Dennis Hollingsworth

Movement

Movement, everything is in motion.

I finished this painting in the middle of the week in a marathon of work (even though I had thought I had devised a more humane way of painting large panels in sections). I finished as the sun rose, then I shut the studio and got swept away by the gotta do's.

(Music: James Brown's instrumental "Go On Now")

Mom arrived here for a business trip, two weeks. Both she and Stephanie are off into France for a buying trip, two days. (Wife and mother in harmony, how wonderful life can be!) When mom arrived, we talked nonstop for a day: family affairs. It can get intense, this familial dynamic. Such history. I asked her to write a bio on my grandfather, which brought on as much trepidation as anticipation.

(Music: from the "Funny Face" soundtrack, "He loves, and she loves and they love love, so why can't you love and I love too?")

Papang (my grandfather on my mother's side) was a complex man, strengths and weaknesses all monumental. Highlights: when his father struck and killed an insulting American, his family was plunged into poverty and reduced to living under a bridge. Papang educated himself by reading the books he had to deliver in his job for a bookstore. Bootstrapping himself like this into becoming a teacher, then a lawyer, then a small time politician (never fully realised), his glory was his family, which he attended to with a fastidiousness that was as lovingly idealised and realized, as it was sometimes harrowing. He nurtured his brood before, during and after the Japanese occupation. Later, he sent his kids to school in Spain to give them the best education possible. As a lawyer, he represented the underdog, often resulting in less wealth than he could have garnered otherwise. I remember returning to his house in Manila one day with him as a peasant waited at his door with a partial payment for services rendered: a hapless chicken held by the feet.

I'm not even scratching the surface here. So, mom... let's get moving on this bio, ok? If you don't write it , I will!

;-)

Ramon delivered the new panels, so I'm preparing the next painting, 200 x 300 centimeters. Handiwork.

(music: from the "Trainspotting" soundtrack, "Primal Scream")

I've been gathering a backlog of blogposts. Lately, I've been visualizing a bladder, swollen from an malfunctioning sphincter. For some reason, I've been running into technical roadblocks in procuring the images I need to tell a few stories (computer stuff). Incidentally, my websurf technique is to open up the Stickies program in Apple OSX and cut and paste snippets and URL's as I go. Later, I select the most appropriate items for the blogposts. And right now, my stickynote is pretty big. Mucho micturation to come!

(Music: James Brown's instrumental: "Popcorn", finger snappin', head bobbin', hip all swivelly, big toe tappin', Go On, Now!)