The Estonian Philosopher.

[Stanley Edwards]

Happy client More work Rain on the way

I stay in the dry in Arles for a few more days. Nice work I can complete in a bar and client is paying proper money for it. All good.

I have had more than my fair share of weather luck so far. Can't remember a single drop of rain hitting my baldy head, but the next few days looks unavoidably wet and stormy. Staying safe. Pocket full of green paper monies - booking hotel for 3 more nights here.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

Here's contemporary Le Cafe La Nuit AKA Cafe Van Gogh.

My new friend Held has offered a bed for a couple of nights. That will save me €100 He's not as sexy as Federica, but she wasn't quite up to offering the invitation. Not sure how long I stay here. I'm getting extremley good work. Well paid work. It's a very nice place, but I want to move on!

I should be putting more on my blog I should be painting!

Tomorrow. Mehbe?

 

[Stanley Edwards]

Attempt 1. Just about good enough to get a chance at attempt 2

 

[Stanley Edwards]

I'm earning good money, but my outgoings are high and I have no time to paint. I have emailed a few companies for 'help'. I'll sell-out to the first offer!

Daily costs...

Hotel is averaging €45
Food and drink €12
Cigarettes €8
Materials/paper/pens €5

I have to find that every day. On top of that I need occassional clothes, medicines, bus/train tickets, sundries etc etc etc. It ain't cheap!

 

[Stanley Edwards]

The weather has gone shit and my client has gone quiet, but Arles continues to throw up nice coincidences. I meet many, many people on the streets. Work wise it is not about what you make on the streets, it's all about who you meet. Non-work meetings are nice also. Yesterday...

"Hey 'Stan', is that you?"

Many, many, many years ago as teenagers growing up in a small Shropshire town we did 'teenage stuff' together. When she married I photographed the wedding. When she moved to London to begin family life we lost touch. 20+ years later we meet in a small town in Sourthern France. My initial reaction was 'no - this can't be, you look 10 years younger than me!'. Nice. Neither of us have changed much in many ways. One of the few genuine people from my distant past. How strange.

Decisions. Do I wait for big client to get in touch hanging around for better weather, or move on? I have a free bed in a small studio flat. It belongs to Held. There are lots of big knives on the walls and crazy tattoo art, but he seems a nice enough guy. He has a full-on rock'n'roll HiFi with 9 speakers. "He like de music - he could not live without it". Def Leppard until 3AM

 

[Stanley Edwards]

Someone wanted some help with something. My French is still shyte

Pure comedy. How does a non-English speaking French bloke and a non-French speaking English bloke get a very heavy leather sofa down Three flights of stairs in a very old house?

oui
oui
oui
no.no.no.
FUCKING HELL MY FOOT - NO!
OK
oui
oui
OK
No!
oui
oui
OK
Voila!!!




It's a simple physics language thing.

 

[Greebo]

I've heard of learning the hard way but that's ridiculous!

 

[Stanley Edwards]

I've heard of learning the hard way but that's ridiculous!

It's getting harder. Held insists on cooking tonight. €8 for 2 farty little steaks from the butcher. I'm wondering if there are actually 2 steaks in the package - it's that small. Another €10 for vegetables and cheese. €4 for wine. Another €4 for 6 small bottles of beer because Held needs them for his driving work tonight!!! I've bought a pot of mustard just in case he isn't quite the pro' chef he claims to be.

€14 would have bought a nice relaxed, quality meal on the terraces. Pretty sure a single steak there would have been double what I've paid for.

Hey ho! It's a bed of sorts.

Held has to collect a piano after a concert in another town later, but he seems sure the police won't control him because he is working for the city. I seriously hope he isn't the driver! From what I can gather he is just the heavy lugger. The driver is the sane bloke. I hope.

Work lined up for tomorrow. Weather forecast is looking shitter. Gale force winds here ATM, but no rain. Storms expected. I'm going to stick it out. No where to run to.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

First reply for a request for help from a certain pen manufacturer...

Hello,
Thank you for your email. As I'm sure you can appreciate we receive many requests for sponsorship of art based events. I'm afraid we can only afford to support a few of these and our allocation for this year has been commited.

We wish you all the best with writing your guide.

Kind Regards,
Customer Services Team

They replied in blue as well. Fuck them. I'll spend no more on their products. I'm spending somewhere in the region of €2,000 a year on pens and papers. They lose

 

[Stanley Edwards]

OK. That was quality steak drowned in packet mushroom sauce. Held was angry when he saw the mustard.

"You try my sauce first, then if you need mustard you take mustard". Whoops!

He then went on to talk about how it's better to kill the young Arabs now rather than let them grow up He was serious, and it seems many here are serious. Worse for me is that he has more respect for 'England' than he does for me. His bomber jacket is English. Once a year he goes to England to buy his DM's.

And, it's not just him.

And, it's not just 'Arabs'. I just had to muscle my way into a bar for a drink. It's cold, it's raining, people are grumpy. The tobacco bar has closed early. I'm retreating to Held's pad. I will continue to try and convince him, but it's been a long time since I mixed with people who believe EVERYTHING they see on TV. Some people do!

 

[Stanley Edwards]

And, now I have to try and get out of this bar without trouble from all the Moroccans because they've seen me hanging out with Held. Guilty by association. Thankfully, most of them speak Spanish.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

I was a little drunk last night

Pissing it down. It's like London in April. No work in the rain. Expensive couple of days

 

[Stanley Edwards]

My Crazy German Hells Angel Friend...

I meet many interesting people. Me and 'Held' get along OK. He settled here after much touring. He's hanging on for another 12 years for his pension. Despite his bigoted views (on just some matters) I like him, and I'm sure I can convince him of a better outlook.

He served 9 years for murder. In his own words... "It was not my fault, I got into a fight and the other guy died - it could just as easily have been me". When he was in prison "he was not a good prisoner". he got into another fight with a peadophile and lost all parole rights and gained a further 6 months on his sentence.

He has no regrets about killing someone. When I fell asleep on his sofa I woke to find myself wrapped up in a blanket with a glass of water by my side. He is not in any way without empathy.

It was just bad luck.

I'm keeping this stuff for U75 rather than my blog for many reasons, but Held is quite happy to talk publicly about his past. I've linked here from my blog. He is actually a good hearted guy who made One single big mistake. You wouldn't mess with him, but few would mess with me also!

Accidents of life? 9 years taken? I don't know. I trust him. he's One of the good guys in my book, and I'll introduce him to people who will change his mind about certain things.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

And, yep... I don't know whether to believe anymore than anyone else!

 

[Stanley Edwards]

Fucking rain Relentless. I'd forgotten all about rain. Just sent an email in desperation to big client. I need dry work. Cash wipeout

Can't really moan because I've been very, very lucky weather wise up until now, but this is looking like a whole weekend of crap.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

Still wet and stormy. I have an 11AM appointment Monday morning. That could be worth €300, so worth sticking out a wet weekend. If I get a break between the rains I can collect €40 for a small commission to get me through the weekend whilst Held beds and feeds me

A sad day for Arles today. Funeral of an 11 year old suicide victim. 11! All the important people are attending.

My new plan is to head to Nice on Tuesday. Stay for a couple of days and then get a train to Switzerland. Weather looks better for next week.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

Sad Funerals and Weddings.

What a wet day!

I'm still waiting for a dry break to work. The wind has changed direction. This could be it.

This is Place de la Republique. The registry office is in Hotel de Ville which is next door to The Church here. Traditional French weddings followed by very noisy and showy Berber weddings. All afternoon a conveyer belt of peoples special moments. And, peoples very sad moments. Why do people do church for this stuff?

I'm upping the photography stakes - no more wasteful snaps. It will get good from now on

 

[Lock&Light]

It will get good from now on

I'd be happier with your reports, Stanley, if you left it to us to judge.

 

[dessiato]

Hope the weather improves. We always find miserable wet days depressing, which is one of the reasons we live in Portugal. We are still looking at moving to Spain though. I sort of fancy moving to Belgium, but the weather puts us off.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

I'd be happier with your reports, Stanley, if you left it to us to judge.

It's a quality photo that will stand the test of time

Here's a snap that won't...

I do like this place. Work to complete tomorrow, then I move though. Held went a bit AWOL last night. Fuck knows what he was on, but we are going to fall out big time if I outstay my welcome.

More Sunday evening street culture. This is most importantly why I like Arles. People play on the streets. People talk on the streets. People enjoy their city and make visitors feel very welcome. The Mayor says hello everytime he sees me. Me! Scruff shyster artist, and he always makes a point of smiling and waving. It's a very special place. It's been very good to me in many ways

 

[Stanley Edwards]

FFS! Two no showing, gone silent clients. What could have been a €350+ day has turned into a minus €50 day I can't see a good prospect of recovering the situation. I make what I can this afternoon and move on.

Fucking useless tossers. All they had to do was call me. Which is another problem. My Spanish mobile on roaming is costing 46 Cents a minute to receive calls. I would buy a French card, but I don't plan to be here much longer.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

Not a single Cent today From being very comfortable last week to skint after a wet weekend.

I collect €40 tomorrow for sure. That buys me a ticket onwards. Arles is losing it's charm! It is not cheap here. 3 days without income is a bit of a crunch, but still I haven't dipped into savings (because, I can't - my bank cards don't seem to work. Perhpas I don't actually have any money, or summat???).

Onwards and upwards. Arles was good. No need to spoil it.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

OK, I'm back on track. Very unpredictable this artist business.

Held is most definitely not on track. He hasn't slept since pay day - he likes his powders. He has just Two weeks to find a new home, and he's just been given redundancy notice. He is not happy! He works for an organisation that provides gardening and maintanence to those who can't garden themselves and can't afford professional fees. 45 people with little chance of finding new work without the minimal income they survived on. Public funding cuts Sarkozy style.

Held is most upset because this is his reward for towing the line - being a good honest person. He is, and I fully understand.


I have to do a painting before I leave. Cash is good again. Held and I will share a feast tonight. He needs it.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

Finally I have a painting ready to auction. I'm heading towards Nice via Aix en Provence (I'm told it's worth a visit). My friend finally slept last night. 14 hours solid. I was getting a bit concerned.

Loaded pockets, work lined-up, photograph painting, roll it up to carry with me until I know where to post it. I'm convinced I can make this work now. From middle of June there will be plenty of tourist business to buffer local custom. I WILL REACH RUSSIA WITH MORE THAN ENOUGH MONEY FOR A RETURN FLIGHT TO MADRID. Oh yes I will!

Anything could happen in the next town really

 

[Stanley Edwards]

I'm staying in Arles for the weekend. More work comes my way and I really want to take a few photo portraits of the people I've been hanging out with. They're a very crazy bunch of happy individuals. I've had fun here and met many good people. I just need to be sure they're all happy with what I intend to do with the photographs. Pretty sure 'Held' won't mind and all other names will be changed. Just seems like a great opportunity to photograph very unique characters all in a single place at the same time. All ages, all backgrounds, all beautiful in their own special way

Hopefully a set will appear here Sunday.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

Siren Nº1

First painting ready to auction. It's not brilliant, but I'm a bit out of practice and working conditions are not ideal. The idea is to auction on ebay as a package...

Set of 'work in progress' digital photo files.
The initial acrylic 2 Meter painting.
The finished painting in oil 80CM x 40CM.

It could make €20. It might make more. I'll get on the marketing case. Winning bidder pays the worthy cause of their choosing.


For those interested...

It's very losely based on 'Starry Night Over the Rhone', but it's a sunny day because I've transposed Lorena (sunshine girl) from the secret garden in Granada to Arles.

 

[Big Gunz]

Are you going to get to Estonia soon? Make sure you stop off in Riga, Latvia too.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

Are you going to get to Estonia soon? Make sure you stop off in Riga, Latvia too.

I will. From Berlin I head towards Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and then Estonia. Some Russian journalist has just emailed me asking when I expect to reach St Petersburgh (a red wine conversation possibly) They're following my progress (or, lack of) in a local paper. I am seriously not up for that on foot. Estonia is a mission enough.

Few willing volunteers for portraits, but I have some nice stuff with permission. Sort of bank holiday weekend in France and a couple of young girls/women I would like to photograph have gone to Paris for the weekend, so I'm waiting for them to return. There is a really stupid programme on the telly here called something like 'Sex, drugs and alcohol'. It's presented as a 'tut tut, kids of today' shock thing, but really it's a teenage style kid. Shows the kids how to cut thier stockings with a disposable razor and how to drink proper style I want to talk with a couple of people about this before I photograph them

Portraits (photo) come later in the week.

Today I have to sketch from an aerial photo of the Roman ampitheatre.

I've been 'stuck' in Arles for quite some time now. Tomorrow I walk (unless Francois wants more work).

 

[phildwyer]

Are you going to get to Estonia soon?

I've got fıfty quıd says not before Xmas.

Any takers? Mıght gıve thıs thread a bıt of ınterest...

 

[Greebo]

Might risk 2 Euros on Berlin by September, but really who cares? It's more about the journey than reaching the destination.