African Odyssey at the.gallery@oxo

South Bank

Went to Southbank to meet my friend and his mates. They were painting some of the walls. All very talented. Raw creativity. Funny enough didn't even get a photo of my mate!

Life Festival - Charleville Castle - Ireland

Life Festival was my excuse to visit Ireland for the 1st time. The setting was Charleville Castle. I love parties in castles and this was no exception. I don't think there was more than 1,000 people which made it nice and intimate. People from all over the globe gathered once again to celebrate. The conditions were really good - as the weather - and they even managed to build showers w hot water!! The music in the main stage finished at 1am which was a disapointment for some but respecting the laws and the people allowed us to be there. And we must be gentle w our minds..I had a great time.



This is Shane Gobi playing, he's one of my favorite dj's at the moment.



The castle is surrounded by fields and trees. This one in particular was stunning, like a land octopus! The energy...



I meet with this bunch at the bus stop in Dublin. We had a fantastic time together...this was the mood of the festival...



The castle was quite something, they say it's hounted but I reckon by the time we left all the ghosts had gone!



The production was simple but set the atmosphere. One could feel the love that went into putting it together, THANK YOU Life crew.



The programme was varied. These were belly dancers, they were good.



Now, this is Master Margherita from the Peaking Goddess Collective, I had never heard of them before but they wan a fan that night! Look out for them, book them. I have a particular taste in music and this Swiss guy fed my brain!!!!!



Me, Moreno and Angele....ah!



As we waited for the taxi to leave the site some creative force came into play!




Now, this photo was taken by an Old man whilst we waited for the train - which was specially added to the service at 2.30pm because of the festival: that is what I call hospitality & organisation, thanks to whoever pulled those strings!!



I had a FANTASTIC time. Actually, I will not forget, I got everything I asked for. Made lots of interesting connections and even had some 3rd degree encounters!! Life: live it, love it, bring it on!

Dublin - Ireland

Ireland is a magical place. People are nice and friendly. I was waiting for the moment I was going to meet someone unpleasant but it never happened!! Dublin is buzzing w art spread everywhere. This is in the main road, don't know who the artist is, when I arrived I hadn't sleep much and my attention to details just wasn't there! Maybe someone out there knows & can let me know...



This part of town reminds me of Amsterdam.



This is in Trinity College, was impressed! Pomodoro made this, I had seen another one of these in the Vatican garden years ago.



At the College they house the Book of Kells: the four gospels written in vellum, in Latin, totally illuminated. Quite a master piece dating to 800AD. Shame even if understandable, one can only see part of it. It has been cut into 4 parts (!!!!) in the name of conservation, and only 2 are on display, the other 2 are only available to scholars. Of course one can only see a few pages of it, and is rather disapointing. Might as well just go into the bookshop and buy the DVD Rom w the whole thing if you are really interested!



After the room w the Book of Kells comes the Long Room. Now, this is the most impressive library I've ever seen (maybe I haven't seen enough yet...)! I was humbled. I actually sat down for a moment in wonder. Not just the books & displays, but the room itself is a master piece in its own right! The woodwork is just incredible. The energy of the place is unique and I had the opportunity to read some poetry by Samuel Beckett, it was the 1st time I read some of his stuff and it definatly opened my apetite.



I also went to the Writer's Museum,



and The Dublin City Gallery.



This was my favorite piece although I didn't make a note of the artist's name. My energy levels were running low at this point. Still, in 4 hours I managed to see a fair bit. I will go back to Dublin at some point. The owner of The Castle Hotel was very kind and let me leave my bags there whilst I went around. THANK YOU.

Race for Life - I did it!!

Here's me & Sandra my flatmate! She agreed to do it w me, she's as crazy as me, almost!! We're both Capricorns and get on as a house on fire! We did the 5km is 41 m 42 secs, not bad! Double credit for Sandra as she had a hangover! Bless her! We are both proud of ourselfs, the race made us realise we can achieve anything we put our mind to & raised some money for a good cause in the process. We runed the first 3km, walked km 4 & runed the last km.

You can still sponsor us till the 18 June if you wish. A special Thanks to all of those who already did.

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/marialopes

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/sandramarques

Albers & Moholy-Nagy

The exhibition was interesting. I didnt think it was expectacular but then of course there's a lot of concepts & materials we take for granted these days thanks to people like these artists (& others). They were the one's who explored plastics when they first apeared & other materials that now are so common. The work expresses a search for other dimensions & the concept of optical illusion. The whole show had quit an experiemental feel to it: the artists were clearly exploring the interaction between materials & textures and how human vision perceived them. Fine arts & crafts come together.

Some of the Artists quotes:




Things we completly take for granted today...




& this I thought it was an interesting analogy.

Mind, Body & Spirit Show

This year was the 30th aniversary of this exhibition! Would be interesting to travel in time and see what it was like in the 70's! Probably full of pot smoking hippies! This is the 4th year on the run I do the show working in the Anthroposophical Society's stand talking to people about Anthroposophy and selling books. It's always enjoyable and I always make nice connections w people and end up finding out a bit more about myself. The Society is having an Open Day on June 18 w the theme 'Unlocking Imagination'. Robert Lord, a Colour Therapist, designed the flyer and did a fantastic job of it! If you haven't been to the Rudolf Steiner House is worth a visit as is a Grade II building in central London, near Baker St tube & Regents Park.


The Hare Khrisna's always have their stand next to ours and they have the most delicious food! One certainly tastes the Love! One of them, Adi, sells really nice incence, worth a try.


This was their little shrine this year that I loved it! The figures were truly joyous. And one of the Female devotees was doing face painting and I couldn't resist!



A tree on the way to the Hall. Me & trees hey...!


In the last day I went to a workshop 'Prepare your chakras for 2012' by Diana Cooper.

Also check out my Friend's Sue music, she is a Songwriter & Composer w a very special voice. Her new album comes out soon.