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1985
I get my first modem. A 300 baud for the Atari 800XL. I spend much of my afterschool hours on BBSs and Compuserv. Along with skateboarding, my first seductive tastes of subculture.
1990
With Prodigy, I see the first graphical glimpses of an online medium. The introduce a charge per email, and I return more intently to the BBS scene. For the next few years, I am connected to this intangible void mostly via the phone lines and bedroom and basement computers.
1993
I begin working intensely with what becomes known as the Internet. Mostly I am involved in distant correspondence with e-mail. Much more work now with computer graphics, and a job at the college art department computer graphics lab.
December 1994
"Red House" goes online- several scanned and manipulated photographs with placed text and a layout on the then standard grey backgrounds. Colored backgrounds were still not possible. This even is before Netscape 1.1. The web is mostly text, hyperlinks, and sporadic, misaligned images.
September 1995
Massive revision of the original experiment, renamed Redhaus. Working with the medium to better try to develop a consistant texture and style, and an improved organisation of the site, which at this point is mostly biographical experiments, online writings, and a gallery from my painting, photography, and printmaking.
December 1995
I complete my undergraduate degree (BFA) and leave New Jersey to move to Boston. I find work with a small design firm that specializes in web design and information architecture. The next three months are spent much submersed in HTML programming, image manipulation, web research and development, and walks to the water fountain in the hallway.
April 1996
Serious overhaul of the site, focusing on streamlining and optimizing the overall quality and speed of the site. I reduced the palettes on all the images, and worked to redesign certain aspects of the homepages that I felt were weak or did not work well. The overall file size of the site was reduced by 40%, and my sleeping hours by 50%.
May 1996
I begin working with another design shop,and am more engaged in multimedia/web research and development (Shockwave, Java, Director, etc), website development and innovation, bizarre HTML tricks,illustration and hands-on art, graphic and image design and manipulation, and so forth. An additional skill I realize working late one evening at the drafting table is the ability to cleanly remove the very tip of a finger (albeit inadvertently) with an X-Acto blade. At my gallery opening the next night I was modeling my bow-tie, my smoking jacket, and a white-gauze-wrapped left index finger.
July 1996
A planned massive revision to the Redhaus site is way-laid by a strange twist of fate and karma. One sunny Sunday afternoon, I return to my Chinatown apartment to find the door kicked in, the doorframe splintered and on the floor, my bedding upside down, and my IBM Thinkpad computer (and all the upgrades that I had slaved, along with the original computer, to purchase myself,) all my Zip-drive backups, everything-- all gone. Disappeared. Stolen.
It seems easy to want to give up and move on, but instead it seems I am doing the opposite. I'm assessing my finances for a move to a more comfortable and artistically conducive and motivating space. I continue working as a full-time freelance web-designer by day, and reading, painting, writing, and working on my artwork late into the night.
I have moved into a new space: a combination studio, gallery, and office. It a 1000 sq.ft loft located in Downtown Boston, located on the fifth floor of an old building which seems to be mostly housing sweatshops churning out endless cheap garments. The other half of the tenants seem to be professional artists and designers.
September 1996
The new space continues to evolve. I am constantly engaged in new projects to improve and upgrade the comfort and intrigue of my recreative and creative area. I am planning a short escape to San Francisco for mid-September.
22 September 1996
San Francisco was absolutely amazing. It is surprising that I allowed myself to return. Perhaps it was my two days in L.A. that convinced me to return to the east coast. Regardless, upon returning, I decided to take an indefinite leave from my employer. I am collecting efforts and enthusiasm for a return to the structured work force. In the meantime I am spending this time painting, printmaking, and programming on my own. Additionally, I have spent considerable time working on the loft, with hopes of gearing up for some exhibitions and performances-- putting in a gallery space in half of the loft.
13 October 1996
Loft and Gallery improvements progressing well, with the exception of an evening last week that my loft temporarily became a rainforest, due to a triggered fire sprinkler on the floor above. Downpour through every crack and hole in these sixty year old ceilings. I was frantically moving my handwritten manuscripts, uninstalling a painting exhibit quicker than I ever have, and moving everything to the twenty percent of the space that was shy of the watering. Almost everything was spared, including my still relatively new computer, thank goodness. The damage turned out to be minimal-- I lost a few block prints and antique photographs, but for the most part, only my sanity was excessively compromised by the episode. My plans to escape to the countryside for the next day to hike in the wilderness still followed through.
A date is set for GalleryInsekt's
first show and opening. I have planned for experimental music, performance art, a
reading, and an exhibit of paintings. The invites will be mailed this week, the posters will be
wheat-pasted around the city soon. Also, soon, I anticipate opening the gallery up once a week for
figure drawing studies-- hosting evenings of tea, coffee, figure models, and comfortable
artworking.
31 October 1996
Version 3.0 is about to hit the wires. I have been working fourteen hour days
trying to get this version done, and get everything set for GalleryInsekt's first show.
17 November 1996
Version 3.1 is up. Still
working on the art direction and refining the images for the splash/index page. "The Urgency Of
Life", GalleryInsekt's first show opened on 8 November. Fantastic turnout, good contributions to
the gallery, a wonderful start. The music was great, the reading was intense, and the performance
piece at the end came with an added surprise. Redhaus still has a lot of work, but I am
extremely caught up in a multitude of projects right now.
22 November 1996
It's
10:12 in the morning. I am about to go to sleep. Been up all night working on the EyesLikeWheels page.
Can't see straight. Must sleep. First upload, then bed. Upload. Bed.
10 December 1996
Newest revisions are about to go up: Martin's
digital page, new Eyes index page. Consolidated several digital
texts in Portraits Of Was. New splash page should be up
soon. Final refinements to Gallery Redhaus will be up
soon.
Things are well with the studio and gallery. Working on a show for February-- hopefully to
open in mid-month. Still looking at proposals. Studio figure drawing sessions at the gallery should
begin at about the same time, too.
4 March 1997
Much time
has passed since my last entry. Isn't this the way all my journals run?
The DEGENERATE! exhibit at
the gallery was a success.
Unfortunately another small catastrophe has occured in my life, cutting short the fantastic growth of the
gallery, and stifling the comforts of my studio and home. How much karma will I have to burn off to
make up for whatever it is that I have done in some forgotten time?
At the end of Feburary, with less than a week's notice
I and the gallery were indirectly evicted from my loft. I had done nothing wrong-- I was paying all
my bills and conducting myself properly. But it seems that again I fell prey to the assumptions that
everyone in this world has the same sense of conscience and convictions to honesty. And how wrong an
assumption it is.
Someone whom I considered a friend, and not incidentally the lease-holder of the floor
from which I sub-leased my space, turned out to be one of the most dishonest and cruel people I have
ever known. The eviction of the floor's tenants was in process for months because the rent had not
been paid to the owner for sixth months-- this I was never told. I was paying my rent, but it
was evidentally feeding the belly of this individual, instead of paying the rent on the floor-- as
he wasn't paying any bills with the money.
Following the eviction, I lost my studio, my gallery, and my residence. I am working as hard as I can to find a new space for the gallery and my studio. Currently my belongings are in storage in five locations, and I am staying with
acquaintances until I find a new space.
I am mostly numb, but force myself to try and grow from this pain. I will come back stronger, I promise.
8 May 1997
Time rolls on, although certainty isn't following. The past few months have been full of
confusion and doubt. The gallery hasn't and might not re-open. After ten weeks of wandering I've
taken a tiny work studio in Sommerville. At least now
I have some place to paint. There is no bed there, no bath. I read in the park, and stay with generous friends as possible. I continue to work freelance, sporadically, saving
money, and honing my skills.
In my 'free' time, I end up working
on my motorcycle-- a 1982 Honda CM450, that I got from a friend in trade for a large commissioned oil
painting. When the weather is good, I try to go for a ride to clear my mind of it's frustrations.
Asides from the persistant fears and risk, it usually works. Perhaps in a few weeks or months I will
venture west on the motorcycle. I'd like to end up at the Grand Canyon, camping.
29 June 1997
New Studio now, new loft, partially new life. Fort Point, Summer Street, Boston. It seems like I am staying in Boston for at
least a little while longer. I plan to go to Germany in the fall. I don't know how long I will
stay.
09 November 1997
Same studio, new work
done to it. It's rainy and cold. Motorcycle season is over. The 1982 Honda CM450 is in storage in NJ.
My 1986 Honda VT700 is waiting to be put into storage in the loft space
here. I have to build a ramp and drive it into the freight elevator this week. Too much rain to do it
today.
I've been practicing my German for 2 hours a day in anticipation for my 3 week stay planned
for late November, early December. My tickets are round trip to Munich: got a great deal, plan on
looking at graduate art programs, visiting Dachau, the Beckmann collection in Munich. Will write more
about that after I'm back.
15 December 1997
Back from Germany, Czech Republic. I spent a
week in Munich, a week in Berlin, and a few days in Prague. Berlin was the best-- rich in culture and
arts, alive and amazing, historical, and yet inexpensive and starkly beautiful. Bavaria and Munich were
interesting, but I felt more at home in Berlin. Maybe I will move there next year.
In addition to the Beckmanns I saw in Munich at the Statgallerie Moderne Kunst, my visit to Berlin coincided with the Exil und Emigre show at the National Museum. Equally impressive was the Martin Gropius Bau, also in Berlin. I certainly got more than I bargained for in my art-research and viewing, but ironically the univerisities were on strike, twarting my hopes of visiting potential graduate study facilities and faculty.
Prague was intriguing and vastly beautiful in its old charm, but the closing-in tourism and commercialism is spoiling its magnificence-- and drove me away: in a spontaneous evening decision I caught the next night train back to Germany.
GalleryInsekt has found a new location, back on Kingston, and I am in the process of renovation with hopes that the figure drawing classes will restart in January, and the first show will be in February.
Both motorcycles are in storage, hopefully safe in hibernation
from New England's relentless weather. A walk on Newbury street amidst the fur and leathers and
affluent garbage and prevailing bitter winter winds reminded me what a harsh place Boston can be in
this season.
28 February 1998
GalleryINSEKT has
relocated, and so has my studio again, for the fourth time in twelve months. I commissioned a friend
at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts to make a red neon INSEKT sign for the gallery. It's quite a
sight while strolling at night in Boston's Chinatown side streets.
Next week I should be taking the 86 Honda VT700 motorcycle out of storage and I greatly anticipate this season's upcoming rides and vacations. I am hoping to go to Montreal for two nights soon, and hopefully not too late into spring head west on the motorcycle, ultimately ending in San Francisco. The trip will probably take four weeks. Of course, my primary reason to head west on the motorcycle is to go to the Grand Canyon. It's been eleven years. I also want to see some Beckmann's in St.Louis, and make some visits in Columbus, Dallas, LA, and Philadelphia.
I haven't done a freelance job in several weeks and I am watching my savings spend themselves to pay for my albeit rather modest lifestyle. It's not as if I expect the experimental gallery that I run nor the paintings that I produce to pave my way. Soon enough I will be in an office, behind an unfamiliar workstation again. At least the latest updating to the Redhaus site has kept me in practice.
I often think of running away and becoming a chef.
2 April 1998
The M. Wagner show at the gallery is well under-way. I am in the process of booking future
shows and trying to finish and frame works of my own for a solo exhibit of my block printing at the
Boston Architectural Center.
I took the motorcycle Experienced Rider Course last month-- in 25 degree F weather, in the wind, rain, and snow for six hours outdoors. What can I say? Maybe now I am that much more of an 'experienced rider.' I hope.
I bought a nice road atlas and have been planning my cross-country trip. And I have been working a new freelance job downtown-- for the last four weeks-- so I am feeling more comfortable with respect to finances. Then again, I still have to do my taxes for 1997, and do more work on the studio and the motorcycle.
My own art-making seems to be a bit on hold, but at least I am getting a lot done
with the gallery. The first film showing went well, the figure drawing classes are good, and the
gallery attendance during open hours has been satisfactory.
The Return (with a capital R) from my cross country motorcycle trip to San Francisco! 22 days in all. Drove through 20 states.
I have chronicled the experience with a separate web page.
The trip was an incredible journey, a passage, and a parable. Though often difficult and absurb I'm satisfied with my circumstances. I had a fantastic and exhilerating time. For years I had hoped to one day cross the country alone on a motorcycle.
I cleaned and polished my motorcyle yesterday and it looks as good as it did before I drove to California. Only now it has 8000 more miles on it.
A lot of attention and enthusiasm is gathering
for the upcoming gallery events: Achim Wollscheid the German sound/video artist, and the 4 person
Artificial Light and Synthetic Creation show. The gallery has gotten some decent press and media and I
am expecting good turnout and results for the events and exhibit.
26 June 1998
Life is amazing. Insane. Maddening, and yet beautiful. I've been
so busy and so involved in so many things. I cannot sit still.
The gallery is in high gear; I keep waiting for its wide celebrated reception but I must not have the connections. I know I have the ambition and the energy and the materials provided and neccessary.
I got a Vespa scooter. It's a 1979 P200E. I'm thrilled. Been working on it a lot. Trying to get it fixed up and fancied up. It seems to run okay, but I am trying to smooth it up. I intend to restore it and make it beautiful, characteristic, and yet very functional.
I'm finally painting again. Recent in-depth associations with other active painters have helped discipline and encourage me.
18 Sept 1998
Haven't had a freelance assigment in months. Been using the
time though-- been working 10 to 14 hour days on my own projects. I've got over $3000 invested in my
three Vespa's that I am working on, riding, and restoring. Primarily
there is the 1955 Vespa that is totally restored, rebuilt, and repainted. I am putting it all
together. It's quite a dreamboat
On Sundays I go for rides with other scooterists, but I
typically use the scooter (my P200) almost daily. I still have yet to strap a tape-player on the back
with a cord, like I'd like to.. and drive around listening to old Morrissey songs.
Last month I
drove to PA to purchase two Vespa's and transport them back to Boston. I'm restoring one of them for a
friend.
Berlin? Where and when is Berlin? I'd like to go, but I am so busy with the gallery. I
am so busy trying to make Boston a better place to live and art. But my anxiety and tension mounts
more every day. The sounds of the city are destroying me. The traffic frustrates me, the inpoliteness.
I fear it is all making me a much more bitter person than I already am.
I have almost completed
my first full-size painting of this year. "Something Not Had; Double-Portrait at Morning"
15
Dec 1998
In the last month I finished restoring both of the two
late 70's Vespa's that I have had and been working on since the summer. I was extremely pleased with
the results of the projects. Such a rewarding feeling of completion and success.
I took a five
day trip to Memphis TN to visit an artist friend, relax in the South, see the museums and galleries,
and an excellent exhibit WWII: Through Russian Eyes. We got some good painting studies done,
and ate well.
In one week I will be moving to Philadelphia to re-establish my living, working,
and being. I've been in Boston for three years and it is time for a change and a move. The gallery
will be closing, as all things eventually end. I, in a sense, don't regret it too much. I know that I
gave it my all and that it is just time for me to shift my energy to more personal projects and
endeavors.
In Philadelphia I hope to find a more active, productive art scene, a better world
of restaraunts, and new work both professionally as a designer and as a painter. I want to work
intensely preparing for graduate painting studies that I hope to begin in the fall of 1999.
Oh
yes. And I look forward to riding the motorcycles and Vespas on the beautiful backroads of
Pennsylvania.
Mostly settled in Philadelphia studio now. Located again in Chinatown, downtown center city Philadelphia. I've got a nice loft on the third floor of a privately owned commercial building. 1500 square feet to paint, cook, read, compute, workshop, and exist. When I get wrought with anxiety I can get on my bicycle and ride circles around on the hardwood floors. The ten windows are my saving grace. Whenever I am underground now I get jittery-- need those windows, need natural light.
I set up a workspace in the far end of the space for working on the scooters. There is a freight elevator here, so I am able to store them upstairs in the off-season, and get them to the workshop to fiddle with them. I am almost done restoring the 1955 Allstate, and will sell it as soon as possible to free up money for bills and other projects
I just got back from a week-long trip to London and two days in Amsterdam. Excellent time, lots of photos, lots of food, lots of exercise. Perhaps will serve to document some of the trip soon, online.
For now, I just continue to paint, cook, go to the museum every Sunday, and wait for the warmer weather.
10 Aug 99
Eight months in the City Of Brotherly Love. Asides from the treatment at the local vegetarian Chinese restaurants, I've come to question this city's title. I've been working like a madman, with a designer position at a downtown interactive studio. I have a nice view of the city-line: bringing back memories of working in the Hancock Tower in Boston.
I haven't painted much recently, and have updated my online gallery with what I have done even less.
I have done a lot of riding and working on the Vespa's and that has been uplifting.
Mostly in my off hours from work, back at the studio, I try to cook, read, enjoy rented movies from the library, and ocassionally socialize. I don't know what has happened to my plans to be fluent in German by 25, nor my aspirations to be in Berlin by the close of millenium. And I am still hoping that I will be able to make my arrangements to be in India for New Year's and Xmas. We will see.
9 Dec 99
Haven't updated this dreadful thing in months. Much has changed. Left the fulltime position downtown in August, then started freelancing immediately. I worked and lived again in Boston for two months, with a really great agency, working on a lot of major accounts. But I still have the loft space in Philadelphia. Strongly considering moving back to Boston in the new year. Not decided on what the new years plans are still. I went to China for two weeks, just got back two days ago. It was quite an adventure. Spent a few days in Shanghai, a few days in Beijing, and took a weekend out to the country to go see some 1500 year old Buddhist caves (Yugang Buddhist Caves), and the Hanging Monastery, built into the face of a cliff, some hours rickety bus drive from Datong, a strange industrial city, which itself is an overnight train ride west of Beijing.
I want to go to Berlin for New Year's, but I still am not decided on what the final plan will be.
My heart and mind and lifestyle have been under such flux lately. The vacation time, the months away back in Boston again, the freelance paychecks. I can't make sense of it. I've been quite reasonably happy and satisfied with the levels of comfort in my life, but disappointed with the lack of painting, printing, or art exhibition that I have pursued lately.
23 Feb 00
Living back in Boston again now, in the North End, a small one bedroom old-fashioned apartment. Still hardwood floors, exposed brick walls- but- It's much different than the lofts I've become used to in the past few years, but my focus now is on work. I'm still freelancing, have been with this agency for almost six months on and off now. Managed to go to Berlin for New Years-- it was really amazing. Met up with some friends from San Francisco, Boston, and Berlin -- spent two weeks. Was on top of the infamous old art/squat/gallery/theater Tachales for the crucial moment. Needless to say, the world failed to fall apart. Yet.
This year I hope to travel to Scotland, maybe Italy. Want to spend a weekend in Maine soon, somewhere remote. Hope to take another major motorcycle ride in a few weeks. And I would like to be painting more soon. I have been reading a lot lately and cooking, too. Making my adjustments to being back here. Nothing ever feels too certain or sure. It's strange.
7 June 00
Two weeks in East Africa. Kenya and Tanzania. Two days in London on the way. More of riding the tube, eating chips, walking through Soho, Carnaby Street, etc.
Africa was quite an adventure, an insight, an intense experience. Really getting out there, into the Serengeti-- driving the Land Rover once I convinced the Swahili guide it would be okay. Nairobi was insane, chaos. Preparing me for seeing India maybe-- the poverty, the fear, the filth. Trapped in the 30's, such a surreal place.
Trying to do my best with things here in Boston. Still freelancing, still trying to motivate to paint, still wanting to move, maybe to Berlin, but so unsure about everything.
7 Feb 01
Three weeks ago I got back from a month in South East Asia. Before that, Mexico and mountain climbing with my father and one of my brothers. I spent Xmas in Thailand, and then New Years in Cambodia. Then two weeks in Vietnam, which was really incredible. I've been putting together travel logs of the experiences, with photos and text.
Work in Boston has slowed down considerably, with the economy. I've been mostly working on personal projects at home, when home, since Thanksgiving. Last fall I had started taking flying lessons, working on my private pilot's license, flying Cessna 150, 152, or 172's. My brother in Maine was taking lessons at a small airport near him, that is how I first got into it. Such a wonderful, liberating feeling. It feels like, well, it feels like-- flying. I was taking lessons from a small airport in Plymouth.. flying over the cranberry bogs early in the morning before work, what a blissful experience. It's a shame that with traveling I haven't been able to keep up with the lessons. And it looks like they might be on hold for quite a while. That's okay-- it was an incredible experience-- so exciting and yet so therapeudic.
In other news, I just bought a one-way ticket to Dehli, India this afternoon. Scary.
Berlin by Fall? I don't know. Hopefully a few months of riding trains in India and trekking in Nepal will bring more clarity.
5 Aug 01
Back from the four month trip to India and Nepal. Been spending some time in the states now in the northeast making moving preparations and seeing/staying with some old friends in Boston and NYC. Went to Maine for a few days and ride the vespa and the motorcycle around on the back roads some and then put then back into storage. Probably will sell the Vespa before I leave the country, also need to sell the 1969 Volvo 144s. No need to keep these projects and incidental vehicles indefinitely in storage. Would rather free up the money and resources. I'm looking into doing some traveling in South America before the move but am not sure if my financial reserves are up for it; Also I am pretty motivated to get to Germany and get into the intensive language program and then settle into a modest place and find some work in Berlin.
Being in Boston now for a few weeks, almost everything off in storage in various places, and having time to myself all day, walking the old streets... All the convincing that I need that I am doing the right thing and am excited for the move. I missed Boston and some people here, but I really know I need to try something else now. The three days in Vienna on the way back from Asia also really reinforced the fact, the feeling, that I'd like to be living and working in Europe for a while.
26 Aug 01
Purchased a one-way ticket to Berlin, Germany, with a day in Zurich on the way. Vespa P200 sold. Volvo 144s sold. Intensive German Course booked, apartment arranged. It seems pretty official: moving to Berlin, 1 Sept.
14 Mar 02
Been living in Berlin since 3 Sept 2001. Six months of German lessons with Goethe Institut. Living in Prenzlauerberg neighborhood. Watching several german films a week. Trying to read, write, speak German everyday. Trips to Holland to visit friends there sometimes. A lot of walking in the city, riding the subways, taking photographs around.
Currently in the USA for a few weeks 'holiday.' NYC. Phila. Boston. Maine. Virginia.
27 Nov 02
Still living in Berlin, trying to make the most of each day, and trying to make financial ends meet. Did an internship with an art gallery in Berlin-Mitte for three months in the summer and worked on a lot of German-English translations and promotional materials for the gallery in addition to working with the different artists and helping with the installations. Been working on a few web design projects from home, and also teaching some private English lessons. Considering working in a language school if I don't find some good work with a gallery or museum. Would like to be painting again but afraid of the expense of materials and feeling a sense of artistic uncertainty. Namely, am I an artist?
In September and October I took two more months of intensive German lessons and then took and passed the Zentrale Mittelstufenprufung (a Test of German as Foreign Language) -- a preliminary requirement for studying at German universities, hopefully good on a resume, and for working opportunities, too. I try to read as much German as I can, and to watch films and get to talk. Been keeping a journal in German for some months now, which is always funny to look back on my writing mistakes from previous months as I gradually learn more of the language.
Took a weekend trip to Leipzig on the train and met some interesting people, got to walk around the inner city a little bit. Strange to see a 900 year old city that doesn't really look like a 900 year old city. So much destroyed from the war and then rebuilt in the Soviet years. Certainly different than I imagined it to be, but nonetheless surely interesting to get to see.
26 Dec 02
This month started working for an art gallery in downtown Berlin-Mitte. Translating German-English texts, and maintaining web site and graphic design materials for an ongoing project.
Just prior to Xmas took a short trip by train to Warsaw, Poland. The outdoor markets in the blistering cold-- one could find anything, one could lose anything in the crowds. Riding the trains and trams around, walking, wandering: Milk Bars, markets, monuments. Cooking in the homes of friends, all kinds of Polish treats. Back in Berlin on the 24th Dec.
02 Feb 03
Weekend trip to Munich-- hadn't been there in about five years. Several art museums including the Neue Pinothek-- modern and contemporary collection. Excellent and inspiring. More trains there and back, wandering around the city which seemed much more familiar than I thought it would. The Bavarian accent totally surprised me-- such a different German.
18 Feb 03
Bus trip to Holland; Amsterdam a few hours arriving in the very early morning and fending off the depraved and damaged souls at the main train station before catching a train to Eindhoven. Dutch treats and the company, hospitality of an American friend from Boston now living in Holland. Bicycles and walks.
23 April 03
24 hours in Paris and two weeks in the Northeast USA, short visits between NJ, NY, PA, and Maine. Visits with friends and family after over a year away. Too much driving and not enough relaxing, but a few nights in Maine and Boston did me good. NYC and Philadelphia visits so quick and not getting to see all the people I wanted to see.
Back to work in Berlin and struggling to pay bills, keep debt manageable. Uphill battles. Reading a book about two Germans who left Cologne in 1981 on motorcycles and returned 16 years later, 1997, after traveling over most of the world. Amazing.
09 May 03
Riding the trams and trains, watching Spring unfold. Wanting to take yoga classes, make another adventure, more sitar lessons, and some upper level German grammar/writing courses-- but finances now make it unlikely. I keep cooking at home and wait for my oil paints and other art materials to arrive by mail.
29 July 03
One week visit to Italy. Stayed in a small villa ten minutes walk from downtown Florence. Really beautiful. Coffees, breakfasts and cold white wine, dinners on the terrace, views of the olive trees and vineyard. My 20 word Italian vocabulary getting me ice cream cones or Pizza or breads downtown. Taking photos. Sitting on old steps reading finding shade from the blistering, sweltering sun. Visits to the Uffizi museum, various churches and other museums, checking out the Botecellis, Leonardo DaVincis, Giottos, and hundreds of others I studied years ago and now finally see for the first time. Exploring the alleys and streets, blending into a sea of summer tourists. A day's drive to Pisa and Volterra, ancient Etruscan ruins on a dry gold grainy hillside lost in a film-perfect Italian landscape.
07 Sept 03
Started painting again last month. Going pretty well. Trying to paint almost every day. Also started a yoga course, finally, and attending that once a week. Two things I've wanted to do since moving to Berlin and kept postponing. Will be updating the painting section hopefully in a few weeks with some new works. If all goes really well perhaps I will apply to some programs or grants and-or attempt to get a gallery show in the spring.
Went to Prague at the end of August; only for a few days. Was there with the gallery I work for, we were setting up a one-week exhibit at a gallery in downtown Prague. It worked out really well, got to meet some interesting people, ate some great food, but unfortunately only got to see the city itself in passing-- from brisk walks or out of an auto or tram window. Simply not enough time. Such a different feel than the Prague I saw in 1997 in a December. Before it was so grey and cold and enhanced that Prague medieval feeling, this was more colorful and warm and lively-- reminded me of Vienna.
Last week took a train ride to the German-Polish border at Frankfurt Oder, walked across the border and spent a few evening hours in Poland with some friends. Pierogies, mmm.
25 Sept 03
Just returned from 8 days in Istanbul. Taste of the orient! And I don't just mean the Lentil soup. Beautiful excursion to the Black Sea, short hikes, warm sunny days, having fun with my turkish phrase book. Sketching the architecture, swimming in the sounds of the city. Long walks, a lot of tea, and visiting the marketplaces.
Oct 03
My father visits me here in Germany. Short trip to Munich, overnight train - tiny berth. Rented a Smart Car and drove to medieval city of Quedlinburg. Visit to my favorite technology museum (in Munich) - Deutsches Museum. Day trip to Potsdam.
December 03
In Berlin for Xmas and New Years. Riding the buses around for hobby. Reading. Not much work.
Jan 04
Completion of new painting, Portrait as Cook.
Feb 04
Began next painting, Exil in Schanghai, 1939. Planning this year's travel. Considering Morocco, Dublin, Italy, Portugal. Been reading a lot, playing chess, working on some design projects, and watching films like no tomorrow. Winter drags on and I'm too cheap to buy a subway pass, instead riding my bike in the cold everywhere. Life is, however, very good.
14 June 04
Leaving tomorrow at 5 a.m. to go the Berlin-Tegel airport. I'm scheduled to fly to Lisbon Portugal at 6:30 a.m. I'll stay in Portugal for about a week, hopefully visit this side of the atlantic for the first time, and then head south, through Spain, and then across the Straits of Gilbraltor to Morocco. I plan to spend just slightly over 2 weeks in Morocco, then return to Spain, spend a few days there, and fly back to Berlin from Barcelona.
27 Aug 04
Travel journals updated: Lisbon-Marrekech-Barcelona. Eight chapters of text, 50 or so photographs.
Reading a lot. Painting, but it's going slowly. Riding my bike in the rain often, as it is, and late at night. Most work projects on hold... keeping my fingers crossed for new design projects with some artists this fall.