Readings

The past year I have been to a lot of readings. Among others, books were read by Thomas Lang, Martin Suter, Stephan Thome, Per Olov Enquist, Herta Müller and Joachim Król.

As I had stopped reading for about 7 years, I still wanted to somehow keep in touch with literature. Readings are wonderful for this. You gain a little insight into the author and usually spark an interest in reading more.
I´ve started reading again since a few months and I still enjoy going to readings. Yesterday we listened to Thomas Lang reading from his newest book Bodenlos. I´m always a bit cautious when meeting new authors, but he´s a very likeable guy. And it was nice to have the chance to meet the publishers and the team of C.H. Beck, who just published Benjamin´s book "The Canvas" in January. They are doing a great job and are a friendly bunch of people.

I´ll be reading more German books soon, but now I´m off to read:

Things around me - Monday around 12 am

Yesterday morning Michael Nobbs twittered about a challenge started by Suzanne Cabrera. I had planned to document one hour at work in the book bindery - with all the interesting machines and work and books there. Not feeling well, I stayed at home and then had to get my sick daughter from school too. So we were sitting at home at our dining table and when she started drawing, I drew some of the stuff on the table.

It was a challenge indeed, because I usually always first draw sketches with pencil and then start the details with ink. Here I drew with the ink right away, but I still like it.

In case you want to join in on the fun and document one hour this week in sketches, leave a comment at her blog with a link to your post!

By the way, don´t forget to check out their sites. Michael Nobbs and Suzanne Cabrera are great artists and I love their line work.

South of the Border, West of the Sun

"Inside that darkness, I saw rain falling on the sea. Rain softly falling on a vast sea, with no one there to see it. The rain strikes the surface of the sea, yet even the fish don't know it is raining.

Until someone came and lightly rested a hand on my shoulder, my thoughts were of the sea."

"We were, the two of us, still fragmentary beings, just beginning to sense the presence of an unexpected, to-be-acquired reality that would fill us and make us whole. We stood before the door we'd never seen before. The two of us alone, beneath a faintly flickering light, our hands tightly clasped together for a fleeting ten seconds of time."

Some time ago a friend (Thanks btw!) recommended an author - Haruki Murakami - to me. As I was curious I ordered a book ("South of the Border, West of the Sun") and strangely it was the first book I read in (almost) one sitting after 8 years. I used to read 3-4 books every week every since I can remember. But somehow, since getting married and having the kids I didn´t have the time and the energy to read (and also draw) a lot. Magazines or an occasional comic were all I could handle.

But then I had this moving story in my hands and couldn´t stop reading it. You can´t imagine how happy I was (and still am). After reading that book I ordered about 7 or 8 more books written by Murakami. One of them was a special edition of "Sleep" with fantastic illustrations by the artist Kat Menschik. Her illustration style is 100% what I like and would love to be able to do myself. I took elements of her drawings and drew the collage you can see above. I really like the result.

You can see some of the illustrations of "Sleep" here:

As usual I have a bad conscience when copying elements or parts of others´ art. But I learn so much from doing this. I´m glad at least Mucha said: "It is a great compliment, when people copy my art and my style."

Murakami´s signature:

“No one will weave dreams for me – it is my turn to weave dreams for others. That’s what I have to do. Such dreams may have no power, but if my own life is to have any meaning at all, that is what I have to do.”

The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife

This picture is one of the first disturbing pieces of art I put my eyes on.

"The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife" is an erotic woodcut made by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai around 1820 . It is considered the first instance of tentacle eroticism and shows a woman entwined sexually with a pair of octopuses, the smaller of which kisses her while the larger one performs cunnilingus. While reading facts about the image and the artist, I found out that the significance of the absence of men in fishermen's villages is testified not only in this picture: The first dildos were found in fishermen's villages.

I can´t remember when I first saw the picture, but I must have been around 13 or 14 years old. I completely forgot about it, but recently discovered my love for Japanese wood cuts and saw this print again.

I searched the net for more information about the art work and I can tell you, the links I found while searching for "Fisherman's Wife" and "Octopus" were way more disturbing than this image. In fact, it seems harmless now. ;)

The original:

PostSecret again!

Last Sunday, another one of my secrets was posted at PostSecret. Wow! I sent the card off sometime summer 2008! Frank Warren gets around 1000 postcards with secrets every week, so I´m surprised he posted it now.

This is already the third secret which has appeared on PostSecret. I should send off some new ones. :) (Check out one of my past secrets too.)

So, are you ready to guess which one it is?

-----Email Message-----

I got misty-eyed after reading that. I always thought the people in the costumes didn't care about the kids. Thank you for proving me wrong and helping me realize that my childhood Disneyland experiences were not only special for me, but the people I met that day too.

-----Email Message-----

I am spending all of my savings to take my little boy to Disney World. I was looking into buying a really great camera to record every moment, but your postcard made me decide to forget about a camera and enjoy every moment instead. THANK YOU!!!!

-----Email Message-----

I can always tell when my granddaughter comes to my house and is high on cocaine. It always breaks my heart to see her like that.

-----Email Message-----

This secret was so comforting. Getting raped has made me obsessed with porn. Phew, it's not just me!

-----Email Message-----

I was once dared to lift up a guy's kilt at a bar. I did it. It was liberating! (You have to do it yourself to see what's underneath!)

-----Email Message-----
I'm searching for the love that will make it ok for me to remember.
-----Email Message-----
I thought I was just nuts because I have forgotten almost everything from my childhood. I now realize that it's my love that makes me forget.