New York Cafe II, Budapest, inkwash

New York Cafe II, Budapest, inkwash, 14x18cm. available.
New York Palace is a luxurius 5-star hotel in Budpest, on the ground floor is the New York Cafe, popular with writers and artists in a previous time, now mostly popular with tourists. Marble floors and columns, crystal chandeliers, a piano player at a baby grand piano, lure us inside for a cappuchino, or an ice-cream cake. Built between 1891-1895, this beautiful building still delights its customers today.

Massolit Cafe, Budapest, watercolor and ink

Massolit Cafe, Budapest, watercolor and ink, 14x18cm. Available.
I know it doesn't look like a cafe, but it is. It is also an English book-store, they have free wireless internet, and this lovely garden, where you can sit with a drink, read books forever or write your next book. There is another Massolit Cafe in Poland, so I had to identify this one, where I have been going often since I discovered it, near downtown Budapest, and my residence.

Tuesdays at Rudas Bath, watercolor

Tuesdays at Rudas Bath, Budapest, watercolor and ink, 14x18cm. available.
From Everything is Illuminated, by Jonathan Safran Foer: " Art is that thing having to do only with itself --the product of a successful attempt to make a work of art. Unfortunately, there are no examples of art, nor good reasons to think that it will ever exist. (Everything that has been made has been made with a purpose: I want to sell this, or I want this to make me famous and loved, or I want this to make me whole, or worse, I want this to make others whole.) And yet, we continue to write, paint, sculpt, and compose. Is this foolish of us?"

Turkish Tuesdays, watercolor and ink

Turkish Tuesdays, Budapest, watercolor and ink, 14x18cm. available.
I recently finished reading: Everything is Illuminated, by Jonathan Safran Foer. He's a master of words, and meaning. One example: "They renovated their house for the wedding, installing a porcelain toilet in the outhouse..." How often do we do foolish things in this venue, without seeing the forest for the tree? A beautiful phrase I'm still delighting in..."Tomorrow was over the horizon and would take an entire day to reach."

Turkish Baths, Budapest

Turkish Baths, Budapest, watercolor alla prima, on location, 14x18, available.
These beautiful baths date from the 16th C. The main part of the baths has an octogonal plunge pool and four small corner pools with water at different temperatures. The baths have been totally modernized in recent years, and now include a swimming pool for mixed bathing. The baths run certain days for women only and most days for men only.

Rudas Baths, Budapest, watercolor

Rudas Baths, Budapest, watercolor and ink, 14x18, available.
These are ancient baths, with very hot water (burning) if you'd take it naturally, so they cool the waters to different temperatures, you can choose your pool, or go a few minutes to each. Tuesdays is for women only, most other days is for men, and I think there is one day for mixed. So the exclusive one-sex days people have the option of wearing a bathing suit or not. I made several watercolors, and I had to work very fast, because the humidity in the air was such, that spontaneous droplets formed on my glasses, and on the paper!

Blooming, inkwash

Blooming, inkwash, 14x18 cm. Available
Good to keep in mind:  A shape must be countered by another shape in a reflexive manner. A good painting is not "symmetric" as in a mirror image, but balanced, whether a representative or abstract painting, should be balanced. A shape answers to another shape. A "symmetry" that is never ecstatic, but that it gives the painting rhytm, as in a private dance with each other, and evocates movement and flow...