He gets Rumblies in his Tumblies!

Today I want to say a big big thankyou to my partner Kev Moore playing a very special role in my painter career, forcing himself to eat kilos of yoghurt every day -vanilla is his favourite, and straciatella is not bad either...
What has this to do with me as a painter, you may ask...
Very simple. In this way he provides me continually with the enormous yoghurt pots which I use to put the water in awhen I paint, especially with gouache or acrylics. I use a lot of them, because I am quite delicate with that, and hate to use a pot twice. Considering how much I paint everyday, one can imagine how many yoghurt pots I need ...
Sometimes, he really looks like a big bear eating honey, my Kevin..

A girly evening with Champagne

Yesterday morning Kevin drove to Valencia, to catch a plane to Germany, Lübeck, where he had a BC Sweet gig in the night. Before I met him, I didn´t really know how it is to fear for somebody when he is on the road, or in the air! Well, now, I know, and I can tell you; it is AWFUL! I can´t help thinking, everytime, that it could be the last time ...

Knowing of my pain, my beloved niece NanoO came to visit me in the evening, bringing a bottle of Cava (kind of Spanish Champagne) and a ready to cook pizza. Funny, with the Cava....
"Maset et Carpon",
was the name, obviously based on one of the famoust French Champagne called:
"Moet et Chandon"
hoping to catch some tourist or uneducated native... Knowing the French and their pride, I guess they would be gravely offended if they knew!

But my niece and me, both French, are quite relaxed with such things and just enjoyed the stuff and its tiny bubbles!
We had a lovely evening together, laughing a lot, and she was kind enough to pose for me for some fast sketches...
That girl is a beauty, as you can see, but don´t think twice: she is already taken!

To Be!

This is my answer, today, to yesterday´s question!
I woke up in a better mood, well at the end yesterday was a very positive day, I just missed Kevin and didn´t feel human any more! This is the problem when one loves too much... one doesn´t exist anymore when one is apart!
I know, I am a little bit excessive, but please, bear with me!

And as you can see, I am back to work today... I feel definitively bigger than yesterday -oh God, I felt so small !- still a little bit pale and quite distorsed in the face, the head still hidden behind a book, but not so much and at least it is a sketch book today!
Even drinking my milk coffee out of my M Cup, a sign that I am on the best way back to my human identity!
Just Mousy, our neighbour, a friendly rosa mouse who cares for me when Kevin is away, still looks quite worried up to me... I guess she doesn´t trust the nonchalance which I exhibit in my chair... she is not daft, I would say!!!

Back again on Planet Goodaboom!

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Planet Goodaboom, Saturday 24th March 2007


Yes, we are back home, and this is the way it looked as we entered Spain on the 21st of March in the middle of the afternoon. And you won´t believe it, but some hours later, as we drove through a region called "El Maestrazgo", about 300km south of Madrid, the car thermometer was showing - 6°C outside! So people, if you consider moving to Spain because of sea and sunshine, better stay home... anyway, already too many people are living here, it´s becoming insane! Better regularly read our diaries and get the taste of Spain from a distance!

Kevin will surely soon make a word and photo reportage of our travel to Germany and to France, so keep an eye out for our travelogue.

The first thing I saw when I entered the Art Studio was three half finished kiddies anxiously waiting for me with wide open eyes... oh God, I thought, I had completely forgot them! Of course, two weeks before we left I had started 3 portraits on commission - one English boy, one English girl, one Dutch girl- and had to leave before I could finish them...
It will be so difficult now to go back to them, I have completely lost the personal relationship I had established with them while I was painting them, absolutely necessary to make a good, lively portrait. But well, I am not so worried, I just need to make the first step, sit in front of one portrait, empty my mind concentrating only on the child and start. But well, this tiny step, at the moment, appears to me like a giant one! But it will be wonderful to paint again, after 10 days artistic inactivity. I deeply miss it.

I guess, the best thing is to start at once! Also: write to you soon again!

Buying my place in Paradise...

Planet Goodaboom, Friday 9th March 2007

My parents live in a flat in Tarbes, in the French Pyrenees, in the first floor. Underneath there lives alone a very old Catholic priest, he must be about 90 years old now. A very funny figure. I remember when I met him for the first time on the stairs there, I was on the way to my kick boxing training. My mother told him that, and he suddenly got very bright eyes, asking me if I had seen the film „X“ –sorry, I don´t remember the name!- with a woman as a kick boxer... he said that he loved the film. And as he said bye to me, he started wildly throwing his fists and legs in the air, in the manner of a kick boxer!
He is also the one who bakes special butter-laden cookies for Maya, my parent´s dog... he knows that my parents don´t want that the dog to eat too many cookies, so he just waits until they turn their backs and he feeds her with all the cookies within 2 minutes! You should see his innocent, sinless eyes after!
Anyway... some days ago he went to my parents flat and saw some of my paintings there. He was fascinated by the abstract ones, especially the one with the very bright colours, „La dame en noir“. Which I gave my mother last year for Mother´s day:

The priest said that he was something of a connaisseur in art and literature, and made many compliments about my work.
„You can believe me, I know what I am speaking about, she is a great artist!“
Oh God!

He spent a long time sitting there, and watching the Lady in Black, At the end he took a very sinful look and asked, with a very shy voice:

„Can you ask your daughter if she can give me one painting? Just a tiny one? I know it is very shameful of me, but... it is so beautiful, I can´t resist!“

My mother was quite embarrassed to tell, me that, but why? I feel quite honoured, I must say! I always feel honoured when somebody loves my paintings so much that he wants to hang one at home, either paid for, or not!
So I have chosen for the priest today one of my favourite „Impressions“, called „Phantasm“, and Kevin will put a beautiful frame around it. My mother thinks it´s too much, but as I told her just now on the phone:
„It might help me to get a place in Paradise!

A Baby in a Rose

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Planet Goodaboom, Tuesday 6th March 2007


I told you it was a successful day 2 days ago in the Street Gallery...but how successful, I didn´t even know myself at that moment! One of the clients who already bought a painting from me came today to my Gallery and bought a further three and a CD from Kevin (see his entry in his diary). It was wonderful to see how they hardly could decide which one they should buy, they loved so many... what a nice compliment for me! Above all because these people were the same who bought my miniature painting 2 weeks ago, saying that they have no place on their walls. They haven´t indeed, but they have children who still have space... I hope they will like the paintings their parents bought for them today!

I wanted above all to tell you about the old Spanish lady who bought a painting from me on Sunday. She is one of these women living in the countryside, and who normally never leave their villages in their lifetime. But some travel companies here organise cheap week-end trips to the coast for these old Spanish people and for most it is their first trip away. They accomodate them in some of the nice hotels by the beach –one of them, Kactus Hotel, is right at the corner of the Street Gallery- and organise there on the Sunday afternoon big sales of things like oriental carpets or modern kitchen appliances. These poor people get the trip cheap, but they then spend such a fortune buying all these extras! Anyway.. my old lady looked at the paintings and came to me, asking:
„Are these paintings signed by any well-known painter?“
I didn´t really understand what she meant. So I said:
„well, yes, they are all signed... the paintings are from me!“
„Yes, I can see they are signed! But I know exactly what I want!“
She sounded a little bit stressed... but whatever she wanted, and however she expressed it, I kept smiling and told her, that I am famous in the area. She was quite happy with that answer and asked me for the price.
„Which one?“
I asked.
She didn´t know. She just wanted a painting from a famous painter, I guess. As I told her the price of various ones, she looked very sad.
„Look, I have already spent too much money on the carpets... I have almost nothing left... and my husband loves paintings so much! It is for him...“
Finally she found a painting which she really loved. It was inspired by a photo from Anne Geddes, featuring a baby in a rose. In fact it was not for sale, it was just to give people ideas for personalised paintings.
But my old lady insisted so much that I gave her a price. Of course it was much too expensive, and normally I don´t let people negociate with me. But I felt some kind of sympathy for this woman. I never had that before but, after 4 rounds, and her leaving and returning each time, finally even showing me the bill for the carpets she had just bought, she succeeded in getting the painting from me for less than half of the price I had first said!
I wonder if her husband will really appreciate it, when she comes back home after having spent so much money. But she was very happy, and wanted me to make a photo of her, me and the baby in the Rose!

Art and Ice Cream

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Planet Goodaboom, Monday 5th March 2007


Wonderful day again for the Street Gallery yesterday. I guess a thousand people must have stopped to look at my paintings and I ask you: where else, if you are not a really famous painter, would you get so many visitors in one day to your exhibition? Whatever one still may think about my choice to „work the street“: it is obviously the best place to touch my clients! (Kevin: „you are such a naughty girl, Miki!“)

And as you see: even the youngest were interested in my art! That one –a lively work of art himself!, with even the colour of the ice cream matching the colour of the sweatshirt!- had really to be dragged away by his parents from my paintings, he wanted to stay there! I guess the parents were scared the ice cream would land on the paintings, and indeed I was scared too although, honestly, I think it would have been funny, somehow, to see the reaction of the parents and if they would offer to buy the painting...
It reminds me, many years ago, I was painting a watercolour landscape in nature, sitting on the ground, in Provence. Suddenly I saw an enormous tongue licking my painting and the whole landscape was transformed into a dog´s breakfast, quite literally! I glanced back and saw behind me a gigantic Saint Bernard, whose tongue, having finished with my painting, moved on to my face for dessert... By the way: the dog´s owner did not propose to pay for the painting, but thankfully kept HIS tongue in his mouth!

I ask you again: have you seen many times such small children in a normal exhibition? This only happens in the street. I am fascinated how such small children are really interested in paintings... and many times it happens that they start explaining the paintings to their parents! This was not the case with that one, as he cannot speak yet!

The problem with my young admirers is that they don´t buy my paintings. They prefer to spend their money on ice cream, I guess, and I must confess, in their place, I would do the same!!!!!!!

Nevertherless it was a very successful day yesterday in the older age category. I´ll tell you next time... if I can find the time to leave all my kiddies for a while!

The Last of the Mohicans

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Planet Goodaboom, Monday 26th February 2007

Yesterday, after 4 or 5 weeks pause, I exhibited again in the Street Gallery. Against my expectations based on former experiences with the local authorities, one week after my request for renewal of permission I received an official letter from the town hall, saying that they agree. Hurrah! It feels as though I have won a war!

I thought I had no chance, because in the meanwhile I am the only painter left exhibiting there, you might say: the last of the Mohicans.
Did I already tell you the story of the Street Gallery?
It started 3 years ago, from a collective painting exhibition organised by the local Lions Club. I met there a Spanish painter, Concha. We were both exasperated by the lack of exhibiting possibilities in our area, and had the idea to try to make the only pedestrian street of the city OURS, at least on Sundays, organising an exhibition of paintings from international painters there. It took three months till we got the permission – a perfect example of the „mañana“ principle-, and we only triumphed because Concha & me are the kind of people who take it to the wire until we get what we want! We were sent backwards and forwards through all the departments here, the culture centre, town hall, police, traffic, economy, simply because nobody really wanted to make the decison. It even became a political matter! But finally we got what we wanted!

Well... we were 7 at the beginning... 4 Spaniards, 1 German, 1 Swedish and the French Miki. Unfortunately it is very hard to work the street, and we had to face all kind of calamities like sudden storms, electrical shorts , sewage smells from the overworked drainage system, Dogs fouling path AND paintings! etc. But the worst were the critics: many people could not understand that professional painters like ourselves could „demean“ themselves by exhibiting their paintings in the street, and most of the time under very unfavourable conditions. They thought the street was the wrong „frame“ for our paintings, that it would totally diminish their value. So one after the other my painting companions deserted the Street Gallery. Just Concha and me were still there last Summer. Unfortunately, in the autumn, she gave up, too. I then wanted to stop myself because I found it too hard to stay there alone, and anyway it didn’t correspond at all to the original idea of having an international gathering of painters working in different styles and techniques. But in the last 3 years the Street Gallery had become quite well known in the area, people really enjoyed it, and they tried to convince me to go on. But it is only thanks to Kevin, who motivated and helped me so much all the time, that I am still there... and very happy about it!
As hard as it is, it is really the best way to reach the maximum number of people with my art, people coming from many different countries and social backgrounds and occupations. It is also the best place to observe the public reaction to my work.
In the meantime people no longer think it is a shame to exhibit in the street. I like to think of it as striking a blow against the collective prejudices...

And as if the gods wanted to reward us: it was a very successful day yesterday, I´ll tell you about it next time.
And the curtain fell on the Street Gallery with an astonishing sunset...

An English Cloud with Bow-Tie

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Planet Goodaboom, Friday 23th February 2007



Some days ago, quite frustrated at not being able to express myself in English as I would really love to, I looked for a French Blog Platform, and found quite a nice one. I started a new diary there, and if I have the discipline to go on, I´ll perhaps publish it in Goodaboom, for the French speaking people. I have already been moaned at by my compatriots, who consider it as a serious case of betrayal.
I was browsing through the entries there, and I found the blog of a mother publishing the last drawings of her very young child: a pig with glasses, and a train making a cloud with a bow-tie, „looking like an English gentleman“, the mother commented. English people out there, don´t be offended, i´m sure the woman referred to the bow-tie part of the drawing, not to that of the cloud!

Anyway: as I saw these pictures, I had to leave a comment:
„What a pity that we lose the freedom of our imagination when we grow up!“.
These drawings remind me of a conversation I had with Kevin some days ago. About dreams, and the way how they may be „created“ in the brain.
I think, when we sleep and our brain doesn´t underlay the laws of reasonability and logic it has to follow to be able to survive in „the real world“, it takes a little bit of its inspiration from everywhere in its memory and connects elements in a kind of surrealistic way. Connections which are „prohibited“ in a state of wakefulness.

And so it is in the woken brain of very young children. Everything is still allowed, no rule tells you that a cloud cannot wear a bow-tie, at least not loud enough to impede the imagination to flourish. This could be the reason why these children´s drawings remind me so much of dreams...

99,99 % of people lose that ability when they grow-up, I guess. Only the ones who have a strong enough character to flout the common laws, may keep this ability of wild, unallowed connections in their brain.
I would call this ability: „Creativity“.
In this sense children are surely the most creative creatures in the universe!

PS: I just found that it exists in the weather science a „Bow-Tie Effect“ related to clouds! What a genius

Oh God, I am pregnant again!

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Planet Goodaboom, Wenesday 20th February 2007




As I told you yesterday, I have just finished giving life to the Dutch „twins“. They are still not out of the house because the grandparents –in Holland- decided to make me frame them here in Spain, thinking –probably rightly- that the artist knows better which frame will best match the paintings.

And now, oh God, I am pregnant again!!!!

One could mean I´m too old for all these maternities, but the good thing in art is that you are never too old to give life... and the even better thing is: the children leave your house as soon as they are born and you don´t have to change their pampers or have the responsibility for their education!
Yes... pregnant again. It came quite suddenly overnight. Strangely enough: I spent the night alone! It must be one of those immaculate conceptions... quite logical indeed, as I was born near to Lourdes!

The scanner can already tell: kind of thrilling this time. Two girls and one boy. And don´t ask me how I managed it, but: they don´t even have the same father, at least as far as I know... and not even the same nationality! Must be the miracle of modern technology...

Anyway... dead again the dream of freedom, the foetuses are shouting already. urging to come out, I must work right now!


And speaking about babies: here, an as yet unpublished, (until now) Goodaboom exclusive view of Kev Moore, the biggest baby of all time:

Sliding in Silence...

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Planet Goodaboom, Friday 16th February 2007

Instead of working the street (I mean of course "The Street Gallery"), hanging around in Internet I found this nice toy and tested it with the 4 first paintings from our tale...

A Price is a Price is a Price!

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Planet Goodaboom, Friday 16th February 2007



Some months ago, I exhibited for the first time 3 musician paintings in a corner of the bar at „Rolys Too“, an English restaurant in Las Bouganvillas, Almeria. At that time the walls of the main exhibition room there - the restaurant - were covered with plenty of big oil paintings more than a little inspired by Dali! After some months the painter disappeared from the area, leaving behind him a large drinks bill by way of a parting gift to Mark, Rolys´s owner. Mark, quite upset, decided to take down the paintings to keep as collateral and „give“ ME all his walls. This is is how I came to have my exhibition „Sport for All“ running there, while my musicians are all reintegrated Kevin´s Sound Studio here on Goodaboom.

Yesterday evening, quite late indeed, Kevin got a call from Mark. A guy was there, asking for the Saxophonist he saw months before. He asked for my best deal.
The question was quite embarrassing indeed... As I don´t take my painting pricing system very seriously – this is the part of my job which I most hate!- I didn´t remember which price I had put on as I exhibited it. Unfortunately, Kevin needing the collaboration of the saxophonist for one of his new songs, I had to take him out of his frame, the place where I normally put the price. And the frame, of course, is now hanging somewhere else in the world around another painting, and with another price on it.
Giggling I said to Kevin:
„Say 180 €, and let us hope that it is less than the exhibited price before!“
Kevin looked at me worriedly, and called Mark back with this price. We were told that the client was just playing pool in a league and would call back later.
Half an hour later, already after midnight, the client let it be known:

„I give you 150 €, if the painting is here tomorrow!“

I didn´t hesitate for a moment and refused.
But i didn´t refuse because I found the price too low or because the painting is here and the client 300km away.
To be honest I felt quite proud that somebody saw the painting months before and came back to buy it. Whatever you may think: 150 € is a lot of money for „a sheet of paper“, and I am always so surprised that people are ready to spend that money or even much more for my work!
But well... in this special case I felt offended somehow... I have previously been confronted with these kind of „negotiations“ and I always disliked it. I have the feeling that these people don´t respect the artists and think, they can do what they want with us. It is well known that artists have a hard life, financially I mean. So some people may think, we are grateful for each coin, and somehow treat us as if we were beggars. But we are not. We work hard for what we earn, and we have our pride.
For my part I would be very happy if people could completely stop trying to negotiate a painting price. Let art be art, pure and beautiful. Just buy it if you love it and leave it if you think it is too expensive!

So, dear readers, The Saxophonist is on the market again. Unfortunately, as a contrary reaction, I see me forced to increase the price:
200 € now!
Somebody interested?

Valentine with Apple

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Planet Goodaboom, Wenesday 14th February 2007




What a wonderful surprise this morning as I came down to my laptop... I wonder who did that in the night? Surely some strange creature escaped from Ambrosia, the land of the Thief of Hearts and the Fire Cat...

Sympathy from the Devil?

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Planet Goodaboom, Tuesday 13th February 2007

In the case somebody missed me here, just some words to say: I am still alive!

Unfortunately, I can hardly find the time to write. The fact that I have to write in English doesn´t make it any easier for me. And: I know for certain that most of my potential readers are stopped by the language, especially the French and Spanish ones, who are quite unwilling to make an effort even if they master the English language. This a deep problem for me, as it lessens my motivation to write a diary. A vicious circle in English, but perhaps more appropriately in German, a devil´s circle!

And then... I started some more projects last week, too many perhaps, and I am beginning to wonder if it is perhaps too much. It is a problem when your brain is continuously producing ideas, which you feel are worthy of putting into practice. It is impossible for me to make a choice, so I try to realise all of them, and consequently my brain is producing yet more ideas, which are all even more interesting than the original one!
A second devils circle, with a diameter bigger than the first! (the mathematician in me is speaking here...)

And yet more... If we were an old site and had many visitors already, I am sure, they would naturally help me to make the right choice. Goodaboom was born because Kevin & me basically felt the need to share with the world everything we´ve got. But of course, it is very important for us is to give the world what THEY want. And to know that is only possible with feedback: the third devils circle!

So what should I do?
Actually If I may just say: I hate all these devil´s circles! They are one of the main structures ruling our lives, and it is very difficult not to get caught up in them, whatever you do!
There is, I believe, no way to get OUT of them.
Rather, I believe, it is only possible to run the circle in the other direction. I would say: instead of circling in the negative way, one should try to circle in the contrary way, the positive one. In fact a devil´s circle is nothing more than an autocatalytical process, and such a process can be extraordinarily productive. Well, in fact it can lead to a surfeit of production if it is not well controlled, something that will soon happen to me.

However, there is a very natural solution to this problem: the self regulating nature of life! So, in a twist on the Rolling Stones classic, let´s hope for some Sympathy from the Devil!

Animations provided by MySpaceAnimations.com

An Eye spinning around his Orbit...

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Goodaboom, Thursday 8th February 2007



Late, and I feel exhausted! My eyes are especially tired, after having spent the day working on the portraits of my two Dutch kiddies. At least, I have tamed them now... Well, I hope I have! I have had them here for some weeks already, it´s enough now, I can´t bear them anymore! This always happens to me when i work for a long time on a portrait, the portraited person comes alive, and almost as though he or she were living with me. When one knows me, and how I defend my privacy, one can imagine how I hate these intruders at the end!

Tomorrow I´ll send the photos of the portraits to the clients in Holland, and if they think they really are their grand-children, I´ll send them back home on the first plane! As I told before, one of them was complicated for me and I needed much more time than I thought. I had particular problems with one eye, which persisted in being too low, wherever I placed it. I noticed it very late, as the portrait was almost finished. I saw that something was wrong, but I was not able to find the reason. I looked at all the lines the light and the shadow areas, I compared all dimensions of all the elements of building a face, and the space between –something which I normally never do, as I paint portraits without taking measurements.
I never had such a problem before in my career as portrait painter, and I can tell you: this eye which was spinning around his orbit drove me mad! Above all because by the end it seemed to draw the nose tip, the mouth edges and the earlobes into its star trek!

The danger in this case is when you start changing things, little by little. Things which have nothing to do with the problem, and soon you stand in front of a stranger on the paper. Each minimal change generally has a massive effect on the expression of a face: it is true in life, and it is true in a portrait.

In such moments I am asking myself if I should really go on with such a hard profession as portrait painter. But I know the answer already; I cannot stop! Portrait painting is simply fascinating, and the happiness I give my clients is priceless (but don´t misunderstand me: my portraits do have a price!)!
Anyway I´ll publish these two new portraits in Goodaboom very soon, for the ones amongst you who have followed me on my way of the cross!

StillLife, Dead Nature or Barrel?

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Goodaboom, Monday 5th February 2007


I have just returned from the local Eye Centre, where we mounted an exhibition with birds and landscapes in water colour on Friday evening. A nice place for my paintings, and I daresay, the people there have the right eyes to look at them, at least when they come out of the treatment room!

Monday today, and some monday stress in the air... A new week is beginning, new decisions must be taken. By the amount of things we want to do, we would need more than 10 lives each and 100 together to achieve them. So priorities must be set: an awful challenge! On the other hand, the fact that we could theoretically do all we want, if time were not so cruel, is the best proof that we are quite free. But as the Germans say:
„Wer hat die Wahl
hat die Qual!“
He who has a choice, has an agony... How true!
Anyway, first of all, I´ll have to prepare my next exhibition about „Flowers and Still Lifes“. It will be the first time that I exhibit these kind of paintings outside of my gallery. No special reason... perhaps the fear that people might have found them boring... or more probably it is just myself, a fanatic of movement, who hates the idea of „still life“. Although I must say, that it is a far better idea than the French one.. French people call „Still Life“
„Dead Nature“
Macabre! This is a fantastic example how countries use different words for the same thing and how these differences can even lead to philosophical considerations about the national character!
German say „Stilleben“ too. Is that a sign, that German and English respect or love Nature much more than we French do? I have my own ideas about it.
The Spaniards are much less involved in such sophisticated considerations. They call the „Still Life“ „Bodegon“, which more or less means „Barrel“! Yes, they love their wine, and apparently can´t imagine a still life without it! Incidentally, they also use the term „Naturaleza muerta“, „Dead Nature“, and if you see how they handle their environmental considerations, such as the disposal of waste, you will realise they have plenty of examples of it!

Coming back to the Monday stress...Funny thing, fate...the same day as I decided to open Goodaskool, my Painting School online , a German man came and somehow convinced me to give him real lessons. 2 weeks before, I had let him go with a quite categorical „No“, as I described it in the Painter´s Pointer. Well, if the weather is good, the lesson will take place tomorrow, and I´ll tell you about it.

But for now, I have to go back to my two Dutch kiddies on commission.
„Tough ones!“
as Kevin says... Yes I think, I never suffered so much doing a portrait as with the oldest one. And I can´t even say what is so difficult in his face... Well, you can judge for yourself when it is finished... Friday at the latest!

Birds, Fishes & Inspector Morse!

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Art Studio, Wenesday 31th January 2007

Time is flying by on Planet Goodaboom!


It is always fascinating to experience the relativity of time. Fascinating especially for me, who has studied the deep interconnection of time and the laws of physics ruling our universe.
But even being a scientist loving the abstract beauty of physical laws, as a person I hate to be their slave, especially to the ones concerning time, and I´m really happy to see that Goodaboom seems not to obey any of the laws of physics... or even any law at all!
Except one of course: THE LAW OF LOVE!
By the way, yesterday I got the Spanish version of the Apple Valentines advertising campaign. They were clever enough to slightly change the „Love goes global“ (see my last article about Valentines) into
„Amor para todos“
which means.
„Love For Everybody“
And THIS is really nice!

Also: Time is flying...
I didnt do it on purpose but what a nice intro to my entry today. I am actually preparing a new exhibition for a local eye centre (is there a more appropriate place for a painter?!) and considering the success of the "Parrots Tree" in recent weeks, i decided to exhibit there some of my watercolours „Nomads of the Wind“, a series I painted 3 years ago and never exhibited in public.


My sister-in-law Isabelle. a painter too, living in Paris, introduced me to the birds. In the past we spent some wonderful holidays together, watching, photographing and sketching the birds, the most notable being in The Camargue (South of France) two years ago. We had rented a landhouse by a lake, and we spent hours watching the thousands of birds there. especially the flamingos- Later, I holidayed alone to observe other water birds, to the Bodensee in Switzerland, to „The Domes“ in East of France, a wonderful place of thousand lakes, and to the „Ebro Delta“ in Spain.
One day I may make a birds photo album for Goodaboom, as it was really something very special.




I found the process of watching the birds itself fascinating, but I think that the deepest pleasure consisted of researching at home afterwards in the reference books, trying to find the birds I had seen and of course secretly hoping there would be a rare specimen in amongst them. I remember that I had exactly the same pleasure as I was diving, many years ago, I loved to observe the fishes, trying to burn their characteristics into my memory and later, at home, trying to recall, and identify them in the books.

Kevin "mentioned in his diary one day: We treated ourselves for Christmas to the complete series of Inspector Morse (A wonderful character by the way, and I am tempted to make a portrait of him...).
His career was his life, and as he had to stop working, he had to find something else to keep his brain alive. And see: he chose birdwatching! Of course, the search for a rare bird could not maintain enough activity in his brain and he died... I really doubt it was due to his fondness for Pints of beer!

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Valentines: Say it with Goodaboom!

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Art Studio, Friday 26th January 2007

So, Audrey has been immortalised and is flying right now in a big cardboard tube to Belgium. I hope she will survive the flight, the weather is awful here, and I guess all along the flight path to Belgium too.
My clients, her grand-parents, were enchanted with the portrait and I hope, Audrey will be too, as it is a gift for her birthday.
We used this portrait for our new feature:
"Goodaboom´s Valentines gift ideas"
created some days ago.

Unfortunately the competition is not sleeping. I just received an advertising mail from Apple:

„Love goes global: This Valentine´s Day, say it with an IPod nano Red“

Love goes global? What does it mean really? That we are entering an era of global love, meaning everyone loving everybody and viceversa? Has it escaped from the Marital home and gone on holiday? Or have we regressed to Haight-Astbury with flowers in our hair? I feel we should be told....
For myself, I think that it means nothing more than an alliteration globalisation fanaticist justifying his pay packet!
But to be honest: whatever it means, it sounds important, nano important and global I would say. But surely not quite as unique as love should be!

Anyway: we were faster than Apple! Nevertherless I guess, they will be more successful than we are, modestly growing Goodaboom as yet not quite so well-known as Apple, and certainly not the subject of lawsuits from The Beatles! Furthermore, the idea of giving a portrait, a flower painting or a personalised song for Valentines has still not pervaded the lovers minds. But no doubt, it will!
It´s just a question of trendsetting and Goodaboom is working hard at it:


(....and you´d better believe it!!!!)

The Collective Soul Mood

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Art Studio, Tuesday 23th January 2007

Allow me to introduce to you the painting which inspires me to write about the collective soul mood today. It is an aquarelle which I painted about 3 years ago in the context of a series about birds and inspired from the wonderful documentary film:
„The wind nomads“
(I may present this series to you one day in the 3D Gallery). I called it
„The Parrots Tree“
In fact the parrots are not parrots at all, as a French woman informed me in the Street Gallery two days ago: they are rather „perruches“. I knew this, but „perruches“ are in French synonyms for silly women, so I prefer to call them parrots and justify it with my right to artistic freedom!

I noticed that this painting is suddenly getting very popular since the beginning of the year, and on many occasions quite close to be sold. I noticed in the past, since I have been exhibiting regularly in the street (by the way a wonderful field of social behaviour studies, above all here where 40 different nationalities are represented!) that paintings underly a strange phenomenon similar to a fashion. „The Parrots Tree“ is a fantastic example of this. The fashion suddenly arises, people suddenly concentrate their look and enthusiasm on just one of my paintings, and this without being in any way connected to each other. I have no idea how that works: surely one of the unresolved secrets of evolution!
I understand how it works with products which are shown on TV for example, or in newspapers. A fashion may just be the result of massive indoctrination by people who recognise better than others the actual need of the collective soul. But how does it happen with my paintings?
Is it the result of a season related mood for some kind of colours, of themes, or techniques? Is for example the „Parrot Tree „ a kind of announcement of the spring? The parrots a kind of symbolism for blossoms? Or is it the fact that one doesn´t notice the birds at the first moment, which attracts people? Is the collective soul right now in a discovering mood? I really don´t know, have not even any theory –normally my speciality- about this phenomenon. If YOU have tell me: miki@goodaboom.com!
Normally such a fashion ends quite soon with the sale of the painting, and in short order a new one becomes the star. I wonder now who will tame the parrots, and which painting will next take the stage!

Anyway, it was a sunny, windless, almost warm day today in Albir, quite ideal weather for the Street Gallery. Many people were taking a walk along the beach and due to the weather, in an open minded mood, which is necessary to take the time to stop, look and enjoy my paintings. It´s always fascinating to see how the weather influences peoples behaviour. I have lived for a long time in three countries each representative in their own way of different weather types, and I can tell that peoples social behaviour is exactly a mirror image of the weather. But this is another story...
I was alone today, Kevin being in Mojacar gigging and installing a new bullfight exhibition. So I had to do the whole social thing alone, and it resulted in my spending the whole day babbling around with old clients, young clients, and hopefully future clients. I got many compliments, and there would be a lot of nice anecdotes to tell you about, but well, I haven´t got enough time to write, I must go on portraiting two Dutch kiddies.
I just want to mention that I even got the attention of a policeman... Strangely enough, he came walking from far away, where the police here normally never seem to leave their cars. I naively thought if he came walking, he might be interested in my art. I was just speaking to clients as he interrupted me:
„Do you have a permit for all that?
„Of course!““
„Can I see it?“
„I haven´t it with me here... but I´ve had for three years already“
He started explaining to me that such a permit must not be taken as guaranteed, and that I should regularly „refresh“ it.
„But I know, I did!“
Admittedly, this may only be partly true. One of the painters who was exhibiting with me in the past did in fact renew the permit that summer, but I´m not quite sure for how long, and I may really be an outlaw now! So I´ll have to go to the town hall and check it out... so if you don´t see me „working the street“ anymore, then you can be sure, that it is not because the weather impedes it... it will be more likely that the local government have decided that I´m no longer contributing to the wealth of the collective soul!



Above: Kevin´s illustration to this entry. Please forgive the policeman for his grammatical shortcomings...

Still captured within the rainbow...

www.goodaboom.com

Art Studio, Saturday 20th January 2007


No time to write these last few days... I have been, and still am, very busy painting 3 portraits on commission and preparing exhibitions. Yes, the dream of freedom will long remain a dream, I guess. But to be fair: what a nice jail within the rainbow!
The last portrait commission I got this week confirms the tendency I´d already noticed recently. People begin to prefer portraits in „black&white“, as I call them. By that I mean portraits painted in white and one other colour, black, brown, sanguine, sepia, etc. (like the Tahitian girl).
That last client put clearly into words what others –including myself!- may just feel. She said:
„You make the portraits so well, it´s almost like photography... the black&white are more artistic, somehow....“
I am not sure it is a compliment, concerning the colour portraits... making them „too good“ might indeed be a kind of mistake. One might miss the artistic, personal interpretation.... but well, I won´t worry too much about it, it is always a matter of taste and many people love my colour portraits the way they are.

But personaly, I also prefer the others. I find them indeed more artistic and romantic (and I am a hopeless romantic!).
But in the meanwhile I appear to be developing a style a portrait which seems to keep the „artisticity“ (!) of the black&white without completely abandoning the colours.

A very young lady called „Fleur“ inspired me to such a portrait some weeks ago. I had been commissioned a painting in the technique of the Tahitian girl, but in the creation process I automatically started to put in some warmer colours. I felt that it was necessary to transmit the light and the warmth emanating from Fleur.
Finally it became a portrait in white and 3 tender colours. The result was beautiful, and the clients were very happy. All the people who saw the portrait loved it, and my last client ordered her grand-child in this style.

It is almost finished now, as it was very urgent, my clients are flying home in some days for the birthday of the grandchild.
The portrait is again in a different style. I couldn´t help it, I had to let my inspiration work with the model and the idea I had from her, basing on what the grandparents told me about the girl. I´ll show you this new portrait in one of my next entries... if you deserve it!

As Kevin told it in his last entry, he was gigging and mounting exhibitions near to Mojácar (Almeria/Spain) at the beginning of the week. Unfortunately I was not there myself, but I saw some photos of the „Sport for All“ exhibition by Rolys, in Vera/Las Bougainvillas, and I am very happy with how it looks. My paintings are hanging in a nice, big salmon/green room with a warm atmosphere and well-enhanced by the numerous spotlights. Thankyou again to Mark for allowing this exhibition!