Adios Bilbao

Another night train. An young American boy/man from Utah on this one. We compared notes. He told me his Basque friends told him about a painting Picasso made about the Spanish War - and how Picasso would only donate the painting to Spain after the fall of Fascism. He said he was sad he hadn't seen it. I told him he knew the painting through books and television... it is a famous painting! I described Guernica and his eyes lit up... oh yeah....

I am counting the days until I can visit this painting at the Reine Sofia in Madrid.
I've included a preview below.

Report from Bilbao

Bilbao and its Gehry Fish castle (The Guggenheim Bilbao) seduced me completely. I didn't expect it. It is an amazing structure containing some of the best installations of late 20th C art anywhere. The site is simply magical. It reminded me of a 20th C artists' ode to Lourdes the way the river, mountains and cathedrals' forms embrace in a way that is natural and magnificant. I don't think I would have loved it as much if I'd been there in the summer and there were lines of people waiting to get in. February is really one of the best times to visit the great art museums anywhere... the weather is crap so why not visit one's muse without the distraction of the summer crowds?

There is so much more to tell...

Preview of Coming Attractions

I leave for Madrid this afternoon and am surprised that I haven't been as stressed as I normally get before an international flight. Maybe its because I'm meeting C and the entourage? Its usually my job to negotiate all details in advance and I've decided that would be a pointless task when there are so many other factors to consider:

C and her responsibilities
the winter weather here and abroad
strikes
travel complications
art and inspiration!

Ruth and Charlie invited me over one night and lent me a number of travel books on the Alhambra, Seville, Madrid, tapas, etc. My head started to spin with excitement but after thinking about past winter excursions I decided to play it by ear this time.

Before departure there is always the last minute list:

deadlines (a few competitions and fellowships I feel compelled to enter... remember FAILBETTER!)

bill paying

plant watering

guest preparations (we have a new housemate in the guest quarters! She's great.)

credit arrangements

packing

airline security measures

kitty concerns

harryman measures

travel itinerary and resources

Ok, now its time to start checking it twice. Its work, leaving town... but its always worth it. With luck, my muse will travel with me on this journey.

Missed Signals

Word of warning. Don't ask for directions to the train station unless specifying which one you need to go to... especially in Madrid! I needed to go to Chamartin. All northbound trains depart from there. I was directed to Atocha - which I loved - but it was the wrong station so I began my Spain experience by missing the train I'd reserved from the airport early this am.

Atocha has its charms... a rich botanical garden complete with turtles, a tourist info counter, coffee shops and shopping - but few electical outlets. A woman with a cell phone a laptop is always in search of a stray outlet. I could have taken the time to see a museum or stroll in the city but my jet lag was getting the best of me and I thought I'd do best to sit still or to carefully make my way to the Chamartin station. Its on a line that reminds of the RER trains in Paris. I could never figure out those buggers. Whenever I take an RER train I always want specific instructions - like when I visited my cousin outside of Paris - and even then I am never quite sure I am on the right train until we pass the first outbound station. Maybe its my dyslexia combined with jetlag... but the first pass to find that station was a disaster - which is why I missed the early train. It was all for the best since I didn't have reservations for accomodations in Bilbao and realized I could sleep on the night train. The Renfre trains are clean, spacious and this one was full of empty seats. I buried my belongings under my skirts, took half an Ambien and dreamt of Spanish Ham. zzzz. ZZZZZZ. zzzzzzzz

smooth landing, rocky roads

As soon as the plane landed I knew I was in Spain. The trees, light, landscape all paralleled the minutae I'd seen in great paintings. Spain is hard for me, still. I come here for inspiration and adventure but it is work. All of it is, I suppos,Tthis is just harder work than I remember it will be.

I reserved a train for Bilbao from the airport Renfe window. Very convenient... except I had jet lag and didn't notice that there are two train stations in Madrid. When I asked for directions to the train station at the Ritz they didn't ask me WHICH train station, they just gave me directions to the Atocha station even though they knew I was headed to Bilbao and there are no trains from Atocha that go to Bilbao. I'll be checking in there tomorrow after my generous friend Carole arrives. Believe me, someone at the Ritz is going to read or hear about this since I missed my train because I went to the wrong station. It happens all the time so you think the desk clerk at the friggin Ritz Carlton would know better.

It all worked out in the end since I wound up on a night train to Bilbao. which was worth it. I didn't expect so but I loved it. I have to say, I do like the Guggenhim style. All those Kiefers...and the Louise Bourgeois is perhaps one of her best. There is some amazing work in all of their collections. I loved photographing the building in all kinds of light. It pure eye candy. I left the Gug close to closing time and was completely exhausted... and now two nights later I finally have a bed! All in all I've spent the last three nights sleeping in an upright position! The plane and then a night train there and back...! My back is in knots and my husband is far away. I think a visit to the Madrid hammam I read about in the NYT last week will unravel those knots nicely.

Fail Better than ever before

Last fall I suffered a rejection or two. Sometimes I suffer more, sometimes less. The art is the medicine for the suffering though the rejection of the art can cause the most suffering of all!
Its part of the territory, the playing field, et al.

In the short run someone who knows my work recommended me to the website linked above...
FAILBETTER. It was so timely how could I resist? Yes, I know... if I failed to try that would be the greatest failure of all.

Past, present, future

I've been digging through the digital archive and discovered a trove of images from 2002. We moved that year and during our first month in a different home I traveled to Korea with a group of Richmond artists. It was quite an adventure. I loved the food, the culture, the land... the paper! If I had the resources I would spend half my time working and exploring overseas the other half of my time home with the H. man.

Ready, set, go

I've missed writing, reading, surfing... blogging in general. We've been busy doing other things.
Last night we covered most of the art roundtable between Solvent Space, Plant Zero, Artspace and the Anderson Gallery. Donato's show was very inspiring. I am looking forward to spending some time with the show during the next month. In the meantime Ledelle Moe has shows at 1708 and Reynolds and the Reynold's show is coming down at the end of Feb. I LOVE HER WORK. If your are curious you can see images of her large installation on the 1708 blog.

This weekend I've been transitioning our guest quarters from the home of Mom to the place newcomers can land before they move on to the next thing. A young artist from Nashville is looking at it this morning. She's in town working on an HBO project.

Tomorrow I'll be at a long brainstorming meeting at 1708. Monday I leave for Madrid!

Premature elation

Ok, NOW the holidays are over and I SHOULD be doing many things to counter the unfinished business of 2006 but I wanted to take a few minutes to count the number one blessing in my life, my Harry. We celebrated the anniversary of his birth tonite with a few folks he's known since college. We don't see them often so its really an occassion to make sure we get together and tally the zeitgeist, eat pizza and drink premium beer to celebrate a premium Harry.

There was a toast to celebrate the upcoming publication of his book of Richmond Flashbacks as well as a play he has been commissioned to write about the friendship between Tessla and Twain. (Imagine David Bowie and Hal Holbook playing Tessla and Twain since they both know the roles so well.) But I digress -

It was a lovely evening that ended on a dark note because, like all anniversaries, the most recent resurfaced... and we were reminded that last year we spent Harry's birthday at the Harvey's service and candlelight vigil at the Unitarian Church. We ran into R and L and
ended the evening with thai at Mom's Siam. A memorable birthday, yes but if we could go back and change things wouldn't we ALL, the whole community of artists and musicuans, just start partying at the Harvey's on Dec 31, 2005 and never leave? If we were up all night maybe things would have been different.

Last night DC and MN-R were there, SS of S and F, RF of R and L, PK and P and B, JJ of J and T and of course my Mom. Our tree was tilting due to the attentions of our youngest cat Flannery... perhaps the Bushmills has a little to do with it. Tomorrow it will come down after a long day of paperwork, bill paying, letter writing, research, etc, etc. Happy New Year, really; everybody!