Art By Tali Landsman

I have been giving a lot of thoughts to the idea of "self promoting". I realize that an artist need to learn to express herself and her vision with clarity. We need to be able to speak about ourselves and our art without cringing or feeling self absorbed. There is a fine line that we try not to cross between talking about our accomplishments and dominating conversations and being a bore. I think that the first rule is to speak about yourself and your art when sincerely asked. Nobody expect us to go on a long self promoting monologue when seated on a plane. But when giving an interview to a journalist that is making a story about our art, we need to know how to tell our own story in a way that is interesting, memorable and enjoyable for the listener.

I have spent the day making a proposal for a prominent art collector. I have visited his house years ago and admired his taste and art collection. He had contacted me requesting 29 paintings that he likes on my web site which he intend to place in his offices and around buildings that he owns. If he likes my proposal, I will be busy wrapping and packing art for the next two weeks. Even thought I need to be making more art to prepare for the summer shows that I have applied for, I welcome this opportunity as a gift to me for the end of the year.

Jules is feeling under the weather, so we have been staying home instead of going to ski. Today in the studio I finished the piece above. I temporarily named it "Toy Boy". Referring to a boy that never grows and surround himself with toys. I guess it would be more accurate to call it "A Playful Boy". But as I said, the name is temporary. I had a lot of fun painting this piece, but it also took a long time. I plan to start a new piece and integrate into it some snowboarders and skiers.

This year is ending! Time to welcome in a new brighter year. It may not have been an easy year for some of you. Whenever we go through turmoil, be it through bad economic times, war, strife, disease or attack, we begin to contemplate our mortality. We may forget that we are not small mortal beings, born but to die, to smile awhile but mostly suffer pain, only to end our short lives in misery and ill health. I composed this short poem (borrowed heavily from the Course In Miracles) to help us remember: There is a light in you, which cannot die Whose presence is so holy That the world is sanctified because of you. The waves of the ocean bow down before you And the trees extend their arms To shield you from the heat. They lay their golden leaves before you on the ground, That you may walk in softness. The flowers offer their scent As a gift to you While the wind sinks to a whisper Around your holy head. All living things are holy, There is a light in them that cannot die. All wrongs you dr...

Happy Holidays to all! To those who celebrate Christmas - Merry Christmas to you all. To those who celebrate Hanukkah - Happy Hanukkah to you. We drove today to Eagle to ship a painting to a client and to have a late lunch at a local cafe'. It felt so good to sit in the warm Yeti's Grind cafe' with a foaming soy latte' and an organic bagel sandwich, reading the newspaper. It reminds us that living in rural areas, does not necessarily means that we have to do without services. We also have a new bookstore in Edwards - "Bookworm", that makes great fresh crepes in their cafe' and a great selection of books.

More snow is falling daily on the Rocky Mountains. The path between the house and my studio is knee deep in snow. Yesterday I packed a painting to ship to a client, but with the snowfall we had all day yesterday, I am not sure that I will drive to FedEx to drop the box today. I will continue to work on the piece that I have in progress on my easel. These pieces are taking a long time. I am almost finished with snail-mailing the Holiday cards to my clients

I just realized that I haven't left the house since I drove Jules to the airport on Saturday. It was quite an adventure driving back from the airport. The temperature was below freezing. The I-70 was De-iced by salt and the highway's scrapers, but our local road up the Colorado river was like an ice rink. Normally I am a careful and slow driver and this time was no difference. I inched my way along the winding road that snakes around the river. Suddenly a family of deer jumped in front of my car. Instinctively I slammed on the brakes and proceeded to glide like an Olympic ice skater on the road. Those of you who live or lived in cold climates surely know the feeling. The brakes does absolutely nothing and so does the steering wheel. Turning it to the right or left has no influence on the direction the car is gliding to. I remembered that Jules told me to pump the brakes if I ever get into a situation like this. So I started doing so and with the help of the hand brake, eventual...

This morning I woke up to find the house surrounded with a foot of snow. I haven’t moved the car since I took Jules to the airport and the car was buried under an igloo of snow. Now that Jules is in Miami, I spend most of my time painting. This makes me think that if I were not married, I would probably have a much less interesting life, being in my studio days and nights. I like the new piece that I am working on. I am also working on some new pieces from the “Unnerving To A Frugalist” series. They take longer, as I am only able to apply one layer of color per day.

I spent all day yesterday cleaning the house and studio. Today was devoted to painting in the studio. I got this lovely email from a client in New Zealand, which made me feel lovely for the day. "Hello Tali I wanted to let you know that I have hung one of your gorgeous paintings in my new business – my husband and I operate a farm walk/petting zoo and café in a tourist complex on the Kapiti Coast and I have had 3 offers of people who want to buy the painting in the last week alone! I wondered if you had any more of the same series of artwork left – I would be happy to display some pieces for sale if you were happy for me to do that – the level of interest in your painting has been amazing! I would be happy to purchase them from you and on-sell them if that is better for you? Also, as a part of our venture I am setting up a kids arts and craft studio for local artists to run workshops in and I would LOVE a big version of one of your paintings as the main feature for the studio – i...

Edith Gregor Halpert was a gallery owner and an art dealer who helped shape the modern art market in America in the beginning of the 1900. At that time, collecting art was the domain of the wealthy. Wealthy families across America provided the much needed support for young American artists experimenting with abstract and other expression of none figurative forms. American artist were not highly regarded at the time. The art market was thought to be happening mostly in Europe and the young American painters were dismissed as doodlers. But despite the resistance, American artists made some local waves and the interest and faith in their art started to rise. Around the 1950's in America, an emergence of interest in modern art started to occur. The post war years brought with them a sense of abundance and hard working middle class people started to collect art made in America. Edith had an aversion to the direction in which the new art market was heading. People no longer bought art b...

In the past few days I have not done much beside pack paintings to ship to clients, make receipts and FedEx labels, and update my records. I am extremely grateful to be busy this way, but today when I had a few hours to spend in the studio, it felt sublime. I started a new piece in my sketchbook series. This time, I am changing the order of doing things. Instead of drawing the grid of the sketchbook on the canvas in ink first, and later doing the charcoal drawings, I started with the charcoal drawing. I have done this so I can spray the charcoal with fixative to prevent the smudging of the pencil and charcoal. If I spray after I have the grid, the ink runs. Live and learn. I am moving into a marketing mode, applying for summer shows and researching my options. I have also started to prepare my end of the year card to my clients. This is a long task since I have a mailing list of 750 collectors.

How fortunate you are to be able to enjoy Art Basel. When we lived in Miami, I visited every year since it started and enjoyed it tremendously. I also loved all the satellite shows that sprouted up around the city. I did read that attendance and sales are down this year. It is only to be expected when the economy is so shaky. As to your question about my art career, I have had four inquiries since we've returned from NZ. I already shipped two of the paintings, the third is a commission for a client and the forth did not respond back yet. This is pretty good for only ten days. I am actually applying to do some art shows over the summer. I did not get any answers from any of the shows yet, but I am hoping that I will get in. I see no other option for me than to keep on promoting my art. I chose to be an artist and I will do all that it takes to make my living as an artist. I know that there will be hard times, but I will have to economize and keep on trying. What works well for me is...

We spent the day skiing on the slopes of Vail. What a wonderful experience it was to be zooming down the snowy runs with the winter sun lighting up the horizon. Of Course we are a bit rusty and our muscle tiers faster than they should, but we know that we are adjusting our bodies back into skiing shape. We met lovely people on the gondola and chatted with them casually. We affirmed how blessed we feel to be living here and to have such a wonderful life. Just to enjoy good health, to have one another, to be able to ski, in one of the best ski resorts in the world, to come home to a good shower, a home cooked meal and a movie or a good book- what more can we hope for? And for all of this, I am extremely grateful .

Today was a very busy day in the studio for me. I had worked on many things simultaneously, allowing others to dry and continuing on to other projects. Early in the day, I worked some more on the commissioned piece. Later in the day I added more doodling to the piece above. (I am almost finished with it). I also worked on some small pieces. I am adding an image below. First I've sculpted the heads and now I am painting them and working on integrating them into the small canvases.

I am still in the process of getting adjusted to the new time zone, here in Colorado. But I am up and around and doing things. I spent some time in the studio working on a commissioned piece yesterday. I like how it is progressing. There is something very intimate about painting a commissioned piece of art. There is the fact that the piece has a waiting home mixed a little with the client's taste, that make the process of creating it, easier. There is much less self doubting involved. Yesterday night we watched a documentary series about contemporary art in America. It was inspiring to listed to living artist talk about their process, about their art, about the art world and to take in their different views. I always find that listening to other artists who live and deal with the same challenges that I do, but maybe are already further along the path than I am, very inspiring. They are my path blazers. Doing and demonstrating that it is a possibility.

We are back in Colorado, but still adjusting to the changes. The biggest difference is that it is totally dark by 5pm. When we left NZ it was still day light by 9pm. We would go out gardening by 5pm. There is not much snow on the ground and the mountains are not yet open for skiing. Before we left, I have mentioned to Jules that I am having a meaning crisis as an artist. Thoughts about my place in the world as an artist, why and what am I doing here, were plaguing my mind. On our way home at night, we listened to a radio program on NPR that centered around turtles. Apparently a new fossilized turtle was found recently in China, with a fully form shell on his belly but not on his back. It also had teeth, which brings up the question why did the turtle lose its teeth and why did it not have a shell on its back? This discovery revolutionize the way we understand turtles world wide. At the end of the show, the narrator mentioned that there are scientists that devoted their whole lives to r...

This is our last day here in NZ. We are flying back to Colorado on Monday. It feels a bit like "going back into reality." Or to put it differently- back into the furnace. I am sure that many people were not affected by the financial meltdown, but it has been exhausting in our household. Jules, being a financial advisor in these current times, is experiencing much stress and I share his stress by association. I actually sold two paintings this past week to an art collector from the USA via the internet. In the local gallery in downtown Kohukohu, the student show that is currently on exhibit, is already half sold. These are great news during a recession. A collector in Miami said that collecting art is akin to an obsession and I had to agree. Many people bought my art that are far from rich collectors. For some people, my artwork was their first purchase of original art. They simply fell in love with a painting and saw value in enjoying the art in their homes. Today, there is r...

It is a beautiful sunny day and I used it to do some weed whacking. I felt good to be outdoor in the garden, weeding and mowing, taking in the blooming flowers, the colorful birds and the gentle breeze. Yesterday was a very productive day in the studio. I worked on converting one of the painting that I started with colorful pens- into a more complex sketchbook piece. I added the grid and doodles, colorful symbols and circles of thick paint squeezed right out of the tube. I feel so fortunate to be able to turn to my art for clarity and focus. I give thanks for all of the blessings in my life and eknowledgeh that there are many. I affirm that I am (as everyone else is), a beloved child of the Universe! I have a right to be here! Every day in many ways my greater good comes to me. There is a vast river of joy and peace and I am stepping into its midst now and forever! Everything in the universe is energy and energy is love. There is only light and only love within and around me and in the...

It is getting very cool lately to openly discuss your money saving plans. Here is some of what we are doing to walk the earth lightly and to bring our expenses down. The first thing is not to hire any kind of domestic help. We have no cleaning lady, we do our lawns mowing, scrub cutting and gardening. This became a bit more challenging when a big Tea-tree got uprooted and fell on an Avocado tree that snapped in half, in our garden. The hill is very steep and it was hard to get a good footing. But Jules took out the chain saw and while he sliced the trees to manageable pieces, I hauled and cleared the brunches and debris. We shopped around and lowered our cars insurance by 50% We canceled our cell phones service. This was a big sacrifice. Jules used his Blackberry all the time, but since we decided to minimize travel, and since we get a very patchy cell reception while we are in CO anyway, we cut that out. We spend almost no money on restaurants, This is because we live in remote places...

Yesterday I did what I should have done a long time ago, but didn’t - I scrubbed clean my studio. I didn’t just clean it, I organized and repositioned things to make the space feel open and clean. My studio is on three levels. On the lowest level, I store empty canvases and tools. On the middle level I paint and have my paints stock. In the loft I have a desk, drying racks and more storage. It felt so good to have the place so nicely cleaned that I stayed well into the evening and started a new painting.

Today I am all achy from the day of staining. In the studio I worked on the piece showing above and was able to photograph and post the rest of the pen paintings on my web site. See it on www.talilandsman.com I sent an email to friends and clients wishing all a wonderful New Year.

Today I woke up to a brilliant day. The sun was shining and not a cloud in the sky- the perfect weather for staining the decks. I have made us a quick breakfast and while Jules brushed the leaves of the decks, I started staining. It went very well until I run out of stain. Jules drove to Kaikohe - a town about 40 Km on the other side of the harbor that is crossed with a vehicle ferry, to get more stain. I was hoping to have the stain so that over the weekend I can finish the rest of the decks and a apply a second coat. But now the weather forecast is showing a drizzle. Needless to say, I did not get into the studio today. Perhaps if it rains I will spend the weekend in the studio, developing my sketchbook project.

While it was not a great day in the US financial markets, I enjoyed a great day in the studio. I experimented with the idea of creating my sketchbook canvases without the grid that I was outlining to mimic an old fashion notepad or a sketchbook. I decided to give it a try and if I still missed the grid, I could always add it in later. But the sketching took a new direction and I ended up really enjoying sketching in colorful pens. I left a lot of white space around the images. I thought that it works better to intensify the power of the simple lines. I will post some photos tomorrow and elaborate a bit more about it.

We are back from our trip to Dunedin. It was fun and it provided us a nice break from our daily frame of mind. In the city, we ate in cheap but delicious noodle houses that mostly cater to the many students that live in Dunedin and study at the Otago university. We saw some movies in an alternative art- cinema house and visited the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. We drove to the peninsula and had a wonderful time viewing the wildlife and birds that inhibits the region. Back home in Kohukohu the weather is dry but very cloudy, so instead of staining, both of us tackled the mowing of the grass that is growing so fast now. I Noticed that there are small peaches on our trees. I picked a wonderful harvest from out vegetable garden of red lettuce, green lettuce, green beans and the sweetest broccoli I ever tasted. I will make us a large salad for dinner.

The resin coat on the small cube paintings was mostly successful. Out of 30 pieces, 18 came out perfect and 12 needed to be re coated. The humidity level in the studio is just perfect, the resin is a shiny and clear as a mirror. Tomorrow we are driving to Auckland and on Saturday we are flying to Dunedin for a long weekend. This will be our first visit to Dunedin and it will be fun to explore a new place, see the art scene and take in the sights. We considered canceling the trip in order to save money, but Air NZ is not very good on refunds or exchanges and our hotel in Auckland is free (we redeemed hotel's points for it). And after canceling two trips already, we've decided to go ahead with this pre-market collapse- scheduled one.

So we have elected a new president for the USA. We hope that it will be the start of a better direction for America. We do need to improve our standing with the rest of the world and there is so much home cleaning for us to do inside the USA. We need to straighten our economy, raise moral, help establish a better health care system, bring the troupes back from Iraq and much more. Today I've applied for four art shows that will take place this summer in Chicago, Denver and Columbus Ohio. I hope that I will be successful in getting accepted into these shows. I hope that my art will dazzle the judges... The Tao Te Ching says that Hope and Despair comes from the same place, so instead of hoping- I trust that all will be well. She who expect nothing gains everything. I also applied the firs coat of resin on the small cube paintings. I will only know the results of the first coat tomorrow morning. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

This morning I woke up filled with optimism. I started counting my blessings which are many fold. I felt grateful and blessed and this spirit of gratitude stayed with me all thought the day. It is election time both in the USA and here in NZ. We have already mailed our absentee ballots back to the USA and we will be voting here in NZ this coming Friday. it is hard to believe that when we will be back in the USA, we will have a new president. I spent few hours cleaning and removing spider webs before I got into the studio. I finally finished the painting of the sitting lady (still have no name for it) and continued working on the little robots. I have only three little robots to finish before I start coating them. Jules already brought the large folding table up to the studio and I set it up in preparation for the resin coating. I have been humidifying the studio continuously for days and it feels so nice there. (The resin must be applied in a non humid environment or it forms a cloudy ...

It rained all day here in New Zealand. Not the hard showers kind of rain, but a misty Grey drizzle that lasted all day. Obviously my plans to stain the decks got delayed. I am dehumidifying the studio in preparation for putting on the resin coat on the cube paintings. They are looking great, now. They will look even better after the resin coating. I forgot how wonderful it feels to be so absorbed in my art that the day slips from under you. I raised my head and it was almost seven in the evening and time for a shower and dinner. Luckily Jules made us a wonderful dinner of Penne pasta with sun dried tomatoes, asparagus and green beans from our garden, all tossed with Olive oil, spices and olives - delicious!!!

Despite the weather forecast predicting rain, we enjoyed another lovely mild day. I felt a little sluggish today, but still was able to work for a few hours in the studio. I am realizing that our time in NZ is coming to an end. We will be leaving in about three weeks back to the snow capped mountains of Colorado. There is just so much I want to do before we leave. I am still hoping for a dry weather spell to finish staining our decks. The forecast calls for a rainy week, but maybe I can get a bit of staining done tomorrow. Jules and I keep on talking about our future plans but both of us are getting tired of trying to plan the course of the future. We decided to let the future unfold for us, to allow magic and miracles to come to us instead of trying to push the river.

I started the day by weeding the garden, and then I spent hours in the studio listening to music and painting. So many thoughts circulated in my mind while I painted. I thought about our choices in life, about the magic I've experienced and aboutbhow at times things felt as if they were designed by a higher power. I thought about how our beliefs dictates our reality and how to improve mine. The concentrated work on the small cube painting, helped me to focus my thoughts and I used the opportunity to listen to the stream of my thoughts. Recently, I have been wondering often, why did I choose to become an artist and about how challenging this path had proven to be. I know that it comes with so many blessings and that it fits my temperament very well, but It is such a rocky road filled with rejection and challenges to surmount. Today I felt dispirited.

I am enjoying the routine of getting back to the studio daily for extended periods of time. I am simply having a blast with these toy robots. I first fell in love with them when we visited a toy museum while we were in China. At the end of the visit, we bought three of the tin robots and I display them like sculptures on my shelves. Now I am having so much fun painting them. I will start coating some with shiny clear resin maybe by mid next week. It is helpful that the stock market stopped dropping like a stone and Jules and I spend less time strategizing and encouraging one another. This week I also sold and shipped a painting to a new NZ collector. It always cheer me up to have positive steps towards greater success in my art career. I am fully committed to investing more time in promoting my art and increasing my income.

Today was a cloudy but dry day. I spent about six hours in the studio working on my cube paintings. They are progressing well. I actually find that I enjoy them much more than I thought I would. Each toy robot is fun to make and I try to explore my fascination with them. Meantime the paintings provide a restful place for my overactive mind and a quiet place from which to reflect on the uncertain future.

I am getting closer to finishing the painting that I am working on. I still do not have a name for it, but often a name pops up as I am putting on the finishing touches. I have made a new resolution to go to the studio every day. I have been letting the emotional wrenching of the global financial crisis (that effected us greatly), to get to me. I have been neglecting my studio time, but no more! Today I immersed myself in my art and only emerged out of the studio when it was time for dinner.

Here I am adding a photo of how the small cube paintings can add color and visual interest to areas of the house that are too narrow for a regular painting. I will have three themes of these cube paintings: a landscape theme (mostly a singular tree in the changing seasons), an ocean theme (mostly a singular swimmer or diver with dolphins, sharks or turtles) and the third theme will be innocent toy robots, As I mentioned, I will offer them in a pack of three for $210 including shipping. Look for them soon on my website. They will be posted under “Gift Ideas” (will be coming soon).

This morning we woke up to a bright day. The birds were singing and at last, the sun was shinning. After lazying in bed with books and teas, I spent two hours of weed whacking on our property. I am amazed how much I am enjoying the hard work in the garden. After a long shower, I spent some time in the studio preparing to paint smaller paintings that could be purchased as gifts for the holidays. I have the idea of doing cube paintings that are colorful and shiny (covered in resin) that hangs in a series of three. They can be hang vertically or horizontally and add some color and visual interest to areas that are too small to hang a full painting. I have done this in my kitchen and it looks great.

Looking outside my window, it looks like a giant hand is shaking the trees violently. It is not only windy but also raining and cool. I spend the day on the sofa reading a book about art marketing- my biggest challenge. After years of working in the studio, I am at the point that creating art is mostly a fluid activity filled with self exploration. But marketing art is still an enigma for me. I haven't done any art shows across America for over three years (maybe four) and I had no chances of showing my new style to the public outside the few shows in NZ. I am a bit itchy to see how people will respond to my new art, to hear the people on the street talking. I decided to apply to some art shows this coming year. Even if I will do only a few in the summer. On one hand I am excited about showing my new art, on the other hand, I realize that I am going back to the art shows at the point in time in which America is at its lowest economical state since the depression. Will I be able to ...

It hasn't stopped raining for three days. Rainy days provide a great studio time. Instead of roaming the land, I go to the studio. I have been adding circles of color to a painting that I wanted to rework. I am also making good progress on the painting with the sitting lady. Jules and I are spending a lot of mental energy talking about the financial setback we are experiencing and what to do to cut back and save.

This morning I packed and shipped a painting to a client. This is my second art sale this week and I am so grateful for them. It has been slow entering the New Zealand art market, but now I am enjoying a steady and growing circle of collectors. It rained all day but I did get into the studio and worked on my painting for awhile. I am combining some styles by adding circles of thick paint to my artist's sketchbook painting. Over breakfast at the local cafe', Jules and I spoke about how well it paid to fix the property in NZ. After all the years, all the work and all the funds, we ended up with a lovely place in which to live and work. It is so quite and so peaceful here. A respite away from a turbulent world. We spoke about the fact that even having money in the bank does no longer offer a measure of security, as was demonstrated by the last month of financial crisis around the world. Big financial institutions - fall like a deck of cards and how we cannot search for security in...

To cut down on expenses, Jules and I are taking care of our garden maintenance. It is not an easy garden nor it is a small one. While in Colorado, we are the guardians of 36 acres of pure wilderness, here in New Zealand we care for gardens that are man planted with fruit trees, grass and many seasonal plants. In the past, we had a gardener to mowed the hilly lawns but now we do it ourselves. It is a hard physical work but it is so rewarding. I went into the studio yesterday after two hours of lawn mowing and to my surprise I noticed how fluent the painting was. There are days when I am mentally tired. on these days I do not paint well. But yesterday I was physically tired and as a result, my mind was quite and cooperative.

We spent Sunday climbing up a steep wooded path that runs along a creek, up the mountain. The hiking felt pleasantly strenuous and it was good getting out of our minds and worries and into our bodies again. At the top of the hill we had a choice of continuing down the path back to town or taking a shorter trail that meets the gondola that operates from Queenstown. We choice to have a coffee and then go down with the gondola. We felt elated (as shown in the photos) not to have taken the gondola UP the mountain but climb the elevation (2600 feet in about an hour.)

After the rocky week that we had on Walls Street, we were left a bit shaken. We already booked this long weekend trip to Queenstown NZ, months before and we did not see a reason to cancel. We spent the weekend reassessing our financial situation, spotting places to cut back and devised new strategies f how to build back our wealth.

It is hard to ignore the difficult financial times that have descended on the USA recently. Financial weakness is also shaking the Asian and European markets. Long standing financial institutions are falling down like deck of cards, while stock exchanges globally are plummeting daily. It seems hard to invest money in anything safe. Stocks with healthy fundamentals are dropping along with everything else. Just like in a healthy and jolly environment we have the aphorism: "a rising tide lifts all boats", so it is in a stormy market: “A horrendous hurricane sinks most boats in the open sea”. Which of course shakes the way people feel about spending money. Wealthy people invest their money in a way that generate income for their chosen life styles. When markets are weak, people tends to spend less. And then there are those people who are losing their houses, failing on their mortgages and losing their lives savings. We read sad stories on the news daily. America had always had a ...

I designed and posted a messenger bag that you can see on: www.bagstab.net You can vote on the designs that you like. Today was a stormy and rainy day. We drove to Kerikeri and finished our visa applications to India. It is the kind of day that makes me wants to curl up in bed with a good movie or on the sofa with a good book.

I had a good day in the studio yesterday. I continued working on the image of the woman and this time everything was flowing very nicely. I was able to shape her legs in a pleasing manner (to me). It felt good to be in the studio again, creating, thinking and playing. I think it has been more than three weeks since I last spent an extended time in front of the easel. I hope that this is the beginning of a good stretch of time spent in the studio.

Today I organized the studio. I photographed all the art and posted new pieces on my website. You can see it here: http://www.talilandsman.com/art18.html I also organized the storage room in which I keep my blank canvases and caught up on my emails. Up in the studio I started a new piece. It was slow going after weeks of creating no art. I started a drawing of a reclining woman but I did not get the proportions of the left leg correctly and after many tries, called it a day. I will try again this weekend.

We spent today running errands in Kerikeri. A new organic and gourmet store had opened on the main road and we stocked up on some goodies. It is always interesting to see what businesses survived the winter, who did not and how the city is reshaping itself. Our new wardrobes are being installed tomorrow so I guess that it may be another day before I'll get to the studio.

We arrived in NZ just at the rear end of winter. But the weather is definitely changing and our garden is blooming. Today I went to photograph the art from the "Unnerving to a frugalist" series that was returned to me from the shows. Jules unpacked the boxes and I photographed them. I will post them on my website soon.

We decided to explore the main island of Tonga. Out boat drops us at the fishing wharf in the city of Nukualofa. We walk around the fish market, admiring the long octopuses, the large crabs tied in green baskets made from coconut fronds. We see multi color parrot fish and huge conch. There are also plastic coke bottles filled with home made fish sauce warming in the sun. We rent old clunky bikes from a ninety year old man who sits in a house on the front road. He separates two rusty bikes from a pile of five ancient bikes resting on his sofa tied with a blue metal chain. We call them Clunky and Clunkilina. The seats are way too low for us, but after unsuccessfully trying to open the bolts with a rusty wrench, we give up and ride with our knees nearly scraping the road. We find a lovely cafe' in town (Cafe' Escape) and we eat a great meal and check our emails. Then we get on our bikes and ride down coconut shaded roads exploring the island. We stop to photograph often. The local...