Speed of Life

Spent the morning alone in a room with Vermeer at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam -first one in the door - glorious! Rijkswidget - A Masterpiece a Day Much more when I return ...

Statsministeren jobber på flyplassen , originally uploaded by Statsministerens kontor . Stranded by the volcanic cloud over Northern Europe, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg conducts governmental business on his iPad. Is there an app for running a nation?

Gregg Chadwick Gorgonize (Medusa) from Wordcatcher Just hitting bookstores is my latest collaborative work with Phil Cousineau, Wordcatcher . Phil and I share a love of art and language and this latest book combines Phil's marvelous word histories with my artworks inspired by the word tales. Phil Cousineau and I often work collaboratively. For Wordcatcher I created 25 images inspired by Phil's intriguing descriptions. I spent much of the Fall in my drawing studio with my hands and clothing covered in chalk dust with the smell of wood shavings and sepia inks in the air. The resulting artworks are mainly rendered in ink washes with black and sanguine chalks heightened with white chalk on paper. Gregg Chadwick Duende (Federico Garcia Lorca in Havana) from Wordcatcher Wordcatcher is already garnering praise: “Stake out a claim next to the standard dictionary you use for this less pedantic companion. It contains fewer words but sends up Fourth of July skyrockets on all of them...

Buddha of the Setting Sun (Amida) Gregg Chadwick 40"x32" oil on linen 2010 Private Collection Marina del Rey One in an ongoing series of artworks inspired by the life and poetry of the Japanese Zen monk, poet, scholar and garden designer Muso Soseki. I am indebted to the American poet W.S. Merwin for his masterful versions from the Japanese translations and for his kind words of inspiration to me at the Hammer Museum. Temple of Eternal Light by Muso Soseki (1275 - 1351) English version by W. S. Merwin Original Language Japanese Buddhist : Zen / Chan 14th Century The mountain range the stones in the water all are strange and rare The beautiful landscape as we know belongs to those who are like it The upper worlds the lower worlds originally are one thing There is not a bit of dust there is only this still and full perfect enlightenment Portrait of Zen priest, poet and garden designer Musō Soseki

The Buddha on PBS Narrated by Richard Gere Premiering April 7, 2010 at 8 p.m. (check local listings) Buddhaspotting "Buddha doesn’t look any different from anybody else…Buddhism is not about being special…It is about walking a normal human life with normal human beings, doing normal human things. And this reminds you that you yourself might be a Buddha. At this moment, the person you’re looking at might be one. It’s an interesting practice. Just each person you see as you walk down the street; ‘Buddha? Buddha? Buddha? Buddha? Buddha?’" — Jane Hirshfield, poet PBS The Buddha on Facebook Buddha Spotting on PBS The Buddha on PBS The Buddha Thanks to artist Gregg Chadwick for sharing this photo of one of his paintings in the Buddhaspotting photostream! Studio View Of Fire Sermon www.flickr.com 80"x80" oil on linen 2004

 Martin Luther King Jr.'s Last Speech  "But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars." Martin Luther King, Jr I've Been to the Mountaintop Spoken on April 3rd 1968, Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters), Memphis,Tennessee Thank you very kindly, my friends. As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about. It's always good to have your closest friend and associate to say something good about you. And Ralph Abernathy is the best friend that I have in the world. I'm delighted to see each of you here tonight in spite of a storm warning. You reveal that you are determined to go on anyhow. Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world. And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now...

Went to a small club last night with a quartet of friends and found a musical epiphany - Joe Greene and the Heavy Steppers. Much more to come next week ... Joe Greene and the Heavy Steppers on iTunes

Tokyo Lolita , originally uploaded by GreggChadwick . Gregg Chadwick 24"x18" oil on linen 2010