fancyd

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He called out to me, he said 'excuse me maam, would you mind taking my picture?" I told him no problem and got ready to take the shot, he asked how he should pose, 'just be yourself' was my response, that is how that shot came to be about. He asked if he could see the picture, I showed him the screen on the back of the camera, I wish I could show you the smile that spread out on his face, it was like watching the sun burst through a stormy sky - 'Oh look there's my picture, I asked you to take my picture so that when I die, at least one person will now that Buttons once roamed these streets' I wasn't sure how to respond, I gave him my pack of smokes and some matches, and wished him a good day. Walking away I put the camera in the bag, dropped my shades over my tear filled eyes and walked with that voice in my head, at least one person will know that I roamed these streets. How strange and lonely life can be sometimes.....so now at least more than one person knows that Buttons was here.

Ok, so on to happier things, home from NYC. What a wonderful week. Special thanks to all of my friends here on SG who were a part of it. You are ALL so wonderful and enrich my life in so many ways. Thank you.

Please be warned, this journal is long, it will take time to read and absorb. This is a window to my mind

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I am not really sure how to go about this journal entry, the thoughts in my mind are vast and unapologetic, the feeling in my heart is jubilant and dextrous, and well, shit, there have been some really important shifts in my milieu the past few days. I took tons of pictures, talked with so many wonderful ppl and was engrossed in art and culture everyday. I felt like a kid at Christmas every day. A fat kid eating chocolate cake.......mmm...now theres a start....




I found this neat little restaurant/chocolate shop walking back from Afterbirth & Anaxarete's flat on Wednesday night. it was kinda chilly and raining so I stepped in for some super delish and soul satisfying hot DARK chocolate with marshmallows. I was

This was part of the display



Pizza with Chocolate, yes please and thank you !



Tasty lil treats with hazelnuts



I didn't colour correct this so that y'all could have an idea of the ambiance, this place smelled wonderful and was filled with warm light and laughter. A real treat.



Anybody who loves chocolate would love this place !

This reminded me of a painting...

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I spent quite a good amount of time in Museums while in NYC, I am admittedly an Art Junkie , I literally have to rotate the paintings on the walls of my home, there are so many...I went to the MET, The MOMA, the Guggenheim, the International Center for Photography, and Museum of Native American history. Native Americans have/had a fascinating and diverse culture, if you don't know anything about them, look em up. It breaks my heart to recall the things they have suffered as a ppl, both at the hands of their 'own kind' and the hands of ppl wanting their land. I particularly love their nature bound way of living, common to most tribes regardless of region. I may have to do another journal just on the art I saw, i was moved in so many ways and took lots of pictures just of the Art available, mainly so I could look at it and remember that I really did get to see it. Yes, indeed I am an art junkie, I went to DC a few years ago just to go to museums for 5 days. I am a dork and not ashamed. The best part of being around all that art is that I want to make art again, I have at least 10 sketches done and some paintings in mind, which is nice, it has been too long since I picked up a paint brush... Suffice it to say, my brain was starved for oxygen and seeing that art was mana.

This was from the Native American museum, I totally dig this jacket, I would PIMP it, minus the writing on the sleeves of course ;-)

I have several little projects that I work on, some newly found, some long since discovered....

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one of them is scenes in windows and doors, scenes like this



One of my favourite artists of all time is George Tooker he did a series of paintings involving windows and doors, it is difficult to find many of these works on the net, he is most famous for his Social Scenes and Lanterns series, but I love his use of doors and windows to frame things, another one of my favourite painters, in fact my most favourite is Balthus I saw several pieces of his in New York, they even had a weird little set up in the MOMA, I was so thrilled to realize that it was in reference to Balthus, after much looking with a mirror I spotted a Balthus painting high up on the wall, easily missed. The mannequins are in reference to the criticsm that some of his work has received. The exhibit was called Perception Restrained, it was intended to convey the way a camera works, and how the eye works. It was rad, especially bc of the Balthus. Did anybody spot the Mondrian?

Some more from the museums

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In NYC there are so many ppl. on the streets,

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just being who and what they are, I fell in love! Every time I looked there was a street performer or something random happening, life being lived..or as I read so eloquently one day....
Just loving and living,

Another project is the use of words in advertising,

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I have several hundred shots of different billboards, signs, etc. from the past few years, I started working on this before I even owned a digital camera. I became obsessed with the new Snickers campaign while in New York & even walked 20 extra blocks in search of a sign I had seen one night!, unfortunately I never did find it, although I found 2 others instead. Amusing, no?

And yet another idea/project is that of reflective surfaces,

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I love anything reflective, mirrors, shiney surfaces, water, etc. This stems from the long time ago, I would use mirrors in the creation of sculptures and rendering drawings, I should show this to mum, it would really appease her Christian tendencies

this young lady really caught my attention while I waiting for the Red line 2 express one afternoon


And finally, one of the best things I saw while in New York was this

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"The Weight of the World"
It reminded me of a painting, seemingly from another life time, except in the original painting the figure was crouched, as though struggling beneath the weight. I laughed, in the rain and thought "WOW, it really is wonderful to be Fed the Most"

Do you have a headache yet or what, yes I know this can be exhausting, I live it everyday....and the scary part is that this is just the tip of the ice-burg so to speak. I didn't even include a single thing about all the street performers or markets I saw, those deserve a journal all their own.

Hope all is well with the rest of SG land. BTW, you too can be a part of SG town, the Bill of Rights is being drafted as you read this !

I leave you with this adorable picture, just because it really makes me laugh, it is Afterbirth & Anaxarete's son, Wave





Peace,

D.