Archives For November 30, 1999 @ 12:00 am
And so here lies a second painting, in ink and watercolour, of the view from the rear balcony of my old apartment in the Oud-Zuid neighbourhood of Amsterdam.
While the first looked down from the balcony toward two sheds, showing their roofs and yards in autumn with the patternation of fallen leaves, this watercolour shows a perspective across the complex of apartments. I always appreciated the view sitting out on this balcony because – while enclosed – the distance and design was sufficient so that you could be aware of the presence of bodies on other balconies, but rarely noticed anything egregious in their expressions or behaviours. In short, you were well secluded – and the situation reminded me a little of Rear Window, though to the cinema’s potential loss, I never suffered while living there a broken leg.
At the end of last October, my partner and I departed Amsterdam and returned to York. The cause was my commencing a PhD in literature at the University of York. While there were possibilities for undertaking doctoral research at a university which would have enabled us to continue living in Amsterdam – including an excellent opportunity with the University of Antwerp – we ultimately decided that York presented the best scenario for study. Preparations for the move occupied much of late October; there was the fact of the move itself; and then followed the process of finding and inhabiting an apartment in York while also developing a working habit at the University.
That serves as a loose explanation for my lack of posts between last September and mid-March; but as much as I was preoccupied with other things, I simply fell out of the habit of posting. More, during September and October, I began and wrote significant portions and passages for articles which were intended for the site, but never finished. Aside from no longer possessing a surfeit of time, and aside from the diminishing of a regular article-writing habit, the existence of these unfinished pieces served to further pervert the end of publication. As those articles which I had begun became less and less relevant, the inclination was to consider how their material could be repurposed – rather than focusing on what else I ought to write. What had been written became a barrier to further work. The situation in Ukraine and Crimea compelled several pieces last month, and marked my return to posting.
In the last few weeks before we left Amsterdam, I painted a small number of paintings comprising views from the rear balcony of our apartment, in the ‘Oud-Zuid’ of the city. The paintings are in watercolour and ink. Some of their views will be visible in earlier collections of photographs posted on this site; or else via my Instagram account. This first painting looks down upon two sheds, and contains all of the relevant fallen leaves and foliage.
I have never watched an episode of Doctor Who. And yet when I read on Sunday of the proposed announcement of a new Doctor – an announcement which was to be made live, so I read, broadcast via BBC television – my imagination was taken in and held captive. I thought up the following words, sentences depicting the potential views, inclinations, and life experiences of the new Doctor; which formulations I have now adjoined to the following pictures.
It is in short a comic strip set closely within the fictional world of the Doctor Who television series. You may click to enlarge the comic strip.
A number of years ago, with my partner and I living in Umeå in the north of Sweden, my partner was afforded the opportunity to study for six months in Istanbul. So we went and we lived in Istanbul for about six months, from the beginning of a September until the latter days of the subsequent February.
My partner was able to study a variety of courses in Istanbul, some only tenuously related to her degree; and one of these courses saw her tasked with writing a children’s story. I provided the illustrations, twelve small watercolour paintings.
I wanted to use the fox for a cutout animation I intend to play around with, so we found the book, or booklet; and I thought I’d post images of the paintings here.
culturedallroundman 