Departures

Leaving New York,, Again,, after two months, of drawing and watercolouring, hanging with the ones i know ,, and love,, hospitality again in New York was wonderful,, and the lifestyle,, that again changes,, eating habits,, Mustaffa,, the fruit merchant on the corner of Laquardia and Bleecker,, this is where i eat the most fruit everyday,,all because of what he has,, Bob and Vishal,, at the wine store,, Val and Matt, Liz ,, Boyd,, Chris, Ivan,, Junior,, Sarah,, The girls with the baking Project that spoils me,, Peter,,, Leni ,, and on and on,, again Leaving a part of my life till who knows when,,, Storing the work,, what to do with it,, take it to Debbie and Daves,, visit with Lynda and Will, and then the drive to Cambridge,,,spend a couple months with the Family and be able to enjoy the Grandkids again for a short time of my life,, before again, will head to Key West,,, Departures,,, I,m Really not sure i,m wanting to have to deal with Them anymore in my Life

Months Of Silence

Sometimes You just don,t want to share your thought to words,, then the urge to write gets in You and it must be done to have ,, a peace within yourself, I,m thinking that I feel so empty when i try to put my life to words,, like so little happening,, yet,, i,m totally caught up in having something going on 24/7, art exhibit in July,, trip down to NyNy,, 20 some paintings done,, organizing,, the whole situation for 2 months in nyny and then theres the constant contact with trying to have a slight insight into my children and grandchildrens lives which i know is way less than i want it to be,, just can,t stand not seeing them,, yet a greater desire to complete this Art Vision i have with what ive done,, and then the crazy part of that world is that i can,t stop doing the Art to add to the vision. The other part of my life is the people i interact with on a daily, weekly, Monthly, Yearly bases,, i,m just never having enough time to go for a drink or dinner with them and then when i do it seems to be way to short a visit,,, Bottom Line,, Have to be Happy for all we have in life,,, and Thank God for all the Blessings

Life in Changes

A song from the past, but a time in a life, when theres a question of maybe changing directions, 25 years in the food business, what a time that was so rewarding in the satisfaction of feeding people with that quality of product, the workers we had, the customers, not that it wasn,t trying and that there wasn,t really any money made but ever thankful that it was a part of my life, Then the past 25 years in the art world, a couple thousand drawing and paintings later,as well 5 books i,m feeling totally satisfied with the result of this part of my life, I have a number of painting that I would still like to do, as well a couple of series of watercolours of nyny and then theres the part of having all the work put into books, but theres this thought starting in my mind of changing direction into something that has more meaning, something that I respect in others yet have never had the courage to get involved in myself, I believe that its because its such a series matter and I really don,t know if I have it in me to be able to do it,, helping others in the 3rd world situations, A totally major decision because I do believe that if you do take that onyou must be totally dedicated and totally follow through on the direction one would take in this life change.I will finish with what I must with the art work and then make a decision on this thought.

Beginings and Changes

Funny how we think of what to do with our lives,, and how that thought changes from age to age or month to month,New York, Key West, Cambridge Ontario, how different my life changes in each of these locations, and how different your thoughts change about what life is, maybe its the changes in latitudes that does it,, naw,, thats not it at all, its the people you need to deal with on each level,, naw,, people be people as Will Hoppey says, just your head space,, then again it sometimes has to do with your health like when your hung over or something like that,maybe its just the way it is as Van Morrison says, it just "Is",should i stay or should i go,, you know, that song,i wonder if it would be different if i had money, would i live different, eat different hang out with other folk,, naw,, i don,t think that has any bearing at all on what happens in my life,, maybe just maybe,, everything that happens and everything you think ,say or do is exactly what you have to,, your entire life,, like i,m saying just maybe been hanging out in lame bridge,, opps sorry Cambridge for a month now , set up a little exhibit at "The Groove Kitchen", in Preston,, been kool, running into a few old friends I havn,t seen for like 30 to 60 years, but also difficult in many ways, changes from New York and Key West, thought of how people see me and my art work,, New York, definately see me more as an artist and respects that much more than Key West,, but Key West does see me as an Artist,, but has no Respect for the artist,,well a few do.. but just a few,, the mayor of New York,, is one of a few people I know that neither knows artists or respects them and what art means to mankind,, now Cambridge or maybe even Canada,, forget about it,, they snicker or even laugh at the artist , but what do i know i just have these thought that seem to change as i move from place to place and these thought may change from age to age,, man,,, i need something to do

Volume Three,, Of New York

What is there to write of the work,not much that could be understood,, if you didn,t know the past history of the artist and the influences of the people in ones life. Take for instance the importance of the work with the colour of fruit and vegetables, but also the state of mind one enters into when buying food to feed to others, now what has that to do with the drawing or the painting you ask,, well if you have to ask that ,, you really will never know the results of the artists work, and what is it that the mother , father ,, the brothers or sisters and friends had to do with the work an artist presents on his canvas, again if you don,t see that all of these aspects of ones life has to do with what one does in art, you really never will understand art or the artist. While doing the art the same things apply,, the living conditions, the people that is what allows the work to be done,, and without favourable conditions ,, it doesn,t get done, and those conditions can be ones of hardship and difficulties as easily ones of pure love and joy,, but they are what create the work.

Joe Fortes New York,, Volume Three

Working at getting, another New York Book together,,never mind the Drawing that have to get done,, the script is another story all together,, who to thank, and in what order,, want to talk about ,the fact that ive only been doing drawings in NY for 15 years,, and thats 15 years on a really limited time schedule. The work i did before i became a full time artist that actually made me some kind of living,, the fruit store , the books and records that we sold,, all of that of great importance to me,, especially what my Mom and Dad did for a living,, which was the food store, fruit and vegetables specifically want to tie that into vol 3 of the New York book.The Importance of the people I Thank in these books ,and really get it across how very much that without them it woulsd not be possable to do the work, not just that , that part of writing it is lip service ,, but a real sincere thank you for being there for me.So when i sit down to do this writing i become over whelmed with how much you could write about each of these subjects and really not say to the extent of what you want to any degree at all. but let me try,, in my simple attempt to do that.

New York, 2010

Got into the city,, last Monday, and as usual it was the keep your head up situation of NYC, energy abounds even though it is a bit slow.This is the 1st time i have celebrated my birthday in NY, and it was a beauty,, party at the Plaza with Michael Fredo playing with the band,, and enjoyed seeing all the good folks ,, Shannon and Joe Fredo as well as Benny, Eric,Cory, and the rest . Thursday nigh found us all At the party at ,Covet,, usual suspects and what a great bar,, brand new and done up beautifully, nephew Jim and his Lady, Jeannine came into the City on Friday and we had a great time at Cuba,, great food great music and great people,, did the walk around ,, wound up at Wicked Willys,, for a night cap and spent Saturday,, hanging out,, Jim shooting a lot of pics.Now work wise was a productive week as well,, have two drawings on the go business was slow but ok,, met a bunch of new people , the four ladies from saskatoon,, want you all to check out the web site, www.joefortesworld.com see you all next week.

Two Weeks On The Road

Sunday, May2nd,Randolph n.j., been here for five days,, getting a bit done with ,"The Boss",on the web site, thats, http://www.joefortesworld.com/ thank God i,ll be off to New York tomorrow, not that i didn,t have a great time with Debbie and David,, Great host and hostess, great food,, just so happy to have it all settled for what had to be done.I,m thinking that we should have the web site totally together by the end of 2012,, i thought we could do it by the end of 2011,, but i was dreaming and realize that i have no idea what it takes to do that, anyway,, its been a great 2 weeks,, with time with, brother butch and karen, wendy and john, jannine and nephew jim,, and the over to ron and suzi q,s, and then a couple days with david and lise and kayleigh,,, and then on to mary anne.s and larry,s and jenna and andy and michael,, and then debbie and daves ,jonathan and adams,, so i,m off into the Big Apple,, to celebrate My 67th Birthday,, will be at the plaza on wed. nite if michael fredo,s playing, jim and jennine will be in the city on thursday and friday,, but the big reason for this time in the city is to get some things together with my printer leni,, really need to get that all together so i can get some drawing done.Also hope to sell out of the second printing of the new york books

Six Days Till Monday

Sitting,, in D.C.,Maryanne and Larry home , spent a couple days at Lise ,Kayleigh and Davids home in Daytona. Taking life very slow making sure i have an idea to where and what it is i want to do with the next twenty years of my life if i,m so lucky to have that pleasure, missing Laura playing hockey,, missing Steve just being Steve and making a life for himself,, missing the Boys Growing into men,, Tyler actually working James becoming a teenager ,,and Noah,,just missing the connection,, and The Biggs,,just to see her,, more often, but,the work,, what to do about the work,, David Steinberg doing the web site, loving that and needing time to do it,, new york drawings needing to be finished,, the books,, four new key west books to have published by the end of 2011,, as well one more new york book,, and thens there ,,,My Life,, maybe i should think a little more about having some more about that,, but,, what is that other than my kids,, or my work,,,thats why its time to think about what the next twenty years or twenty days or hours,, and what it is that needs to really be done ,, or should anything be done other than,,, being.

What is it About Tuesdays

A week sails by,, may as well be a lifetime, sitting at my nephew Jims home in Clearwater,, left Key West on Saturday after picking up a couple great sandwiches from the Cuban Coffee Queen which is a great little spot that my True Friend ,Paul Menta owns with another trully great friend and person Eric,, how come i,m so Fortune ate,, must be someone looking out for me,,trip up was rainy day hard rain,, refreshing,van cleaning, thoughts, were many as i drove the eight hours,stopped and had dinner with Brother Butch and Karen as well John and Wendy Taylor from Cambridge prepared by the woman,,, mmm good, Last night ,, monday,, we went out the 7 of us for a great italian dinner,,, What Else,, and i sit here on this beautiful morning making contact with the people i,ll be spending the next 2 months with in new york . What is Life,,a breath,, a good morning to you,, a thought of your children,, another two thought of each of your children in seperate times,,what is life a good morning to you from that some one you love or even more so from that person you hardly know,,what is life,look at life,,, your life or just life
the breath you take ,so for sure that the next one is coming, the food you eat ,, so like its so expected that there is another meal coming and on and on we just take for granted that there will be another day,,, take a moments or seven every day to stop for 5 seconds or 5 minutes to thank for that life ,, that could end at any of those days or minutes or seconds,,thank for the mother the father the family the friends the health,, thank for the life.

Touching Base

April,2010, Daughter Tina has just left after spending a week with me in Key West,, Made Me realize even more how much i need my family in my life at this point. I,ll be leaving Key West on the 19th has been two months and it has been very different here,, much cooler than the usual winter and of course the financial situation that we are involved in has not been good for business,, all in all its been a great season for socializing, but not for business. Key West has also depleated my energy to draw or paint with the unacceptance that it has for not only artist but people in general,, parking and code violations are out of control,, going to be difficult to want to draw here in the future,then theres the friends that i have here which makes it almost impossable to ever leave, and you all know who i am talking about. So, i,m off to Clearwater to have a couple days with my nephew and my Brother, and then over to Daytona and spend a few days with my Great Niece and her family going to hang a dozen or so paintings in there new home, from there i,m heading to D.C. and hang out there for a few days,, maybe a day in Philly then up to Dave and Debbies home in New Jersey to get some of the web site business sorted out ,, and then I,ll be in New York for six to eight weeks

Realization

What does it take in a lifetime to really realize the importance of life and what is important in your life? I don,t think you can ever thank your Family, parents, siblings, children,, and grandchildren for what it is they give you just by being, your friends, teachers, influences of music ,art takes 60 years no matter how you have loved and apprieciated, all of these experiences of your life to really take a look and see a whole other demension of what it is and realize that its even more than that. Going to New York this year after all ive done there and how much ive become a part of the feeling, the people,, i was blown away by how much greater the feeling of my love of what it is and how great it is the structures the ancientness of it the food how unbelievable it all is. Then off to Key West and on the way,, the visiting of the Friends along the way,what they have meant in my life,, and again like my children and grand children no words or not any amount of words or even the amount of realization of what that value in your life is can ever be expressed. Key West,,, Garden of Eden. people ,Family ,, yes Extended Family like again, you can not imagine,,, names ,Will Linda,, Mark Jude, Eric Paul,, my brother, Mark and on and on thousands of names and people who have been so wonderful and helpful in me being able to do what i do....to be continued

Getting to Know Key West,"Again"

Day four of 2010,You would wonder after 4 days if there would be anything to talk about, but you have to remember, when you return to a location after a few months away you walk around town taking in what it is that keeps you coming back for as many years as you do. Key West, is Magical theres a feeling you have just about being there, then theres the trees and plant life, and as you walk around you encounter all these totally wonderful people that you have known for years , and when you know Key West,, your amazed that they stay,, because in all this you if you have been here for any length of time understand what it takes to survive on the rock.so when i got here this trip as i," sneak sally through the alley ",cause thats what its like to trip around kw,and you space into the places like the grand cafe, ricks ,the tree bar , angelinas, capt tonys,, the local colour shop, the white tarpon, blue heaven,the crepiere, bos fish wagon,, and the the new spot , "The Cuban Coffee Queen",help yourself the schooner wharf, where that hippie band was playing,, hooking up with the cast of charecters is more mind blowing then the locations and enviroment combined,, Paul, Spin,Penny,Richard,Sueanne,Phil,Kelly,Kit,Jonney,Barb,Linda,Jude,Mark,Bob,Charlie,and you get the picture,, so four days later ive touched base with a few of the locations and ate a little bit of what is offered. The other part of the 4 days is about setting up at the galleon,, getting things straightened out at Pauls house, the Plantation Coffee shop, and connecting with Michael Shields to do His radio show on Friday, on Konk-1680 am, the Art Waves show, from 11 till 12 am. and now to get ready for the next week of Key West,, sure to be an adventure.

Tripping 2010 Style,www.joefortesworld.com

Just a little recap of the past week. Left Canada on Tues., and got over the border,, stopped in Buffalo and had lunch with Jim,, at Teds Hot dogs,, then drove to Port Jervis to pick up a few things at Lynda and Will,s , got into Randolph NY, to Debbie and Davids home about 9:30 pm,, of course Debbie had some great food waiting for me.Wed. morning seen me getting up to a fresh snowfall and got my day started with a drive into NY,got there by noon, and went to see Leni at Smudge ,, got things settled with him to print me another 200 books, then spent the rest of the day walking around the village visiting a few friends,, Val and Matt at ardent,, Mama Rafatto, the boys at the shooting club,, carol at native leather,, rita and dennis at Brunos Bakery,BoB and Vishal at the wine store and the folks at Cuba restaurant,, also Boyd at the thai restaurant ,, called Boyds, then went up to the plaza and seen Michael,, totally uneventful and useless exercise thank god i stopped at Wicked Willies and hooked up with Alan and Andy and listened to some great music and had a beer before heading home to bed.Left NY first thing Thur. morning and headed to Judy and Georges in Philly, got there in time for lunch in the Italian Market at a great sandwich shop at 9th and Christian, name escapes me,, i think paesanos,,then went for a great cup of coffee and then shopping in a really great shop,,mmmm so many wonderful foods,, home to hang out and then dinner with j and g and there one son,, what a fabulous meal as per usual when i,m there,always sooo great.Friday had me heading for DC to Maryann,s and Larrys and Family, kind of like My own Home ,, Cis, and Jenna ,Andi,Michael and soon anothe3r little girl,, not to mention Nadia,Luna and Mame,, what a house,, GRand Central Station, lots of kids,, and company always,, fridge is stocked ,, beer is cold and the tv is on,laugh laugh laugh,, all weekend,, ate to much again and mmmm good,super bowl party at the neighbours and digging out from one of the biggest snow storms ever, great week end.Monday morning i,m out of there before the next storm hits,, drive all day to Daytona, and LIse and Daves home, got there about 10 pm, tired, Tuesday up late and spent the day with lise, picked Kayleigh up from school, and trhen home to cook dinner ,, they love when i cook for them, baked potatoes and brocolli,, then pork chops, in a sause made with onions ,garlic, tomatoes oil and butter, little red winesauted and left to slowly simmer,,, oh ya., Wed., drove on over to New Symrna beach to Suzi and Rons home,, lunch with Ron at another unbelievable sandwich shop,and then home to hang out at there home on the water, what a great space,, dinner as usual was again so great,, Tuna done perfect on the bbq by Ron aspergras, carrots anda great salad,, couple of beers and great conversation. its Thursday Morning and i,m having another grat coffee and looking out at the perfect scene across the waters,, ya gotta love it

Update on My Life

Its Feb.6thI,m sitting in DC, at Mary Ann,s and Larrys house,, did the hospital thing and got looked after,, spending the extra time in Canada allowed me to see more of my family and more of the kids hockey, also gave me more time to take a look at whats happening with the direction of art work. Speaking of that, my friend David got a web site set up, which is www.joefortesworld.com and has also done a facebook page that is, joe fortes world, he has also set joe fortes world, up as a company. So I stoppe3d there on my way to nyny and spent the evening at his and Debbies home, from there i went into the city and hooked up with my printer, Leni and straightened out a few things and have more New York books printed. Fron ny i went to Philly to pick up[ two oil paintings that i had left at Judy and Georges and spent a great evening, which takes me to tonight as i sit watching the hockey game drinking an ice cold stella with Larry after a great dinner in D.C., great winter storm raging out side tonight and tomorrow so i,ll snuggle in here for a few days and hopefully get into driving to Florida on Monday,, weather permitting