T.S. Eliot

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
T. S. Eliot

Paul Klee - A line is a dot that went for a walk

Klee, Paul
Red and White Domes
1914
Watercolor and body color on Japanese
vellum mounted on cardboard
14.6 x 13.7 cm

Such a beautiful Chinese village ... like an oil painting

Aristotle

Well begun is half done. Aristotle

Saadi Al Kaabi سعدي الكعبي The prominent Iraqi Master of Fine Arts

I am an admirer of the exceptional and beautiful works of the great Iraqi Artist Saadi Al Kaabi. I have attended a number of his exhibitions and saw first hand how he excelled in his paintings techniques yet maintaing a genuine and most loveble and wonderful personality. I have also read what others have wrote about him but I found what the Japanese Artisit and Jury member Sanchi Sika to eloquently best describes Saadi's work:
In spite of the simple lines in the works of Saadi Al Kaabi, his painting express true artistic aturity. I am rather amazed by his painting, which mirror the characteristic of pottery, engraving, photography and every project relief. Yet, the real power lies in the fact that he well succeeded to gather the characteristics of all those geners of art and integrate them into a unity, which expresses this artist's love of art. These works have nominated Al-Kaabi to win the first prize of the Decca Biennial 1986.

http://www.saadialkaabi.com/

Art crafts market - Maputo - Mozambique

Sunset at the Serengeti

At Durres ... Albania

At the north shore of Durresi .... A small old house compose a beautiful artistic setting.

The volcanic ash ... and this eloquent message

Ghassan Abu Laban ... A Master of Colours

The logos .... FedEx and Amazon

Between the E and x is an arrow ... Delivery ... Moving Forward. Amazon .... From A to Z (everything) ... and a smile.

Thomas Alva Edison 1847-1931

Palmyra تدمر ... Syria

Sculptures at Palmyra .... are not matched. The intricate fascinating work of this sculpture surpasses the details of David by Michelangelo.

At Goree Island - Senegal ... a sad history of slavery but now ... it is colour everywhere

At Durrësi- Shqipëria

Durrës is the second-largest city of Albania. It is the most ancient and one of the most economically important cities of Albania. It is located on the central Albanian coast, about 33 km (21 mi) west of the capital Tirana. It is situated at one of the narrower points of the Adriatic Sea, opposite the Italian ports of Bari (300 km/186 mi away) and Brindisi (200 km/124 mi away). It has a population of around 114,000 (as of 2003[update] estimate). The city of Durrës is home to Albania's newest public university, the Aleksander Moisiu University.

The picture is taken by a very good friend. Nice trick.

Veranda Tea by James Neil Hollingsworth

Oil on hardboard panel 15 x 15 cm

James Neil Hollingsworth is a talented painter from Atlanta, Georgia. Exceptional work. http://neilhollingsworth.blogspot.com/

Tashkent ... Uzbekistan

Telyashayakh Mosque (Khast Imam Mosque)
Contains the Uthman Qur'an, considered to be the oldest extant Qur'an in the world. Dating from 655, it was brought by Timur to Samarkand, seized by the Russians as a war trophy and taken to Saint Petersburg. It was returned to Uzbekistan in 1989.

Uzbekistan ... A magnificent country

Tashkent طشقند
(Tash in Turkish language means stone. Kand, qand, kent, kad, kath, kud—all meaning a city—are derived from the Persian/Sogdian, kanda, meaning a town or a city. They are found in city names like Samarkand, Yarkand, Penjikent etc.).

Art Gallery of Uzbekistan

Chorsu Bazaar .. Near the Kukeldash Madrassa, this huge open air bazaar is the center of the old town of Tashkent.

Palace of Prince Romanov .. During the 19th century Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich (1850-1918), a first cousin of Alexander III of Russia was banished to Tashkent for some shady deals involving the Russian Crown Jewels. His palace still survives in the centre of the city. Once a museum, it has been appropriated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Open art gallery .. next to Independance Avenue

Palestine 1948-2009

Translation of Haroun Hashem Rashid poem in commemoration of occupied Palestine. Sang later by Fairouz:

We shall return

We shall return one day to our village

and drown in the warmth of hope
We shall return though time passes by

and distances grow between us.

O heart do not drop wearied

on the path of our return
How it wounds our pride that birds

will return tomorrow while we are still here.

There are hills over there

sleeping and waking on our pledge
and people who are the love,their days comprised

of silent waiting and nostalgic songs

Places filled with willows as far as the eyes can see,

willows tired and bent over the water

while afternoons in their shade

drink the smell of silence and purity of happiness.

We shall return,the nightingale told me

when we met on a hill,
that nightingales are still there,

living on our dreams

and that among the hills of yearnings

and the yearning people is a place for us
O heart how often has the wind scattered us

Come along, we shall return, let us go.

Gaza sky rains Israeli white phosphorus and cluster bombs over civilian homes

Israel is bombing Palestinians in Gaza with white phosphorus and cluster bombs. Images of the brutal damage inflicted on women and children are seen on the wide media coverage of Algazeera. Meanwhile, Israel bans international journalists from entering the Gaza strip.

White phosphorus and cluster bombs are internationaly banned weapons. A war crime that will haunt Israel for a long time. A true holocaust.