Happy Halloween!

It's so bad, its good - call it Kraft.

By the way, photo is regrettably NOT mine!

Clair update

This just in from Clair, who is responding fabulously to chemo and is planning a trip to climb Kilimanjaro:

I finished my third chemotherapy on Monday, Oct 27 - another five hours with a needle in my arm. The nurses say that I have good veins so I am punctured anew each time instead of having a permanent installation on my chest. I am feeling great. The first two chemos knocked the cancer down considerably and I am down to a single pain pill a day. I expect to get a CT scan in a few weeks to see just how much the cancer has diminished.

I am back to going to the gym daily, although with much reduced intensity. It is disheartening to see how little time it takes to lose muscle tone. Formerly I would spend 30 minutes at intensity 5 on an elliptical trainer. Today I did 13 minutes at intensity 3.

I expect that, as in the first two chemo cycles, there will be some bad times next week, but compared to the tales told about chemo, I am having a free ride.

--

I made a painting a few weeks ago inspired by how I felt about Clair's battle, as well as his good luck with treatment, and called it "Guardian." It is pictured above.

Fire paintings

These two paintings have evolved since first introduced on this blog last week.

The first more personal painting evolved to be explicitly about Brian Soden, and here is a detail of that painting.

The second painting became an exercise in playing with paint. The house became an apartment, and I added more of a red glow and emphasized the yellow fire line across the middle foreground.

Naomi moves to town

I am excited to welcome my good friend Naomi to Europe (Zurich), where she moved from Washington DC. Finally, a friend from home in the same time-zone! Congratulations to Naomi for taking the plunge-gving up all you know takes a lot of guts. Good luck to Naomi in her new career as a free-lance science writer.

Check out Naomi's blog at
http://zurichsee.wordpress.com/

A few more photos from Istanbul

Some random photos, the last of the bunch from Istanbul...

The Blue Mosque,
Spice Market
Rooftops
New District
Harbor

Silk addiction, Istanbul

So, we bought a carpet while in Istanbul from an interesting guy, Ramazan Can from the Grand Bazaar, Divrikli Sk. No 54. Ramazan has a self-described "sickness" for carpets, a passion for carpets from the Caucasus in particular. Which is the kind of carpet we ended up buying. We spent a couple of hours with him, looking at carpets, drinking tea, and softly negotiating. The proper way to buy a carpet. What I like about this man is not only his passion for his trade but that he also designs his own carpets. They are beautiful. Here is a picture of Ramazan (he is standing on the left) with a helper holding up two of the carpets that he designed. The next picture is his portrait taken in his main shop, surrounded by the results of his addiction. He's a really interesting guy and I'm sorry we can't spend more time with our new friend in Istanbul.

The water supply of ancient Istanbul

This underground reservoir was built to supply Istanbul in the event of a shortage and to meet growth in demands due to an expanding population.... sound familiar, anyone?

It was built in the sixth century A.D. by the the Byzantine Emporer Justinian. It held 27 million gallons of water.

To put this in perspective, the Washington metro area uses about 400 million gallons per day, on average, although summertime use can get up in the 700s.

The columns were mostly recycled from Roman ruins from other parts of the city.

Economic news: could it get any worse?

Sure sounds like it.

A sampling from today's news:

(WP) AIG Has Used Much of Its $123 Billion Bailout Loan. The troubled
insurance giant American International Group already has consumed
three-quarters of a federal $123 billion rescue loan, a little more
than a month after the government stepped in to save the company from
bankruptcy...The news comes as the company's new chief executive
warned Wednesday that the government's financial lifeline may not be
enough to keep AIG afloat.

(NYT) Asian Markets Plummet on Earnings Fears, and Europe Follows.
HONG KONG - Japan and South Korea led Asian stock markets in steep
declines Friday as dismal corporate earnings and economic data
underscored the depth of the challenges facing the export-dependent
economies in the Asia-Pacific region. As the Asian markets closed,
Europe's major exchanges opened with declines of around 5 percent.

(WP) Credit Crisis May Force Metro to Pay Millions. Metro and 30 other
transit agencies across the country may have to pay billions of
dollars to large banks as years-old financing deals unravel,
potentially hurting service for millions of bus and train riders,
transit officials said yesterday...In Metro's case, the regional
transit agency could face up to $400 million in payments, the system's
chief financial officer, Carol Kissal, said in an interview yesterday.
One bank, KBC Group of Belgium, has told Metro that it needs to pay
$43 million by next week. Metro officials confirmed the details but
declined to name the bank.
--

Brian Soden

So, there are bad art days, but then every once in a while......

Last year, I'd been drinking beer with Clair Garman in my backyard and decided to take a picture of some trees and apartment buildings through the glass of beer. (Yes, this is normal for me, and no, it was my first beer.) It was a cool photo, the trees were distorted and looked like they were lit from within. I used the photo to start the paintings, and they sucked. I found these two old canvases in storage a couple days ago - they were still awful.

However, these two canvases made great under-paintings, basically a red wash or background on which I could start another painting. So, I pulled out my oils, added medium, and got to work. I didn't know what I was going to do - I was just playing around with paint. But quickly the painting started to look like fire. So that's what I did - fire. Without really realizing what was up, I turned the apartment building into a house. And before you knew it, the house was threatened by fire, and was burning. Then it hit me - the painting was about Brian Soden.

Brian was my Volunteer-for-Youth younger brother who died in a house fire. I saw Brian every Sunday for a couple of years, for half the day. I was mentoring him while in my freshman and sophomore year at Carleton. Brian had a tough life: dad in jail, no money, and living in an old farmhouse in Northfield, Minnesota with his younger brother and sister and unemployed mother. He was smart, but needed someone to show him what was possible.

One day in the early spring and in the middle of the night, the old furnace caught fire. Brian woke up, smelled the smoke, and got out of the house. But he was a really great kid. He decided to go back inside and save his brother and sister. He went in, and died - never realizing that his brother and sister and mom made it outside on their own.

These paintings are raw, full of the awesome power of fire, and the pathos of love and loss. In the second painting, a figure just emerged - I did not plan it but there it is. I don't know where the paintings came from, for me it is a very unusual experiment in letting process dictate the subject.

These paintings are for Brian Soden, my adopted little brother, wanna-be rocket scientist, a sweet kid with a big heart.

Tamara in Istanbul

Sorry, I am infatuated with this woman. What can I say. Hey, it's MY blog!

I like the picture of Tamara looking at her favorite vice, SHOES!

Turkish baths - do you want it hard?

This is the question asked of me by the youthful masseuse in the Turkish Bath (built around 1500). He said, 'this is how the Turks do it.' I sensed a certain, are-you-tough-enough bravado, and definitely a bit of aggression too. Those of you who know me well know that of course, I said 'yes.'

During the massage, the masseuse put his elbow into my back and put his whole body weight down through his elbow into my back, then moved up my spine. It was intense, so much so that I gave out a war cry, a gutteral AAARRGHHH from the base of my throat. It was fight or flight, and I was pinned down so I couldn't run. I was ready for battle.

After the massage, I developed a new motto. "Always say 'yes' when asked in a Turkish bath, 'Do you want it hard?' " Good motto to live by. Below is a picture of my back after the massage. The bruises run in parallel on either side of my spine. Delicious. The literal translation is, "Bone crunching massage."

By the way, the bath was the highlight for me in Turkey, well it was a toss-up with the baklava. This bath (Suleymaniye Hamami) was constructed around 1500, and was so beautiful. You could feel the history. Marble interior, inlaid stone, stone basins, vaulted ceilings, and ancient bronze taps. Really cool.

Some cool sights in Istanbul

We are just back from a week in Istanbul. The first picture is of me and Tamara on a ferry, with our trusted guidebook. The second picture is of Istanbul's New District, which is a main shopping street and yes, it really is that crowded. The third is a scene from the grand bazaar - spanning a huge area, it is billed as the 'world's oldest shopping mall.' The fourth is the Blue Mosque built in 1609-16 by the same architect who built the Kabba, (the holiest shrine of Islam, the giant black cube at the center of Mecca). The fifth is the Hagia Sophia, built in 537 A.D. by Emporer Justinian, serving as the 'Eastern Vatican' of the Roman empire for 900 years until it was converted to a mosque. The sixth is of the spice market, built in the mid 17th century.

Oil painting tips - don't end with a failure

A couple of days ago, I had a bad painting day. Everything I did was terrible.

Rather than give up, I kept wiping the canvas clean and starting over. For several hours this went on.

It is important to end a painting session on a good note, otherwise if you give up when you fail that is what you remember, the failure. So keep at it until the painting works, and don't be afraid to start over. Eventually, your head will get out of the way and the painting process will take over and it will be magical again.

When I finally felt I could live with the image on the canvas, I stopped. This is the resulting painting. For fun, I took some pics of the flowers to show the inspiration.

New work of the week

I posted this week's new "Work of the Week" on my art website, which can be seen at

http://potamoi.com/WorkoftheWeekgallery.html

It is based on a drawing I made of the "Uncertain Future" digital image, which was the "Work of the Week" for August 24-30. This digital image was based on photos I took of a various ceramic sculptures by Ah Xian in his first show here in Europe and then manipulated using software. So in other words, this week's work is a painting of a drawing of an image of digitally manipulated photographs I took of several sculptures by Ah Xian at his show here in Den Haag.

Oil Painting, part 3

Yesterday I worked on the house again, and it was a classic, pulling of teeth do-not-accomplish-anything kind of painting day. I ended up nitpicking the details and ended up with a painting that looked little different from what I started with, completely losing all momentum, rhythm, and gesture. It was hard because neighbors kept stopping by to say hello, which was nice, but it didn't help the painting process. And I ended up with something that looked more like a precious moments painting or Thomas Kincaid. Some art just shouldn't be photographed. So, no picture of that step. This morning I worked on it again for a couple of hours, this time in the studio so I could concentrate and get a rhythm down. And it worked, and the painting is much looser and something I would show. Here it is, the final and signed version.

Oil painting - part 2

Yesterday, I had an hour to do some more painting and so worked on the project from the day before. Here's what the painting looks like now. Fortunately, we've had two sunny days in a row, so I've had ideal conditions for outdoor painting. The house is lit by the late afternoon sun.

It is still in progress, and will change significantly. I am starting to get some of the colors down, but have a lot of work to do. For example, the darks can get darker, and some of the whites that are not in sunlight should be darker.

Oil painting - the first step

Yesterday, I had a little bit of time to do some painting, and I grabbed at the chance. I set up the easel outside, and did a "quick" oil-painting sketch of the house. This is the stage where you get the main form down, and a sense of the lights and darks in the painting. This stage is called the underpainting, and is unfinished. It takes 5 minutes to an hour plus to get this down on canvas, depending on how rusty your drawing skills are and how long it takes the creative juices to start flowing. For me, this took an hour and a half, since for the first hour and 20 minutes I insisted on painting rather awful schwack.

Driver's license woes in Holland

They say the bureaucracy here is difficult. Today I am inclined to agree... I just returned from my - wait, I lost count - fifth? sixth? trip to the local city offices to apply for a Dutch driver's license. By law, you must have one within six months of moving to the country. Fortunately, the people behind the counter at the office are very nice, and it pays to have a sense of humor about the whole thing. But, I am tempted to forgo the license. For fun, here's the chronology:

Pre-visit: Wait four months to get a residency permit, required to get a license.

Visit #1: I neglected to bring a 30 percent tax ruling document with me to the office - not sure why this is needed to drive a car.

Visit #2: Didn't bring a medical clearance form. I had sent in a medical clearance form to the authority that clears my medical record. What I didn't know is that you have to wait until they send you a form back, verifying that you are medically fit. But I hadn't yet received the form back from them to bring with me to the city office, and I did not know to wait for it. The clearance is a bit of a racket - you pay c. 20 euro for the form, which you fill out yourself and declare that you are medically fit to drive. Then you send it off to the government office that agrees with your declaration of fitness. How do they know? I think I will fill one out for my aging 17 year old cat and see what happens.

Visit #3: Medical form arrives! The government agrees with my self-proclaimed healthy status! Armed with my passport, U.S. driver's license (which needs to be surrendered), medical clearance form, residency permit, and photo, I'm ready for sure. The hitch: the computer at the city office says I do not have a residency permit - even though I have the official govt. issued residency permit in hand, this is not good enough. I am told to go to the immigration people and get them to check their computers. Meanwhile, I correspond with immigration and am told that yes, I am in the system.

Visit #4: 10:00 am on a Monday- office closed.

Visit #5: 2:10 pm on a Thursday - office closed.

Visit # 6: Armed with a print-out of an email from immigration saying that yes, I am in the computer, I am again denied. Still not showing up in the city computer. The very nice person at the city called immigration to verify (she didn't have to, thanks for that), and was told that I had not been entered into the computers at immigration. Which is now happening, I am told. I am told to wait 48 hours for the entry to take effect before I go back.

Now, it is after 6 months since I arrived and am not sure what my legal driving status is here. Lucky for me we don't have a car, and Tamara has her license so if we rent one we can be official. There are roadblocks here operated by the police, in which every car is stopped, you are breath-a-lized, your car is searched, and your papers checked.

When I left the city offices this time, I took the schedule of operating hours with me. Looks like I'll be needing that for future reference.

Fashionistas

Tamara and my sis show off the latest Dutch fashion, sweater/skirts with tights. Ideally, one would wear knee high boots with this outfit, but heels work also.

Natalia and I go for a ride, Dutch style

The highlight of Natalia's trip to Holland so far is this bike ride we took to get groceries. We went Dutch style, which is slow and safe on the bike paths, and with no helmets. We got groceries for the next couple of days, which is how we shop here since we don't have a car. Pictured below is my sister, the proud mom. Natalia says, her next favorite thing here is taking the tram.

Koek with your butter?

My sister and niece are visiting from the U.S. Yesterday, Natalia learned the appropriate way to eat koek. Koek is a sweet breakfast bread, flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg and other spices. Koek tastes best when covered with at least a quarter inch of Becel or butter.

Palin vs Biden - word on the street in Holland

Here's a really wonderful email I received today:

So how does our election look from over there? I watched Biden and Palin last night and thought it was the most lopsided victory I've ever seen in these debates, with Biden the obvious winner. He was better than Obama, with tight, reasoned arguments, all the facts, some nuance and style, while Palin showed she was an average person new to these issues. What stunned me was that the press almost universally reported that Palin held her own, this based on the fact that she was folksy and she never once said "I'll get back to you on that". I thought of the debate as a job interview, and in that light, it wasn't even close.

A normal curve would suggest there are many near average people in the country, and the reporters felt the normals would feel kinship with Sarah (she's just like us, she doesn't follow these issues, she's got hockey practice to worry about!). I rarely give the American people credit for their intelligence, but I believe that some normal people will conclude not only that this woman would be a bigger disaster than George Bush for president but that McCain has his head up his ass for picking her (especially because his chance of death in the next four years is significant)

How about there?

Here's my response:

Did you see Jon Stewart interview Bill Maher last night? Maher spoke about there being two Americas. The second being the United States of Stupid. There is the east and west coast america, looking a lot like Europe, and the second redneck america, strangling the first and voting for Bush. He said that even the stupid people were starting to see that Sarah Palin was stupid, which is promising.

You write that the Biden/Palin debate was overwhelmingly in Biden's favor...and I thought that the Kerry/Bush debates were lopsided in Kerry's favor. Turns out it doesn't matter - see the paragraph above.... And now, are you ready for this... you asked for the Dutch perspective...none of the views represented below are necessarily mine, but represent the views of at one Dutch national interviewed to respond to your email. I report exactly what I hear from a single interview of a one Dutch national.

"They, " meaning my very limited sample, think that McCain is the second baboon in the race, with Bush the first baboon - but also, at the same time, knowing that Bush and McCain are monkeys. "They" would love to see Borat interview Bush. "They" ask, would Bush wear a mankini? And this quote, I love, "This is so hypocrite."

Here's what folks are saying here: "I see Obama as talking with everyone, interested in all kinds of people - the first politician in the U.S., as trying to communicate with the people. He says what he feels. Seeing the candidates next to each other - Oboma is a person who says what he feels and Mcain is a puppet of the Republican party.

Choice is clear - every country in the EU goes for Obama except the Czech republic goes for neocon morons -

Bush has fucked up. That's the bottom line. Everybody knows this in Europe, and everyone is happy to see Bush and the Republicans leave. The golf war is the second Vietman. And now the bail-out is suspect. They think, and this is a quote, "He's a baboon with a big asshole who should be fucked by a horse."

"This is a man who has shown himself to be singularly uncultured and shown himself to be untrustworthy from any international, clever, educated, or any perspective. He should never have become president for the second time or for that matter the first time. And, he is a pussy. What a fuck-fuck- fuck - up. No one understands how the people continue to vote for the republicans. They don't understand the gun-toting, religiosity of the middle American strong belief mindset. Liberal here is so different from that of the U.S."

"If you were very angry, and had a gun, you shoot it. That's the big problem here. If you are raised in Texan culture - and you are 16 years old, and you are upset by whatever, then something snaps and you have a weapon, you have power, and you will use it. this is a parable for America. The Republican party encourages this mindset. Sara Palin likes to hunt, and this is horrible. What is needed, is a different point. Eskimos need to hunt, but we have enough chickens. If you are breeding animals, why hunt? This country makes you puke. No, but it's true. They are fucking up the whole world economy and ecology, and they don't care at all. It's incredible, and it is amazing. How can you bring your own country to this distress? It is incredible. How is it possible, where your own country acts like a clown under the supervision of this politics. How could they play with this power, with such confidence?"

"Palin looks like a horse dropping with a small American flag in it. With a cherry on top, to make it adorable. No but it is true. The only thing she cares about is herself, and she is using the flag to push herself upon the American people."

How's that for an honest, complete, and thorough response?

Comments please, no one has commented for far too long.

A night at the movies: Pathe Tuschinksi, Amsterdam

Tuesday night was date night in Amsterdam. The day was spent researching researching the artwork of Casper David Friedrich, a 19th century German romantic landscape painter at Amsterdam's Hermitage Museum. To reward my full day's work, a date at the Pathe Tuschinksi was in order.

This Art Deco building has a little bit of character. We booked tickets for a private booth, which included wine, food, and loads of entertainment. If you are ever in Amsterdam, don't miss the Pathe Tuschinksi. (Note, pics are not mine.)