07 December 2009

It's all a blur...

Enjoying the atmosphere of the unintentional and imperfect,
  at Aux Gazelles in Vienna.

























19 November 2009

An Autumn Walk Through Vienna

Some photographs I took while walking through the city last week. *
(Click links to enlarge.)













































* These photos were made possible by a mug of hot Chai tea and a plate of chocolate-covered cookies.

11 November 2009

Wings



Oh soul,
you worry too much.
You have seen your own strength.
You have seen your own beauty.
You have seen your golden wings.
Of anything less,
why do you worry?

-Rumi

I just released a new calendar of photographs on Redbubble; from churches, monuments and over doorways—angels for the new year:




click here to view calendar










07 November 2009

Psychic in the Machine

Does the Internet know what I'm thinking?  I've accepted being stalked on the 'Net by Google ads--I would much rather see adverts for green living, Paris fashions or travel to Bali than dancing Chicken McNuggets and bouncing smileys--but it seems the 'Net has begun to breach its boundaries.

Late last night, while falling asleep and as my mind was wandering into that dangerous territory where uninhibited dreams start to take over, "Mercy Mercy Mercy" by the Cannonball Adderly Quintet started swirling around in my head.  I've mostly been listening to it when it's played on the French radio station TSF Jazz, although not on my Mac but on the HP laptop next to it on the desk.

For some reason, this morning after breakfast while on my computer, I decided to pop over to YouTube where on the homepage under the heading "Recommended for You" was displayed a video with the same recorded version of the Joe Zawinul tune performed by Cannonball & his Quintet.

Mercy!




29 October 2009

Tasting the Music

"Authentic transformation requires that we be profoundly rooted in both the eternal peace of pure being and the ecstatic urgency of the creative impulse." – Andrew Cohen

In anticipation of tonight's weekly visit to the Tangobar, phrases from this poem I wrote a few years ago have been swirling around in my head.  I wrote it in my pre-tango existence, the year before I began on that cold January day in Jorge's studio in Vienna, but perhaps it was a little prophetic; a glimpse of what was to come, or, what was already there.


Es Por Ti


Flashes of red
Teasing the dance
Through a whirlwind
Of sounds, and
Through your hands
Inviting themselves
Where nothing is
Forbidden in passion.

A play of controls, shifting,
Demanding; elusive steps
And seductive breaths;
Senses and responses heightened.
Bodies merging, displaying desires
With intrigue in your eyes
Tasting the music. The dance,
A ménage à trois,
A union of liberation-

Spinning, turning,
Leading into another world, as
I feel your intentions betraying
The subtleties of your embrace.
Chasing your lips that night
We knew not of ourselves, when
Somewhere we met love.





28 October 2009

Faces of Vienna

New 2010 calendars are just now coming out on Buy my art.
I am kicking off the calendar & holiday season with Mythic Faces of Vienna--featuring the lovely Gorgons of my previous post along with many of their wondrous companions:


And Faces of Vienna, featuring the serene to the sensational, silently watching and guarding from their architectural homes around the city:



If you would like to browse through the calendars and my online photography gallery, then please visit my Redbubble profile.

26 October 2009

Secession Gorgons

Gorgons
Gorgons, originally uploaded by Via Kali.
Detail of the Secession building in Vienna, Austria, built 1897-98 by Joseph Maria Olbrich.

The three Gorgons, greeting all visitors over the doorway, symbolize painting, architecture and sculpture. The Gorgons (along with owls on the side of the building) are attributes of Pallas Athena, the godess of wisdom, victory and the crafts.
The goddess Athena often appears along with images of Gorgons on her shield and accompanied by snakes and owls--all of which appear in various places on the façade of the Secession building.
The bulding is also decorated in golden and sculpted laurel leaves and wreaths, often thought of as a symbol of victory, although perhaps the pursuit of it is more appropriate: When the god Apollo was chasing the lovely Greek nymph Daphne, she asked Athena to change her into another form, which was the laurel tree.