OFF THE WALL

 

All of a sudden I got the urge to paint the wall behind my shawl-covered keyboard to look like it was a space extending beyond the room. So I got out the acrylics and the brushes and started following the lines and colours of the beautiful ethnic shawl as if they were penetrating the wall. I love the feeling of painting on the large solid surface of a wall, so much more satisfying than canvas or paper. That's what drew me to study mural painting in Mexico and later I actually was a mural painter for a while - I'm gathering some photos which I'll post on another page shortly.

Anyway the current project is under way and has gone through various changes, some of which I photographed. I'll post the final result when ready. Following a creative impulse without making a plan as to where it's going has unexpected results and so now there's also a trompe l'oeil version of a small painting/construction on the adjoining wall.

Maybe I'll be inspired to start learning the keyboard again.

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THE GHOST IN THE UNDERWEAR

I was in the shower today when my eyes caught a glimpse of something that I couldn't believe. A face, a marble face was hanging on the bathroom door. My imagination is playing tricks, I thought, there is no face. But the smoothly sculpted female ghost with heavy eyelids didn't go away. It took a few more second for my brain to grasp that my underwear hanging from the door handle was accidentally draped in such a way as to suggest this apparition.
I fetched the camera and took this photo and I swear I haven't altered or enhanced the picture or the objects in any way: this is exactly what I saw. Once you've noticed the face, you almost obliterate the fact of what it actually is. But if you focus on the facts, then you might not see the face at all.
I often see faces within random objects but this was one of the most striking examples I've ever encountered. Leonardo da Vinci wrote about seeing images in clouds, on walls etc. Face-recognition patterns are built in to our brains right from the start but these unexpected and fleeting ghosts are interesting in their own right. Are there some around you right now that you could photograph?


UPDATE: For the benefit of those who couldn't see the face in the first photo, I've added a smoothed-by-Photoshop version.  Now do you see it?
 
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