The Adventure Continues

Anyone who has followed me for any period of time knows I love making art and I love adventure traveling. In 2012, I went to the Nek Chand Rock Garden where I lived for four weeks in the garden working on mosaic statues and columns in the garden, and helping to archive artist Nek Chand's records.

I am sad to say that Nek Chand passed away several weeks ago at age 92 from cardiac arrest. His death was not unexpected, since he had been ill for some time.

Nek Chand receives mourners 

Mourners pay their respects

Bus caravan honoring Nek Chand locally

No one knows at this stage what will happen to the Nek Chand Rock Garden or who the local government will appoint to oversee its care if anyone. Historically, the government has withheld funds for its upkeep, and there is little doubt among its loyal supporters that it will never again see the attention that it did when Nek Chand was alive.

Stay tuned for details about my adventure to East Asia in the fall to Thailand, Cambodia and Bali.

A New Year

The movement from one year to the next is always a good time to reflect on what you are leaving behind and what you imagine to lie ahead. After I returned from India, I jumped quickly back into my life at home in Atlanta, Georgia, with my family, friends, work and pleasures.

I reflected on the trip in Chandigarh, and knew that I wanted to incorporate all that saw and felt in India into a body of work that would be displayed at The Artists Atelier Studios and Gallery in October 2013 for Atlanta Celebrates Photography, a month-long celebration of fine art photography.

But showing large photographs, as beautiful as they are, wasn't enough. I wanted to convey the layers upon layers of textures and colors that I saw in India wherever I turned. At first I wanted to use whitewash, a lime-based wash that is used on homes and walls all over the world and that softens the final colors. Lime is extremely caustic, so I settled for plaster and some commercial paint products that facilitate surface crazing and cracking.

In the end, I developed a unique technique that involves applying plaster or a commercial cracking medium first to a wood surface. Then I transfer the pigment of the photograph to the surface with a matte medium to develop an image that is lighter than the original and that has imperfections where the pigment is torn away from the plaster surface.

Add caption

I experimented with different textures for the base and ultimately I was pleased with the integration of the base and the transferred photographs. Then, one day, while using this technique, I started to cover some of the exposed areas with collage pieces from the photographs, and I liked that also.

This is a detail of one of the pieces and the collage areas where I couldn't stop myself from adding colored strips to enhance the picture. Below is a view of the total picture once finished:

This ended up being one of my favorite pieces. I love the colors, the shapes and the distressed areas created by the transfer of the photo. Le me know what you think about the technique.

Time To Say Goodbye

Ending my first extended stay in another country is oh, so bittersweet. I have loved just about every minute of every day which has offered so many new experiences and new friends. However, it is time to come home to my friends and family, who have generously offered their support and love to their "crazy" friend who seems to choose the less traveled path more often than not lately.

A few goodbyes...

Goodbye to the Nek Chand Rock Garden, a magical place created by a folk artist, who is also an architect, construction expert, horticulturist, community leader, venue manager and oh, so much more talented than anyone realizes except the few who spend time with him day and night.

Goodbye to our archival project. We have made an excellent start and now are planning a second trip in November to finish the project. 

Anyone who may be interested in a really cheap, incredibly meaningful, kinda primitive vacation, volunteer experience and introduction to a world you never dreamed about, drop me a line. 

Ram Raj, our daily chai partner and the garden man who
looked after us the entire time.

Goodbye to the people of the garden, the steadfast workers, many of whom have been there 30 years or more, watching and protecting the physical premises day after day, six days a week.

Goodbye to the volunteers, who taught me how to mosaic under pressure and who were wonderful traveling and dinner companions each night.

Goodbye to Alan, my partner in crime on this new journey. Without his incredible organizational abilities and steadfast belief in our mission, we never would have been able to even begin the process.

Goodbye to India, a world you have to live in to understand and come to love. 

Goodbye to wavering electricity, water hoses next to toilets, slow Internet, little auto rickshaws that start like lawn mowers and take you everywhere, unrecognizable food, luscious silks, beautiful women in multi-colored saris, stray dogs, 

bulls in the street, bobble heads and everything else that makes 

this a  carnival dream at best and a labyrinth nightmare at worst.

If this trip is the ying, then coming home is the yang. Hello America, I am coming home. I can't wait .....

I can't wait to hug my daughters, Michelle and Cara, and have a phone conversation where I can actually hear them.

I can't wait for a hamburger - a juicy, cow burger, made with sirloin steak meat just dripping with wet juices that I can see and recognize....bun optional.

I can't wait to hug my dog Zoey, and sleep in my own bed and shower in an American shower and sit on an American toilet.

I can't wait to thank Linda Evans for keeping my world going while I was gone and for all the kind people who offered their assistance during this trip.

I can't wait to begin painting and drawing and working on art that reflects the sights, smells and thinking of India for a solo show in October at the Atelier. I miss my art-mates and art friends and can't wait to hear all about their activities as well. 

I can't wait to see friends and family who have followed the journey and who still care about me even though I haven't been around for their lives the last six weeks.

Most of all, I can't wait to kiss the ground of the USA. I appreciate more than ever, the peace, the beauty, the tranquility of life in America, and look forward to holding that gratitude next to my heart for a long time to come.

Thanks all for being my companion on this journey. Cya soon! Huggs.....xxxoxoxoxoxoxox....j

What Do You Mean It Is A Fuse

 

A light flickers then they all go out. Then they come back on, then they all go out again. And you wonder why? Now I know.

No worries about electricity in most houses - this is all you
have to cook with

 I was walking through the electrical parts section of the city and this is what I saw. Is it any wonder Chandigarh, and India in general has problems with electrical currents?

I won't miss cooking on an old hot plate with an old pot without a handle. I am looking forward to getting back to a decent kitchen again.

I've long gone through all the freeze-dried food and protein bars. Now we are down to a last pack or two of jelly beans and chewing gum.

Our latest visitor- a highly poisonous snake according to the nearby caretaker. Quite frankly, I don't want to know how toxic this snake is.

A small box on a tile wall for puga, or worshipping an idol with flowers, lit candles
and small sacrifices of food. 

Life Goes Back to Normal 

No trip is complete with out at least one plumbers butt!

The local baker was not exempt from Holi. He stands in front of sweets made just for the holiday that are
shaped like some of our Sephardic foods but taste like Greek baklava.

I don't think there is an open container law in India. This guy tried to sell it to me literally from his motorcycle. No thanks,

I don't like to drink and auto rickshaw.

The Color Whore at the HOLI Color War

Caught this man as he was exhaling a cigarette- 

Ask anyone who knows my art, and they should know how much I love bright, pure, saturated hues. Generally, sophisticated artists consider it a juvenile palette as an artist, and I know it, but I can't help it. Bright, jewel tones and rich reds and violets just get me all excited inside and inspire me to make art.

I have learned to tone down my personal wardrobe and to buy fancy clothes in sophisticated earth tones, too, but at heart, I am still a kid and love rich color. 

If I were my own analyst, I would immediately deduce that is why I love folk art and outsider art as I do...it plays right into my belief that art is a primitive drive and the less trained it is, the more one can trust it is an authentic snapshot of the soul. And that is one reason I love to return to India time and time again....its colors.

Don't know what she was trying to say, but I got hit

about a second later with two water balloons dropped from the balcony above!

So give me a national holiday that celebrates color, and it is like having a life-time supply of your favorite chocolate.  I just went bananas today during the second biggest holiday in India, HOLI. 




























All I did was drive around for the past two days and get squirted with assault-rifles, water guns and balloons filled with color, and then get it smeared on my face, arms and shirt by squealing and laughing children and adults. 

As a white foreigner, traveling alone I might add, I was a perfect target for the street kids.....it was ok, though, cause I knew it was coming! 

What a rush the few days before HOLI. Every retailer sells little packets of color for the equivalent of .40 to.50 a packet, and some want only the natural powders, since some of the metallic colors have mica or toxic chemicals in them.

Some powders are for mixing with water and some are for throwing dry!

So you must get a water gun, preferably an assault rifle if you are a boy, 14 or under. They have at least two spouts and mind you, the streams can reach right into the open rickshaw or auto rickshaw and totally soak an unsuspecting passenger, at which times the boys have disappeared into the doorway or up the stairs, knowing the quick getaway routes.

The next way you know HOLI is coming is that you see folks buying  fire wood and logs in the markets and then you see these cone shaped bonfires-to-be right in the middle of the road all wrapped in tinsel and some powdered with color.

They light these fires - some last night, some tonight, to drive the spirit Holika away. She was the evil sister of an evil demon named Hiranyakashipu - I just call him Hiranny. The rite is called the Burning of Holika and by the looks of it, the local fire department calls is Hell Night, cause those bonfires are awfully close to dry wooden structures and there were some pretty tight clearances.

The rule of thumb is that HOLI runs until about 4pm, when the majority of conservative, experienced adults need to get out of the house finally after a day of staying inside. In three trips to India, I have never seen an Indian street so deserted of cars and honking. I actually could ride around without fearing for my life.

 
The rule I assume is that if you don't want to play HOLI, don't come outside, and they do call it "playing HOLI."

Even the local snake charmer plays HOLI with his snake!

HOLI is for everyone, rich or poor, light or dark, driver or driven. It is the official end of winter and tells of the coming of summer. In a land of harsh contrasts, it is the one day everyone is free to be with family and to enjoy merriment and celebration with one another as brother and sister.

Holy Sikh Warrior on the streets taking his chances.

So today, there was a color whore at the HOLI color war, with water pistol in hand ready to play HOLI, and it was a fabulous day to be alive!!