Greetings from Estes Park Colorado

We left Berkeley CA in Seamus' Subaru Legacy circa 1990 around 3pm on Tuesday October 22. After a somewhat leisurely drive through Nevada, New Mexico and Utah, we arrived in Estes Park CO today. We're on a two week road trip but this isn't a dispatch from on the road. It's from a stopping point or more accurately, one of our destinations. Here are a couple highlights. More to come.

Elk standing in a field on Ponderosa Lane, Estes Park Colorado.

Amy's breakfast creation.

A Trip to Bikaner, Rajasthan

Several people had told me that Rajasthan was the place to go if I wanted to see Indian art. It was also an opportunity to experience travel by train Indian style. The train left Delhi late at night and was a general class sleeper car. This is India and it is warm here, so I won't need any heavy clothes, I thought. Whoops!





As the train continued west into the desert, the air became cold in the open-windowed carriage and by morning, it was close to a frost. Add to the lack of warmth, the bouncing, rocking and noise of the train and the cramped space at the top level of a three-bunk tier and, you may imagine, it was one long night!





Bikaner is a much smaller city than Delhi and much less intense. Yes, there were the autotaxi drivers offering to give us a ride; however, they were less demanding. We chose one driver who was very accommodating and brought us to the Shri Ram Hotel. Home at last!

As I knew we would be traveling to a number of places in a short time during the trip to India, I had sent my painting equipment to Ireland where I would pick it up later. For this portion of the journey, I relied on my camera to capture images that would have potential for painting in the studio upon my return to Taos.

Wonderful images were abundant. Just as in Delhi, people stopped me and asked to have their picture taken, like this young fellow on an early morning walk to town:




Or these camel drivers, the second of whom had to run into the picture when he saw I was taking a shot of the driver in the foreground:




And everywhere there were cows:




Architectural images:




And images of the old city:




We were lead through the old city by, Bilal, a fellow who befriended us at a small restaurant




Bilal also introduced us to local several artists. It was our last day in Bikaner and here was an opportunity I had been looking for: to meet with artists from India and find out about their approach to painting. Before leaving on this trip, I had been intrigued to see a painter from India in a movie called '1 Giant Leap'. In that movie, the artist was working on an oil painting of Ganesh, the elephant-headed Hindu god. Bilal lead us down a short alley to the artist's studio.




What I found in the studio was surprising. Indeed, everyone working in the studio was painting devotional images, just as I had seen in the movie. However, all the work was copy work from old texts. Any work that was original was not devotional; rather it was paintings of landscapes and people! So, at least in this case, my imagination about Indian art was jarred by reality.



Next: Sanchi, India - A Break from the Crowds

On to India

My flight to New Delhi, India landed late at night. I was met at the airport by my daughter Emily who was there to attend a friend's wedding and visit with her Indian boyfriend, Gautam Gupta. Immediately, Delhi reminded me of Shanghai - lots of traffic and lots of smoke in the air. What would the morning bring, I wondered?



Early Morning, New Delhi, India


Early the next morning, my mind stopped wondering. Delhi was indeed polluted. The air was so thick that the sun was a barely visible disk just slightly brighter grey than surrounding sky. Heading out into the city was the next jarring experience. The streets were packed with people and it seemed every few feet someone was demanding my attention for money, an auto rickshaw ride or to buy a brush or blanket or food or shoes or CD's. By the time I had walked to the train station, I was already close to my limit of tolerance when someone grabbed me by the arm to demand I take his auto richshaw. My body had an automatic reaction that, fortunately, I was able to stop just before it responded physically.



Train Station, New Delhi, India


Over the next few days, I learned the best approach to walking through the crowds: stay focused and don't acknowledge anyone even with the slightest eye contact. This advice came from Gautam and worked very well. People stopped asking and didn't even try. It was interesting to hear several people from India tell me the same thing and that even they did not pay anyone heed since there have been too many instances of fraud.

After a couple of days of adjustment, I got back to my plan of seeing traditional art. The first stop was the Jama Masjid. I brought my camera for the trip expecting to photograph examples of Islamic art and architecture. This art was there indeed. What was better though, was the unexpected. It was here that I had the first experience of people wanting to pose for their photograph. This was an enjoyable and unexpected cultural difference that was repeated at every stop in India.



Jama Masjid, New Delhi, India


The next day I visited the National Gallery of Modern Art. This museum was definitely worthwhile visiting and many examples of Indian artwork.



National Gallery of Modern Art


The discovery here was the paintings of Amrit Shergil who's figurative and portrait work was outstanding. Her work was amazing especially because all of it had been done before her early death at the age of twenty-nine.



Self-portrait, Amrit Shergil



Next: A Trip to Bikaner, Rajasthan

Back to Bangkok

Bangkok is another huge city with over six million residents. While the big cities are not my favorite places to spend time, Bangkok has its pluses. As in other parts of Thailand, the people are friendly and calm. The city is known as the 'Venice of the East' because of the wide Chao Phraya River which runs through its western side. Staying within walking distance of the river was great. There were inexpensive river taxis that ran frequently and stopped often along both banks. It was a refreshing means of transportation - a lot better than tuk-tuks and planes.


Chao Phraya River, Bangkok


One of the stops made by the river taxis was a ten minute walk to the National Museum Bangkok. This museum is Thailand's largest and had a significant collection of Buddhist imagery. On the day we visited the main temple was filled with young students drawing copies of the wall paintings.

Another museum nearby was the Art Gallery National Museum. This museum had a number of paintings that reflected Thai history.

While it was interesting to see the art in both of these museums, I was not hugely impressed. The work that I had seen in Art Museum of Chiang Mai made this work seem boring.



Next: On to India

A Trip to Louang Prabang

Luang Prabang was the most pleasant city I had visited so far. It is a small city (population estimates vary from 16,000 to 55,000) located at the junction of the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers and has nearly thirty Buddhist wats within it. I suspect this explains why Louang Prabang is similar to other places in the tropics of Asia - the people were friendly and calm.



Louang Prabang

At one time, Louang Prabang had been the capital of Laos. It had also been colonized by the French. Their influence is still present in the French architecture style of many of the older buildings in the downtown.

The surrounding countryside just outside the city was a relatively easy ride on bicycle, which where available for rent everywhere. The lush valleys and hills presented some of the most memorable I had scenery so far. One particular bike trip brought us to the Tad Sadet waterfalls:



Tad Sadet Falls

The color of the water really was deep aqua and the stepped falls were formed over the years by mineral deposits. The whole setting was, thankfully, not 'dressed-up' for tourists.

Getting to Louang Prabang was its own adventure. I had first heard of the place from other travelers while in Thailand. Several people from France had told me about a river trip through Laos that lead to the city. It sounded interesting and the trip was planned in that direction. Like Louang Prabang, the whole river trip turned out to be one of the most spectacular scenic settings of the journey so far.

The boat trip started in the northwest of Laos in a town called Huay Xai just across the border from Thailand. The two day trip went through very remote areas. For eight hours the first day and ten hours the second we sat on small wooden benches in a crowded wooden boat that barely floated above the water line. Everywhere there were densely forested hills dotted with an occasional hut or small village. Every turn presented another scene like this one:



Mekong River

Notions were beginning to brew in my mind. A combination of art influences from Asia and this scenery lead to some new ideas for painting. What follows are a few images of the trip and related studies:



Golden Temple



Golden Temple Study



Mekong River Sunset



Mekong River Sunset Study



Mekong River



Mekong River Study



Next: Back to Bangkok

Return to Thailand - Art in Chiang Mai

My first visit to Thailand was excellent and I was drawn to go there again to see more art, paint and visit other areas of the country. Most of my trip so far was spent in cities, including the past two months in Shanghai, one of the largest cities in the world. Now, I wanted to go to a more rural setting. Laurel Bastian (who had joined me in Shanghai) and I, flew into Bangkok to meet with another friend, Katie Kolosovsky. The three of us made plans to travel to Chiang Mai, a city in the north of Thailand.

Chiang Mai is seven hundred years old and the second largest city in Thailand. The twelve-hour train ride from Bangkok was comfortable and scenic. We were met with the usual crowd of tut-tut drivers wanting to taxi us wherever we wanted to go, all the while promoting their favorite place to stay. We ended up at an inn run by Dave, an American ex-patriot of eleven-years.

The following morning was our first real view of the city. The oldest part of it had been walled with a moat. The moat is still in place as well as remnants of the wall. We found that this inner part was compact enough to walk around within a few hours. We also learned that a significant wat, the Doi Suthep, and most of the art museums were located outside of the inner center.

The Doi Suthep was located several kilometres north of the city. Motorbike rentals are readily available in Thailand. Renting one made getting to the wat a pleasant ride through the hills. This wat was impressive. It is located high above the city and has been immaculately cared for.


Doi Suthep



Evening at Doi Suthep


The next places to visit were the art museums, including the Chiang Mai National Museum . While the local cultural museum had some historical displays, there was little to hold my interest in the way of art. I had been told by a Chiang Mai resident to be sure to visit the Chiang Mai Art Museum. I was glad I took his advice - the museum had some of the best contemporary art on display that I have seen anywhere in the world.

The museum is connected with the Chiang Mai University. The current show on display was of Thai artists, and it was so impressive, I went to see it twice - the second time with camera in hand. You can see here a few of the pieces from the show.



'Power of Life', Oil on canvas



Mr. Viroj Ratanajamcharoen, 'Monkey... where to go?', Oil on canvas



Mr. Arkom Doungchawna, 'Red Composition', Mixed media



Mr. Yootasak Roikaencham, 'Mysterious Object No. 2', Oil on canvas


Mr. Anusom Siripin, 'Toward Happiness', Paper, clay

While the images give some notion of the work, they do not convey the quality of it. And there was more work on display than is shown here.

I had started this trip with the notion of seeing traditional art in Asia. It was inspiring to see high such quality contemporary work.



Next: A Trip to Luang Prabang

Art in Shanghai

The Shanghai Art Museum was the first museum I visited in Shanghai. The Museum was hosting the fifth biannale this year. I went to the opening night celebration only to find that it required an invitation. Since I had traveled some distance to attend it, I decided it was worth effort to enquire if they had an invitation for me. I asked a few of the attendants for an invitation. After a few minutes wait, one of them lead me to the entry gate, gave me a tag and invited me to enter.

The opening night coincided with the full moon and was held outside in a park adjoining the museum.
It was an international event and the crowd was thick and well dressed. The show was a video and performance affair and included a floating astronaut, live music, and video installations.




The video installations appeared in various configurations including large scale moving boxes and tall towers as in the photograph above. (Yes, that is a billboard for 'Lord of the Rings' in Chinese in the background.) The museum did well in putting on an interesting event for the international crowd living and visiting Shanghai.

The rest of the show, held inside the museum, continued its international flavor and included recognized names such as Yoko Ono and Cindy Sherman. Most of the work here was photographic, including the work of Sherman, which in this case were images of her as clowns.

The next museum visit was to the Shanghai Museum (different then the Shanghai Art Museum.) This museum was much more traditional and included more historic work from Chinese artists and artisans. In addition to pen and ink work, there were displays of furniture, carving and regional dress. The paintings were the most impressively displayed of any museum. As the viewer approaches each work behind glass, automatic lights turn up and then dim after the viewer walks away. The whole museum was impeccably maintained.

There were other shows of contemporary work that I visited. One area in particular was the Suzhou Creek area. Work here was also multi-media, video and installation. To be honest, I found most of this to be unimpressive. As I understand it, one reason for moving away from classical painting is because it is old, and that there is nothing new to explore in traditional methods. The problem is, now, what was new has become old; what was original has become now trite. Hanging beads or boxes with lamps and bulbs, slide show projectors with fast moving imagery, video clips of odd scenes with women in various stages of undress, has all become as 'worn out' as what proponents of 'modern' art want to escape. For me, there is still much more to explore in traditional approaches to art and painting. And, it takes more than just a clever idea to create interesting and expressive paintings in this manner.



Next: Teaching at the Shanghai American School