Sep 4, 2011

Mysterious





























































Below our house is an unofficial nudist's beach. Unofficial because sporadically  the police come and bust everyone who is au naturale.  They've done such a good job that no families go there any more - just 'unusual' men and gay men. Occasionally a young woman will brave the beach - but is quickly surrounded by men who invade her public private space - till she leaves.

 How do I know this? Well every now and then I look out of our window.

But in the old days it was different.

One day in particular stands out in my mind. .... coming back from a surf with a friend of mine, it's a Summer Saturday, beautiful and warm, the beach is full of undraped bodies, when suddenly a weird change comes over the whole beach - as if the wind has dropped, the waves have gone silent and the birds have been frozen in mid wing stroke..

It took only a moment to realise what it was. You see, every man on the beach (except of course myself and my mate) stared open mouthed in one direction. They were staring at a beautiful woman who was heading down towards the water. She was about thirty feet away and fully clothed - in that she was wearing a figure hugging black bikini.

Even  now, fifteen years later, it still strikes me as ironic - all those bare naked ladies draped all over the sand, yet the men on the beach staring at the one woman who had conjoured an air of mystery about herself - by hiding something from their eyes.

Of course there's no need to point out the moral.
But one of my favourite expressions is "The Joy is in the Anticipation."




The other is "Stop the Train I wanna get Off".


Thanks to everyone who well wished for our show and for the book. I appreciate it greatly.
Opening night was last Friday. On opening night 18 out of the 48 works that were for sale received new homes. I received 15 orders for my book - so I am delighted. Today we received a good write up with some photographs of the hanging. If we are lucky we might get reviewed next Saturday - finger's crossed on both hands.

As far as this post - when I read the Illustration Friday prompt "Mysterious" too many cliches ran through my head. So I decided to do something a little different and made these photographs. In amongst them is a "Shrine" that I made for our show. It has flashing lights and the antique clock chimes like a ship's bell. People think that I am weird.....

These photographs were inspired by Art is jokken.'s photo blog.
And also Sur L'Viro. Both worth a visit.

My apologies once again for not visiting. If all goes well I will be 'round Tuesday or Thursday to make sure you  have all been working :)

Oh, if you click the pics you can see them bigger if you like. I guess that in a way they prove I am really flesh and blood - and not just some guy who sticks pics on a blog :)






33 comments:

  1. Hello! I just wanted to say hello and leave a comment while I am in South Korea. Your post made me giggle. Hehehe!

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  2. I'm so glad the show went well Andrew. Jeff says you need to take a break and grill something and then of course take a picture of it and post it on his forum. That's "his" thing. Nothing get's cooked and eaten around here without being photographed first. So you see you aren't any weirder than the rest of us ;) It should help to have such a plethora of pictures to choose from when trying to ad photos to his cookbooks. The problem is there are so many that then you can't really find anything and it would take eons to organize them. By the way, you need to get out your whip, I haven't posted anything in... a long time. I am working on something, I just haven't posted anything on it. I should do a quick something.
    I still can't use the 3D program very well, although we did manage to get all the eggs in the egg carton for his assignment. I'm sure it would have been entertaining for you to see and hear all the colorful words that I was using as I tried to manage that program.

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  3. Hi Andrew! It's great to hear that things have gone so well with your book and exhibit. You deserve all the accolades, you work so hard and your art is awesome.
    I love the shrine assemblage. Reminds me of Joseph Cornell or Louise Nevelson and I love their stuff.
    Cool atmospheric photograph, fits for mysterious.
    Maybe you are a little weird...I should know!

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  4. Congrats on the success of the show!

    I love this post! Filled with intrigue and anticipation... but then isn't it always in the anticipation of what will come, what is there beyond the obvious!

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  5. I never thought men would look at the woman in a bikini but yes, it makes sense, all that is mysterious or different always gets more attention. We are all curious by nature.
    Congratulations again on the success of the book!

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  6. Hey, Mr. Finnie!!
    Congrats on the show!!! yay!!!
    Your story was great!! : ))))))))

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  7. Ces :) Ahh I am glad you are still around. I look forward to seeing you :) By the way. I am linked in. What does that mean :)?

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  8. Karen! Well believe it or not I smoked some humungous turkey legs the other day and took photos and arranged them all pretty-like with complementary colours so I could show you - and after the show twelve people came round and I cooked them smoked chicken legs and honey sausages and it was yummy :) I joined the forum today and will post some pics and some stuff soon :) Looking forward to pizza. The Primo is just wonderous!

    Ahh I am impressed you got all the eggs in the basket :) !!!! You must have patience. As far as your big project, I am very much looking forward to seeing what you have done. I bet it's just great.... now where was my whip :)?

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  9. Heidi, heheh I am having a big chuckle than you. And thank you for your kind words. And I'm also looking forward to seeing what you have been working on.

    Ahh the Shrine.... I w anted to put every skull and every thing I have ever picked up on the beach... but it wouldn't fit. I have some great bits of dolls I have picked up, the plastic decomposing from UV exposure .... :) Joseph cornell I only found a few years ago... can you believe that? I'm off to google that other name - thank you :)

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  10. Reflections thank you ! :) Ah yes, it's all in the anticipation, eh? It's what I think when I'm in the surf and a beautiful wave pokes it's head up 'out the back' - as it comes closer you think about all the different permutations of ways it can break and how you will react - but when the rides over and the wave has passed, it's all written in stone, everything has happened, and the permutations are reduced to one.... but some times you cannot remember what happpened cause you were in the 'zone' I don't know if that's good or bad - like having a big magnet wiped across the frontal lobe :)

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  11. Ana, yep men are weird, I oughta know :) I've had plenty of practice at being one. I guess it'w why we wrap our presents up before we give them - a wrapped present is always more exciting maybe.... hmm I am digging a whole here.... :) I'm only referencing the packaging idea - not the item that is being packaged ... hmm the whole just grew deeper :) aaaaaaaaaaaargh :) see you!

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  12. Manon :) Ahh I have been following your adventures from afar :) I am jealous. I must go and 'like' some more of your photogenic photos ... :)

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  13. I forgot to thank you for the 'yay"!

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  14. Quite a mysterious post there.... Who is that strange man cloaked in shadows?

    I absolutely love the shrine-- only wish I could see it in person.

    Congrats on the show!

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  15. Thank you Leah! I enjoyed visiting your blog today. I am sorry I have not been round much. I have always admired illuminated work - you are lucky to be blessed with such hard working talent :)

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  16. I especially like the man in shadow. Very cool. I thought you'd write about that, but then you wrote about sunshine and bikinis. It's always interesting to watch how your mind works :) Congrats on your show and book sales! Well deserved success!!

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  17. Ha, flesh and blood ! I see you! I was here two time already. Every time while reading your mysterious stories I was interrupted by some (not mysterious ) people and I had to leave my keyboard ...But this time I do not let me disturb by anyone.......
    Fist at all thanks a lot for your comment. I can clearly see they have understanding of matters in Oz.....:D
    Secondly: I was really surprised by linking me... it is a honor !!!

    Good to read the opening was just fine and things are going well. Congratulation!

    The pictures has very nice "feel"; i like the colors and the framing (the second one). "Shrine" looks very cool, indeed, I would like to see the original with my own eyes.....
    And the black bikini story.....yes, it is exactly that.......mysterious.....:D

    Have fun ( and some cab-sauv)

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  18. Ha! you took pictures, I love it!!! Can't wait to see them. I am glad you are enjoying it. :) Thanks for the guilt card :) I'm afraid I don't have a lot to show for my project right now, as most of it is writing and sketches, but I will get something up.

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  19. Hey thanks Linda :) Well we got a radio interview today, one of the girls was on for about twenty minutes! Amazing - she started off rusty and then went for it - none of us wanted to do it as we are all very scared of putting our noses in our mouths :) Ah Mysterious? I was thinking today, it's what makes mankind tick, we have our curiousity perked and we need to just take one peak - you know that story, you can go anywhere you like in the house, but whatever you do, never,ever EVER go into that room at the end of the corridor .....

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  20. art is jok(k)e(n) Heheh. You know how hard that is to write? It was my pleasure linking to your work - and it's a really interetsing observation about the emotive power of the unclear image as opposed to the photorealistic image. Human's have brains that are especially made to fill in the dots and I think we feel pleasure (or pain) when we use them. the abscence of pleasure and pain is nihilism (tic?) and negates our existence. So always do bluurry otherwise we will blink from existence :)

    But seriously, thank you for all your kind and observant comments.

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  21. Karen, ahh yes I pretended I was chief chef d jour and had my own TV cook show called "Finnie Does Cajun Everything" :) I am so happy for you that you have this project up and running. I am really keen to see your results.

    see you :)

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  22. Fingers crossed for the review... hope it materializes. Feeling like an eavesdropper here, enjoying the images and words - shadowy fellow for one, and the soft textures of the roses and things against the wild paint background - like today in front of memory of yesterday. or those waves you describe so well. Bikinis are another story. or perhaps not. Great post.

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  23. oh ahaha, okay okay, i see.... i got it :D
    i should not have pretended that i was blogging the other day.
    happy that the show went well, seriously your painting is moremoremore valuable than my hair.
    oh but they are important, as i told you.

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  24. AHAViews - thanks so much :) Ahh we are all eves'droppers aren't we. ? We watch people in the traffic, on the street, through their windows - so we eves'drop with our eyes. I am really glad you like the flowers superimposed against the painting- I was trying for the soft and the hard - the delicate and the manmade. In the Shrine I placed bones and nails and pretty pink buttons.

    Bikinis? Oh I am so old, when I hear Bikinis, I just think of that atoll that the French Government kept blowing up nuclear bombs upon... :)

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  25. Hey Mita - well when I saw your new work I dropped a spoonful of basil and tomatoes on my right trouser leg - so you owe me for some drycleaning :)

    But seriously, it's wonderful to see you sharing your work again. As for my paintings and your hair. I'd offer to do a swap.... :) (conditions apply) ;)

    see you soon

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  26. Dear Andrew.
    My day starts with: oh gosh, I'm so busy I don't have enough time in the day to do anything but work. Then I visit you and KAPOW! a huge dose of inspiration! I'm inspired by your images in this post - you are a man of many mediums who masters all of it. And I'm totally inspired by your recent book post. I'm thrilled to see your paintings and I know each book will be cherished by their new owners! Congratulations on the show - and PS - I just love that last image on this post..quite nice and relaxed you look I must say. All is busy, busy, crazy but good over here (I'm still away toiling) but having fun too..I am much delayed at visits but needed to say hello - thank you for the push today! Hugs to you : )

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  27. hallo Andrew, I think we need to be a little crazy and funny in the eyes of others, as long as we feel we own it as well,
    yes, the beautiful little secrets, it's a wonderful thing. The aesthetic is gone, at this time completely lost, everything is freely and openly in the window.
    The Rose is the queen of flowers, everything nice!
    viele Grüße Jasmin

    hier Deutschland ist es schon kalt 14 Grad am Tag, Regen, die Heizung ist warm, es ist wie Herbst...

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  28. The Joy is in the Anticipation
    y en saber mirar los detalles...
    el aire llega solo y pasa...

    Saludos
    AOC.

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  29. Hello! I am now in the USA! Linkedin means I will inherit your pension when leave this earth or you will inherit my debt when I die. Hehehehehe! I think some people use LinkedIn to find some employment or financial opportunities or see how popular they are. I on the other hand, I just love to collect beautiful people. All the artists in my LinkedIn profile are all very attractive and good looking, and masterful.

    I like this post and images. The top one reminds me of a murder mystery.

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  30. Lovely photos, half-expressing the "truth" about the object!! We can see you, but in fact we... can't. The lighting helps in keeping some mystery around you and that's what you wanted,isn't it?:-)
    Congratulations on the success with your paintings and book! I'm so glad, you must be feeling terrific!:)

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  31. Oh, wow. I have been so out of the loop. Congrats congrats to you! I want you to come round here and have a show! That mysterious piece is even more mysterious than the previous one!

    Stop the train I wanna get off.

    HAAA!!

    xo

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Hya! Thank you so much for leaving a comment. I appreciate your time and thoughts.