Category Archives: Travel

An Ethiopian Diary: Day 1

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Travel and art, art and travel: They go together, and my eye sees composition all around me upon my arrival in Addis Ababa. The mud meets metal, bamboo, eucalyptus, building material, with skyscrapers and a brand new light rail system. It’s a city of contrasts, to say the least. Throw in my foreign self, and the juxtaposition is a bit much — but then again, this is why we travel. To look at things differently, to let our eyes and mind be surprised. It’s exhilarating, it’s exhausting; like the city itself, your interpretations are a bag of contrasts.

A composition, to say the least.

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More layers …

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Well, you don’t see that every day …

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Puppies find rest and shade.

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She’s a beauty, but look all around her. The eye has much to take in.

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While the city has a brand new light rail system, more traditional forms of people movers still abound.

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And the new light rail. Addis Ababa, it’s a changin’ …

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Inspiration from London’s ‘Megaton’ Art Collection

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Gazing upon a Turner

Don’t you want to be moved? Enchanted? Wowed? Let’s go make that happen!

London, simply put, has an enormous amount of mega art. By “mega art,” I mean hugely influential famous art from throughout history. One can stroll the museums there and take a walk through time in the medium of art. Badass art!

Moved to tears, feeling like a giant sap, I wept my way through the National Gallery and the Turner galleries at the Tate Britain. J.M.W. Turner is an artist whose work has to be viewed in real life. On paper, in books, you know it’s exceptional, but in person, you might just get swept away. He was a landscape painter. Better put, he set landscapes free. Free from the confines of the Royal Academy of Art and its stuffy rules. Free from expectation and free to be paint on canvas and nothing more or less.

He was a master who had so mastered his craft that he could set it free so to speak. In no way is his work all “loosey goosey”; it’s masterful, but free. Especially the work from the last 15 or so years of his life. This is true for many artists through history. In their latter years, I suspect — as in life itself — you feel more free to do as you please and care less what others think. Maybe we could all learn from that. What do you think?

There is a desire here to inspire you to go, gaze upon art and let yourself be moved. There are stories there in these paintings — uncover them with joy and wonder!

What are inspires you? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below or on my Facebook page!

Admiring a Renoir

Admiring a Renoir