bit of catching up to do so I might as well just jump right in.

Valetines Day

2009-02-17T06:21:00.001-08:00

Elton took me out to a great dinner at in Grandcase, and bought me a rose (above). We sat on the balcony at a table over looking the beach. There in the spotlight on the beach by the water edge stood a Great Blue Heron. He had just caught a fish when we ordered and it was hanging from his beak. The meal was great but the main entertaiment was watching this bird trying to swallow this fish. For a start it was waaaay too big and kept wriggling about. He had it the wrong way round and tried for ages to turn it head first without putting it down or dropping it. I thought he would have luck when it finally stopped moving but he just could not get it into his gullet, it was flat but way too wide, I think it was some sort of angel fish. Eventually it went in, but got stuck. It was so funny to see this big triangle lump logged at the top of his scrawing neck. By then a few tables and the waiter were all watching and someone said "do you think its gonna choke to death?!'. He coughed it up and seemed to get real mad and flung the dead fish to the ground a few times in a sort of birdie rage. He was not giving up and tried again and again. Eventually the damn fish turned the right way and seemed to go down. The bird stood there motionless neck streatched, beak wide open, head tilted to the sky, aided by gravity we watched the lump make its slow way down the long neck to the body. My!, that bird was a lesson in the virtue of patience, the moral given by watching this birdie was, "if you are gonna bite off more than you can chew, make sure you have the patience to see it all the way to your gullet!". I think I am going to do a painting of this one.

Ruby's Gallery Openning

2009-02-17T06:09:00.001-08:00

Artist Ruby Bute opened her new gallery in Friars Bay on the French side last week with an exhibition of several artists, music and a buffet. The guys playing are the same that was in "Art in the Park". I went along with fellow artist Mair and Elton came later. The Gallery is beautifully situated amid some very huge and ancient silk cotton trees. So, its fitting to call it The Silk Cotton Tree Gallery. The space is large and spacious and very nicely done. Ruby has her home on a plot next door. She has not got a sign yet but I guess its comming. I need to get some work displayed so I will pass by Ruby soon.

Lots to do/done

2009-02-17T05:43:00.000-08:00

Art in the Park the other weekend was good dispite all thoses showers. It must of rainned serveral times, but I was ready with my plastic sheets and rocks. There was quite a few visitors surprisingly and I didnt do too bad by selling 7 watercolored prints. we has two local bands to entertain us with some traditional music and drumming , above and above that is my little setup where you can see my prints and my roller hand press.

My New Website

2009-02-01T11:21:00.000-08:00

Yeay!, I finally got one. About time too!. I have posted a link on topright hand side of page. I will be working on it and getting it organized better with more work and and separate places for my multiple styles, especially my ultra weird stuff. here it is.

http://stephanietihanyi.mosaicglobe.com/

Raining again

2009-01-31T04:38:00.000-08:00

I have an overflowing basket of washing that needs to be done. Its been like that all week. Its been raining a lot all week too. Last Tuesday night at Grandcase Harmony nights Art Fest was pretty good as sales go, its a lot of work but it was worth it. I was ready for the rain that night too. It rained on us twice but I rigged up this plastic sheet to the table whereby I can just flip it over my display. This rain here is like from a drop to downpour in 1 to 6 seconds, so you have to be quick.
I now have the hand-made prints in quite a few places around the island. In Philipsburg I have them in, the St. Gerain Gallery, The Museum and African Royalty store. In Simpson Bay, I have some in Top Carrot and in Marigot I have them in Amahoro gallery in the West Indies mall and opposite the market at Escale de Iles gallery. Here in Grandcase I put some at the Grandcase Beach Club boutique. I have a permenant exhibition of my large flower paintings at the Westin in the Silver Palms boutique. I have tried to expose at other places but not all places are suitable due to ignorance of the difference bettween a hand-made artist cut print and a photo copy and/or greedyness of wanting to take more than 50% while selling at too low a price. I dont need anyone de-valuing my artwork to the level of a photo copy!.
The art of printmaking has a long and respected history. Here, all the artists sell photo or lazer copies of their work. But there just over in Cuba, traditional printmaking is well respected as art.
No one except myself seems interested in block printmaking, Roland Richardson is the only one I know who earlier in his career did hand made etchings. There is a need for some educating. For that reason, I am doing an expo at the Philipsburg libary called, The Art of Print-making, at the end of Febuary. Where I can show my prints and also introduce the process of wood and lino cut. Lino was first used as a floor covering in 1860 England, a mix of wood dust, cork dust, resin and linseed oil backed on a fiber cloth. Artist in Germany first used it instead of woodcut about 1905. It was Picasso and Henry Matisse who first helped to establish it as a respectiable medium for proffessional artists in their printmaking. I have also written out an article for the Weekender in the Herald newspaper. Maybe some future classes to those that show interest.

Drizzling Friday

2009-01-16T10:39:00.000-08:00

Thats what its been today. I have lost count of how many times its rained off and on. Feeling a bit blah today. No get up and go at all. Last nights aikido had an unexpected unfortunate ending. One of our students was injured during a fall. We had to call an ambulance for him and they took him out on a strecher. Luckily we are just down the road from the Marigot hospital. The reason I am not feeling so bouyant today is because I am the one that threw him. Granted, it was not a fast throw or particularly forcefull, but he failed to manuver his legs into the proper postition for his fall, which is a basic move. before I could see that, he was already going down. And down he went on the wrong leg, which popped out his knee cap as he fell on it. It must of hurt like shit, poor guy. I got thrown once and landed badly (due to my lapes of attention) on my shoulder, it pushed down my clavicle bone lower than the other one and the whole shoulder swelled up. I know last night was not excactly my fault but I still feel awful. I sent him a get well message today and hope he will make a fast recovery.
I picked up my new book yesterday that I ordered online in Dec. I think I will just sit quietly today and read abit. Its called "The Haunted Self-surrealism, psychoanalysis and subjectivity" by David Lomas. I want to expand my knowledge of the surrealist movement , its historical and psychological aims and its close links and affinity to the early psychoanalitic movement and why it has still endured strong today when psychoanalysis has seemed to wane. I mean, how can one be relevent and the other not?.

My New Linocuts

2009-01-15T13:44:00.000-08:00

I had been working feverishly on some new linocuts last weekend in readiness for Grandcase Harmony nights. Above is a few samples on banana paper. (I am trying soon to order some sugarcane paper and mullberry paper. Tuesday night was pretty cool. I set up my table a few hundred yards from the Fishpot restaurant and besides Sexy Fruits, the ladies boutique, (NOT the gay bar). After putting out my display I got on with working on a new linocut of a pair of fighting Sugarbirds. It helped to draw people over to look and I could keep them interested by explaining how I make the prints. I sold 5 that night, so thats not bad especially these days when people are so worried to spend anything. Quality always wins thru somehow.

Post-Aikido day

2009-01-09T15:10:00.000-08:00

Its Friday, the day after Thursday's night aikido lesson. The day I am knack-erd, after a 3 week break of over-eating (sweeties) and general in-activity (on the computer or at my drawing table), last night wiped me out somewhat and I really wanted to sleep all day. Its not that I feel it then, (too busy wondering where I am going to land as I am flying through the air) but I really feel it the day after. Maybe this will diminish as I get back into it, or maybe it wouldnt.
Quite a few heavy showers today in Grand Case. This comming Tuesday will be the first day of the resuming of "Grand Case Harmony Nights". I will have to get out my tables and lights and stuff and roll along to take part. I can hear the rain chucking it down outside right now. I just hope it will not do this on Tuesday.

Santorini

2008-10-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

After a hair raising-ride in a hermetically sealed tube called the Flying Cat, I landed on the volcanic island of Santorini. the last time it erupted was in 1950 and I was wondering if it was going to go up today. Well happily it didnt, though I did get to have a great look around and there were some spectacular views. I also had a look in the museum to take a look at some beautiful wall freizes. The streets are so narrow, no cars can go there, here is the local trash collection service.

Trip to Minoan palace

2008-10-19T10:35:00.000-07:00

The next day, with aching legs, I boarded a bus tour to the Minoan palace of Phaistos that also made a tour to Matala on the Libyan Sea This chamber was surmised to be the Queens rooms due to the design.

The Sea at Last!

2008-10-19T10:27:00.000-07:00

Belive me I picked up speed through these narrow gorges hugging the sides of the cliffs. The sea was a welcome sight.

More Gorge

2008-10-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

Further down the trail flatterns abit. It was a scorcher of a day!. Thank God for water that was available from many springs and the river itself. Here is a picture I took of myself, not my most glamerouse, but hey, this is what you'd look like when you are about to pass out from the heat and you left you knees back up the gorge!. The real reason I took the picture was if by chance I get buried under a massive falling boulder and this camera survives, they will know its me under there and so they can put up a plaque...'Stephanie Tihanyi.., she went in, but she never came out'.

Samaria Gorge

2008-10-19T09:50:00.000-07:00

I got up at 5.15am for this. Samaria Gorge, the longest gorge in Europe. It starts high in the mountains at 1200m and decends down to the sea. It is 18 km long. I went alone but there were plenty of people on the trail and was never 15 or 20mins from one group or another. I took a backpack with camera, hat, sunglasses, sunscreen and a bottle of water. we were expected to reach the sea by 4.00pm. These photos are at the begining of the descent.

Looking back: Crete

2008-10-19T09:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the photos I took in Crete. We stayed at a little seaside town of Hersonissou on the east northside. It had a busy nightlife and plenety of restaurants. It felt very safe walking in the busy streets alone at night. Patrol cars circulated often. Something I am unhappy to say I cannot feel in Marigot or Philipsburg. The local population seem very invested in protecting their tourism, something we here in St.Maarten appears unfortunatly, to take for granted. The girls and my sis and husband headed for the sun and the beach. Me, on the other hand, can get that any day in St. Maarten. I lined up a bunch of excursions in land. My first was the famouse Samaria Gorge.

Off the Crete or Did I ever say I dont like flying!

2008-09-16T13:51:00.000-07:00

Oue journey to Crete was an experience and a half in itself. We got up early and went to secure the horses and clean the field (more pooh shovelling). When we got back to the house the girls were not finished packing. Anyone who knows how long it takes teenage girls to pack a suitcase knows this can be a very, very long time. We decided to go in two cars. My brother in law and two daughters and friend in one car, my sister and me in another car. My sis and I set off a bit earlier to Gatwick, about 3 hours away. The second car about 30 mins later. Halfway there we get a telephone message that something is wrong with their car. Sis and I pull off the motorway (bad move) to turnback. Only to find ourselves on another motorway with no turn off for 10 miles. Its getting close to check in and we are heading away. Finally we get back on the right motorway again. The second car manages ok, but is still behind and going slow because it has an overheating problem. Battling traffic jams and so on we make it to the bus port. Only 10 mins to last check in. Sis and I take the next bus to the airport hoping to check in it for the car behind that has not arrived yet. My nerves are begining to fray. The bus we take is slowed by an accident to the entrance of the airport, a biker has come off in the road, every minuet ticks by in agony.
Once there we bolt up the elevator and run like hell to the check in desks, just hoping the others are pulling in on another bus outside. The checkin desk says that they are closed 5 mins ago and we cannot go on. Dejected we amble over to the airline hoping to workout another flight. The attendant there says she will ring to see if the plane is still docked and if we can still make it. God bless her. We can!, but we have to hurry and run. Sis starts loading the luggage, meanwhile I run down the elevator to find the others coming in the front doors. We all run up to check in. After check in we all run like crazy down to the gates. My God it seemed to go on for ever, corridor after corridor, I thought someones going to have a heart attack and it most likely be me. At last we burst into the gate lounge. And what did I see? Full of people relaxing, lounging about. No one has even boarded the plane yet!.
Gasping and gasping for air from our sprint, we get a chance to catch a drink and snack and sit down. I mean what the hell?. Them telling us we are too late and the plane is not even open yet! I am so relived to of made it and exhausted that I just let the irritation pass.
15 mins after we were supposed to take off we all finally boarded. Thank God we are finally on our way at last. With my backside planted at last on the plane seat, nothing else can go wrong can it?. After what seemed like an eternity we finally taxied down to the park by the runway. There was a distubance behind us in the seats. A young man got up, "I cant do it, I cant do it" he moans. The stewardess goes over to him. his friends calm him down and the stewardess goes back to her seat. Up he pops again, "Sit down she commands him, but he refuses, babling and crying. Oh God!, what now I think. The stewardess is on the phone to the pilot, who is just about to turn us onto the runway. The plane turns around and we head back to the terminal. we dont go back to the same place, no, they direct us to a place away from other buildings. Out the window I can see police vehicles turning up and guys comming out armed to the teeth. Jeez!. Now we are a suspect plane. Mr. I cant do it, gets escorted off the plane to a police minibus under armed guard. I can see him thru the window getting grilled by the officers. I can imagine the questions. " Yes, yes, so you say you are afraid of flying, but WHY do you want to get off THIS flight so badly'". They had him in there and us parked for 3 hours. They removed his luggage from the hold, which they probibly had to search thru 300 peoples to find. I hope they blew it up as a precaution.
We were told he had a flying nerves. But we did eventually get to Crete , only 5 hours later and to our hotel at 1am in the morning and not at 5pm we expected. Happily the rest of the holiday was a million miles better than how it started off.

Back to England again.

2008-09-10T12:43:00.000-07:00

After Germany we returned to England and to Bristol. No sooner than getting off the plane a blast of cold air and wet rain fell. What a country, now I know why I choose to live in the Caribbean, (mosquitoes aside). Over the next week we prepared to travel to Crete for a week vacation. My sister and her husband, my neice, her half-sister and her friend. I made good use of the summer cloths sales, that had begun early because of the crappy british summer. I got some real bargins and stocked up on good sandels, the stitched kind not the chinese/indian rubbish they sell in St. Maarten. I bought Elton a really expensive pair of swiss leather sandels that should last, like, forever. I lived in Bristol during the 1980's. Its a young university city, with old architecture, a mixture of new age and traditional. Apparently voted one of the nicest place to live in England.

Trip to Germany

2008-09-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

By the end of June my sister and I took a trip to Germany to see our uncle and his wife and daughter. They live near Stuttgard, outside in a small and very nice village. Its surroundede by rural land and not far from the Black Forrest. We had a very nice time. The weather was so much warmer than England. Who cares if they never won the war, I'll take Germanys weather over Englands any day. We went on some very nice walks, among the vineyards and we visited a castle and had a really great beer there. It was the time of strawberries, oh and I LOVE (look at this huge sucker here), strawberries. In the afternoon we sat on the balcony and drank a nice light wine made by the neighbour and ate this yummy strawberry quark-cake (a lite version of cheese cake) made by my aunt. We did this quite often. By the time I left, I was all strawberri-ed out, (and thats saying something because I can put alot of strawberries away). We also got to spend some time with our niece, who we had not seen for a long time. I hope that she will visit me in St.Maarten one day. I look forward to seeing my uncle and aunt here in November.

My Niece's Prom Party.

2008-09-10T11:42:00.000-07:00

While visiting my sister ,her daughter, my niece had a prom party. Something that is a new and growing trend in England. When I was at school, decades ago, proms where only something we heard about in American movies. Now it seems to have finally made an impact over here and subsquently into the pockets of beleaguered parents everywhere in England. The kids hired fun limos and even a doubledecker bus!. After they went to a hired hall to party. I joined the adults to help watch the door and make sure no booze was sneaked onto the premises. Apart from one girl who had a bottle of vodka in her bra, they were all well behaved and had lots of fun. It didnt end till after 2am. Outside was cold. It was the middle of summer here and I was shivering. All that time in St.Maarten, I had forgotten what cold was.

Arrrrrgh.. down on the farrrrm!.

2008-09-10T10:58:00.000-07:00

Its been so long, I have been away from my blog. I have decided at last I will stop procastrinating about when I will catch up and just get on with it. First though I must explain about what the heck I have been up to since my last post.

Back in June I went on vacation to England to see family. First week it was lovely and warm, then true to British summers, it got cold and very wet. I spent some time in London, visiting family in Luton. I went into London on some shopping sprees looking for art materials and exotic hand made eco-paper for print making. I found some nice stuff at Paperchase and The Green Store, banana paper, hemp-paper, linen, silk, straw and cotton paper. I also found at the Green Store some great lino cutting tools from Germany. On the second week I travelled to Bristol to visit my sister and her family..and the horses. She has two lovely horses which we went to see everyday. I helped out with the chorse of course. I remember many a happy hour wandering over green English fields among rabbits and pheasants with my shovel and barrow, scooping horse poo. Then when I had a great big pile of poo in my barrow, I wheeled it over to the side and tipped it onto and even bigger pile of horse poo. Still it was nice to see a different countrside of tall grasses, rolling hills and big trees, a change from all that blasted palm trees and bleedin' sand I am so used too.

The Electric Flamboyant

2008-05-18T12:25:00.000-07:00

Here is my electric flambouyant, unlike any Mr Roland Richardson has ever painted. You have got to really look at one for a long time to see it look like this (and without smoking any funny stuff!).

Double Hybiscus-new painting

2008-05-02T13:29:00.000-07:00

This is one of my latest flower paintings, its 3ftx 3ft on canvas. This variety is in my garden. Its multiple petals remind me of the whirling skirts of a local dancer dancing to some hot Caribbean rhythm. All passion and tempo!. I am nearing the compleation of a smaller painting today. Its a close up of the flamboyant, so close it is almost abstract. Using my "poetic thinking" (my term) I have painted licks of fire running along the side petals and from the central petals, branches of electric blue energy fields flying out in all directions. This is the energy given off by the plant I belive that only insects can sense. I'll post that one when I am done.

Hooray! Hooray!

2008-04-30T13:23:00.000-07:00

Hooray!, I got my computer back. Its been like missing an arm or leg. A few weeks ago something went wrong with it (the computer) and I gave it to a friend to fix. Two days later he had to leave suddenly off island back to Venezuela because of a family crisis. Hence that is why I have been gone. But now I am back and it feels like I have been reunited with a missing body part, (ok, so its kinda sad to be so hooked on internet, but hey!).

I have been doing all the usual things, painting and stuff, also I had an interesting time spent at the recent International Artists Biennale held in Philipsburg. I was there at all the workshops and volunteered to drive people around to different studios. Its was very enjoyable. I peeled off a letter to the Daily Herald too and was surprized they actually printed it on the next day!. I'll write a bit more about that later on as I have some layouts to get out pronto.

Monday, Monday...

2008-03-31T08:16:00.000-07:00

here we are again. Before that, I had a busy day Friday helping Ashif get his exhibition opening together that night. He came over to my house to cook little chicken rotis for the reception. I made up some fruit and rhum punches too. The reception was small but very nice. His exhibition will run till April 4th and can be seen at the Artists Corner, Marigot Town Hall during working hours. Sunday went to aikido but there was a small class because people were off island. Rest of the day spent in back yard drawing sketches for printmaking. Today, mostly working at home on some signwork.

Today my brain has been eaten by rabid dog

2008-03-25T15:36:00.000-07:00

Today I got a crappy headache and I found the perfect image that fits my state of mind. Blagggh.

Happy Easter All!

2008-03-23T15:31:00.000-07:00

Where can I get one?

Big Waves

2008-03-23T15:06:00.000-07:00

I might as well throw up my big wave photos, like everyone else, though I admit I am a bit late at it. Waves piled up and washed over the garden, all the way to the back door. Luckily we didnt get water inside. But as a precaution I lifted valuable stuff off the floor anyway. I went to look at crazy surfers at Mullet and crazy drivers getting stuck trying to pass to Beacon Hill, hee, hee.

Now the water in grandcase is looking less murky but I will not go in it for another week at least. The reason is, down the bay towards the beachclub, one small hotel had built their cess pit on the beach, well, yess, it broke open. Bad enough, but its still broke and being used, so I hear. And because I dont want to run the risk of ear infection or gut ache, (2 people I know have recently caught conjunctivitis), I aint going in!.

Some beautiful hand prints

2008-03-23T15:03:00.000-07:00

Different prints from around the world.

Our Studio Exhibition

2008-03-23T14:36:00.000-07:00

It took a bit to set it all up but it was well worth it. I also had work inside, all the large paintings. The weather was very kind. We had quite a few visitors, mostly Americans, some Germans, very few French. Didn't sell any originals but did sell some prints. I guess the recession is taking its toll on the pocket. Which is why its good that I am working on getting my own small printing press and making hand cut prints. Something in value above mere digital prints, hand made but not as expensive as paintings. And of course, limited edition. So far I don't know anyone doing relief printing, woodcuts or copperplate or any of that traditional stuff. I have been looking up different forms of hand printmaking.

The Exhibition

2008-03-23T13:42:00.000-07:00

It was quite a fun weekend a week ago. Friday night was good, plenty of people at the exhibition. I even made it into the Herald. When I arrived, I parked on the main road because I didn't want to get blocked in the car parking space. Waiting to cross the road, I thought I was seeing things. Not unusual for me but there was this small car with blacked out windows slowly coming up the road, sticking up from the back, looking over the top, on a long white neck was this large luminous white goats head. Damn!, I thought, but as it passed I could actually see there was a figure crammed in the trunk gripping the goat on a rope. Well its one way to get your goat around. I continued up the path to the plantation house, it was difficult because they had cut the path lights, but I made it ok. Though I heard many missed the turn to the right and ended up at the plantation toilets. I can hear it now, " Oh darling! we were there, a surprisingly small space, how quaint, not many people, there was this conceptual piece shaped like a urinal, very Duchamp!, and a post modernist piece on the wall that resembled a mirror, obviously a critique of neodialectic construction as a mythopoetical totality...". At the real exhibition there was thankfully none of that, but some very good artwork. I think the organizers worked very hard and did a great show.

Art Lovers Map

2008-03-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

Here is the map showing all the participating artists studios, each artist will also have a pole with an Art Lovers flag on it by the road.

Art Lovers Poster

2008-03-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

I have been running all over planting posters and invites and leaflets where I can. Here is the poster. Not sure about the daliesque eyeball though. Nice color, in fact its excactly the same purple color of the poster for the The Company of Womens production, The Vagina Monologues that is posted everywhere. Coincidence or maybe a good deal going on purple ink right now?

Art Lovers Exhibition/Weekend

2008-03-11T07:09:00.000-07:00

Its that time again!. The Art Lovers annual exhibition (5th) and open studio weekend. This is the first time I have participated. As in the preceding years, the group exhibition will be held at Mount Vernon at the Plantation. On the way to Orient Bay from Grand Case. Carry on passed the turn off to Ile Pinel , a little bit passed the Penniscule pottery place on the right and the sign and entrance to Le Plantation is on the right. The group exhibition is all this Friday from 6pm to 9pm. Then over Saturday and Sunday folks will be able to visit the artist studios that are open to visiters all day. As me and fellow artist Mair Pattersun live in the same building we will be sharing the same open studio.

OMG, this means I have to tidy the house!, oh well its a good excuse, its not dirty just so much stuff everywhere. We will have art work all over the place and tables chairs and refreshments in the back yard for people to sit and relax. I will most probibly have some work to be painting in the back yard too.

The painting I will be exhibiting will be the one that was going to the Anguilla International Art Exhibition last Oct, the exhibition that was cancelled, that they never told anyone about, the organiser who wouldnt reply to e-mails or phone calls until late Dec and said they would let me know whats happening in Jan, now its March and I still have not got my money or my files back. Those folks at the Arts Cafe couldnt organise a piss up in a brewery. The reason for the cancellation given was that not enough participants.

Why international artists where reluctant to participate is up for speculation but many feel that they were fed up with Anguillian artists always winning the $10,000 prize and then those same artists being made judges and awarding friends prizes the following year. A phemomenon that all to tedious and common to continue writing about. Small town/small island mentality, enough said.

I hope many people come out to the open evening to see the artwork, come and have a chat and a drink, it should be fun.

New Paintings

2008-03-11T06:54:00.000-07:00

I finished two new paintings I had on the go for a while at the weekend. I finally varnished them on Sunday evening. They are in acrylics on canvas. Acrylics have the most modern bright high key pigments and all are pernament. Just what I like to create an almost hallucigenicaly vivid painting. The sizes are 28 inches by 34 inches.

Guana Bay Rocks!

2008-03-11T06:32:00.000-07:00

Yes, I do like Guana Bay, especially the costal path. I love that little cove at the beginning. Its unfortunate the plastic crap that gets washed up there from St. Barths, we should bag it up and send it back on the ferry. Anyway, while walking there you may see some interesting volcanic rocks that have been exposed by weathering. They are extremly hard but look like they where once liquid and molten. The surfaces are all bubbled up and pock marked from relased gases. At one time before St. Maarten was pushed up from the sea bed they must of been a part of a lava flow. St. Maarten is not volcanicly formed like Saba, Nevis and the other islands but was part of a plateau pushed up from the sea that comprised of St. Maarten, Anguilla and St. Barths.

More Regatta pics

2008-03-11T06:14:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pics of boats in the regatta, these ones are taken from Point Blanche and from over by the costal path right of Guana Bay (a great place to hike with a path running all the way round to Point Blanche from Guana Bay, have 2 cars park one at each end or have one and trek back again). I love that area, one of the few places on the island left with no signs of development.

The Regatta Weekend

2008-03-10T18:02:00.000-07:00

It was a good windy weekend for the regatta but not so good for car drivers, like me. Thats why I stayed away from all the Simpson bay traffic. Instead I enjoyed a view from afar by watching the regatta from the comfort of my backyard. Elton got out his new telescope. He pointed in the direction of those faint white dots on the horizon. Its a pretty good one because from that distance you could see all the people on the boats, what colour caps they wore and if they had a heineken in their hands (which was mostly all of them)

A Tuesday night washout

2008-02-20T11:47:00.000-08:00

Thats what last night Harmony nights was like in Grandcase. It totally pissed down, 3 times. My poor artist friend Mair was scrambling to save her prints and the lights went out in her area. When we got to her stall, (me and Ida), she was on a downer, she hardly sold a thing, people was just walking by without stopping and she was tired. But in no time we had her laughing. We were having a good crack watching all the weird and wonderful people. And the funny, highly bizzare clothes, some French guys wear. And women carrying, itty bitty dogs like babies. Its quite a show, sometimes I think it worth paying the 45 bucks for the stall just to watch!. Mair had moved her stall over to the other side of the road because of the rain. There was a some potholes in front, it was quite funny watching people passing stagger a bit after tripping , especialy if they had a drink in hand. Ok!, I know that's not right but we were in need of a laugh, abiet a cheap one and fancy heels and potholes dont mix anyway.

Quiet Sunday

2008-02-17T16:29:00.000-08:00

Yes, its been a quiet Sunday, in fact its been a nice quiet weekend, for me anyway. Thats good for me because I can get along and do the things I want to do. My friend Ida visited me on Saturday morning and she painted in the backyard while I gave some art instruction. Elton was inside enjoying his classical music. Ida, (above) who used to live here with her husband Jan, is visiting from Holland for 2 more weeks and we will be doing some more classes. It was pretty good weather to paint in the back, so I spent the remainder of Saturday and Sunday (after aikido) there working on my large flower paintings. It did rain just once but it was ok because I just retreated under the balcony. The painting of Frangipanni above is not finished yet, more fine details to do. I am using the most brightest colours I can find in acrylics to work with. I want the flowers to look luminouse.

My Valentine

2008-02-15T12:26:00.000-08:00

Here it is, my sketch of Elton, St. Maarten's man from Atlantis, er no, GEBE!. He says,"I bet you are going to post that on your blog now, arnt you?" accusingly. Of course I am, I have a mean streak. I guess its only fair I should do one of myself, I'll work on it.
So long Valentines Day, not that we went out anywhere, just an excuse for the restaurants to serve you up something yesterday at twice the price that you can get it today. Thank goodness its Friday. Tommorow I have an artist friend comming to paint here, I hope it will remain dry as I want to get some sketching outside done. I looked on windguru.com, and it seems to be ok.

This Week in St. Maarten

2008-02-09T15:23:00.000-08:00

Lets see what has gone on this week. Well I was in the gym alot. Its getting a bit like an addiction. I am not happy till I do hard cardio for an hour and half. Though I am happy I have dropped 158 to 150 lbs. I have noticed a big improvement in my aikido in that I am not as half knackered falling and rolling continuously. So when I do start to feel I am going to pass out its certainly due to panick attack and not lack of conditioning. The only remedy for that is to try and relax and breath and not hold your breath. Its all part of training. I did splash out and buy some fancy new trainers on account of my old road runners were too grey and dingey to wear inside. While I was down town in Philipsburg buying the trainners I found to my surprise I had wandered innocently into the Belgian chocolate shop and of course while there I had to buy 5 chocies. Of course immediatly I spotted the Valentines Day special creations. MMm. Rarther naughty, some huge members in dark and white chocolate, oh la la, quite a mouthful. Alright enough of that.

Monday, after the gym I got a flat tire outside the Tijuana Yacht Club, it was in the spare that I just put on. So I sat at the bar waiting for Elton to come from Grandcase. I had a juice and the bartender gave me way too much change so I told him about it. After half an hour Elton still had not come so I thought I would treat myself to one of those smoothy things for once. I think the bartender was trying to say thanks because that drink was so potent. It was lovely but I managed only half of it and my face was flushed, I had to drive so I left the rest. Elton finally showed and cluncked his scuba tank onto the side walk in front of the restaurant. He whipped out his 'special adapter thingy" and plugged it into my flat and then my flat was no longer flat, so I drove home.

On Tuesday we wandered up to Grandcase again. I still dont feel motivated to put up my stall. I am a bit pissed off with them doubling the prices and parking fees. Many of the artisans say they are not making any money and the restaurants are complaining but hey, the organisers are doing well. I just dont know how they do it. I mean the people selling small trinkets and stuff, most of their items are $5-$10. They got to sell $55 of stuff just to pay the rent on their patch of road and when they do manage to sell above that, it has to pay to replace the stuff they sold. I know of two artists and a number of crafters who have stopped going. I dont understand those French people, the ecomony is tough and people are not spending like they did, so what do they do?, double the fee and make the artists pay more (not the restaurants). I am definatly in the wrong game, I should jack this suckers artist game in and become an arts event organiser. Another event where artists are being suckered, althought its for a good cause, Art in the Park. I totally support the event and would donate freely. But this year again the fee has more than doubled. Last year it was $10 for the fee and $30 for the tent, after all you dont want rain plummelling down and ruiing all your prints. Now this year it has increased to $25 for the fee and $35 for the tent. If you get say, 30 artists thats $900, who cares if anyone comes. Visiters only pay $1. Belive me, I have been there and you dont get 900 people comming, ever, I'd love it, but it has not happened. So it is the artists again who contibute the most to a fundraiser. I have no problem with giving to charity but why cannot enerybody support it equally?. Would it not be more fair to ask the artists to donate a percentage of the money they made from the event to the park?. This would share the risk around a bit and encourge the organiseres to actually do some proper and timely promotion. Excuse me for my little whinge but I see artists being taken for suckers all too often on this island and they dont protest enough.

Wednesday , Elton and me went out to see a film, "Cloverfield", good idea, crappy screenplay, dull acting.

Friday night after the gym I met Elton in Simpson Bay and we were looking for a takeaway. We went to Lady C's and tried to get some pasta but they sold out. Got talking to this interesting ozzie artist who was showing some of his work he carved in mamoth tusk. The material is a bye product of coal mining and its sculpted into jewellery. His pieces are based on Maori motifs and myth. There was one based on a protective air, water and earth spirit and the one I liked was carved as a gecko. They are not cheap and should not be as they are well done and unique, I'll get his name next time as he is there every Friday night, his family own Lady C's

Today, I took time to clean up the place, battling the dust is a never-ending task when you live leeward side of the road.

Tonight I am staying in and working on a funny sketch of Elton, a characature of him standing in his wetsuit holding a fish.
I have aikido tomorrow and after comming back from St. Peters will stop in the Emilio Wilson Park and make a donation.

Frenchside Carnival Parade

2008-02-05T15:51:00.000-08:00

It was a busy week this week so it was nice to take a break and go see the Frenchside Carnival Parade on Sunday. It was supposed to start at 2.00pm but it was late, no surprise!, and didnt get into Marigot until nearly 4.00pm. The troupes were kinda small this year, but there were some good ones. The first float that came along got me puzzeled abit, I couldnt quite make out who it was supposed to be. It was a kind of genetic cross bettween Jesus and the McDonalds Clown. A bit creepy, but still he was doing the peace sign so that was cool. There was lots of nice colourful costumes, plus one float that depicted a volcano, and hey it even had smoke belching out of the top. I thought "Saba" but then I learned the float was from Guadeloupe. Dont know how they did the smoke thing but maybe there were a bunch of Guadeloupeans inside having a smoke. Eventually the parade wound its was around town but we left before it did the loop back on account of aching feet. My own fault of course for wearing stupid shoes. Well, thats the reason I gave Elton. Thats one never fails.

Weekly round up

2008-01-27T15:12:00.000-08:00

The rainbow
Grandcase Tuesday nightsMy sci fi pencil illustration (of the hollow asteriod world)

Due to a continuous work load I didn't get to post the whole week. I know that's hardly an excuse but it all I got. So I have to do a weekly summary and hope I can cram in all of my exciting action-packed thrill-a-minuet, never a dull moment week in this here one little post

Sunday morning went to aikido, it was rainy and overcast but in the evening the sun came thru the clouds low on the horizon and produced a beautiful rainbow by Creole Rock. Don't bother looking for a pot of gold over there, the only kind of pot down there is a fish pot.

Monday spent working on illustration work and later in the evening went along with my friend Miriam to join the gym at Royal palm. I was going to join Marcie's, but sorry Marcie I am not joining anywhere that does not have proper air conditioning. $50 for a month is not a bad deal for unlimited use.

Tuesday after working I went along to Grand Case Harmony nights thing, where there is live music and all the crafters and some artists display work on street stalls. Some people display home made condiments and spiced rums and such like. Some people asked me if I was going to do it this year. Later maybe. I did it last year, it was fun. One thing is evident, don't do it for the money, do it for the fun. They have doubled the fee for the artists from last year and doubled the parking fee which i am not so happy with, so if you don't mind working six hours for $40, (if your lucky) its not a bad way to network, socialize and give out your card and talk someone into visiting your studio. Right now I have deadlines for my illustration work , but maybe later.

Wednesday, after work went to the gym again. So enthusiastic was I on the stepping and cycling machines, I was on it for 1 and a half hours and on Tuesday I winced my way from the bed to the breakfast table like a 101 year old.

Friday worked all day on the sci fi illustrations.

Saturday, did some shopping, Elton went to get his hair cut, which is easy work for the barber since he ain't got many (he he). In the evening we went out to eat by that restaurant in Maho called Bamzatsu or something, nice food even though the portions were smallish, busted the diet for a light and dark chocolate dessert, mmm .

Sunday morning along to aikido again. In the afternoon my friend Mair the artist put together a light lunch in the back yard by the beach for our friends.

Strange Flower

2008-01-16T13:28:00.000-08:00

I came out this morning to find the cactus in the backyard had opened. I had been curious about it for a while. It had developed a Triffid, pod-people-like appendage a few nights ago that definitely had a sinister sci fi look about it. Well the alien plant finally opened up into a beautiful star shaped flower. I didn't take a smell of it because flies seemed to be attracted to it, so if it did have a scent, it may be a stinky rotting-smelling one. It looks marvelously exotic and alien. I am thinking on doing a painting with a cluster of these star shaped flowers in the design.

Stop! I'm not ready for Monday!

2008-01-14T10:28:00.000-08:00

Too bad its here already. I stayed up way too late yesterday watching Mr Monk and now I am knackered. Its going to be a early night for me to night. Sunday I got up and went to Aikido in the morning. Gone was the spaciness from Saturday. If my aikido teacher spots a distracted glaze in my eye he'll slap me upside the head with an atemi before throwing me across the mat. There's nothing like that to bring your senses into the present moment. Its a great antidote to a natural tendency to dissociate. That's why I am hooked on the sport it really brings you into the here and now. After the lesson I headed over to my pal Miriam's house to help her install her new camera and scanner. I showed her how to better arrange her files and helped her create her own blog. I am no computer wiz by any means, just passing my humble knowledge to someone who knew a bit less than me. While heading back to Grand case I ran unto the last remaints of the pre- Carnival parade turning at Galisbay turnoff roundabout. Could not see anything and the traffic was stalled for over half an hour which was a frustrating drag, one that is quite all to common on our traffic burdened little island. I didn't even get back till six and I was annoyed of wasted time sitting in the car. I at least wanted to go for a swim before it got dark because I am too chicken shit to swim after dusk. Rest of the evening I surfed around the Internet. My friend Miriam had showed me some brochures of a friend of hers, a well known gentleman who is big"guru" in the business of "alternative medicine". Apparently a lot of people including my friends on this island are really buying into this stuff. I have more than once been encouraged along to a "workshop"but never went. I took a look at the brochures and maybe it just me but reading it I get the same feeling I get when I read brochures written by Jehovah's Witnesses. Not that I read much by Jehovah's Witnesses mind. They usually hand you this stuff out side supermarkets and beg for a dollar, and I get to glance at it when I am extremely bored and sitting in traffic jams, but that's going off topic. Still there is no denying the explosion in quasi-scientific health care that's driven by a mish mash of wobbly quantum theory and religious beliefs of past pre scientific cultures. The name of the game seems to be-"there is no evidence but we've great business skills and hell, the money keeps rolling in. I'll blog abit more about that one later when I am less tired.

Saturday night

2008-01-12T15:15:00.000-08:00

It is somewhat boring this weekend. Cash is a bit tight, so there is no point treating ourselves to a fancy restaurant when there are bills to pay next week. But I still want to go out and get something cheap and tasty. But not too cheap! though. Not sure what to write in my blog tonight, its a bit of a blank up top tonight. Probably because I was totally absorbed in the sci fi illustration work that I am being commissioned to do. Basically its detailed sketches for a interactive computer game. I am busy creating images of the alien characters and backgrounds of the many worlds. Just the thing I like to get my imaginative teeth into. Its an ongoing project that has been going for over a year. I have been zoned into it intensely since 11 this morning, I stopped 2 hours ago but I still feel a bit spaced. Not in a bad way, in a floaty disconnected way after intense concentration. Must of created an overabundance of those theta brainwaves. Still not sure what to write about. Well, that's always a good excuse to whip out an old painting, (cannot show anything new because although I have several new ones on the go, I have not finished any of them due to another new idea coming along before the present one gets finished). The painting I have chosen to post is one I did a few years ago. Its on Masonite and its in oil. Its a painting of Sugar birds in the West Indian Cedar tree. This tree was just outside my bedroom window when I lived in Nettle Bay. I always put sugar for the birds everyday and sometimes they would fly into the room. How many birds are in the tree?.

Thursday night aikido

2008-01-04T13:56:00.000-08:00

At 7.45pm in Concordia we started our aikido class with a quick warm up. Last night we did some weapons training, kendo, with the bokken (sword) and jo (staff). We practised various exercises on our own and with a partner. It was good practise to improve ones "ma-ai", a Japanese word meaning (ma), space and (ai), joining or confluence. Three elements, space, time and energy, without their coordinated execution no technique can exist. When an enemy strikes, no matter how forceful, if you are outside the range or line of the strike, you will not be harmed. In the control of space, very small distances have very big meanings. Kami shitoe is a Japanese word that is used to illustrate this principal. On one side of paper is the character for death, on the other side is written life. The control of the space of a thickness of paper is all that is required.

Another exercise we did was four directional cuts. We also did an exercise where one would strike advancing on the partner with shomen, overhead strikes and and the partner has to "catch" absorb and deflect the strikes with the side of his blade while moving back. One has to maintain correct maai or else his sword will slide down and whack you on the knuckles, as I found out. Och. There was another fun trick we had to practise that was good to develop trust. One person had to stand with their hands out at the sides with their forefinger pointed inwards. The other person has to strike shomen overhead and bring their sword down in front of the other person between the fingers. Slowly after each strike the person moves their fingers closer together until they are a few inches. Hopefully you can trust your partner to concentrate on keeping his strike a perfect center line on your body. Its always good to start slow.

After that we had time to do some work with the jo (staff). We practised the 13 kata (form). When i was doing my stabbing motion, my teacher told me I was like an old man stabbing at leaves in the park!. Eh?. He said I must put commit to it more. So I imagined I was jabbing at Saddam Hussein and hey, it got better. Next week I think we will try to start the 33 kata, it is a long sequence of movements and will take a few lessons. Usually we don't do this training with weapons but it is very useful to gain correct posture and movement and understand where the original movements of aikido came from.

Happy New Year From The Dump!

2008-01-02T07:23:00.000-08:00

Above is my New Years Eve Toast

There are plans, and there are plans. And there is what happened. The plan was I had wanted to go to Philipsburg to see the fireworks at New year midnight. I told Elton this well early in the day. I invited my friend Miriam too and I told Elton this. I thought it would be sensible to arrive about 11.30pm find somewhere to get a seat and a drink and a view of the barge. I reckoned we would have to leave about 10.45pm. Yeah well... 10.30pm he still has not got ready or had a shower and I am sitting dressed, ready and impatient. Thing about him is, although he is a lovely man, he has this local habit that when ever I try to hurry him up, the slower he gets. Watching him get ready is like watching paint dry.

Finally we get out the house at 11.20pm. Fly over to Miriam's house only to find she had took off with another group to Maho. Onward to Philipsburg where we hit traffic. He swerves off toward Suckergarden, it 11.45 and I am going, "where you going now?". "I am going up thru the dump and we can come out behind the Administration building, avoid this traffic" he says. Well we got there but all the parking had been taken, the only place left was right at the back behind the new Admin building on the edge of the dump. No lights, totally black, we park and get out and I am thinking, 'oh man! muggers are gonna get us for sure', but by now if they do I am prepared to point at Elton and say, "its him, he's got all the money!" and leg it. I cant see my watch in the dark as we make our way out behind the seedy bar and the tin brothel, just then, Boom, Crack, Bang!, fireworks ascend into the night sky far away on the Philipsburg board walk. I look at Elton and he looks at me, I can see him struggle for a minuet, then he goes, "Happy New Year". Aaaahhh.

We got to the board walk as the last firework were going up, you could not see the barge because of all the heads in the way, it was so packed. Bodies squashed to bodies, drunk people pushing and bumping you, alcoholic breath in my face and sloshing drink in plastic cups on my feet, deafening boom, boom music that the young love so much. Maybe I am getting old. I am thinking, this is not how I pictured it. I was still in a mood with Elton, and I refused to stand next to him for most of the evening.

The next day I was still cheesed off and couldn't shake the gloom. So I worked it off. Got busy. I cleaned, the house, the car, the yard. You can tell, if you ever come to my house and its spotless its either because we have guests or I was recently angry and upset about something. Psychologically, I think its some sort of control thing, when I have made plans that have totally got gone belly up beyond my control, it feels anxiety reducing to put stuff around me in order. Happily, most of the time I live in a semi-mess.

So the lesson I learnt this year is: Elton does not understand that New Year does not start on Antillean time and the Boardwalk is not what I had in mind. Next year, I am going to keep it simple and low key, who needs all the stress. I heard that there was a nice little party at orient bay and the fireworks were very nice against the dark sky up there. Maybe that or just my back yard, whatever, but not Philipsburg for me.

New Years Eve

2007-12-31T13:23:00.000-08:00

What are our plans for New Years Eve?. Me and Elton have plans to go to Philipsburg to watch the firework display on the barge in Great Bay, from the boardwalk. I just want us to get there early enough. The thing where you sit in choc-a-bloc traffic and hear fireworks go up somewhere else at twelve, done that, and don't intend to do it again this year. I think we may be picking up a friend Miriam too on the way. I asked my brother but he decided he wants a quiet night away from all the crowds and traffic. I can understand, there is more than one person I know, who has said the same thing. So at twelve o'clock I shall hopefully be welcoming in the new year with something fizzy. I wish everybody a very happy New Year and a prosperous and peaceful 2008.

Christmas

2007-12-31T12:46:00.000-08:00

That was a really quiet Christmas for me. Which suited me fine. Too much fuss and stress, running around buying things, eating and drinking too much. No that's not for me. And anyway, being an atheist it would be kinda hypocritical of me to go overboard on celebrating something I don't believe in. Not that I am not into "peace on Earth and goodwill to all ", I am all for that, I just don't think it will be achieved thru spending loads of money in the stores and stuffing oneself with lots of food.

One thing I do love about Christmas is all the lights. Pretty multicoloured fairy lights they are so nice to look at. I liked them so much, that when my sister came to visit me in July she asked, "Steph, why are your Christmas light STILL hanging on your front porch?". I kept meaning to take them down but kept forgetting. "You might as well leave them up till next Christmas" said my sister a bit sarcastically I thought. But then I thought what a great idea!. So this Christmas I didn't have that bother of untangling them and stringing them up, I just plugged them in!. Yeay!

What it is? Revisited.

2007-12-19T15:12:00.000-08:00

So that's what it is!. Its a er,.. um, er, one of those,.. Its a Feature!

I had mistakenly thought it would get chain with a huge steel ball on the end that they could take a swing at any of those cheap french yachties that try to sneak out of the marina without paying.

But no, its a feature.

Just wondering, in a strong wind would motorists passing, get jets of salt water from this feature splattered on their cars, helping to rust them faster than they already do? Or passing tourists drenched, could be fun to watch!.

My Monster Swim, there and back again.

2007-12-19T13:15:00.000-08:00

I just got back from my monster swim. Something I hope will be a 3 or 4 time weekly thing. It was great, though I am slightly fuzzy eyed due to all that salt water in the eyes. I started out from my house and all the way down to the 2nd concrete quay in Grand case village, there and back. It was a continuous 1 hour swim. What has prompted me into swimming, well normally I am more into running but as you know as I am getting older that is putting too many aches in my hip and knee joints to be fun any more, so now I may only run a couple of times a week. So hopefully I will be able to work off these extra pounds that have so very slowly crept on to me this last year.

My painter friend from Holland

2007-12-12T12:55:00.000-08:00

I was just thinking of my painter friend Ida who used to live here in St.Maarten for many years. She used to come by me for painting lessons when I lived in Colebay. She went back to live in Holland with her husband Jan and continued studying art and had some exhibitions too. Her work is really developing well. A number of weeks ago she was here again on holiday and visited me for a few art lessons. It was really nice, we set up on the beach and she did a very lovely painting of Grand Case beach in the morning sun. It was so relaxing and I know she really misses St.Maarten, so I do hope she will come back to visit again soon.

Windy Days

2007-12-12T12:40:00.000-08:00

We have had a few windy days recently. The thing about living next to the beach is the all the sand gets blown in thru the windows. It one of the reasons for keeping the covering plants in the yard. The waves were coming right up against the wall. The last couple of days its pretty much back to normal. Every now and then we get this egret that comes into the yard to look for something to eat among the weeds. He is quite unafraid. Sometimes he just stands looking in the door. Such a scrawny thing!, he must know he is not much of a meal.

Farewell, Come back again.

2007-12-12T11:20:00.000-08:00

At the weekend I bid farewell to a couple of good friends, Ivanna and Joseph who were visiting here from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. They were staying at Jimbos in Cupercoy so we spent time on the beach at Mullet Bay. Joseph who practises aikido in Slovakia joined us in training in St. Peters and Concordia, he also gave me video copies of technique demos by many big names in aikido. So I will have fun watching them. We went one day to Ile Pinel which was on one of the really windy days, but it was calm in the lee of the island. Saturday night we went to Philipsburg to the Christmas Mas. Lots going on, dancing, musicians, capoeira demonstrations, feeling hungry after, we went to one of the better Chinese off front street, cant remember the name, Mo Mam, Nam Mam, Moi Mo or something. Nice clean decent food, and cheap and only $40 for 4 of us. We had a really good time

Wat it is?

2007-12-05T11:02:00.000-08:00

Cant figure it out. A bit of modern sculpture?, a checkpoint for the marina?, a French trebuchet to guard Fort Louis?. We keep passing it in the car coming into Marigot from Galisbay and there it is. Does anyone know?.

So how was it for you, sweetheart?

2007-11-30T07:41:00.000-08:00

Well threes nothing like an ol' 7.4mag earthquake to shuttle one back on to their blog after an absence. Gave everyone something to talk about for a while. Everyone is blogging about their own experiences so I might as well throw in my two cents as well.

No, I was not at that time engaged in some pleasurable horizontal activity unfortunately. When it happened I was in my dining room standing by the table, a slight tremor started that gradually grew in intensity. At first the old brain was in denial and mentally went thru the lists of possible causes it couldn't not be because I did not want to panic. Is it a heavy truck passing? or upstairs doing some construction?. It grew stronger and persisted. Cant be that. Then I could not deny it anymore. "oh my God it really is an earthquake!". The floor under my bare feet did not shake jarringly but seemed to flow up and down like water, things rocked on the shelves. I don't know if it was like this everywhere, maybe it was because we have a lot of sand under us. I swiftly walked out into the front yard with my cellphone, I did not want any of the building coming down on me. I went by the wall near the road and the iron gate was rattling on its hinges and the ground still shook. It seemed to go on for ages. I am sure it went on for over a minuet or two. All the neighbours were in the street or front yards here in Grandcase conversing with each other. Just then two friends of mine got off one of those island buses in front of my house. You know one of the old ones, that have some of the interior made out of ply and the multi-coloured seats seem to be from various different vehicles and they always wobble. Yeah, you know the ones, that have poor suspension, that's the ones.
"OMG, did you feel that?" I gasped.
"Feel what? "they said.
"The quake!, the quake!, I squeaked.
'There was a quake?", said my friend, looking puzzled
"It was HUGE!, You didn't feel it? I asked. And just then to confirm to myself I was not going mad, looked down the road at all the neighbours, and just then my eyes fell on our pitted, cracked and pot-holey St.Maarten road and realized what a really redundant question it was. Oh, well.
"Never mind", I muttered, "lets go have a cuppa tea".

Making tea and looking out my kitchen window I suspiciously peered at the sea and thought, if I see that water start going out, I am defiantly heading for the hills!. And then it played in my mind the best road to take. Feeling a bit better for having a plan I went on the Internet to find some info. I kept wondering what caused the quake, had Montserrat gone up or even Saba done a number?. Thank goodness for the Internet. It was possible to get the information about the quake as it came in. It was good to hear that because the epicenter was so far underground there was no risk of any tsunamis. Today everyone has returned to normal and I hope we are done with quakes for now, that's all I can say!.

Clear weather again.

2007-10-31T11:34:00.000-07:00

At last we have blue skies again and the rain has gone away. Now is the time to go around and empty all the objects around the yard that have water in them. I found some this morning and they had mosquitoe lavae in them so I threw it in the sand. Not that that will stop them, because there may be pots of water in my neighbours yard, it really has to be a concerted effort by everyone to keep the mosquitoes down. Not much to write about. Saw a ray very close to shore last night, seen it twice. It leapt a couple of times and I could see the tail sticking out of the water.

Aikido tomorrow morning

2007-10-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

Come rain or shine, (most likely rain,) or rain and snow, (still most likely rain,) I shall be off to aikido class. To be thrown and to throw and land elegantly (yeah right!) ,well safely any rate. We train regularly in St Peters and also in Marigot. I have been training for some years now. It was my partner who first led me to this Japanese martial art, I went along just out of curiosity and got hooked. I had got a look at Judo but didnt like all the grappling and struggling, I also saw some karate but was not comfortable with all the slams, punches and kicks. I was really impressed with Aikido's elegant circular movements and how body strength did not matter. If you had seen a little Japanese woman throwing a big man, you would know what I mean. This makes this mainly defensive martial art perfect for women. Because of this dont mistake it for being "soft". All the movements are directly based on samuri sword movements designed to maime or kill the opponent in a few short, swift movements. Today we train with or without the wooden bokken (sword) and the jo (staff) or tanto (daggar) and although the techniques can break bones, we never, never harm or injure each other. I would love to see more women in St. Maarten doing aikido. For their health and confidence. It would make abusive men think twice. If I had my way, all girls would learn this in schools.

Layla's Painting

2007-10-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

If you have never been over to Layla's Restaurant in Nettle Bay, I really urge you to go. Its set off the road by the beach, under a large shady canopy of West Indian Cedars , Sea Grape trees, palms and other luscious foilage. It has the feel of being at Orient Bay but without the crowds and comercialism. Totaly natural and uncontrived it offers a world that seems remote, away from the hustle and bustle, with good food all day long. Beakfast, lunch and dinners. Its a really good safe place to bring small kids, with a fenced off pool and play area. I recently finished this piece of art work for them for their posters and flyers.

A Painting from the Past

2007-10-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

I recently was able to come accross an old painting of mine. I did it in about '87. I gave it to my brother and never actually had any photos or record of it because I had no camera or computer back then. My brother Chris recently brought it to St. Maarten. At last I have been able to catalogue it. Its called "The Red Horse" and measures just 10" x 10". Back then I used to do very small paintings as I never had much room to paint anyway. I painted it in oils on a wood-gessoed panel.

New paintings

2007-10-03T08:24:00.000-07:00

I just finished taking some photos of some of my recent flower paintings that I am doing for my up comming exhibition. Here is a sample. they are all local flowers. All large paintings , aprox 34''x 34'' or 34''x 28''.

Yey, My Painting Sold.

2007-09-20T10:14:00.000-07:00

I am pleased that one of my paintings that is on permanent exhibition at the Saint Geran gallery in Philipsburg sold. So I am chuffed today. They paid for it and took it to the States. This painting was called "The Beach" and was an acrylic on canvas. It was approx 28" x 34". It is a view from the beach over the back of Anse Marcel looking to the northeast in the afternoon sunlight that comes from behind from the left side.

Thunder, Lightening and Waterspouts!

2007-09-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

Well we had a lot of "weather" these last few days, the remaints of Ingrid I guess. Here in this pic is a waterspout tha I snapped in the Anguillian Channel yesterday as I was heading home at about 3.30ish in the afternoon along the back road of Galisbay toward Grandcase. I did not see it form but spotted it as I rounded the corner by Le Plonger restaurant. At first it was quite thick but when I finally got out the camera it thinned a bit but still was impressive. Oh boy did we have some thunder and lightning storms too last afternoon/evening. I love watching lightening but I have an exaggerated startle reflex so everytime there is a bang , I scream, jolt, twitch, jump, whatever. Its odd that I am not even feeling afraid of the storm. My husband says to me, "good grief, your like some jittery horse" Interesting he said that because other than man some other mammals are known to have an exaggarated startle reflex too, like, horses and cats. I remember once calmly watching a door slam by the wind. I thought there it goes and I bet it's going to make a bang. It did. And I startled. That happend not once but 3 times in a row. I thought that conciouse thought would of make a difference, but it didnt. I was standing with a bunch of friends once and someone thought it a hoot to chuck a rubber snake on the ground and say 'look a snake!'. I think I went up 5 feet in the air in a second. That produced much amusement and laughter from everyone. It was funny. I said to them, 'ok, but if it HAD been a snake one of yous woulda got bit, but it would'nt of been me, cos I would already be in the tree. Survival of the quickest. Yeah.

Painting of the regatta

2007-09-12T14:50:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would share this painting I did some years back of the last regatta day, looking out to St. Barths from Point Blanche, when the last boats come around that corner into Philipsburg. I usually go there and sit on the rocks and watch.

'Their Heereee!"

2007-09-10T10:11:00.000-07:00

OMG. Aliens have landed in the back yard. Well I just knew it was going to happen some day! No wait!, here comes hubby, goes right up to it, he opens up the top and starts shoving bits of paper, wood and charcoal in it, and lights it!. Its not aliens its our new long awaited, home made BBQ. After hearing about it for so long, he finally brought it home. Its a damn near piece of art! If you look you can see its been cut from an old small gas bottle and he put a few additions, handels, ventilator, legs and a funnel on top. And he even gave it some pretty colours. He is a bit of an inventive genius is my man. Its supposed to get its Grand Trial today, I have some seasoned steaks in the fridge ready. However after reading the paper, flashfloods are predicted today (most likely later) it may get posponed a while yet.

Two of my Reef Paintings

2007-09-06T06:15:00.000-07:00

The first one is a detail of a painting called "The Reef Diver" and is in oils, the painting was on a canvas 4'x3'. It was sold to the previous owners of Club Orient and is now in South America somewhere I think. I retain copyright, so prints are available. The second is also oil on canvas, its called the Moonlight Reef. My idea of dreamlike bliss is to swim naked over a reef under a full moon. Of course the other is to have a figure like the lady in the painting, ha ha. The themes in my paintings jump all over the place , so really I have to try and work on and explore one theme at a time, (thats what Danny said), but there is so many ideas its hard to try and stay still in one area. Also when your mood changes so much your themes change too. This has its good and bad points but to take full advantge one must become more disciplined. Right now I have got to stick with the flowers for my exhibition at the Saint Gerain in philipsburg in the comming season.

More Finny's

2007-09-06T06:02:00.000-07:00

Red Hind

Jacknife fish

Brittlestars

My Husbands Finny Friends

2007-09-05T15:27:00.000-07:00

Now that Sue and familly have gone home I have got to get back to my painting again. Today is very quiet and I have to house to myself. Its strange sometimes I can paint with a party going on around me and at other times I need to shut myself away. Right now I welcome the quiet. My husband is off working underwater, he is a commercial diver and sometimes works all day underwater. He often takes pictures of his finny friends (co-workers) that he sees on an average day at work. I keep waiting for him to bring a tasty one home to dinner.

Here is Mr Octopuss, Mr Grunt and Mr Sea Urchin.

End of Familly Vacation

2007-09-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

The Last Swim before the left. But they said they will be back (its true, cos they left their swimwear on the line).

2007-09-05T15:02:00.000-07:00

The trip to Prickly Pear island on the 'Lambada' was so much fun and the crew was just great, pristine waters, great reef, saw a ray, had a yummy lunch. Had no trouble leaving a good tip at the end.

The Weekend

2007-09-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

Well this was my sis and her families last weekend before flying back to England. Friday my niece went horse riding at Le Galion, she is an experienced rider who has her own horses and has done a lot of show jumping in England. Saturday they spent shopping in Philipsburg. My sis's husband bought her a huge diamond ring (lucky girl). I kept nudging my man saying innocently, 'look at that huge rock he bought her', whereby he suddenly became afflicted with a seeing and hearing problem. Oh well.

Saturday we went out to Sunset. Percy Rankin was great entertainment as usual. After we went in to Bliss. It was good for the first 2 hours playing hip hop and stuff but after they had this DJ who got stuck on this electro-techno dance stuff. Ive been in the Caribbean too long and I like a good rythym to dance to but this techo stuff was to boring for me, still alot of people seemed to like it.

Sunday morning I got up and went to aikido. Bit difficult when you've had a late night. We have some new beginners. Its good to train with beginners. They dont react like you expect, like someone more experienced, so it forces you to go back to your basics as it shows up areas where you got lazy or cut corners. Of course we go slow with them, its pointless to scare or injure them, we want them to come back. Sunday afternoon was spent with sis and co at Mullet Bay. I got the name "wave junkie" because of all the time I spent playing with those big waves. I was still at it at 6.30pm. Later on at 9.00pm we all went to Boo Boo Jam. The food and music was great, I love that place. Danced with my man. I even managed to figure out and join in the 'electric glide', the whole dancefloor does near the end of the night, what a hoot. By the time I got home I was compleatly knackered. Next day woke up with one mean headache, it felt like a hangover, which is strange because I dont drink or smoke at all. Could of been too much sun the day before.

Monday, spent some time with sis and co out back on the beach before taking them to airport at 2.30. They departed at 4.10 on Air France. I am pleased to say they had a really good time in St.Maarten, very laid back and relaxing. I dont know why St.Maarten has to have a low season. Many Europeans take their holidays at this time and the strong euro makes our dollar market very attractive. Why are we not marketing this island in Europe more, other islands dont have a low season like us.

Flowers

2007-08-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

The top painting is oil on cavas 24cm x 33cm: Pink Frangapanni
Below is one of my larger paintings, still to be finished (soon) Its acrylic on canvas and is 34inches x 34inches

More Flowers

2007-08-28T17:31:00.000-07:00

This is The Purple Vine plant that grows along side many roads and in gardens in St.Maarten
This painting is oil on canvas 24cm x 33cm.

My Flower Paintings

2007-08-28T17:12:00.000-07:00

I have had some time to continue working on my flower paintings even at this busytime. I just love painting surreal art but I love painting flowers just as much. To me its not just a pretty plant but when you look at some flowers they just seem to have their own souls, they seem to blaze with an individual energy. They are so cleverly designed. Some of them, when the backs of them are light up in sunlight from behind, thin areas on the petals are translucent, letting light shine in. These translucent patches seem to be arranged in a geometric pattern. If you can imagine your a bumblebee, the flower has given you landing lights to guide you to the pollen and the I imagine that these patterns have been imprinted on the insects DNA by evolution. When I die I want to come back as a bumblebee.

Family vacationing

2007-08-28T16:42:00.000-07:00

My sister and her family are still continuing to enjoy their vacation here in St.Maarten. I have been showing them all over. We have been to Isle Pinel. It was great. The water was so warm and clear. Its feels good to languish in the shallow water. It was fun going accross on the little water ferry. The ferryman was a bit of a character. He did,nt speak just waved his arms and blew his little whistle, pip pip. He had his own language going on. Pip pip pip quickly meant hurry up get on the boat/or off the boat. Long piiiiip's meant get out of the way and short measured pip's meant "I'm approching the dock. When he did take the whistle out of his mouth it was to song about how he needed a rich american woman to keep him warm at night. He was so funny.

Post Dean Weekend

2007-08-20T08:47:00.000-07:00

The weekend was pretty good. I have family visiting from England, sister, husband and niece. They are over for 2 and a half weeks. They arrived really tired. After waiting in Paris for more than six hours because of flight cancellations. This was due to Hurricane Dean for course. I expected we would get a crappy weekend, with rain and clouds but no, by Sat afternoon it was the same old sunniness. Mind you, I took a look at the coast on the east side and there was a lot of white breakers, even in Great Bay the silt was all churned up causing the water to look that milky color, (not my favorite swimming conditions as I like to see what is below my feet!, know what I mean, if you dont, think er, Mullet Bay and the Mad Mullet attack that happend recently).
Well the family have been spending most of their time on the beach and emersed in the water in front the house. In two days they are all sporting better tans than me, (but more mosquitoe bites, hee hee).

Sunday morning off I went to aikido. What is this! everyone is on holiday, there was only a few of us there. Still I cant complain as there was lots of room to throw. I had to go over old stuff I had forgotten. Its not that I forgot the moves, I just went blank when our instructor Antonio calls out the names in Japanese. I am a tad dumb with languages, hey I am English, most of us a dumb with languages. Good thing is I got it by the end of the lesson, just hope I can retain it.

Last night we all went out to Booboo Jam. Great fun. Very good atmosphere. It was Ruben the owners birthday yesterday and everyone got a glass of champange!. Danced a little merengue, salsa a little bachata. Will have to teach my sis and niece to dance this.

Dean

2007-08-17T04:43:00.000-07:00

Hooray! Hurricane Dean stayed south. Good news, not so good news for Martinique but still, its only a catagory 2 for them. No big deal. After experiencing Hurricane Luis first hand its a breeze! Looking out the window into the Anguilla channel here from my window in Grand Case, I see we are experiencing the affects of Dean passing. Sea looks rough, sky grey and the wind is up blowing sand thru the window. Couple of days of cloudiness and we will be back to normal. Actually its nice to have a little 'adverse' weather now and then, changing the colors of the sky and sea, from the usual perfect blue and turquoise sunniness, that can get a little boring sometimes.

My painting that was too risky for Anguilla Art Exhibition

2007-08-15T16:22:00.000-07:00

This is the one that could'nt be displayed. Oh, boy if someone from Italy sent then the Venus de Milo they would fight over who would display it. This one is called "Angel of the Islands"

Finished latest painting

2007-08-15T15:43:00.000-07:00

Well I finally finished it. Without going cross eyed or nuts. It was such an intensive painting I could feel my spaced out neurons frying. But nothing a good jog did'nt didn't help to balance out. So now it will be off to the Anguillia International Art Comptetition. Just wonder what the reaction will be.

The title is "The Guardian of our Dreams". The woman is inspired by the troupe that come to our carnival from Guardeloup. They make the most fantastic caribe costumes, not thoses ones that look like they were bought in Rio. The crowd really love them. She is like Kali the black goddess, mother nature, time, space. On her earing hangs, Murcury, Venus and the full Moon, around her neck a string of Earths. Behind her a tropical painting of a paradise. At the top it is peeling away to reveal lots of ugly concrete hotels. It is a lecture on over development.

The theme of the competition is "Caribbean Inspirations" so I wanted to do a comment on how if we are not careful all we will have left to sell of the Caribbean is an old dream of paradise amid all the concrete uglyness. My previous painting to the last competition ended up in a closet. It seems after the exhibition day the entrees are sent out to all the hotels to be displayed around the island for 2 months to be offered for sale. This is part of the rules. Aparently none of the conservative minded hotels wanted to display my work as I had painted a bare-breasted mythical creature. They were afraid it would offend their guests. They didn't tell me until I came to pick it up, needless to say I felt gutted.

I am just hoping this year the hotels will not read my anti-development message too clearly and stick me away in the closet again. I am nervouse about this, I try not to be too sensitive but I cant help it. Oh well , time will tell.