paintings and other diversions

I have been painting, but haven't posted in a while. Here are some new pieces (probably a good word to use...)

This is a good friend - or is it me....




















This is the end of a time... a good time, but transitions are always tough.

























This is one after my trip to Peru. It's Machu Piccu. A truly inspriational and spiritual place.





These are some of my paintings. I started working in oils about a year and a half ago, after a lifetime of sketching in black and white. I finally got brave enough to open up to larger canvas, tougher composition, texture, and of course, color.

It's the type of thing that you never really master, but I'm far enough in to enjoy it now. At the risk of sounding falsely modest, I'm somewhere past being embarassed, a bit short of being proud. For the sake of creativity, that's probably not a bad place to be.

The first three are from pictures that I took when I was in Africa. I've been doing landscapes recently, which is a new area for me.

You can click on any of these pictures to see a larger version.








































Here are a few older ones. These are less literal and more, what, representational? Maybe a little surreal? I'm not sure what to call this style. Just stuff that pops into my head.






































This one is a sculpture by Henry Moore called Recumbant Figure. It's in the Tate Britain museum in London. It's a big piece, probably 15 feet long and 10 feet high. Really amazing stuff. There is also an outdoor sculpture gallery in Dallas that has a lot of his work.

Peru Journal part 1

Peru is a fascinating country. It inspired a lot of things for me when I was there. I was there with a group of friends for 2 weeks in June of '05 - in the Amazon, the Andes, and Macchu Picchu. All of these things are in an area a little smaller than Alaska. The board of tourism branded the country "the Land of the Inca".

You can find pictures at http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=299607307203.

Stayed the first night in Lima, which kind of just another big city. More on this later. We flew to the Amazon the next morning, early.

- Amazon
Iquitos is the largest town in the Amazon region of Peru. It grew mostly from the rubber business in the late 1800's until 1912 when rubber started being harvested in Asia and Africa.

Driving to town from the airport, we go by a military base. War with Equidor was not long ago. On a large wall is painted: 'prepararte guerra es manana' (prepare, the war is tomorrow).

We flew to the Amazon the morning to Iquitos, a town on the Amazon river. I lot bigger than I thought, several hundred thousand people.

- Blackberry
Ok, this thing works everywhere. The plane landed in the Amazon, and my Blackberry immediately lights up with email and voice mail. Tomorrow we go into the jungle, no phone for a few days.

- Iquitos
Every town has a 'Plaza de Armas', the central plaza of each city.

I realized that the only long pants I brought are jeans. Oops. For one thing, the easiest way to stick out as a foreigner / American / tourist / gringo is to wear shorts. In most countries in Europe and South America men rarely wear shorts in public. But fashion aside, we're going into the jungle. We had to buy rubber boots today (13 soles / $4 - what a deal...) to protect from snakes' etc. Shorts won't work, and jeans see too hot. It's winter here, and the high temp was over 80F and humid. So we went shopping for pantalones.

There is a place in Iquitos called The Yellow Rose of Texas. The. Staff wears University of Texas gear. Seriously. In the middle of the Amazon. Jason and Sheila would love it.

- Up the river
Boat ride to the lodge. The sky is huge. How to describe the clouds? They look solid, like you could walk among them or climb up their sides. Thatched huts along the bank, people living on, with the river. But the people are hardly noticable, the river is so immense and wild. And it just gets bigger downstream. We're toward the headwaters of the Amazon, and it's probably 1/4 mile across or more. Unbelievable, and it just gets bigger downstream. The world really does need places like this.

Amazing how rich the soil is along the bank of the river its almost black, and the consistency of clay. It would be great to have some of this for my garden. Wait, I don't have a garden.

I thought the 2 1/2 hour ride would seem long, but its so peaceful watching the bank go by and feeling the wind. So of course, I found myself sticking my head out of the boat like a dog in a car. I got a lot of subject matter for future paintings.

- Eduardo, our guide
In the afternoon we took a boat down the river. On the way back to the Amazon we saw kingfisher, hawks, and sloths, which do live up to their name. They sit in the treetops, only coming down to defacate. They actually grow moss on their backs. Really. Impressive level of laziness. I know a few people who aspire to this. Harpy eagles will grab them out of the treetops and carry them away. Wish we could see that.

Caiman, blanco y Negro. According to our guide, the adult white caiman grow to be 3 meters, and the black to be 10 metros. Seriously? I think Eduardo may be exaggerating on that one [looked this up, and they actually grow to 6 meters]. Eduardo grabbed one out of the water so that we could see it and hold it. A few minutes later I grabbed one out of the water. That was fun. I should have my own TV show.

- Things that want to dig into your skull
The Batfly, or Tabano, a mosco (mosquito), is a small insect that bites the head and leaves an egg that hatches into a worm which knaws at the skull. You have to put a slab of meat on your head to draw it out. Sweet. We all put our hats on after learning that one.

We learned about a lot of other things that live in the Amazon and most of them seem to have one thing in common. They all seem to want to latch onto you and lay their eggs inside you. Charming.

- The mind wanders...
Long hike through the jungle today. Lots of time to think. I decided that I want to learn more about Buddhism. I'm going to start reading about it when I get back. For one thing, it seems to be the only major religion that hasn't started any serious religious wars. Interesting what happens when you let your mind wander.

Ayahuasca and the Shaman. Our guide offered to put us in contact with a Shaman who would do a traditional ceremony and we could take Ayahuasca, which is like peyote. The deal didn't go down... Ok, so we may not have had the proper religious perspective, but we definitely treated it with the proper respect - at least fear...

- Pirhana
Y este manana, pescando. We went fishing for pirhana. Really. I'm used to lake fishing, where you have to be quiet, cast out far, don't make any ripples on the water. Not here. When you fish for pirhana, you take a stick, tie 6 or 7 feet of line to the end, a hook to that, and bait it with a piece of chicken. Then, smack the water with the bait and the stick about 10 or 15 times to let them know that there's meat in the water. Subtle. Seems to work though. Oh, and don't fall in...

And I caught one! We caught both pirhana and sabado. All were small. The pirhana that we caught were small but they can get to about a foot in length. Eduardo took us to this small hidden area, like a grotto, cool place. He knew the hole there. So he caught 5 or 6 good ones, while we picked out a few scraps. We ate them for lunch too. Tastes like chicken. Not really. They were good, but mostly bones and teeth. We might be thinner if we had to forage for ourselves here.

- The simple life
Amazing how life here doesn't appear to have changed much. There is western influence, but not a lot. T-shirts, rubber boots, a few motor boats. But mostly dugout canoes and washing clothes in the river. Almost no electricity or phones. A bit of radio contact. Everyone seems pretty happy. They joke with Eduardo as we pass in the boat. Of course there are downsides like access to healthcare and mental challenge and stimulation. But it makes you think about some of the advantages of a simpler life.

- Inca Kola
Inca Kola is the national cola drink. Yellow and tastes like bubble gum. whee. It's so nasty. At least they make cool t-shirts. Oh, and naturally, they were acquired by Coca Cola a few years ago.

- Bus to Huaraz: "gonna die sometime..."
We flew out of Iquitos back to Lima, then headed into the Andes the next day. Our destination was a town called Huaraz.

Lima doesn't seem to be big enough to be 8 or 10 million people when you drive from the airport to Miraflores or Barranco, where we stayed. But take a bus north up the coast, and the hour it takes to get out of town makes it feel that way. And, like a lot of places, people aren't too concerned about driving in lanes or merging into other cars. The thought "well, I'm going to die sometime" pops into your head a lot while in Peruvian traffic. Maybe more so than in the Amazon.

Then, a scary/beautiful bus ride from Lima to Huaraz. This goes through the city traffic (see above), up the coast (see far below - from the window of the bus looking down a cliff with no guard rail), then through the mountains (um, now its probably best just to close your eyes). Again, I found the thought "well, I'm going to die sometime" poping into my head.

Yes, a bus ride through the Andes is not the most fun, especially in the seat closest to the bathroom. As soon as we got out of town, the driver started getting aggressive taking his turns, and I was quickly reminded of the Peruvian bus accidents that have been in the news lately. More than a few people feeling nausous, although I didn't see anyone get sick. And at every hard left turn the trash door across the aisle from me flew open. What a great smell. How many times did that happen? 100? 200? At least the trip only lasted 7 1/2 hours...

- The Andes
But all of that faded away when we came over the pass and I saw the peaks of the Cordillera Blanca for the first time. Bright, cloudless sky echoing off of peaks painted permanently white. This is the area where the movie "Touching the Void" took place.

The Andes are younger than the Rockies, and so much more jagged and steep. They are also much taller, reaching over 19,000 ft, and they are only a few hours inland from the coast. Amazing.

Gradually, the bus decended through a collection of high mountain villages into Huaraz, a small city sitting at over 9,000 feet in altitude. The bus ride started in Lima at sea level. Not the 45 minute jaunt up I-70 from Denver to get to 10,000 feet. This is starting at zero, and it's not exactly Interstate. Huaraz is a climber's town.

- Internet cafes
You can't throw a rock without hitting an Internet Cafe. In our 10 minute walk to dinner the first night I counted 10. Seriously. They charge 1 Sol per hour, which is about US $0.30. We kept working the math and couldn't figure out how they are making money. But there are a lot of them, so they must be.

Oh, and no, I didn't go into an internet cafe. I managed to stay off the internet, how about that. Ok, I did cheat with a little bit of email on the Blackberry...

Moscow thoughts

I visited Moscow recently - fascinating trip. Here are some thoughts. Sorry this is so long, but it made me think a lot...

- Traffic
Lots of things are better than a sharp stick in the eye. Traffic in Moscow is borderline. In a city of 11 million people, there are bound to be some traffic issues. But it would probably help if there was some basic regulation like, say, stop lights. In New York, you can get charged a heavy fine for getting caught "in the box" - in the intersection - after the light changes. In Moscow, everyone is caught in the box all the time in every direction.

- Local perspectives
"Obsessed with freedom":
Lydia, a life-long Muscovite, is not a Communist or Soviet apologist, but she definitely has a different view on a lot of things. I've heard this from other people, that things were easier before. You didn't have to think about things, to worry about things. Ok, I said, but then you don't get to make your own choices, to think for yourself. she said "You Americans are obsessed with freedom."

But the thing that was most striking was when we started talking about culture. We were driving past an old movie theater, and Lydia said that when she was young, one of the first movies that they showed there was Gone With The Wind. She asked why America exports so much bad culture now, and it used to be so good. I think it's a very fair question. I wish we didn't do that. But what is the alternative? She asked me why, and after talking about it for a while, I answered that I think it's 'freedom of expression' and 'market economics'. If people weren't buying American popular culture, they wouldn't sell it. And that there shouldn't be limitations on what people create and put out there. She said that she understood the market part, but that someone should regulate what is good. Well, the naturaly question is - who should do that? that's really the problem, isn't it.

Another thought on this, though... we do have someone playing that role, and it's not just the market. In the early days of Hollywood, there were a handful of studio bosses that decided which movies got made. And is it so different now? The movies, music, and other content that comes through the major distribution channels is fairly predictable. The Internet has helped a lot in giving an underground outlet for other artists, but it still feels that there is a small group who act as the Arbiter of Taste for the rest of us.

"You Americans have a theory for everything."
By the middle of the afternoon, I was getting hungry. This was fun, but enough, I needed something to eat. So I stopped to get a small sandwich and said that I would get something else later. Lydia seemed surprised, and I told her that it's because I eat 4 or 5 smaller meals per day. I explained that this way you maintain a contant level of energy instead of the sugar spikes from eating 2 or 3 large meals. For some reason I thought that she would think this something interesting to consider. Instead, she said "You Americans have a theory for everything."

Then she said "and you probably drink LOTS of water." I said, yes, a lot. Lydia said that the Russian joke about how to recognize an American tourist is that they all have a camera and a water bottle.

Khodorkovsky: There is a significant difference in opinion amongst Russians between people who support Khodorkovsky and those who don't. Mikhail Khodorkovsky is the former CEO of Yukos, the Russian energy giant, who is now in prison for tax evasion and other charges. Many in the West believe that his main sin was to announce that he would challenge President Putin in the next Russian Presidentian "election". As with Lydia, who feels that to amass that much money in such a short time he must have stolen it. We have many examples of people who have become fabulously wealthy by working within the system (or close to it). Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Warren Buffet, and Richard Branson are just a few examples of the many people who have become fabulously wealthy by creating value for others, working hard and enduring risk. In the early days of the American experiment with capitalism, this was not always so clear. The so-called "Robber Barrons" of the Industrial Revolution created the infrastructure that built our country, but also created monopolies and abused power.

As we were standing outside the Cathedral of the Annunciation inside the Kremlin, Lydia starting telling me about Reagan's visit to Moscow during the cold war. President and Mrs. Reagan went to Moscow on invitation from Premier Gorbaochov. Lydia said that he made a very favorable impression on the Soviet people, in part because he smiled so much. They found him surprisingly likeable.

- "Lenin is not a hero anymore"
This was a recurring theme. As though a switch was flipped and suddenly the people who were the national heroes are not any more. People say that he is no longer a hero, but he is still clearly treated as one.

- Power outage
There was a power outage throughout Moscow while I was there. The metro trains, among other things, were shut down for a good part of the day. My colleague Danil seemed a bit embarrassed, but I reminded him that the entire northeast US and Canada suffered a blackout just two years ago.

- Cyrilic and Cyril
It is possible to get aroud Moscow speaking only English with the occasional 'da' and 'spasiba' (thank you), those of is who are Russian-impared definitely miss a lot. Actually, the Cyrilic alphabet isn't too bad to pick up, particularly for those of is who learned the Greek alphabet in between push ups and beer bongs during freshman year of college. Greek and Russian are both based on the Cyrilic alphabet, and while the Russian alphabet isn't the same as Greek, its close. Cyril was a Greek monk who created the alphabet, and there is even a statue of him in Moscow. Do we at least have a statue of Noah Webster or someone?

So after a few days I could phoenetically pronounce many words, such as street signs and painter's names in the Tretykov art gallery. This isn't the same as being able to speak, but it's helpful. It's strange feeling like a mute. I can hobble through Spanish, French or Italian (or English), but Russian is different enough that I was really dependent on my host.

- Kremlin
I had this image of the Kremlin as this grey building surrounded by scary people with guns and a black cloud permanently hanging over the top. In fact, "Kremlin" translates to "Fortress". Like most old European cities, Moscow started as a small village surrounded by a wall. The Kremlin is simply the old central city along the Moscow River. It holds the offices of the President and an amazing number of churches. In the corner closest to the river, there are 3 immediately next to one another.

The Kremlin is beautiful. The outer wall was originally wood, then white stone, and is now a striking red.

Lenin's tomb was interesting. No cameras allowed, and a lot of 19-year-olds guarding it. They don't like people to linger, they push the group through so you don't get a chance to look closely. There are some people that think it's not really a real person. Hard to tell.

- Red square
The 'red' is an old name that was meant to mean beautiful. It pre-dates the Communist party and Red Army by hundreds of years, and the names are apparently coinciental.

St. Basil's Cathedral is the centerpiece, and one of the key landmarks of the city. It almost doesn't look real, like something built in Disneyland copied from a Disney cartoon.

- No starbucks
Seriously. The new 'evil empire' hasn't made it to the old one yet.

- BlackBerry
I expected my Blackberry to work as a mobile phone because of the GSM network support, but I did not expect the data side to work. But the GPRS support was strong. The plane landed at Sheremtevo Airport, I turned it on and everything just worked. The world is truly getting flatter.

- Tatiana, thoughts on Russia at McDonalds
yes, McDonalds. I had not set foot inside a Mickey-Ds for at least 10 years, but the mistique of McDonalds in Moscow was too much. I had to go see. After all, McDonalds played a role in the fall of communism. Not to overstate it, but if there was a Nobel prize for dangerously unhealthy food, the decendants of Ray Kroc would get my vote.

Anywho, I was not disappointed. As I walked up, I saw a building that looked more like a ski chalet than the traditional plastic architecture of the golden arches. Since there is no Starbucks yet (see previous), they have the Mac Kafe inside, which serves lattes and the like. I recommend the chocolate chip muffin. Since I don't know the Russian word for 'decaf', and the nice girl behind the counter didn't know the English word for it, I also broke my no-caffeine streak. She did know the word 'juice', so I got an orange juice as well, which is basically Tang. Hey, if it's good enough for the cosmonauts...

While I was in line ordering (which was really a combination of pointing, grunting and smiling sheepishly), the woman behind me asked me about the book that I am reading. It's 'The World is Flat' by Thomas Friedman, which is a very insightful book about globalization. She said that she's interested in globalization, which makes sense since her country is playing on the opposite (growth) side from mine and Friedman's.
Tatiana is a translator for english-language films to be shown in the Russian market. This sounds like a cool job, and she might be exaggerating, as some people do. I wouldn't know - since I'm a rock star/astronaut/fireman, I don't have to embellish, but I guess some people do that.

We were talking about technology adoption, and she said that she is surprised about how the US is "always first in everything" (her words) and that it has to be very expensive. Other countries get to follow at a much cheaper price, and do the same things, such as computer programming. She said that she thought that it must be so expensive to do this that it can't be sustained and that eventually it would drain the money from the US and we would fall behind. She was not hoping that this would happen, she seemed more concerned.

But the interesting thing to me is that this zero-sum-game understanding of economics seems to still be prevalent in post-Soviet Russia (as well as many other parts of the world). The concept of wealth creation doesn't seem to be widely understood outside of those in business and technology. I explained the technology adoption lifecycle and how early adopters and late adopters all work together to make the market work. She seemed to get it and was excited by the idea. It was ironic, since the conversation started with 'The World is Flat'. Core to Friedman's discussion, and the strategy of most American technology companies, is the assertion that the US must continue to innovate and create to stay ahead of the smart fast-following nations in a world with no boundaries. This, of course, is the opposite of the way that she was looking at it. Her world view, of course, has been shaped by spending most of her life in a collecitivist, centrally-planned economy. Tatiana told me that she is disappointed that her country is "backward" in so many ways, but she doesn't know why this is the case. I hope Tatiana does get the book, I think she'll "get" it.

Many Russians do "get" this, and many, like Tatiana, are in the process. Many still do not. This seems to be the core of the difference in opinion between people who support Khodorkovsky and those who don't. Michail (?) Khodorkovsky is the former CEO of Yukos, the Russian energy giant, who is now in prison for tax evasion and other charges. Many in the West believe that his main sin was to announce that he would challenge President Putin in the next Russian Presidentian "election". As with Lydia, who feels that to amass that much money in such a short time he must have stolen it, The entrepreneural process is still not well understood here. Is Khodorkovsky a master entrepreneur, a theif or something in between? I don't know, but the Russian government and people need to allow for the possibility of the former if they are going to be truly successful in the world economy. Western businesses have answered Russian government's treatment of Khodorkovsky with massive capital flight.

Incidentally, I'm writing this section while flying on Aeroflot from Moscow to London. Still alive, so far....