Nicolas de Staël

     Dear Fran,

     Do you know a painter named Nicolas de Staël?

     He was an artist who lived in the first half of the last century and who during his short life was struggling to reconcile classical and figurative painting and modern and abstract painting.

     It turns out that his work has hypnotized me; more than his work, his way of painting. And do you know why? Because I identify with the way of constructing the painting.

     He was a man who never stopped learning from his colleagues, whether they were older or younger than him. He had an insatiable curiosity to know the artistic currents that were in force in the Paris of his time, as well as to scrutinize the canvases that museums hang on their walls. I am about to think that he never managed to consolidate his own style (or that his style was the one that appeared at all times when he stood in front of the canvas), although we are capable of recognizing one of his paintings because in addition to dying very young he got tired very soon of what he was doing and then he changed and looked for another way of expressing what he felt.

     Fran, something like this is what is happening to me right now. If he allowed himself to be influenced by others, I am allowing myself to be influenced by him.

     Y. a.

     Mary

 The trappist   

     Dear Frank,

     this time I have not had any luck. My proposal has not been to the liking of the Carmona jury.

     This year I wanted to risk in one of the most important contests in the country and my work, The trappist, has not been selected to be exhibited during the local festival days of this city.

     When I received the email thanking me for participating in the contest, I was a little disappointed, since I had high hopes that the portrait of Justo Gallego would hang on the old walls of the Town Hall; however, just after a few seconds, two thoughts invaded me. On the one hand, this rejection makes me continue with more conviction along the path I have chosen for painting portraits, and on the other — even more important — my place will have been filled by a young artist who is taking her first steps in this difficult world of Art. In the end, dear friend, how many years of artistic activity (or any other activity) do I have left?

Y. a.

Mary

 You never have to look back 

 

«Thank you very much for your words. Save those beautiful memories you have of my brother because I don´t think you could talk to him. Mike has memories, the problem is that he can hardly ever express what he feels because he can´t find the words; this leads him to become frustrated and remain silent.

Finally, thank you very much for your interest. I´ll tell Gertrude, and you receive my best regards.»

 

This was the terse reply I received from Johnny.

Johnny, Mike´s brother, is four years younger than him and we will have exchanged three or four words in our lifetime and that was fifty years ago.

The message (DM) has put me into a demoralised kind of mood. It´s curious how something like that gets you down. I don´t know if it was a coincidence or what, but at the moment I was reading the DM, a Barber adagio was playing on my stereo, I don´t know which one, but it´s the saddest music I´ve ever heard in my life.

And all for wanting to look back and step on the path — as the song says — that shouldn´t be stepped on again. Because neither Mike nor I are the same dimwit we were when we were just starting out.

From my Borstal.

LDR

 First solo exhibition!

      Dear Fran,

      I am very happy to inform you that 27 of my works are currently exhibited at C. C. La Estación in Guillena.

     As I had already told you, they are paintings reflecting some corners of Las Pajanosas, Guillena and Torre de la Reina; places for which I feel a special predilection.

     Needless to say, all the proceeds, in full, will go to the children with FD in these towns because, as you can imagine, I know well what it means to have to fight to be put on the same level as the bulk of society.

     The exhibition will be open until June 5 and I hope that many people will come and that the collaboration will be generous. I tell you, then, that the Fagin project is working and that I cannot stop talking here about the people who, like Loli, the Civic Centre’s librarian, are making an effort to ensure that everything goes perfectly and that visitors get all the possible information from the paintings, because there are some neighbours who, if not with a little help, do not recognize certain places.

     I have tried to present very varied pieces, but all with things to offer, just as we are in real life.

      Fran, I think it's worth approaching La Estación.

      Y. a.

      Mary

 The shadow of the tsar is long

«(i)três pessoas organizam uma manifestação de apoio a Alexei Navalny, opositor de Putin, acreditando que estão seguras em Portugal;

(ii)dão as suas identificações à Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, certas de que é uma entidad séria, fiável e que nunca as irá colocar em perigo;

(iii)a Câmara Municipal envía esses dados pessoais para a Embaixada da Rússia sem cualquier base legal;

(iv)a Rússia não é um regome democrático. A Rússia intimida e persegue os seus opositores.»

Cleaning out the drawer of magazines and newspapers, I found an opinion article by Nuno Pereira da Cruz, dated June 16 of last year, and I had no choice but to stop and reread it.

The journalist is very upset by the action carried out by the Lisbon mayor's office, which was none other than sharing personal information of human rights activists (names, ID, addresses, telephone numbers...) with the Russian regime.

«Assim, quando temos uma violação desta gravidade da liberdade, da segurança e das garantias básicas de um Estado de direito democrático, não interessa o nome do pobre funcionario que enviou os dados dos ativistas para a Embaixada da Rússia. Isso é poeira para os nossos olhos…»

This was a year ago. Today — after the Russian invasion of Ukraine — the tsar's shadow is even longer and suffocating, and his proselytes, wolves in sheep's clothing, welcome Ukrainian refugees to extract strictly personal information from them for the benefit of the Kremlin head honcho.

Could there be anything more demeaning?

From my Borstal.

LDR

Diário de Notícias Quarta-feira 16/6/2021

 The left hand

Today I have seen for the first time the hand of an old man. It has been while reading one of the stories that Ishiguro has included in his ‘Nocturnes’.

Almost without realizing it, turning one of the pages, I have come face to face with the arid relief of my skin. On the back of my hand has appeared the senile hair that randomly populates the semi-toughen folds of this part of my body, as well as some accumulations — of fat according to the dermatologist — with the appearance of warts that have been established with total impudence between the knuckles and the wrist.

Porca vacca! I said to myself. I had to calm down and I have quickly thought that the texture that my left hand presents (I have not dared to compare it with the right one) is the result of the 2.5 dioptres that thicken the lenses of my close-up glasses. A little disappointed, I have taken off my optical aids and stopped reading.

From my Borstal

LDR

      Posadas

     Dear Fran,

     Yesterday I was in Posadas. I was taking photos of the town because I intend to propose to the town hall an exhibition of some of the corners that have caught my attention.

     I have brought home nearly a hundred photographs of the place, of which I will have to select 27, as I have already done with the Guillena exhibition and with the one I hope to do in Gibraleón. Therefore, I still have two years to choose the images that I will later transfer to the canvas.

 

In my opinion, one of the most charming places in Posadas

     As is my habit, I have preferred to look for the corners that go unnoticed during an express visit. Humble houses, streets far from the centre of the town that, however, make up the most genuine picture of the place, the orchards of the Barrancas del Molino, the back of the church, the Casino de los Señoritos...

     You may have already guessed that this series of paintings is also part of my Fagin project.

     Y. a.

     Mary