I keep forgetting my camera when I go out.  Last night was no exception.  We went to an opening, then to a bar called Instant followed by a theater performance–an English/Hunagrian retelling of Hamlet (in 45 minutes).  I borrowed this photo of Instant from flickr:

the sweet fish sculpture in one of Instant's myriad rooms- the ceiling opens and closes, naturally

Nannette took me to the “tooth museum” a little room dedicated to teeth, but alas someone had broken in and most of the teeth were missing.  I don’t remember my dreams from last night, but I am sure they were about losing my teeth…  Mark has been requesting photos of the people I have met here so that he knows who the heck I am talking about when I describe my adventures.  One day soon, I will remember to bring my camera along.

In other news, I have set up a space in the apartment to do some oil painting.  Again with the islands.  I have big plans for these… I’ll see how that goes, as sometimes Art has it’s own plans.

stu-stu-studio

…it looks like a am painting in quarantine because of all of the plastic.  I also wear a hasmet suit.

There’s no sun on this particular Sunday.  We tried to go out to Szentendre, which is an artist community, but our day trip was rained out.  It’s too bad, but we’ll get there on a nicer day soon.  We did get a chance to see some Roman ruins before the rain started falling.  I like the way they contrast with the contemporary architecture.

Michael, Beata, and Maxie Honey Bunny checking out the ruins

We are meeting some really great people here, and have been checking out the local nightlife.  Last night I got dinner with a friend and met Michael and some other people at Corvinteto.  It’s a really amazing hang-out spot on the roof of a grocery store.  Someone told me it used to be a Socialist department store, but I’m not sure about that… I don’t have any photos, but on the beautiful breezy evening with an amazing view of the Budapest skyline with really nice people, drinking fröccs (a mix of wine and soda water- basically spritz), it was the perfect way to spend a Saturday night.  We ended the evening by getting some lángos (traditional Hungarian fried dough served with garlic, cheese, sour cream, etc.)  I had the garlicy version and it was perfect.

Here are a couple of drawings I have been working on…

...having something to do with Virginia Woolf

two Amelia Earhart drawings

Where are these weird little guys coming from?  Tomorrow I am meeting a friend to go art supply shopping.  The main art shop is closed until Friday, so that is a bit of an impediment, but we will prevail!  I want to get some oil paint to translate some of the little island images into larger paintings.  Right now Michael is cooking up some pasta with sauteed garlic and Hungarian spicy sauce.  It smells amazing, so I am going to go eat!

Can you tell that I was listening to Belle and Sebastian yesterday?

I am settling into my studio space nicely:

Here are some pieces I have made so far.  I am pretty interested in the image of the skull, and am exploring it in my work.  This interest was sparked by an addiction I have of looking at the selby, photographer Todd Selby’s website.  He goes into creative people’s spaces and photographs them and their stuff.  I am captivated by people’s sort of universal shrine, or still life arrangements that they create just for themselves.  Todd Selby does a fantastic job of capturing that.  I am struck by the number of skulls on the site–as though these artists, musicians, etc., want to keep a reminder of mortality close at hand.  So I set out to make portraits of the skulls on his site.  I have done two so far:

a crystal skull

a skull with gold leaf

So recently, as demonstrated by the skulls, I have been interested in engaging and embracing mortality in my work.  I have been reading biographies of and memoirs by Virginia Woolf, Amelia Earhart and Emily Dickinson.  I chose three iconic, passionate women who died by different means: suicide, possibly a plane crash or related death, and illness respectively.  So I am making weird little pieces involving these women, their lives, last words and deaths.

I found an image online of Amelia Earhart's palm print, so I decided to make a piece about her lifeline

two small panels--images of Howland Island, Amelia Earheart's destination on her final flight, which she never reached

Also here is a piece that traces pattern of patina on a statue from Buda Castle:

These are just snapshots of what I am working on.  The photos are certainly not documentation-quality.  Here is another image that relays a sense of scale of some of the work.  The paintings are on birch panels mostly in gouache.

I think the smaller panels are about four inches wide, maybe five.