Christmas 2008

Christmas in the hostel was really good! We celebrated on Chrismas eve (as is the European way) with many friends and then again on Christmas day!

It was a very electro Christmas indeed!

My most recent painting

At the weekend Beatrice and I were very kindly invited by our new friend, Bogdan, to go with him to his home in a place far from anywhere. His father collected us from the station at Bistrita and took us to their home. They were very kind, showed us lots of photographs and fed us well. It was very quiet and peaceful there and on a clear night its beautiful to stand beneath the stars that hang in the sky like fragments of dreams.

In the morning we went to collect mud for building their new stove, with Bogdan and his huge dog Rocky. I spent the afternoon taking photographs and filming. Bogdan's mum told us a bit about communism in Romania and her views on Romania joining the EU. I was all very interesting (what I could understand). She also helped me to talk Romanian. I need all the help I can get! . . . Then we finished the evening with a very intersting game of scrabble where the words could be in English, Romanian or French!

The next day we saw some art and I was in my element with all the lovely walls in Bistrita! I now have lots of material to work with!

My most recent drawings are taken from walls and buildings and I have been looking in particular at the textures. Each layer of paint and plaster are memories of the past and microcosmic images emerge over time.

Today is Romania's national day and there are lots of people in the town centre. There are fairy lights everywhere and tonight there will be a firework show. The moon is beautiful this evening!