Arrangement of objets .trouves.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wZK8hbJ23twsbo6R7

Arrangement of objets trouves ,entitled -Ah - those chilhood dreams .I remember as a child, on those winter evenings making things out of household objects .With these objects I tried to enter into the same spirit of transformation . ( A small film will come later )

Thoughts of the day -If I do not try ,every day to convince myself that time really exists - I would free-fall into eternity !

landscape diepenveen Netherland . Three polaroid photos .

Art where you see it - Head

Thoughts of the day- originality -

               Every artist, thinker,  is always the child of someone -

          the source, the origin has infinite variations which we tend to call Originality.

Beermat poems -more thoughts about time .

Beermat poems thoughts about time

Two polaroid photos, taken in Derbyshire England.

Two

Beermat poems

Reflections of the day -" Just Now "

                        
                     Just now


          Not imagination

                   Nor fiction -

          That these walls,

                        Stones of light

                               Emanate -

           Neither is it history,

                   Not the stuffiness

                         Of museums

           Or romantic vision.

                          It is your own new

           Limpid look ( like the sky that

                               We like to call blue )

             Staring back at itself sparklingly!



          You could go through

                              That door,

            And walk down the

                               Small entrance -

              Find yourself back in

                      The timelessness

                             That you have

               Known right from the beginning.







           

                      

Performance of living statue green man in Deventer Sept 2018 ( other photo just wanted to be on my blog) -a photo from my sisters and husbands house in Mistley Harwich .more photos on peter simpson ,face book Nedeland

Playing myself with Maaike at Broekrock,Broekland Nederland ( with participating audience ) Sept 2018

A green kiss with a smile from our balcony !

Thoughts of the day from our balcony called Worlds dedicated to Breezer.

                                            Worlds




           Breezer the cat

     Looks out intensively

     From the balcony -

     At the rain falling

     Upon the green earth

     And at a couple walking -

     With dogs and umbrellas.



    A door slams behind him,

    Turning startled -

    His mirror world is shattered -

   Until another universe -

   Becomes worthy,

   To enter - his dubious domain!





                  A translation in Nederlands for my complaining Netherlands friends


                    Werelden


       Breezer de kat

        Kijkt intens

      Van het balkon,

       Naar de regen

       Vallend op

       De groene aarde

       En het paar met

       Honden en paraplu's .



       Een deur klapt dicht

      En hij draait zich om

       Verbijsterd -

      Tot een andere universum

      Zijn aandacht waardig is !








     

Morning glory and the stone for our cat Molly (see poem below )

Morning glory( inspired by the Japanese )

     

                      Morning glory


       Oh every day you charm

      Us with your randomness-

      Your vibrant colour -

      And heart-shaped leaves!

Beermat poems and anecdotes -for Rob.

Conversation with a tree

           I said to the tree -

           You know I do feel 

            Kind of superior -

           I think, and I move.

           The tree laughed

          And said - my thoughts

         Are dancing in the

        Heavens

        And I run a hundred

       Miles a day!

Walls.

                                     Walls


              Lifetimes behind the walls

              That we have built  -

               To keep them out, and to

               Imprison ourselves within.

               The mind a maze or labyrinth

                Of fear-keeping reality away,

               Lulled on a Freudian couch -

               Or sparse "interrogation" room -

               Alcatraz- the Bastille, Belfast, Berlin.




                Yet in separation, insanity ensues -

                The illusion tremors- cracks, stone

                 Falls back to earth again-

                And farmers slyly take them home.




               Friends, the age of walls is over -

               Heir to a medieval day -

               Is there a wall at the end of space

               And time

                                to keep infinity at bay?

                                 



               

               

Ruminations of the day .

  
Why do I call this ruminations? Because these are the mulling of my thoughts upon certain topics that are important to myself and ideas that I like to share, also a certain clarification of concepts for myself.
             The other day, a word came to me that seemed to describe certain feelings that I felt about, let's say- being in the world. , The word was "cultural"- of course, the word has many meanings, from agriculture to general learning and of course culture. Yet the word includes more or less, everything we do in life, From our lifestyle our forms of entertainment hobbies we take it for granted that this is our life and of course it is! And a very enriching aspect this is. However, ( and this is where the word took on meaning for me)we never seem to consider the non- cultural! What do I mean by this? Well, to tell the truth, I don't really know! And yet I feel that it is very important just as important as deep sleep is in our life. And there is also another aspect to this, and that is the experiencing of the five senses-why is this? (Now this is absolutely not a moralistic statement!)However we seem to spend without rest, our whole lives in these domains, do we need to spend time in some weird retreat? No! But maybe we should give more time to the non-cultural and the nonsensual and perhaps the non-experiential because" experience" plays such an important role in our lives. How to do that? Well, I think that it's the big challenge to find out for ourselves, well let's say that it's my challenge! However, I will say that spending some relaxed time in the natural world is certainly a step in the right direction.

Nicholas Poussin the. great French classical painter of the seventeenth century.The painting is called the inspiration of the epic poet.Apollo is seated beneath a laurel and dictates to a young poet,Calliope,muse of epic poetry stands to the left.In the foreground there are three books,the Illiad the Odyssey and the Aeneid,great epics of antiquity.Poussin in my opinion,is a painter of sublime stature,he seems to me to be both classical and very naturalistic in the way that his figures echo the classical Greek and Roman periods but are at the same time very much figures painted from a great understandingof the human form.I have brought in the painting to illustrate how the Greeks understood the process of creativity ,from the muse!Please look at my thoughts of the day below.Actually the idea is closer to Shri Aurobindos concept of the superconciousnessNote the concentrated look of Apollo and the almost absent minded trance like state of the Poet !Calliope stands in a beautifull relaxed way as the sublime observer.she seems to be waiting also for something beautiful to be born .Note the rather poetic hint of a landscape behind the figures ..

Thoughts of the day-

        Today I was thinking about the whole idea of The subconscious  !!! The ideas and concepts of Mr. Freud, and Mr. Jung. And indeed how much influence this has had on our lives! Especially about our ideas about art ,that we can see in surrealism and the movement of abstract expressionism but also the influence upon our lives!In the Christian culture, we are born into original sin - in the Buddhist way we are born into samsara (ignorance ) However both the Buddhists and the Hindus see in the deepest aspect of our being,  the possibility goodness and Godliness and not the dark aspects of life that we learn from psychology. Also in the more esoteric and less known aspects of Christianity. And of course, the big question is- what does lie in the depths of our consciousness?

As below

Statue made in my student years which has found its home in my sisters garden.As my sister commented she has found a place with modesty and dignity!

portrait of a composer musician Heks July 2018

Portrait of a musician composer

Thoughts of the day -

    One has to be flexible -to be a strong listener  but also someone that takes in the whole picture -One has to be an open reader -but also a strong reader -someone that doesn't succumb to authority- to believe in one's own intelligence, ones own authority- I call, this abiding in the center.                                                                                         One should be able to read everything and listen to everything, and yet be able to say -No- the reader, the one that listens, does not agree - and this is our essential FREEDOM !                                                                                                                                                                                                        



 

Images of Brecon -mono prints on rice paper

Brecon images mono prints on rice paper.

two mono prints - impressions of Brecon .

Brecon Beacons mono prints

Brecon Beacons mono prints

Ruminations of the day -read below .

Ruminations -investigations of the day -

1.                   Little; mind thinks -what is wrong with me, I must change what I am, what is wrong with me -I must change myself into something else - Or be in some other state-other than what I am.

         Until little mind realizes, that it is not different than the thing, or emotion that is observed, then it will be, never free -  Mr Krishnamurti said- that the observer is the OBSERVED. Is it the old observing the old, or is the new observing the old? In actual fact the revelation of K, is not unlike the formula of Einstien E= mc 2 It has the same magnitude of meaning and of expression - ( of course we should not dismiss that rather charming creature - little mind, oh no, certainly not, but little mind must realize that it is part of the mother.  )However when little mind is still, or incapacitated and remains still - maybe then, and only then, big mind will take over?

 In the Zen koan the student has to go as far as they can in logical analysis, until they reach an
understanding -beyond the logical ! Into the transcendent -into Satori .

       When the ''OBSERVER" realizes that it is the OBSERVED ,the game is over .
               That having been said , the observation of ones conciousness ,on whatever level , without the intervention of the past is ---- is -- supremely difficult ,and maybe only for supreme  idiots -?

             How does one find a pure well of water ? Dig -Dig Dig !

                                     Recurrence     


            
        The swifts are here at last -

              who sees them coming?

         They dive and cry -

              Who observes 

                  Or greets them,

      Who notes the seasons Shift?


       They dive and cry

               Against the sunset wall 

      Of my childhood - 

               Presagers  of time,

    Wing towards oblivion -

                Arch back again -

     Intersecting the present.             

Ode to the pioneers of modern art .

  

                How their spirits

                       Revelled in the freedom

                            Of imagining  -

                 colours and lines,

                              That are just themselves,

                                     And yet magentas magic,

                                                 Fires us -

           Seas of ultramarine

                 And white wisps of waves -

              Delicate chinoiserie,

                      Taunting galligraphics,

                                 Tachists gestured slash-




         Explosions of colour are the colours themselves-

                               Purple is freed from funereal pomp,

                    Black becomes black 

                                 White is what it always was-

                         And yellow shows no fear -

                              A child with a paintbox in its hands!



      Immured from idolatry,

                       Forms and colours create

                              Their own wild destiny

                                      A contour that is not a tree,

                       Pigment that is not a sky -

                                A form that is not a breast

                                      Or hillside- 

                              And yet, the essence of all things. 

Ruminations of the day

             A friend of mine said to me, I don't understand the text that you wrote -So okay here is the new text --- 

 All our experience and knowledge leaves it's scars and creates blockages in ones' being. Experience without the burden of previous experiences that have created a screen in our perception can be a pure perception. However,  the problem is not only how we see the world but how we ARE in the world. How we can live without the influence of the past. 

Above all- to learn to trust life- AGAIN.

,

Ruminations of the day -------

Acrylic and oil -entitled -Doorway( May 2018 )

Ruminations of the day -

            On taking a walk to the shop, on this cold but green April day.          I passed an overhanging lilac tree and took the time to pull           the fragrant flowers towards me and enjoy one of the early 
        Summers intense aromas. If indeed, the eyes are the windows
        of the soul, then surely the nose is a gateway (( and indeed one of the most subtle of all the senses )Yet strangely in very few spiritual traditions, is this sense valued ( as also the sense of taste )  
           Perhaps they are considered to be too primitive?

             I often feel, that all the senses are directly connected to ones being, without the interpretation of the brain and although I know that the idea is very un-scientific let's say they give us a very direct and intense contact with life. And just for a few seconds, before the whole naming and identification process begins, there is a direct link to ones being and to the raw reality of the thing, creature or being that we are seeing, touching, hearing or tasting.

A somewhat ,interesting conversation . ( white marker in tobacco box )

Spring has sprung on our balcony, the oleander is now outside with the olive Tree and rosemary and my fifteen year old geraniums are aso outside .Cucumbers are planted and tomorrow I will plant my tobacco seeds -busy busy boy !

Ruminations of the day-with portrait of Bela Bartok

Reading of W.B. Yeats- Sailing to Byzantium .

The mysterious disappearance of the captive-( words engraved upon the prison walls.)

                         The Captive


        I chipped away all my life,

         At these prison walls -
       
        Time, time and more time -

        Of that, I  had enough!

            I saw the light -a bird, the verdant earth,

         At night the cosmos -

        It was this hope, that

       Gave me the courage to go on -

          And yet, a prisoner I remained!



       I dug deep into the earth,

           Found water and fire-

       The centre of the world -

       Yet there, found no escape.


       Beyond hope, my mind

      Gave up its struggle,

       Came back to its SENSES.

       Time stood still-

       Earth and walls dissolved,

        Found that I was FREE at last.


                            Farewell -

       

Revelation of the day-

            When we sleep, the night churns up all the problems of the day, (often in symbols that we cannot understand in our waking life ).Yet part of the dreaming is the dreamless state, where we enter another dimension-There-for on waking, we can be in a state of clarity.This morning I awoke(perhaps still in that state of Knowingness) and thought- most of my life is known, perhaps only when I am creative, in the world of art, can I really make something that is new?The perverse thought of the day!

Ruminations of the day on my approaching seventy-fifth birthday.

              
     
                    OPEN  WINDOW 


       Ah, the whole of life could 

                   Suddenly flood in

      In its " isness"

                 And surprise me -  

     (As on my birthday.) 

              Where would I be now?


                 

Rumininations of the day .The word "cool "

             Actually, the word has its roots in the Jazz world, Mr, young.  However, the beat generation took it over and "God help us "  later the "hippies "However - what a WONDERFUL word! In Indonesia, they have a similar concept - it's about always doing the right thing, yet doing it with a certain elegance - a sense of beauty.I must say in my life, I have met a good many "cool " people but what do I mean by that? Cool people in my own experience are people that are authentic, they don't accept your cliches they don't accept your platitudes, they go their own way-

             Actually, its the way of the Tao everything is okay - just the way as it is.And let's face it, that's really ------ cool.

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Imagined bust - Hommage Mallarme"

                 

                The head - pensively inclined,

                Oh what dreams flow through

                That moulded universe!

The pathway.On reading R. W. Emerson

                    Even now, the path

                     Can be a wonder-

         Even though, the path

                    May lead us

       (  In its complexity)

         To doubt -its direction.
             
                 Especially now that

         There is little belief,

             That there is a map,

        That will take us anywhere-

         (  And yet it takes us anyhow -)



       Listen -the way winds softly
   
        Through the forest

               Snakes through the city.

         Finds its trail through deserts, 

             Wanders between heaven and hell,

         It is the over-soul that holds us 

             In its blessing -         
       
        The mind, untouched

           By the evils of the world

      Re-gains primordial innocence-

            It is life itself.           

Painting-Sculpture . Entitled, Frieze . oil paint acrylic,wood,paper mache ,plaster.(Frame - plaster ,straw,reed and burlap.)

Intimation of the day

  

               Don't shrink-expand,
              Accept your glorious self-
              We are the promised land!
            

             

Non dualist( percolations of the day)

                             You are all in a dream!One is not.One has no religion, no god, no ecology, no world, no individuality, no nothing -one tells you this in your dream, one will accept your adoration and one will take your money - one has to live!

                       
               

Percolations of the day

                    Experience .happens to us. We don't need an entity to interpret it. Merely to see and experience can be without the observer as J Krishnamurti stated. ( I need to constantly remind myself of this -) But then, who or what is seeing?

             The Buddhists say- there is no self or Atma. The Hindus on the other hand, say that there is a deeper self. Both say that the world is an illusion, although the Kashmir Shaivites say that there is  only consciousness that includes everything.

             Enquiry needs a lot of honesty to oneself, to see what is -
 inside and outside, and not to accept anyone else's conclusions, to enquire with integrity -this is the science of spirituality.
When we are very young, we experience life directly, we are one with the movement of life and life bestows many gifts upon us ( whether we recognise it or not. )As we grow older, the interpreter, the great organizer comes into being - sometimes very useful, but often not.We become separated from life and even distrustful of it.
We cannot be the controller and the receiver, both at the same time!

          

                    T
              

Vermeer painting woman at the virginals with a gentleman See writing below

Vermeers painting of woman at the viginal with music master See writing below

Looking at pictures

     


                Looking at paintings- ( particularly the old masters) can be a fascinating experience. At least it is for me - let me explain.

A photograph, let's say a city view, will show the whole and also detail -something that the eye does not do. First, we see and feel the whole scene before us, and then we focus on details and individual objects.Then back to the whole impression .which we have already accepted as a certain form of reality, that we can take for granted as being there when we need to refer to it.

               The Impressionists were influenced by photography and often aimed ( since Monets famous painting" impression " ) at creating an impression of the moment.The moment's monument as it were.

.            The old masters, however, were creating a sequence in time-
Because their paintings are a whole series of focus points montaged and as it were, assembled together on the canvas in a whole time sequence -because the artist guides the looker around the painting. In a way, the work is a kind of film or video.Its fascinating to see a painting as a short ( or even a long film ! )

                               Vermeers Lady at the virginal with a gentleman
                                              ( please see above )


       As I entered the room, I felt the coolness of the tiles under my feet and admired their very varied and striking patterns.Yet this was not a room in any kind of "real" world. Here everything was in harmony ( except when something else was needed. Like the viol gamba, lying carelessly upon the diagonal lines of the floor, like an alien craft waiting to take off to some other musical destination.) The feeling of harmony, made by the rectangles horizontal and vertical lines, gave one a feeling of absolute beauty ( was this an early re-incarnation of Piet Mondrian -Vermeer and Mondrian's final statement,in Mondrian's late works?)The severity of some of the lines was contrasted by the softness of the light, and by the sumptuousness of the fabrics, (in the bell-like form of the ladies overdress and the form of the carpet on and off the table.) Vermeer sat at the back of the room, painting upon his sketched in canvas taken from the camera obscura. Music filled the room from the virginal and from the Northern windows the light softly filtered in.The Lady looked at me and smiled in the mirror above the virginal, the music master stopped tapping with his stick and looked at me somewhat disdainfully. I almost tripped upon the carpet that lay upon the table and partially upon the floor.I admired its russet colours and the way the light played upon its folded corners.On the table was a tray and a " Delft vase"( probably for later refreshments )Between the table and the musician lay the viol de gamba trustingly on the floor ( probably they had begun with this instrument )
   I heard a voice say " Please stop a moment if you would - thank you ."The figures froze and the music stopped and my gaze resumed its journey - admiring the intricacies of the virginal and the leaded windows that filtered the wonderful September lightThere was a powerful silence now, ( although outside I could hear some voices from the canal and the sound of occasional carriage wheels upon cobblestones and domestic noises within the house,(yet not one of these sounds, disturbed the utter silence of the chamber.)The figures were like wax-work figures, and I could have reached a hand out to them, or played a chord on the instrument.


,
                Vermeers voice was heard to softly say "Resume and thank you ." The music began again with its full- almost aggressive sound " Madame -Telleman is not Bach, he is modern, and the rondo should be played with more spirit "said the gentleman.His stick made the tempo that he required.  )I was curious to see the picture behind the music master but however hard I tried I could not bring it into focus.But my gaze was captured by the light from the window its changing intensity of colour and tones.  I turned about and saw Vermeer looking up from his painting. His eyes glittering somewhat mischievously from under his large black felt hat -" My friends, it is time for our refreshments!"

Norton bridge

                             My grandmother scolded me,

              As I curiously opened the cupboard

               Of the gentleman farmers 

                     Armoury-

                Caressing the doubled barrelled

              Shotguns like a young cowboy- 

             This was the manners of the town,  

             That she severely reminded me of.

             Here, guns are a mans ritual.



             And later- driving home 

             To the station, on the lonely  
               
             Winding, hilly road.

              The car lights illuminating 

             The landscape, light and dark-
             
             In wide arches

            As in a theatre,( a stage that no rabbit

            Or hare should step into - 

            
            Nor corn-field either.) 

                      

            Waiting for the dark platform


           The multi-mirrored lantern 

            Of the time-stilled station,

           Reflecting my dreams.  

          The arcs of the car lights 

          Upon the hillside etched  
          
          Deep into my young mind,

          That would become -

          A memory.
        

Ruminations of the day-

             A philosopher is usually someone that theorises about truth, a true teacher  on whatever level, is someone of few words ( beware of teachers that have a lot to say ! ) Yet points towards some truth, and advises you to LIVE that, something, that they have experienced in themselves and have become one with, in the medium that they are working with -whatever that may be . They will not have much to say - maybe nothing -

Ruminations -

             In art and spirituality, we are either a  " follower "or an innovator.We are either mediocre or a genius - and actually, everyone is potentially a genius in their own way - in their individual way of expression.  It's just a question, of trusting one's own unique vision.

some ruminations of the day ----

   


              The " Enquirer " and the  "artist " are upon two very similar paths.They can both be " influenced " and also learn from others, but they can only  " follow " at great risk because they are both searching for something that is unique to themselves, and actually something that is very close to themselves!  There are no steps from top to bottom that will take them there ( and this is their great solace and freedom ) So perhaps true enquiry, is enquiry without the enquirer and true work the work without the doer.

Three dimensional work in clay ,plaster of paris ,wood metal, acrilic and coloured perspex .Entitled "undulations ".

Three dimensional work entitled. Undulations

Gedachte van de dag

                                           De schoonheid van deze dagen-
               
                     Nu de winterzon onder zijn grijze 

                     Deken te voorschijn komt,

                     Verlicht onze wereld, 

                     Belofte van zomerse vruchtbaarheid.

                     De aarde draait haar hoofd 

                     Langzaam en buigt met eerbied

                     Voor de sacrale vlam.

Rumination of the day.( See translation above Helped by a dear nameless friend ) M.

                 Beautiful these days -

                  When the Winter sun

                 Emerges from its grey shroud,

                 Illuminates our world

                 With promises of Summers

                           Fecundity -

                 As the earths turning head, slowly

                 And reverently bows 

                            Towards the divinity.

                         



                

                

                .