Poetic Painting

Fashion and art

2008-08-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

Fashion and art, happily married
Beauty can adopt many forms.
(Scan from ÚNICA, magazine in Spanish)

In a previous article I wrote about how in Zen there are many ways through art to attaining inner peace and wisdom. And in general in Japan, for example, there is not a clear differentiation between arts and crafts. Even the most humble manual labor can be a fabulous way into comprehension of Reality.

In the same way, I think that potentially many activities can be transformed in true art if we confront them with humility, reverence, meditation and the necessary (and continuing) apprenticeship. Even blogging can be a meditative experience and an art, why not...

There are no minor arts.
Poetry and meditation.

Oriental painters and artists always liked to mix different arts and activities. So, we can find many times a poem in a painting describing the feelings and experiences resulting from its contemplation.

I always liked that approach.

And in Zen, as I previously said, there are not major arts and minor arts.

So, for me as well there are no “minor” arts, if the artist approach them with poetry and contemplation. Poetry, in reality (and in the sense ancient Greeks understood It) is the connection between men and the Universal Mind. Contemplation and meditation are an exercise of receptivity, to be open into transcendence, humility, Silence. At least that is the way I see them.

A painter in Fashionland

So when I approach some apparently mundane activities like fashion, styles, trends... I see all of this with the eyes of a painter and a poet, with a sense of reverence in many cases, I can see wonderful combinations of colors, delicate nuances, I see creative rhythms and textures, I see an honest effort to express creativity clothing the human body.

And when models are on the catwalk in performance, if models and designers did their job with dedication and love, I can see sublime elegance, I can see real works of art, a living art, “body art”. I even see marvelous paintings being carried by models themselves, over their bodies.

Fashion and summer
The limit is elegance. When elegance is lost, all is lost.
(Scan from ÚNICA, magazine in Spanish)

Fashion designers are not different from us, painters, in many ways. Perhaps some of us have a greater sense of transcedence and durability of our work, but in reality all that matters is contributing to the world with inner beauty and elegance, as in spirituality all that matters, I think, is compassion.

No sunset is lost.
Every experience is a fountain of learning.

I must admit that lately I don’t paint as much as I should do, but I have now more clear ideas about art than before, I know much better what I like to do, what my vision of art is.

During seven or eight years I did not write a single poem (and I’m a poet in a minoritary, wonderful language, Aragonese...), but I remember that period, nevertheless, as the most poetic in all my life. I WAS a poet then, although I did not write any poem. I watched every day, in silence, like praying, the most magnificent sunsets in the deserts, I inhabited the purplish mountains in my dreams...

When I’ll begin to paint anew, my paintings will have the colors of my lands of poetry, the colors of my meditations, of all my failures from which I learned some humility, lessons from the Silence.

When I’ll begin to paint anew my paintings will have the colors of fashion, of beautiful movies, the colors of women and elegance, of sunsets' purples, of books that one reads with the heart, of little and great things, the colors of life, victories, defeats.

Juan Bielsa

- My e-mail addresses :
pintura@juanbielsa.com
jnbielsa@yahoo.es

- My website in English :
www.poeticpainting.com

Real metaphysics

2008-08-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

Marilyn Monroe
The way of art, love and elegance

I've said other times that I like very much metaphysics. I like to investigate in this field, and to do it freely and with an open mind. I use for that purpose different tools from different areas (psychology, physics, self development...)

This activity of mine can lead sometimes to some personal conclusions. But I don't think is necessary to explain such "conclusions" in blogs like this or otherwise.

Everybody has opinions about life, existence, the universe... and surely they can be much more profound (or practical...) than mine. But even in this case I don't think is the essential part trying to show all of this to apprehend the most important aspects of a human being or his personality and convictions.

I don't think that philosophy or metaphysics, or even religion are absolutely necessary to apprehend "Reality", "Beauty", God...

In Zen Buddhism is not particularly valued or appreciated any discussion or digression about metaphysical or religious questions. What has real value is an EVIDENCE of wisdom, knowledge or reality. This EVIDENCE can only be offered by an artist or person after many years of learning and practicing a "do", a way into BEAUTY. I'd say that even the experiences of our life, if we learn from them, can be a wonderful apprenticeship into it, a magnificent WAY.

If you can create a genuine work of art, a great PAINTING or DRAWING (even if only with a few strokes of the brush...) then you are a very RELIGIOUS person. At least in the sense that I understand this term.

If you can create a true POEM (even if this poem only consists of a few verses) then you have a sure knowledge and you are not cheating.

If you can offer to us a piece of BEAUTY or LOVE, then you are a true metaphysician. If you are a good person, a kind person, if you love and practice peace and compassion, then you are very, very religious, regardless of anything else. That is practice, good deeds, real metaphysics, true religion. That is all that matters. That is what we need in this world, I think.

We all know that some traditional activities can be a "do", a WAY: the way of flowers (Ikebana), the way of calligraphy (Shakyo), and others. But there are many other ways to access into the realm of BEAUTY: humility, meditation, silence, prayer, empathy, recitations, dancing, music...Or, as we have said earlier, life itself can be a "do", a fountain of learning. Happiness, distresses... every experience teaches something important.

And so I say, in conclusion, that people we think are not especially religious can be the most religious of all. They have given to us, or offered to us, pieces of Heaven, wonderful works of art, or splendid deeds and example. They have never pretended to be metaphysical thinkers, or even religious people in some cases. But they have grasped from heaven, through his life or his suffering or his humility, pieces of real BEAUTY, golden pieces of LOVE.

Yes, that's all that really matters.

Juan Bielsa

My e-mail addresses :
pintura@juanbielsa.com
jnbielsa@yahoo.es

- My website in English :
www.poeticpainting.com

"The wizard of Oz" and Judy Garland

2008-08-06T05:55:00.000-07:00

Judy Garland
as Dorothy Gale in "The wizard of Oz"

Many years ago, I liked very much to paint and draw using only a few colors, two colors in most cases. The results were not less satisfactory than when I used a lot of colors.

I think that in painting and drawing there are many possibilities available, many ways of work, but in the end there are no "better" ways or methods than others. Some techniques may appear at first sight far less sophisticated than others, much more "simple", but the results can be exactly as rich and full of nuances as the most "complexes" ones.

It can be a very satisfying activity to work with many colors, but it is never a good thing to be "intoxicated" by so many chromatic possibilities at our disposal.

Piagordo, the country where I live
Three colors: simplicity, poetry and magic
Photograph by Juan Bielsa

Many years ago I was enchanted and like living in a world of magic when painting and drawing with only two or three colors. And that same feeling I've experienced again when I recently watched the old (and great) movie "The wizard of Oz ". I'm pretty sure you've seen it. I had already seen this movie long time ago, but I had forgotten in many ways how wonderful this picture is, how full of magic.

"The wizard of Oz", as a picture in this case, is a classic for children... but don't be fooled by that, in reality is a present for all of us who want to keep some of the innocence of life, some of its fantasy. I truly think this movie is amazing, a miracle of art. And Judy Garland... what can we say about her performarce here? We can say that she is the perfect angel that could give life and credibility to the role of "Dorothy Gale". Even Toto, her dog in the picture, performs without equal.

Judy Garland (as Dorothy Gale) and Toto
Singing "Over the rainbow"

In some parts of "The wizard of Oz", at first and in the end, you'll be struck by the wise use of color, which adds an aged and mythical flavor to the movie and makes all appear under a light of DREAM. And this relates with which I said earlier about the intelligent use of a few colors in the palette of the artist.

Many years have passed since the days "The wizard of Oz" was made, in 1939, but all of its magic remains the same and one could rightly say that this movie is far more beautiful and magical than most of the movies that are produced today. Quality and imagination will never have whatsoever to do with "special effects" and more "advanced" techniques.

Juan Bielsa

My e-mail addresses :
pintura@juanbielsa.com
jnbielsa@yahoo.es

- My website in English :
www.poeticpainting.com

Marilyn Monroe, forever

2008-07-29T17:33:00.000-07:00

Marilyn Monroe
Eternal

During all my life I didn’t pay much attention to Marilyn as an actress or even a celebrity. Of course, I knew what everyone knows and I had seen her many times on television, books or magazines.

It is true that like most people I always found Marilyn, as an icon in this case, beautiful and potentially interesting, but never found sufficient motivation to investigade more closely her life or her career as an actress. For me were even more familiar the artistic interpretations that Andy Warhol made of her than her movies. I knew her, as I’ve already said, as a simple icon of a certain time, but I had always missed the most important part of her: her ART.

But all that was about to change. One day, some five years ago, I bought a newspaper and it offered the possibility of buying also a film of Marilyn at a good price, and even was announced that the entire collection of Marilyn’s movies will be available in the next weeks. Well, I bought the dvd containing the movie, without many expectations I must say. I remember, that movie was “The seven year itch”, a classic that I enjoyed very much and I’ve seen many times since.

I saw that movie... and... I fell in love with Marilyn. Forever. Not with Marilyn’s myth, not with a “scandalous” Marilyn, not with an “obscure” or distressed Marilyn. No. I fall in love with THE ACTRESS Marilyn. I remember well: with the newspaper came along a second dvd, as a bonus in this case. In this dvd one could see, if one liked it, all the events that surrounded Marilyn’s death, real facts in same cases as well as many guesses or suppositions. But you know what, I hardly saw some minutes of that dvd, and now I don’t know where it is, perhaps lost. I don’t care, because I found these stories about the causes of her death, real or imaginaries, disgusting. I don’t was interested at all on all that.

I bought, week by week, all Marilyn’s movies, and certainly some of them were better than others. There were among them extraordinary movies and ordinary ones. But, you know what, always there was a light on all of them, there was Marilyn’s light, an EXTRAORDINARY ACTRESS, regardless the myth, regardless of the tragedy of her life. And watching her in these movies one can even sense how marvelous being she was along with her tremendous value as an actress.

The real myth incarnated by Marilyn always will be present, forever, in her wonderful performances in so many unforgettable movies. There is no need to always recapitulate the tragic circumstances of her life or death to make her a myth. It is a myth by the virtue of the real worth of her ART. Many people have been shocked by the extraordinary quality of Marilyn as an actress when they’ve seen without prejudices her performances. It is not possible describe the emotions and feelings that Marilyn can awake through her actings. For me, she is a true magician than can uncover for us beauties of the world as well as beauties of the soul.

Oh, Marilyn, what a great soul you had, what a great soul you will always have, eternal. You are more than a myth, you are an angel whose true land was not this Earth of ours, but a realm of goodness and wonders and beauty. What a heritage of light! Marilyn, thank you forever for existing.

Juan Bielsa

My e-mail addresses :
pintura@juanbielsa.com
jnbielsa@yahoo.es

- My website in English :
www.poeticpainting.com

My new blogs

2008-07-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

Jessica Simpson
I have created some new blogs about
beauty, fashion and celebrities.

Recently I have created some new blogs, mostly about beauty and travel.

I’ve had fun creating all these blogs. But the real challenge will be mantaining all of them alive and posting very often. It is curious, but I have much more fun creating sites or blogs than running them. No doubt, the latter is more difficult than the first. In reality, giving birth to a blog is the easy part.

I know that some of these new blogs will have continuity, and others... who knows. When I launch each one of them, I’ve a concret idea, but I don’t know exactly where this idea can lead and its potential. At the same time, all of us have at our disposal a limited amount of time and energy, and that’s an important factor to ponder.

I must say that I like experimenting. Or playing... Sometimes we discover something unexpected and wonderful surprises, as if we were for a walk in a solitary way in the fields... In my youth I liked wandering aimlessly on the moors of my country, or walking with a book under my arms in the little solitary valleys. Sometimes I was absolutely shocked when I discovered wonderful places. Some times I believed that I was in earthly paradises, so beautiful were these unknown spots.

So I’ve created these new blogs and each one of them is an adventure. They can lead to some land full of joy and beauty or perhaps they will have a short life. My illusion and determination is the same in relation with every one of these blogs, but we can’t control completely circumstances and reality.

So, I’ve created one blog about travel in Spanish, viajesia.blogspot.com, which is already listed in Blogged. It’s funny, but this is the most successful of my new blogs so far. I say it’s funny because I thought my new blogs about beauty, music or celebrities would have much more visits than this. I’ve said it's funny also because most people travel more than I. It is true that I have a great knowledge about geography and maps, though, and a real passion for all of this since my childhood.

As I’ve said I’ve created blogs about beauty, music, celebrities... In Spanish we have belnia.blogspot.com, and in English celebsia.blogspot.com, belsei.blogspot.com and nelisy.blogspot.com. Obviously, by now you’ll find on these blogs little content, as in microdirectory.blogspot.com, my latest blog. There is an important risk in running multiple blogs, and that is losing focus on your main sites. Concentration is always a good thing. But, what can I do, I like to play...

Besides, to all of these blogs mentioned I would have to add the existing ones, that is, my blog in my mother tongue, Aragonese, artebielsa.blogspot.com, my blog in Catalan, bielsart.blogspot.com, my blog in Spanish, juanbielsa.blogspot.com, my blog in Italian, bellezzarte.blogspot.com, and finally my blogs in English, mapsia.blogspot.com and this blog, poeticpainting.blogspot.com. Many blogs? You bet. And then there are my sites...

But all of this can give you a wrong idea about the whole thing. Many people work harder on a single blog than I do on all my blogs. They post almost daily on them. I do what I can, but because I own so many blogs and sites I must have a different approach.

I like (and praise) simplicity, and nevertheless I always end up in situations where certainly simplicity is absent in many ways. I see myself at this moment like a juggler playing with many balls. A lot of “fun” is expected...

Nevertheless, I hope I’ll post very often on this blog. Because it is special to me. And I hope you’ll follow this travel towards the lands of art and beauty.

Juan Bielsa

My e-mail addresses :
pintura@juanbielsa.com
jnbielsa@yahoo.es

- My website in English :
www.poeticpainting.com

Contemplations

2008-07-07T17:48:00.000-07:00

Sweet fairy
Painting by Juan Bielsa.
Oil on canvas

Lately I have not been posting very often.

In our lives sometimes is good to have time for reflection. Our art and our attitude about things change after such a periods. Sometimes for the better, or maybe not, who knows. But we are in a constant change, that's for sure.

As we grew older, we know much better what are the better things to do, what is the best direction to follow... But, life is so hard... We know what to do in many cases, but it is not always so easy to follow our convictions. The person who will do that, who will have the necessary courage to do what he believes in, he will be a successful person.

In relation to my art, I must say that I mostly like a kind of symbolism that approaches to abstraction. People agree on that in the sense that enjoy very much my semi-abstractions. I also like playing with the forms of the human body or portraits. The American poet Walt Whitman once said that one can see God in many human faces. I agree.

There are things in this life that I absolutely like: to investigate in the metaphysical field and a kind of fresh aestheticism, a kind of playful representation of what we think Heavens could be... I see beautiful landscapes and there is God, I see lovely faces and I see God (Whitman), I see innocent animals and there I see a Paradise, I see or hear or touch perfect works of art (paintings, songs, sculptures...) and there there is a piece of Heavens, that's an evidence of Heavens.

I must say: I'm very platonic and what I love is a representation of Beauty rather than things in themselves. I know that events and phenomena are absolutely transient, what I like of them is all the beauty and goodness that are hidden in the inside, because that is the place of our dreams. Life is so short. We always dream of beautiful paradises. In any case, I don't want to lose that innocence.

My friend Lesly Finn says to me often that I must not complain of my English. That's right. My English is bad, but you are right Lesly, so here I stop my complaint. I remember when I was a child, those lovely lessons in French. Yes I liked very much French and I still have those old books where I learned to write and speak (but not perfectly...) that beautiful language. But now the International language is English, even in Europe (and even the German language has surpassed French...) Yes, things change...

Things change... and we can always discover new paradises. Thanks to my (bad) English I can travel now to the beautiful land of old movies in the original language. Right now I have seen an old movie, a precious jewel. I just love Gene Kelly's movies, do you? I see miracles without end in those wonderful performances and music and dances...

Contemplations... To move from a thought to another one, like a butterfly in a sunny colorful garden, without any concrete purpose. But many times poets write their most beautiful poems in that manner, without trying, as if God was within their hearts, writing through their hands...

Juan Bielsa

My e-mail addresses :
pintura@juanbielsa.com
jnbielsa@yahoo.es

- My website in English :
www.poeticpainting.com

My paintings in juanbielsa.artelista.com

2008-06-01T17:24:00.000-07:00

Parable of the vine and branches
Painting by Juan Bielsa.
Oil on board

I have some of my paintings in a virtual exhibition and this is one of the paintings which people like the most.

This is the address: juanbielsa.artelista.com

Artelista is a site on art where painters can exhibit for free their art. It is one of the most important sites in Spanish exhibiting original art.

I honestly must say that this site, Artelista, works very well in many ways. Besides, it is very easy to use, both to the artist or visitors... My experience is very positive. It also provides statistics where artists can see how many visits receive every painting, visitors can vote and so we know what people think of our work, their favourite paintings... All of this provide a very useful information for artists.

Juan Bielsa

My e-mail addresses :
pintura@juanbielsa.com
jnbielsa@yahoo.es

- My website in English :
www.poeticpainting.com

- My Amazon.com stores :
Success Books - DVD

Mary's heart

2008-05-08T09:51:00.000-07:00

Mary's heart
Original painting by Juan Bielsa
Oil on board, 61 x 48.6

My e-mail addresses :
pintura@juanbielsa.com
jnbielsa@yahoo.es

- My website in English :
www.poeticpainting.com

- My Amazon.com stores :
Success Books - DVD

Picasso's Blue Period

2008-04-19T04:15:00.000-07:00

The tragedy
Painting by Picasso.
Paris, 1903

Picasso’s blue period represents the emergence of the painter as a genius. Until this time, he had been experimenting with different ways of expressing his sensibility, more or less realistic, but always unconfortable with a conventional view of painting and art. He was a nonconformist by nature and was looking for new paths.

Between 1901 and 1904 Picasso paints a series of works where color blue predominates, that’s the most obvious visual sign of a period called “Picasso’s blue period”. Expressionism and symbolism meets here to translate a state of mind and the moods of the artist at that time. He had moved from Barcelona to Paris to pursue his career, although returned many times to the Catalan city during this period. He was not famous yet and did not have sufficient money. He was just an artist struggling to earning his living from his art.

But perhaps the most determinant event that had an effect on his art at this period was the death (comitting suicide) of his friend Carles Casagemas (1881-1901), artist, who had moved to Paris as well. This death was devastating for Picasso and he immersed himself in profound melancholy and reflection.

Picasso painted “The tragedy” in 1903. This painting reflects very well the tragic effects of poverty upon a family; many things are symbolic, and certainly the color blue greatly contributes to increase the sense of misery of the whole scene.

I've always liked Picasso’s blue period. Even as a child I was impressed by these paintings full of a powerful force. I also like very much Picasso’s rose period, when Picasso’s sensibility seems to rejoice and we can see then in the world of the artist harlequins, saltimbanques... But that’s another story...

Juan Bielsa

My e-mail addresses :
pintura@juanbielsa.com
jnbielsa@yahoo.es

- My website in English :
www.poeticpainting.com

- My Amazon.com stores :
Success Books - DVD

Udumbara flower

2008-03-27T18:04:00.000-07:00

Udumbara flower
Oil on canvas by Juan Bielsa.
Sold.

I sold this painting some months ago and still I feel its absence. Sure, we paint to sell our works, but some paintings of ours have a special meaning to us, just like this one to me.

In painting this flower I tried to express its uniqueness, its profound power and the many spiritual opportunities that it offers, just like buddhist texts (like the Lotus Sutra) explain. Obviously I followed my own creativity and did not paint the flower with its white petals, just like establish tradition. But in all the essentials I tried to give to it a majestic presence. A spiritual majestic presence, to be precise.

According to tradition, Udumbara flower blooms once every three thousand years. It is a very extraordinary event, like the appearence on this plane of a Buddha, to show to the world the wonderful fruits of the eightfold path, the absolute comprehension of Reality, and overcoming pain in this way; to announce to all humanity a future of love and compassion.

Udumbara flower emerges from chaos to restore the Dharma, justice, the law of love. Many spiritual traditions, throughout the world, have a similar idea. In Ancient Egypt, this supreme principle of order and justice was called Maat, opposed to chaos; the Mound of Creation also emerged from chaos, from the chaotic waters of the Nun, and the God Ra created afterwards all things according to Maat. In a tradition more familiar to us, the Greek have a concept very similar to Dharma or Maat: Logos.

Always humanity strives toward justice, love, order... and that's not easily made, always there are powerful forces trying to thwart any effort in that direction.

Anyway, the old traditions of the world always can give us the magic symbols that we need to never lose hope in our way to a better future, mapping poetically real happiness and wonders. Like the splendid symbol embodied in the flower of Udumbara.

Juan Bielsa

My e-mail addresses :
pintura@juanbielsa.com
jnbielsa@yahoo.es

Agyness Deyn, absolute elegance

2008-02-24T19:25:00.000-08:00

Agyness Deyn
Profound, unconventional elegance

The British model has consolidated her position as a reference point in the world of fashion.

Agyness Deyn does not need to be compared with other models to reinforce her influence, and obviously does not need anymore that cliché of being the “new Kate Moss”. Agyness has a very special personality, with unmistakable characteristics, making of her a potent light in the field of beauty and style; she has also a powerful way of communicating trends.

Agyness has a serene elegance, a supreme one, and very natural. She communicates magic to everything she contacts, always turns in elegance everything she touches. Nothing is conventional in her presence. Her feminity is profound, distinct, full of subtelities. Absolute feminity, and always a sense of freedom. If we truly contemplate Agyness, there is nothing androgynous in her. In this regard I don’t agree, naturally, with some people who claim precisely that.

Agyness Deyn emerges as a model for a woman who dislikes to adhere to some stereotypes that can thwart many wonderful potentialities. She is a sign of our times and for the future of an unconventional beauty. With mystery, a lot of mystery. Giorgio Armani’s firm has made the right choice in selecting her as the face for the company.

Agyness is Agyness, incredibly unique. Surely the present-day trend of emphasize the wonderful possibilities of a lovely short hair in women is largely due to her. With her platinum (or dark) short hair, Agyness is Agyness, an icon of a desinhibited elegance, a profound elegance for our times and beyond.

Juan Bielsa

- My e-mail addresses :
pintura@juanbielsa.com
jnbielsa@yahoo.es

- My website in English :
www.poeticpainting.com

- My Amazon.com stores :
Success Books - DVD

Painting and contemplation

2008-02-05T18:14:00.000-08:00

Meditation room
Oil on canvas by Juan Bielsa.
Painting for sale.

It is a truism. Each one of us has a UNIQUE personality, we are precious specimens. Each one of us is an original, and so we have different worlds to create, we em body different potentialities ready to be expressed on the canvas of life.

One of my best friends, for example, has a real passion for travels. When he is not working, he is continually asking himself: Well, where can I go now? He has traveled to France, to the Alps, to Germany, to Norway, to Lithuania, to Russia... He has plans to travel to the lake Baikal, in Siberia.

Instead... my pleasure is in contemplation. I travel a lot, too, but in spirit... My passion is contemplation. My passion is silence, a precious book, a lovely landscape, a good friend, an empty canvas. I lose myself in the pages of a book, I travel upon silent maps, upon the beautiful eyes of a cat, I meditate watching the poetry of sunsets, feeling the wind on my face.

It must be wonderful to travel to Norway (“the Mecca of beauty”, my friend said). It would be splendid to watch the fiords from a mountain... But, instead, I take a book by Knut Hamsun, for example, and I can really feel the fresh soul of Norway, and I can travel in this way, poetically, even to Laponia, to Iceland, to Greenland, to a paradise of fantasy and mystery.

The same is with my paintings. I paint them in meditation. When they are finished, I place them in my studio, or in my bedroom, and then I travel through them to universes that I like: Silence, Soul, Innocence.

I have a dream for my life, a gread dream: to build my house of eternity, a great room for meditation, a gigantic room for contemplation, where one can meditate upon the beauty of Love, where one can read the great book of Love.

Juan Bielsa

My e-mail addresses :
pintura@juanbielsa.com
jnbielsa@yahoo.es

Franz Marc, painter of purity

2008-01-16T14:07:00.000-08:00

Cat painted by Franz Marc
Franz Marc was a member
of the impressionist German group "Blauer Reiter" (Blue Rider).

Franz Marc (1880-1916), during all this life, was a seeker of purity and truth. He did not find them in the human being. So he tried to find these qualities in animals. You can admire his magnificent paintings in which the main subjects are blue horses, dogs, cats... You already know that Hitler comdemned the blue horses of Franz Marc, considering them as degenerate art...

Marc died relatively young. At the end of his career, his thoughts about art suffered important changes, always showing a constant evolution toward abstraction. At this point the forms of animals disappear almost entirely. He searched PURITY (only in a spiritual sense, obviously). But unfortunately he did not have sufficient time to give shape to his final artistic ideas.

Each one of us has his preferences about paintings, painters. In my case... I must say: I love Franz Marc.

Juan Bielsa

2008-01-07T18:18:00.000-08:00

Mount PIAGORDO

Another view of mount Piagordo, which I see every day.
I just love this mountain.

Andorra ( Aragon - Spain )

2007-12-25T13:30:00.000-08:00

Contemplative blog

Is this a blog? I don't know. I would be nice a tool to transform inner contemplations into posts. In this case, you'll have here a wonderful book, plenty of ideas to think about.

But this tool does not exist, and so you can see nothing here.

Some years ago I fell in love with sunsets, splendid sunsets in Aragon. I made mentally poems and poems, wonderful ones, about sunsets, about mountains in crimsons and purples. But this book of prayers, a masterpiece I can say, still lives in the White Mountains.

I could stare for days and days at the mound of creation, Piagordo. When the sun, Amon-Ra, kisses the soul of the mountain (a prayer), the world is created again.

I would like to be an expert in Egyptian art and religion (but I'm not). You know... the mound of creation.

I would like to be an expert in clouds and sunsets and silence, and paintings not painted.

Already two months without painting a thing... If I was not an optimist (am I?) I would say: "This is the End". But I read almost everyday some pages of positive psicology, you know...

If you love sunsets, then you are my friend. If you love Egyptian religion, if you speak some dead language, then you can understand me.

What a marvelous clouds today in Piagordo, what a silence... Another day of contemplation. If you love paintings only in imagination, the most fantastic in the world, then I'm your painter. Paintings without the sadness of the world, paintings painted in Paradise.

My beloved cat Cati used to watch sunsets every day, absolutely respectful. Like an Egyptian cat, a divinity.

Juan Bielsa

2007-12-11T14:57:00.000-08:00

A PAUSE

I've been working hard lately, so I have not posted. Nevertheless, as soon as I can, I'll be working regularly online to make this blog an attractive place.

The most important point: I'm really excited about new projects, my new paintings and goals. I would be happy if you visit this blog now and then. After all, this is your house too.

Juan Bielsa

2007-11-26T15:37:00.000-08:00

MAPPING SUCCESS

I think one of the most difficult things in life is to really know what we want. And to know it sufficiently well, after a profound reflection. It involves, no doubt, a lot of hard work and can take lots of hours and hours, weeks, months.

It is true that, in reality, all of us are in search of “success”, and for each person that word may signify different things. It is a real necessity then to start mapping what we want to attain, clarify our ideals, in order to make possible that “success”, which is the goal (or goals) in concrete form, an experiential stage in our way. When we know what we want and are willing to map our dreams, then all that’s necessary is energy, faith...

If, someday, that what we call reality fits perfectly with our map, that day we have attained... success. That means that we have had integrity and commitment, that we have practiced with our will, that we have been coherent with ourselves.

But to know what we want is so hard (at any age), to map our dreams is not easy, and the many hardships of life sometimes are making difficult to preserve our will and energy.

And, nevertheless, that’s the task of life, I think, to choose our most cherised way and to follow it, no matter what others may be saying or thinking.

There were people in history, for example, who knew perfectly very early in life what they wanted, and were very passionate about it, never hesitating about the way chosen. They had a clear vocation and attained success. They were the privileged ones. Now I think of Mozart.

Juan Bielsa

2007-11-23T17:07:00.000-08:00

ARMAND BASI'S PERFUME

Ads can be a work of art too

2007-11-23T16:45:00.000-08:00

ON THE WALL II

One of my paintings
on the walls of my house

Robinson Crusoe's Island - Oil on board

70 x 48.8 cm

2007-11-15T16:20:00.000-08:00

Supreme elegance. PROJECTS.

Sometimes we think about our projects, about the direction we intend to give to our actions. Perhaps we can be satisfied with what has been accomplished, but still always is a good thing to reconsider all areas of our work in order to see if we can improve it.

Well, in this case I’m thinking about my projects on the web. I intend to follow a different line of action in some aspects, in relation to what I’ve done so far.

So, in the future I intend to follow these directions :

The most part of my sites and blogs will be about style, fashion, celebrities, elegance and art. These are subjects in which I’m interested. But my approach to them, my “language”, will be plain, accessible and, in some way, poetic. Of course I’ll try to make my sites and blogs somehow different from others. One concept that I especially like is this: supreme elegance, poetic elegance. And that is absolutely compatible with a commercial approach. In fact, I won’t refuse at all ads and sponsors, if adequate to the nature of my project.

I have so many sites and blogs... One could think that I’m heading for complexity, but in reality there is only one project here and some different versions of it. I have sites or blogs in English, Spanish, Italian, Catalan, Aragonese, and finally I’ll have another in French. That’s all... So I’ll translate my own writings to all these languages.

There is here an important problem, though. My English is not as good as I would like it to be. But, what can I do? I can only do my best improving it, learning every day all I can.

So, this is the course of action which I’ll follow in the near future. All project online is a challenge, there is a lot of work involved. But if we just love what we are going, and we think we can offer something useful for others and for ourselves, our work can be also an enjoyable part of our life.

Juan Bielsa

2007-11-13T16:45:00.000-08:00

ON THE WALL

One of my paintings
on the walls of my house

Virgin Land - Oil on canvas

60 x 80 cm

2007-10-31T19:10:00.001-07:00

W O r K i N P R O G r E S S...

Original painting by Juan Bielsa

Oil on canvas

60 x 80 cm

2007-10-31T19:10:00.000-07:00

B r a n c h e s

Original painting by Juan Bielsa

Oil on card

2007-10-31T17:40:00.000-07:00

Mount PIAGORDO seen from my studio

Here is the (sacred) mountain which I see every day

Andorra ( Aragon - Spain )

2007-10-21T19:10:00.000-07:00

MY STUDIO IN THE COUNTRY

Stone bench ouside my studio

I have been very happy here for many years...