Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2009 - 3

The World Festival @ St George's West, a church on Shandwick Place featured Capoeira Knights:Boys from Brazil, Samba from Sengal, Etiopian music and Sri Lanka classical dance.

Creole Choir of Cuba - extraordinary voices, exquisite harmonies and thrilling percussion gave renditions of musical treasures from Haiti, Dominica, Cuba and Brazil. Needless to say the acoustics of the church were perfect! Janis, played by Nicky Haydn, www.janistheplay.co.uk, is a one-act one-woman glimpse into the life of Janis Joplin and the singers' dual personalities at the height of her career.

Public health advice in Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) on H1N1.
The Tempest by ECA students.Sky-light atrium in ECALive art in progress at the ECA.Scottish clansmen doing their thing . . .

Edinburgh International Book Festival 2009 - 2

The Edinburgh International Book Festival running parallel with the Arts Festival, has a full program of talks by authors, book signings, writing workshops for adults and an equally packed program of events for children. Set in the charming Charlotte Square Gardens with two big tents of books, coffee and snacks, lecture rooms and benches in the garden for reading, it provides the perfect ambiance.

At a workshop on Writing for Radio an experienced BBC playwright explored the do's and dont's of this genre. Excerpts of a radio play was critiqued almost line by line analysing the importance of the use of words in dialogue for dramatic effect.

The variety of topics the program offered was impressive. The Scottish Pen Event featured the award winning Albanian author, Fatos Lubonja, who wrote about the atrocities of the former Albanian regime in The Slaughter, whilst imprisoned for 19 years. He shared the personal account of his time in prison, the politics of the country at that time and his hopes for his country in the future.

A tent dedicated to daily book signings by authors was made available.

A highlight indeed was to listen to the Scottish crime writer Val McDermid talk about her new book Fever in the Bone. Well known for the TV serial Wire in the Blood developed from her books, she discussed the changing features of current crime fiction genre, development of characters and the subject of violence.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2009 - 1

Edinburgh - electric, happening and full of life!
Festival posters galore . . .
People watching from street curbs . . .
. . . or from a vantage point.
Street players on the Golden Mile.
Assembly, one of the venues for the Festival with long queques on a brilliant day.
The ultimate creative blend of bagpipes, Indian tabla drums . . . and a windy day. (psst. . . they do wear underwear under their kilts!)
So what you do next is to whip your belt off, strap them around your knees, and promptly do a handstand!

2 days in London

What can you do in 2 days....in London, if you haven't been for 15 years or 4 years on a working trip? Be selective. Tate Modern, Covent Gardens, duck rice and a play!Taking the tube from Bayswater to Temple, I could not help comparing how much better the train system in Tokyo is compared to London. Quieter, cleaner, faster and better organised.

Walking along the Embankment, it occurred to me that the feel good factor of exploring Japan and Asia far out passes the attraction of the West these days. Development along the Embankment has changed its profile, and the walk across the Millennium Bridge creates an artists perspective of St Paul's. However old favourites like the Tate Gallery, now evolved into Tate Modern and Tate Britain, are still a must see especially after a long lapse.

The Futurism exhibition was informative. F T Merinetti and friends stayed up all night to write their manifesto.

"We intend to sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and fearlessness...; exalt aggressive action, a feverish insomnia, the racer’s stride...; We will glorify war...militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of freedom-bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for, and scorn for woman;....We will destroy the museums, libraries, academies of every kind, will fight moralism, feminism..."

Covent Gardens was alive and well basking in the summer sun for a motley crowd. No one was wearing masks.

After a satisfying duck rice (5 quid) in Soho, the play Taking Sides was the last thing on the agenda. A rather serious courtroom drama about a Nazi sympathiser caught me napping and wishing Dirty Dancing across the road was spotted before this choice.

Balinese vistas - terraced padi fields 2

Rendering of the padi terraces is tackled next. Texture and tones of green are applied. The bunds are refined giving height and depth from distant to near.

To give the impression of padi growing in rows, equidistant muted lines are drawn in each terrace.

The Pura (temple) is an auspicious landmark for thanksgiving ceremonies according to Hindu beliefs. Offerings to ensure blessings from deities and to ward off evil spirits are practiced at various significant times of the rice-growing cycle. Careful study of shadow and light are observed and the final highlights with titanium white are added.

Two terraces are given different detailed rendering. Sgraffito, the technique of scratching one layer to expose the colour of a deeper layer, is applied to the brown area. The terrace above had detailed rendering of fine tufts of padi in rows for a more realistic effect. Going through the process helps to make the choice for the preferred effect.
A rushed photo finish for the purpose of this blog! More detail to delineate the houses and more contrast need to be added to the long fence to enhance perspective to complete the painting.

Hazy days

These are the Malaysian sunrises we long for.But instead, for the past 12 years, from July through to August, we get this. Global warming in your face, literally! Visibility down to 5 M, smell of burnt ash hanging in the air, tearing of eyes, itching of skin and exacerbation of wheezing if one is proned. Thank God for gyms and spinning classes. The added fear this year is the H1N1 flu pandemic which is likely to be worsened by the haze, the Minister of Health Malaysia nonchalantly informs the public.

This satellite picture shows the offending areas of forest fires from Central Sumatra being carried over by the winds to Malaysia. Also affected are Thailand and Singapore. The El Nino weather phenomenon which was worst in 1997-1998, led to drought and forest fires amounting to US$9 billion in economic losses. This year promises to be a bad El Nino effect again.

This picture, taken at mid-day, reflects the gloom and doom that pervades space and people alike giving rise to a feeling of lethargy and listlessness. So apart from the loss of tourism, transport and farming, manpower wastage is high.

KL skyline in better times, when blue is the actual colour of the sky.

Balinese vistas - terraced padi fields 1

Next project - the Balinese vistas that captured my heart whilst viewing villas in the Umalas district adjacent to Seminyak. The green padi fields are literally to die for. Setting up and sketching is now becoming more of a focused effort, keeping proportion and perspective in mind. . .

. . . and applying structure and form to canvas.The sketch completed, dusting off excess charcoal with a soft rag is a necessary preparatory step to prevent contamination of paints. From the upper skies downwards, a wash of cerulean blue (with a touch of ultramarine) merging into a gradual mixture of white; then on to a warmer tone with a touch of raw sienna as the sky blends with the trees at the horizon.

The clouds are left unpainted ensuring charcoal outlines are covered with blue. 'Every cloud has a silver lining' are not just words strung together, but true to nature. Closer examination of the reference picture shows each cloud formation with a distinct underbelly of silver grey suggesting the weight of water content causing the change in refractive index hitting the eye. A touch of Payne's grey and lots of white is applied for the clouds.

Next each terraced padi field is painted in blends of sap green, raw sienna, viridian and titanium white separated by bunds.Standing back and gazing at the picture, due to the nature of the brush strokes, the padi fields took on an undulating appearance that was not logical. Far from realistic, this would mean that padi farmers would be sliding down the mushy slopes!
To rectify this, smoother brush strokes in a horizontal lie are required for the correct effect.