Sarajevo

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I wanted to love you Sarajevo
I listened to cello music
with strings and harp
and hoped you would greet me
with open arms

I painted a room as I said I would
with layers of translucent red
a pastel shade
not the sharpness of rose
or bitterness

the people are looking but not seeing
or was it just the ghosts I sensed
following me
every lonely mile
I walked and prayed

the contours of your face are beautiful
and the sunlight softens the scars
the cello plays
I did want to love you
Sarajevo.

GC©2016

sarajevo1

Bold colours

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20160215_123356 (1)

If painting a room with opaque emulsion / latex paint it doesn’t have to be flat and monotone! In this room I applied the first coat with a large mineral brush covering all areas with the paint and brushing into the drying edges. After doing that, the room quite frankly looked terrible! But the secret is to soften it and this is done by diluting the second coat with acrylic medium and applying with a small brush. The result is a subtle two tone colour effect which is especially nice when strong bold colours are used.

‘But the craft…’

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pigments

“But the craft of the hand is richer than we commonly imagine. The hand reaches and extends, receives and welcomes – and not just things: the hand extends itself, and receives its own welcome in the hands of others. But the hands gestures run everywhere through language, in their most perfect purity precisely when man speaks by being silent. Every motion of the hand in every one of its works carries itself through the element of thinking, every bearing of the hand bears itself in the element. All the work of the hand is rooted in thinking.”

Martin Heidegger.