I find myself in the terrible position of wanting to write a journal entry and having no idea what to write about. I mean, I feel like writing, sometimes it happens even to the most sensible. But the subject, the necessary issue shies away from me.

I am sitting behind my desk in my gallery office (very much like this: [link]) thinking of the year about to end and the one about to begin. And of the years past, that long sequence of mysteries that pile up in my life and make it ever more difficult to decipher them. Now I must try to explain why I call them "mysteries". I haven't lived a mysterious life, not even an extraordinary one, though I'm not sure my family would agree with that. For them, I'm the little black sheep that stands out as annoyingly as a fly in a glass of milk.

The mystery I can't decipher is the meaning of it all. I'm not a religious person, I usually describe myself as an agnostic, so there's no divine scheme behing things for me. Many say we're here to learn. I don't even believe that. Do we really learn anything significant while we live? I know we try to and I know there are powerful arguments supporting the learning theory. But then you get people under pressure reacting exactly as they would have if they hadn't learned anything in their lives. How deep does learning go? Skin deep? Flesh deep? Down to the very marrow? I'd vote for the skin option.

Maybe now you get an idea of why I'm the fly in the glass of milk...

I'm also a (very unfashionable) romantic. Nostalgic of the past (of a past I guard in my mind, made of pieces of reality power-blended with fantasies and wishful thinking), rebelious and mistrustful of the future. A friend once told me that I walk backwards towards the future, with my eyes set on the past. I was younger and more impressionable then, so I tried to "learn" to turn my back to the past and walk head-on towards the future. I felt like a blind person, I could see nothing in front of me, I kept stumbling on my own mistaken interpretations of what I was treading on. While the past was full of meaningful, inspiring memories. Not necessarily happy memories, I'm not saying that. But memories that were part of me, they were me. I was them. What could I relate to in the future? In the complete unknown?

I remember new year's eve when I was ten. Just ten! It was a rainy afternoon, cold and gloomy, and I was in my room doing... I don't remember what. But I do remember the feeling of sadness for having to say farewell to the year. I was regreting having to part with it, as if those twelve months had become my friends and now they had to go. Do many ten-year-olds think this way? I'd love to know but I never asked anyone about it.

Then of course the evening party started and I was carried away by the joy of the presents. Because in Greece we exchange presents on new year's eve, not Christmas eve. At least that was the tradition. But what remains after all those years is not the memory of the party but the reminiscence of the farewell sadness. In fact, I am beginning to regret parting with 2009. NOT a good year for the most part of it. It only started behaving in October, when I got my new job. And still...

This is the last Sunday of the year. A day that goes by without pain or glory, a sunny and cold winter day with the number 27 on its back. Another mystery tiptoeying away.

Hello people! I thought I'd never make it in time to wish you all a very merry Christmas! Phew!



I have some news to share with you -naturally, since I hadn't updated my journal in three weeks. Some things were bound to happen in such a long lapse of time. Ok, let's see:

1. I now know my work contract will be renewed for a whole year. Grrrrrrreat relief, huge sigh, trembling smile... In the midst of the world crisis that grabbed Spain by the neck, I got a steady job! For the entire 2010! My salary doesn't quite cover my expenses, so I have to work on my own projects too, those that bring some needed cash in. Nothing to do with fractals. I get some photography commissions, mostly shots of the area with a vintage look, and some traditional collages with old family photos. I barely have time for painting and that is becoming depressing. I make sketches and jot down my ideas and there they stay... On a piece of photocopy paper, enticing and sadly neglected at the same time.

2. On Sunday 13 December we had our first snow. It snowed for 36 hours non-stop and on Monday morning everything was under a 50-cm (20-inch) thick white blanket. I know that's not much for those of you who live in the Northern countries but it's not very usual here. It snowed everywhere in Spain and in some places the temperatures reached -20ºC (-4 F). Where I live they stayed below zero for 8 days straight and it was only yesterday when the ice started melting. There's still lots of snow all around. I had trouble going to work -just a 7-minute walk!- and I was unable to move my car for the whole week. Finally last Sunday I spent an hour and a half shoveling snow so I could move it out of the parking lot. That was fun!

3. The Finestra Estudio Exhibition opened on Tuesday 15 December and guess what: I wasn't able to go! Nobody did from the village, not the current owner of the gallery where I work, not the gallerist (that would be me), not the Mayor (he was invited, since the local Town Hall is now subsidizing the gallery). Not only were the roads covered with snow but we would have to drive back late in the evening, with the added risk of the ice. As you can imagine, I was very frustrated to miss the event. Fortunately, I had already sent them my triptych by courier and it is now there, among the other artworks. I'll go to Zaragoza as soon as I can and take some more pictures of the showroom because:

4. The triptych is nowhere to be seen in the ones they were kind enough to send me and that I just uploaded to my dA gallery! If you browse those shots, you'll get an idea of the style and trends the Finestra Estudio Gallery is interested in. Very similar to our own line in the Antigua Fabrica Noguera, where I work. Now if by any chance I SOLD the triptych... you'll be among the first to know.

So. I thought it would be nice if I crowned this journal entry with a feature of fractal diptychs and triptychs and I hope you'll enjoy it. Ta daaaaa

Edit, edit: everything outside my house has completely disappeared in the fog! When did it come in? I never noticed. I only see white through the windows!

[M y W e b s i t e]

[t h e T V i n t e r v i e w]

[m y i s s u u]

[l i n e a f r a c t a l] my blog in Spanish



I couldn't resist the temptation of featuring my fractal triptych in my journal. I love the look of the actual prints and I'm very eager to see them hanging on the gallery wall. They are not very large, since the event is dedicated to small formats, but the original files are large enough to produce 48-inch tall panels.





Fractals are especially close to my heart and I am happy and honoured to have achieved a Daily Deviation on my Fractal Calendar for 2010:



Heartfelt thanks to ^Platinus for featuring it today and to everyone who is viewing and faving my deviation. I don't have so much time to answer comments since I run the Art Gallery and I may not be able to thank everyone for their support. I want you to know that I cherish it and that it has brightened my spirits time and again.

By the way, whether you're part of the fractal community or not, hop over to ^Platinus's journal to view his beautiful feature on Fractal Calendars. It will be worth your time!

[M y W e b s i t e]

[t h e T V i n t e r v i e w]

[m y i s s u u]

[l i n e a f r a c t a l] my blog in Spanish



Hello again! I seem to be burdening you with news from my work lately but there wasn't much more to tell. This is the very first time in my life that I am not free-lancing and the change has been quite abrupt. If it weren't for the issue of my work, directly related with art, I wouldn't have done it.
There is a bit of news I can share today though. From 16 December to 16 January I will participate in a group exhibition in the Finestra Art Gallery in Zaragoza, one of the major Spanish cities after Madrid and Barcelona. They invited me to participate and it was a wonderful surprise.
There will be 10 artists in all: painters, sculptors, photographers AND a fractalist! (Lil' old me.) It is the 10th edition of their "Small Formats" event and each one of us will have 4 or 5 pieces in the show. I'm still trying to decide which fractals I'll present though I'll probably make a new series for the event. I'll post the works here too, of course. And I do hope this time I will not forget to post some shots of the opening night and the hall itself
I decided to write this journal entry now, before I get swept away by the frenzy and disappear from sight. I do drop in to read comments, I even try to find the time to answer them, and I'll be happy to hear from you all.
Enjoy your weekend, babies!

[M y W e b s i t e]

[t h e T V i n t e r v i e w]

[m y i s s u u]

[l i n e a f r a c t a l] my blog in Spanish



I just noticed my last journal entry was dated 5 October! Almost forty days went by and I hardly noticed it. It is taking me more time than I thought to adjust to my new job.

And how are you all?

I am currently making an inventory of everything in the gallery. Slow work! Not the most interesting on earth either, but it has to be done and it keeps me quite busy. There are many items here apart from the paintings: small pieces of sculpture, ceramics, photographs, exclusive costume-jewelry pieces, blocks and stationery of hand-made paper, even patchwork. I have to take a photograph of each piece and create a file with the details. I also plan to post more photos of the gallery here soon, it's such a special place! Aesthetically and emotionally pleasing (I hope this makes sense).

Our next art exhibition will be in March. Winter is low season here, as in most places, and organising an exhibition now would be wasting our - and the artist's - efforts. It was decided that we'll exhibit the older works of Gema Noguera, the painter who started this gallery and died a year ago. An event to honour her memory and her intense artistic and cultural activity in the area. This first show will run for three months, till the end of May.

We have just presented our budget for 2010 too, pending approval by the local Town Hall, who is financing the gallery activities.

And what about the cats, you may ask. Well, I found a nice, cosy home for the male kitten, whose name now is Tommy. His new family is delighted with him - especially the ten-year-old boy who insisted on having him. And there may be someone interested in the mother but this hasn't been confirmed yet. I'm in two minds about leaving the two female kittens motherless but it is also a fact that I cannot take care of 7 cats! Maybe I can convince the prospect father that he adopts two cats, the mother and one of the daughters. Then I would try take the other one in myself. Oh, that would mean a long territorial struglle with my A-team (my own four cats).

Ok, some visitors to the gallery interrupted my entry and now I must go. Keep well and happy, babies. I'll be happy to hear from you!