Ethiopian Angels and Paw Prints

I had a lot of fun this past week painting the Ethiopian angels on the risers of the stairs. Being quite low, I had to lie down on the sidewalk to get the right angle, for the angels. The angelic faces that cover the walls and ceilings of most orthodox churches in Ethiopia were the inspiration for the stairs. I had taken a few back with me during my many travels to Ethiopia these past two years, small wooden angels and some made out of goat hide, brightly decorated with their solemn faces set between spreading wings. Many people comment as they pass me, lying on the sidewalk painting away. It’s always positive comments and I can

feel a sense of excitement by my neighbors and appreciation for making the neighborhood a little brighter. One of my neighbors, Nick, thought there was something wrong with me as he came home from work and ran up to help me, thinking I had fainted or fell in front

of my stoop. The best comment was form some Brooklyn wise guy who walked by and said “Oh I see you do your best work on your back,” to which I replied “Yes just like Michelangelo,” missing his sly humor. It took me a moment to realize what he meant and I let out a good laugh at that. I didn’t get to finish the angels before I left for Ethiopia, but not all art must be rushed and finished in one sitting. Possibly I’ll get some more inspiration while in Ethiopia this time. Before I got on the airplane however, I took 45 minutes to unwind, reflect on leaving my house for two months and

paint some cat paws on the top of the main wall. I just needed to complete one more thing on the mural before I flew off for work to Africa. Even Lulu got to participate, leaving her paw prints on the wall. She wasn’t too excited about the whole thing since I woke her from a nap to come have her paw painted lavender. Still she managed to get some good impressions of her right front paw on the wall before I washed her paw off and let her continue her nap.

She left me with a big scratch on my palm as a way of saying “Don’t forget me.” I won’t forget you Lulu, and I’ll be back soon.

Finishing the mural June 2014

After what seems to be an unbelievably long time, aka 5 years, I have dedicated myself to finish my mural once and for

all. In the gap of five years, I have gained more inspiration, which has stirred me in to filling the dirty white spaces with vivid colours and designs from the places I’ve been. The stoop itself has two majestic birds fanning out on either side; a peacock on one side, and a firebird on the

other. The peacock represent my time spent in northern India where the peacocks could be heard from the nearby forest and the males frequently spotted in all their brightly feathered glory. The firebird is a mythical creature from Russian folklore—a vision of yellow, gold, oranges and red with a fanning tale ablaze. I’ve decided to incorporate different designs and motifs on the

stairs themselves. The sides of the stairs have Buddhist lotus flowers with Tibetan-styled clouds floating above them. The stairs will have Ethiopian angels on the risers and Senegalese print design on the stairs. There will be Kyrgyz rug design and Turkish or Afghan design worked around it (still figuring that out). Also need to add Ganesh and Hanumanji on the walls somehow. As I paint, slowly covering each bit of white, new ideas come to mind and inspiration unfolds itself like the blossoming lotus that grace my entryway. Photos and writing will continue to appear so keep checking in.

Rain Rain Go Away!!

Since last writing, I have had little time to continue the mural outside my house. Part of it has to do with my work schedule but mainly it has to do with the rain that has been non-stop here in Brooklyn. They predict sun for the next few days so I think I'll just be able to finish that peacock I've been working on. Check in next week to see the latest!

American Gothic--23rd Str Style

There are two characters on my block that needed to be immortalized in the mural. No not Phillip aka Stoop Boy or any of the crazies that hang out here. Suki and Oreo, the out-front cats as I call them. These two cats know they have it good around my house a) because I feed them and b) because my neighbor Veronica feeds them. Well, I had a little space next to the main mural whic just called out for some interesting scene with Oreo and Suki. I wanted a portrait look for them which incorporated the green parrots of the neighborhood as well. So in sort of an homage to "American Gothic" combined with the earthiness of a Frida Kahlo painting I got the look I wanted. Suki and Oreo staring out officially in front of row houses, typical architecture for their environment, above them a giant tree full of the famed green parrots which fly around squawking throughout the year. Beyond them is NY harbour which can be in the distance down the street.
As I was painting it last Friday, Suki and Oreo came by to check its progress and give a look or meow of approval (or was that disapproval). Well they should be thankful. Not only do they get fed on a daily basis but they are now permanently on my wall--a fixture on the block.
The mural will continue to grow, depicting neighborhood scenes and history so keep reading. Work and weather have made me slow down a bit on the progress of the mural but week by week, it will grow.

Details, details

So this mural isn't ever really finished until I think it is and I put my signature to it. A few important details had to be added to the 3 Cats mural. I don't know if I told about the second daughter of Suly, also a black cat, named Eddy who owund up somewhere in the Bronx. Well she's somewhere floating around so we put her ala Chagal flying next to the moon. She looks more like she's walking, I tried to get her to look more floating but that's how she turned out. I wonder where that Eddy is? If she's still alive? Hmm I'll have to try and contact her owner, Maria. Thank God for Facebook.
Of course as homage to one of my favorite paintings, "Starry Night", we made the New York sky aglow with stars and swirls. This idea spilled over in the Moscow side with snow and white swirls. Another addition on the Moscow side was Lenin's Tomb, oh so subtley sticking out behind a rather grand Felix. Non-Russophiles may miss this detail since it is a small 3-tiered outcrop with just the "L" and "E" of the word "LENIN" visible at the top. That space was blank and it bothered me as to what to put there. Inspired by a laquered box of the Kremlin I used for painting the Moscow side, I figured why not. It is on Red Square and is apropos for the scene. But I didn't want to make a big to-do over a dead communist leader so I made it subtle. Pine trees will be added to fill in around it as is the case on Red Square.

The Main Facade

Since last writing, the mural has taken on a life of its own. I'm near completion of the main facade, the centerpiece of the entire project. It depicts my three cats-Felix, Suly and Lulu against a NYC skyline and a Moscow skyline. Rather biographical since they are all from Russia and now New Yorkers. I'll be adding some details today like Suly's other child, Eddy, who wound up in the Bronx and glowing stars and a moon ala Starry Night, one of my favorite paintings.
As things would have it, I had to drop mural painting for a week or so to take care of some other things (and work), but today I'm up early and in my painting clothes, ready to paint away.

The Three Inspirations

Felix, Suly and Lulu are the driving force behind this mural. There are other inspirations but we'll meet them later. felix is a big tabby, Suly is a Siamese and Lulu is all black. They were all born in Russia; Felix and Suly in Moscow, Lulu in Ekaterinburg. They are 16, 15 and 14 respectively and related. Mama Suly, Papa Felix and Baby Lulu--yes Felix and Suly had sex and produced two black babies. How a tabby and Siamese did that is a mystery to me, I think my landlady back in Ekaterinburg was taking Suly out for some good times while I was traveling all over the Urals.
Suly is actually my former boyfriend's cat. I had arrived in Moscow back in February 1992 with Bancroft, my fuzzy black cat, from San Francisco. Suly was a gift to Artem (my ex) to help round out the house--two guys and two cats. Suly was bought on the Arbat, Moscow's pedestrian street known for its artists selling their wares and, back then, old ladies selling puppies and kittens. Suly got picked up as a two for one deal--Angelina, Artem's friend, took one and gave the other to him. Suly had her fur bleached white (a common practice among the grandmas selling the kitties to make them look more desirable) so the contrast between snowy white fur and the chocolate points made her all the more sellable. Bancroft didn't appreciate her at first, chasing her around the apartment, whacking her like a cat toy. But with time, they became good friends, snuggling together, she curled up in his furry tummy--spooning kitty style.
Bancroft died in the beginning of 1994. We found him dead under the house and buried him down the hill in a little glen next to a holy spring. I was very sad that my friend of 5 years was gone-he too traveled a lot from San Diego (his home) to San Francisco and then all the way to Moscow via London. But after a month or so of morning, Artem and I went to check out Moscow's bustling pet market. Not to get a cat per se but just to check out the animals. It was March and the snow was starting to melt and spring could be felt slowly creeping into the capital. The market was bustling that Sunday. The ladies with their basket of puppies and kittens; little Perisans and Russian blues with their fur brushed forward to look fuzzier, all sorts of bleach jobs done to make the white cats look whiter, puppies with little bows tied on their heads or around their necks. Men selling monkeys, exotic birds, nutrias (a relative of the muskrat prized for its fur) and even hedgehogs. The rows were so packed you could barely squeeze through. We pushed and shoved our way around looking at all the animals and picking up some cat food for Suly back home. I couldn't take any more of this so I stood off to the side in a clear spot waiting for Artem to get through the mass of people. When he did pop out, he was not alone. In his hands was a wee little tabby kitten looking around dazed and confused. Apparently, said Artem, he looked down at his feet and there were two big eyes looking up at him among the bustling crowd of feet. He would have been trampled for sure so Artem snatched him up. As soon as he plopped him in my hands, I knew Bancroft had returned. The little cat scurried up my arm and perched himself on my shoulder as we continued our walk around the market. "We should give him to somebody, we don't need another cat now", exclaimed Artem. "Nope, it's fate," I replied, "Bancroft has come back in a new form, he's ours." And that's how Felix came into my life. Whether Artem set the whole thing up, knowing I'd be a sucker for the kitten is still an unsolved mystery to me. To this day, Artem avers that the story happened as I just described it.
People grow up and they grow apart. After two years of being together, Artem and I broke up. It was an inevitable break up and I helped speed things along by taking a job in Ekaterinburg, the capital of the Urals, known as the place where they killed the Tsar and his family. I went east to the Urals and Artem went west to Germany. That decided, I took custody of the cats, packed all my stuff and headed to a place I had lived before. Old friends would greet me but a new job and new adventures awaited me. My main job was to travel around the Ural and Western Siberian region recruiting high school kids for a US-funded cultural exchange. While I was busy going to plaes like Nizhny Tagil, Tyumen, Kurgan, Ufa, Orenburg and Perm, Felix and Suly were busy doing the wild thing! As biology would have it, all that shagging resulted in two little black kittens. They happened to be born while I was in the US so my landlady Tatyana Mikhailovna, oversaw the whole process bless her heart. Suly took on her role as a mother like a horse to water. She took care of her babies with all the love she could give. She nursed her babies in the comfort of my armoire. Felix, just like a typical man, was trying to get it on with Suly right after the birth so I had to take him to the vet for neutering. Now that was an experience. They drug your cat, give him a snip, then give him back to you in a matter of minutes. No overnight stuff. So here I am taking a drugged cat home with no ability to produce anymore and a few stitches on his cajones to prove it. This calmed him down a bit and the family of four were able to be n the same apartment together. Upon my return from a US vacation, I was welcomed by the two little additions, black fuzzy clumps with four legs--Lulu and Eddy. As the grew, I knew I couldn't keep both of them so I wound up giving one away to an American teaching in town. Lulu stayed with mom and dad and Eddy went to Maria. Maria loved her Eddy so much, that she wound up taking her back to the US, settling in the Bronx. So the whole family of immigrant cats is now in NYC.
Now, Felix, Suly and Lulu are happy old Brooklynites. They lounge around the house, hang out in the garden, sleep by the radiator in winter, visit with Liz's cats upstairs, hang out in Jeff and Amy's place downstairs. Doing what cats do.