26th February...Giorgione was Lord Byron's old lady

Allegory in my brain, allegory in my veins, allegory sailing down-stream. I spent some time with a distinguished fellow called Domo, he’s another artist doing the residency with the Emily Harvey Foundation. He lured me into the fine complexities of his mind. His ideas trickled like water over my attention. He spoke of historical Venice. Of an artist called Giorgione, whom was a humanitarian and turned his head away from religious art towards a truer expression of ideas. He created fantastical landscapes which were constructed from many ideas and view points. Domo also talked about a printer who invented the idea of a book and how he was likely to be a companion of Giorgione. He filled my mind with ideas surrounding Allegory and what it might mean to create a new kind of art. Or a new way of viewing the world. Domo also invited me to drink an expresso (these are what I live on now) by the canal, and we waxed lyrical about the world and art. What a wonderful man, full of interest in how we humans look at the world. It’s really nice I think as I watch this man, whom looks like Picasso to me, that I can learn something from someone whom really understands the world and isn’t full of bullshit intellectualism. It’s a refreshing change to the usual type of artist types I meet. Domo is open to collaborating with me, which fill me with joy.

Later in the day I travel for the first time on the ferry buses and my heart saws as I again realise how breathtakingly beautiful Venice is. I travel by river to the Galleria dell’ Accamamia, where I pass the house that Lord Byron once inhabited (pictured here). This sharpens my eyes and ears to why Byron was such a great poet. He lived here. A place where it’s impossible not to drift into poetry, venice is poetry. At the gallery there’s the finest examples of renaissance Venetian painting. Including two Giogione Paintings. One of which is missing. The Tempeste (pictured). I titter inside, as this is the only painting missing from the collection and only 1 hour before Domo was telling me how wonderful it was. I know that now, it doesn’t matter if I see it or not, as Domos passion already filled this gap! Next to this missing painting is a painting of an Old Lady (pictured). I am awstruct at its realism and explosive and emotive force. She scares me in a good way.

I look around and somehow everything looks more incredible. I think to myself that the world is full of mysery and magic. I look at the women in front of me, she smiles. I notice she’s wearing flairs and this fills me with joy and I realise that Venice and these flairs are made from the same spirit. Godlike and shimmering from within!