Spa Day

I awoke to an alarm I set on my phone in time to make the transfer to in Manneheim to a train to Stuttgart. I slept on the Stuttgart train for an hour, then arrived in the town. At the station, I took time to orient myself, walking around the block, and getting some lunch at a cafe. I boarded th public transport train towards Si-Centrum, which I understand to be a sort of 'New Stuttgart'. It was a wealthy part of town with a new hotel, new theater, and a great connecting train system to the old part of town. I called John upon arriving and met him in the lobby of said new hotel. I hadn't seen him in a year since we'd met at a clothing optional event while I was living in Brooklyn. He looked healthy and tan, as he'd just come from an island off the coast of Spain. We dropped my stuff off in his hotel room, then went straight to the spa, which was an annex of the hotel. The spa receptionist was sure to inform us that the spa was a no-clothing spa, which John had informed me about prior. We confirmed that we understood, and went in. 

The spa seemed like an Epcot for saunas in that there were steam rooms, cold plunges, warm and cold baths, showers, buckets of ice, cups of salt, and simulated lighting and climates, to represent spa culture from across the globe under one megaplex. It was overwhelming in areas and underwhelming in others. Occasionally, I saw a logo on a table or a whack piece of art that challenged my center, but there were also special places where the corporate theme park vibe felt minimized. There was little guidance, which I appreciated. The line of nudity and sexuality I felt was in balance, which in other nude situations in the states I can't say the same for. John and I spent the entire day in the spa, including a meal in their inclusive restaurant. Afterwards, we dressed for the night, and went to the hotel restaurant to have drinks and dinner. The restaurant had a live musician. He was the American stereotypical fourty-something guy with a guitar in a dive bar. We heard Margaritaville and Goin To Carolina. John and I had a good laugh about it. We talked about our travels and adventures. Back in the room, I recieved a phone call from Karen. She listed off some of the work that she needed to accomplish before the coming Wednesday, so I offered to make the train trip back to Amsterdam in the morning, to help her with some tasks. John and I went to bed directly afterwards. He he had an early flight to catch, and I likewise had to get on a train back to Amsterdam. 

The Day of The Opening and Associated Adventures

Karen arrived in the mnorning at 6:30am, which was earlier than expected. I was glad I heard her coming up the stairs, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to help her with her bags. I went back to sleep, then woke up later in the morning with the girls. We had breakfast and I made some moves on some larger paintings. When Karen awoke, we all went to the market to buy hour devours for the final opening of the gallery. Back at the house, we prepared the food, then went downstairs to serve it to the timely guests, who had moments before heard Josine's speech, commemorating her 20 years as a gallery owner. I felt embarrassed to have missed it. The opening was close to overwhelming, as I knew very few poeple in the room. I was excited to see Henk Hage in company, and Dunia and Karen introduced me to a few others including art historian Thomas Hirsch, woodworker Case, and oil painter Tatyana. The gallery cleared out quickly just before sunset. A selection of the guests moved upstairs to Karen's floor for some snacks and drinks. 

It was Dunia and Anna's last eveing in Amsterdam, so we went for a long walk together. The girls talked in Russian the whole time, while I let my mind wander. The girls and I had become quite comfortable with each other's prescence to the point that we didn't need to talk. We arrived back at the house with just enough time for Dunia and Anna to pack their bags before heading out again to catch their bus. We walked to central station, where we told tall tales to the bus driver who was havinga  ciggarette break. I told a story about when my sister went skydiving; I was hired for $20 to go up in the plane with her and take photos while she jumped out. By the time we were up in the air, I was so overwhelmed with excitement, I'd completely forgotten my mission. I added some overtly extravagant embellishments to the ending and let the story develop into something of a legend. The bus driver had a good time with it. I gave the girls a long hug and saw them into the bus. I was going to miss them. 

When I came back to the house, I realized that I was in a tough spot. There was a lot of work to be done in terms of cleaning and preparing for my own travels. I quietly cleaned for a couple of hours until I heard Karen's voice loud and clear, "Kemeys, I'm trying to sleep!"

It was a nightmare. I had to be on a train at 7 in the morning to meet my friend John in Stuttgart, the house was not in ideal shape, and I was not packed. I figured since the house was relatively clean, the best course of action would be to pack a bag and get out as quickly as possible. I tucked some clothes into a backpack with a book and a phone, and left. Walking towards the train station, I found about 40 coasters, strewn in the street. They were a beautiful rounded delta shape and had some street charachter as they had seen some foot traffic. I imagined myself one of Moses' followers collecting precious manna from heaven. Oh the glory! 

At the station, I found the main entrance closed and was directed to enter through a side door. Upon entering the station, I saw about a dozen police officers, and a limited number of gates open. It looked like a terrorist threat, though I felt slightly silly about the presumption. I walked back outside and asked a gentleman what was going on. He said that it was standard procedure that they close most of the station for efficiency, and that individuals riding on morning trains had to wait outside. I offered to buy he and another young gentleman some water. The younger gentleman thought it was a great idea, and came with me on the mission. We went to a McDonald's in the Red Light District to buy a few bottles for all who were in our same situation. My new friend's name was _________. He was an internationally recognized DJ who was traveling for shows. He talked about his career and the compromises that have come with his success. I found his insights to be wholistically enlightenting and appropriate for me to hear at that juncture. The conversation meandered while we waited for sunrise. We talked about women, travel, religion, politics, work, play, and compassion. When the doors opened for morning travelers, we stuck together to buy our tickets and wait on our trains. After some time we exchanged information and parted ways. 

I sat down on the train platform and made a dozen or so rough paintings on coasters. I feel I am becoming more efficient at generating esthetic quality, as some paintings were singing after only a few moves. The train arrived. I took a seat and fell fast asleep before it left the station. 

 

SYRP

I went to the Rai Center this morning to help my new friends Chris and Ben install their booth at the International Broadcasting Conference. We started the day building a table. Chris had mocked up the design on a computer program, and they had the wood pre-cut at the hardware store. Assembly went fairly quick. The boys went out to buy a projector to display video in the booth, while I stayed  behind to work on signage. I was given the task of making a 3-d logo. I walked around the trade show and picked up scraps for the other vendors trash piles. I came up with corrugated and non corrugated cardboard, as well as some quarter inch MDF. I thought MDF would look best, so I set to applying the logo to the board. Chris had a template already drawn on paper for the logo, so I applied double stick tape to the back, and fixed it to the MDF. From there I began cutting through the MDF layers with a blade and a handsaw. It was slow work and by the time Ben and Chris arrived back, I'd only finished cutting about a third of the logo out. We switched from MDF to the non-corrugated cardboard with good success. It came time to paint the cardboard letters, so I took out my gouache. I realized I'd made a mistake when I saw an example of their logo- it was green. The night prior, Chris was painting another logo, which we didn't end up using, and I perceived the paint color as yellow for one reason or another. I brought my set of gouache, but made sure to leave out blues and greens, as I thought not to even risk mixing that hue. The mistake realized, I decided to make a dash to the art store to buy yellow-green, lemon yellow, and sky blue gouache. Back at the Rai, Chris and Ben had the projector working. I mixed the logo color and painted their 3-D sign, then Chris projected the logo on the wall for me to trace, and paint. We were flirting with the clock towards the end, and we wrapped it up right on time. I was happy with the way I painted today. Ben introduced me to the vendors next-door as Kemeys, the artist, which felt good. 

Dunia, Anna and I went for a long walk. I brought several candles and a box of matches. Outside of the house we met a gentleman and his lady friend who were looking for Dam Square. Dunia and I pointed them in the right direction. While we were talking, I was playing with a match in my pocket, casually dragging the sulfuric end across the strike strip on the box. The Gentleman, his lady friend and I realized that the match had lit at about the same time. I jolted my hand out of my pocket which I believe introduced some more air into the mix. Black smoke trailed out from my jean pocket. I beat at the pocket until the burning sensation subsided. I felt like a cartoon, but my burned finger did not. 

Injuries aside, the walk was beautiful. We lit candles along the way, leaving them strategically in areas that might invoke wonder or romance in passers by. I lit one for a couple at a cafe, who were enjoying a bottle of wine. Dunia lit one on a lonely bench. Anna lit one and placed it in a recession in a sculpture. We must have visited a dozen playgrounds throughout the city, which unlike american playgrounds felt wholesome and made with genuine materials. It seems that I harbor some bitterness towards American plygrounds because of years of static shocks from ployesther and plastic slides, splinters from cheap wood, and burns from metal exposed to too much sunlight.

We got lost in the outskirts of the old city, and spent a couple hours finding our bearings. We found a sandbox playground and built an alter out of sand. We lit our last candle together as an offering for guidance home. We called out to Vla, which is a delicious puding-like food, (and a staple for dutch junkies we later learned). We arrived back home safely. 

Long Date

Today was incredible. I woke up earlier than usual. Dunia and Anna were moving their things upstairs in preparation of guests in the floor below. We had breakfast together, and I made some significant moves on some paintings. I went to the cafe in the afternoon to play my coffe trick of selling a street drawing on a coaster. I sketched in a ballpoint pen, then went in with conte pencils; black, white, and two gray tones. THe drawing looked great sobut twenty minutes in and I feel like I am learning the street well as a result of drawing it three times. There's something enthralling about not documenting the work as well. I have two drawings at home that I intend to document and post, but I don't consider them among the better drawings I've done. Perhaps I will keep a winner soon to send to my family.

Anyway, today the cafe filled up after I sat down and several people were watching me draw. After I finished the drawing, I turned to the table behind me to ask if they would like to see. I met a lovely group from Southern California, as well as a couple from Switzerlad. I told them some of my story, and talked about the luck I've had in selling coasters. Andrew bought the drawing. I went home to prepare for a date with Giulia to see her studio, and move some of her art peices. Before heading to meet Giulia, I threw some spray fixative into my bag. I went byy the cafe to apply the fixative to Andrew's coaster drawing, which he appreciated. I met Giulia by a saxophone player, and we rode to her studio. The studio was incredible. it was 500 square meters. She shared it with six other artists, all of whom were working on significant projects and two of whom, I was farmiliar with. Giulia showed me a lot of her work. It is textile based and graphic. Most of her creations are plush animals that blend play and fine art. The craft was incredible. We loaded or bikes with boxes of her work to bring to a shop which represents her products, but upon arriving, saw that the store owner was away for a few days. We stopped by the graffiti shop where she works to drop off the boxes. She would have to run her errand another day. From there we went to am electronics store, as Giulia needed a cable for her computer for a project. We sat down for a quick coffee to wait out a bit of rain, before setting out on our final mission; to buy tickets to a music show that Giulia intended to go to on the weekend. I began to see that our date was a shopping list. After all of the errands were run, we met with Giulia's friend at a bar. His name was Jordy. We had our drinks, I chose sparkling water. We bar hopped until we came to a bar that Giulia frequented. She got endless games of pool compliments of the bar tender, so we played a few rounds and drank more of our respective beverages. Jordy told us about his friends from New Zealand who had a great product for time lapse photo and video that were in town to promote their product at a film exposition. He offered that we meet up with them, for a night at his apartment, which we happily agreed to. The bike ride was a long one so we made sure to stop by a bar towards the end of the ride, to refuel on our respective beverages. We met Ben and Chris at a Cafe close by Jordy's apartment. We talked about our respective goals and goings about in Amsterdam, which we seemed to align incredibly well with. We went back to the apartment, and Ben and Chris got straight to work; they had an installation to work on the following day. I offered my help for the morning and we exchanged info. The project that they are working on is incredible, and I would love to help them in any way that I can. 

Jordy lent me a jacket for the ride home, which I needed, as I'd left home in the afternoon anticipating a quick outing with Giulia, whom by this point in the evening, had taken a shower and found a bed in Jordy's apartment to crash on. I rode home with vigor and enjoyed every second of it. I can home with a runners high, and took a shower. I ate a small meal, and called my mother, who is going on an exciting trip with my father, and all of my living grandparents. I enjoyed talking with her. 

I talked with Dunia and Anna. They enjoyed the zoo in the afternoon, and had a great meal with a friend of theirs in the evening. 

I have set out all of the supplies that I think I could use for the morning, among them gouache, acrylics, brushes, a blade, pencils and tracing paper. I am excited to meet with Ben and Chris in the morning to help set up a professional booth. 

Weather

Dunia, Anna and I went to the market together and found some good used clothes. I bought a tan winter jacket from the 70's and Dunia found a beautiful burgundy dress which laced up the front.

I worked a few hours in the studio yesterday, then had a lovely evening with Dunia and Anna in the loft of the home. The loft is painted completely white and its walls slant inward into a triangular ceiling. It was a quiet and comfortable space for us to enjoy each other's company. It began to rain that night. 

The majority of today was gloomy and raining, which made for a good studio morning. In the afternoon, Dunia, Anna and I went for a walk to get some soup at a Thai Restaurant down to the street that I enjoyed last week or so. The restaurant was closed, so we set to walking towards the Rijksmuseum, to find a backpack that Anna had scouted out earlier. The walk was pleasant despite the cold and wet weather. Dunia and Anna were lively and optimistic. We found the store. It was an outdoors store which had winter clothing and traveling gear, and free hot chocolate. It was a type of oasis from the cold and rainy weather, which we made a long use of. We got comfortable drinking tea and hot chocolate, and began walking around the store, before an employee asked us to be mindful of their merchandise, and relegated us to the coffee corner. Anna made her purchase, and we set back towards home. Walking out of the shop, we noticed a beautiful Thai restaurant directly next door. We sat down and ordered chicken soup with coconut milk, mushrooms, and lemon. We also ordered what was described on the menu as chicken cake, which we found was a light, fried, savory kind of cracker. The food was unbelievable. We waked home quickly as the weather picked up some gusto. 

I looked up a music zine that I discovered today, and saw that Braids were playing tonight. I geared up and set out to brave the weather. I rode across town toward Amsterdam Centraal to find the venue. The weather gained intensity as I rode closer to the main waterways. A combination of intense weather and lost bearings sent me back to the house, where I took a hot bath and prepared for more studio time. 

Door to My Future

Today I went back to the market, but it was closed entirely. Close by, I thought to stopin to say hello to my friend Giulia at Henxs shop, but she was not in. I walked the street for a short while before coming across the Rembrandt Huis. I had been meaning to visit for some time now and this was the perfect opportunity. I paid 12 euros and declined the talking phone earpiece tour thing. It seemed I was the only one who wanted to walk without a gadget to their ear. Everyone else had one and the place was pretty packed. I found a few moments of solitude with the paintings which I cherished. A woman gave a great demonstration in making oil paints in Rembrandt's tradition. Afterward, I went to the top floor of the building where there was an exhibition of an artist from Amsterdam named Peter Vos. Through the course of his career, Vos illustrated many depictions of Metamorphosis as alluded to in greek literature. It was a sort of retrospective, as he had died in 2010 at the age of 75. The paintings were small but there was no shortage of them. I enjoyed most of the work very much. 

Afterward, I returned to a garbage pile which I had been keeping my eye on to pick up a door that had been thrown out the night prior. I stared at the door for a good 15 minutes after propping it against a wall. I was considering wether I could fit it in the house or not, and if I had the time and space to finish a painting of this scale. The answer to the space question is currently, no. I cannot fitt the painting into the spiral stairwell to bring it up to my studio. I sanded the door to prepare it for a coat of gesso, then stored it in the bottom-most section of our foyer. I will either have to dismiss the idea, or find a studio in Amsterdam in which to begin painting larger works. I would prefer to find a studio, and I believe I will focus attention towards leasing a space shortly. 

I spent the rest of the evening in the studio. It began to rain as the sun went down. I called Dunia and Anna to see what they were up to . They had gone to Antwerp with a friend for the day. They returned and we shared stories. Dunia bought some herbal jam from a Chinese market. We spread it across bread and it was a very interesting flavor. We made a joke out of topping or sandwiches with whipped cream, or as it is called here slagroom. (potentially my favorite Dutch word thus far). 

Dunia and Anna joined me in the studio while I worked. They read and talked and I was happy to have their company. I am making good progress on my paintings, and have started a few medium sized works in circular dimensions which are exciting. 

Market Day

Great evening in the studio. I worked for a long time on the big painting and its becoming quite powerful. I will need to do some exploring to figure out the best finish to apply to it. 

I went out in search of a market today. First, I found the flower market, where a whole two blocks are devoted to bulbs. I didn't need any bulbs, so I moved on to another market, which had a lot of clothes and food. I bought a great papaya juice drink, and later a ham and cheese croissant. I saw nearly all of the booths and was on my way out when I noticed a booth on the side devoed to used books. I found a copy of a Jean de La Fontaine book that Gustave Dore illustrated, as well as a collection of paintings by John Bauer, a Swedish painter who died early in his career. I had been looking for a John Bauer book for sometime, and happily bought the pair of books for 10 euros. 

I bought some new groceries, as I am beginning to seek variety in diet from my standard leverwurst sandwiches.