THE MAGIC OF CAN BARRINOL. Painting and story.

LA MAGIA DE CAN BARRINOL. 122x80cm. acrílico sobre madera. Ibiza 2006.

This is a painting from 2006 and this is the story that the painting told me then.
Can Barrinol is the name of a house I spent a lot of time in when I was a child and it was a magical, the muse of "Russian George"(Estonian originally) my sort of grandfather. He was a great inspiration to me. He had a house full of wonderful books, antiques, artefacts he collected in his travels, wonderful paintings and photos, every corner of the house was evocative.
He passed away when I was 16 years old and his house was sold and it all vanished, but I still have it alive inside.

THE MAGIC OF CAN BARRINOL
Once upon a time there was a little magic house at top of a mountain named Peacock Mountain. Many people travelled here to enter this special house.
If someone wanted to access it, they would have to successfully go through the first test where the peacock would unfold its beautiful feathers featuring the ten eyes. One was supposed to establish focused attention on all ten of them at the same time. No distraction.
Next, once this person had done this successfully, a woman would appear to hand him an egg full of white paint he was supposed to crack on the house and let it drip down over the outer walls.
The way up was over some steps carved out of the earth, known by the name “the wise elephant´s steps”. As he stepped with faith, the print he left would turn into gemstones that would shine from far away making more people attracted to this place.
Once he had reached the house, he had to climb up on the roof, crack the egg open letting the white paint it contained drip down over it´s walls. This was the moment when he could finally go inside and enter the magic room to do what he had really come here to do: look out the window with the special glass that worked as a telescope. Looking straight into the mountain in front that shone a mirror back, where he could see the full image of this painting he was in.
The point in seeing this now was to be able to decipher the messages that the Sun revealed though it´s shadows, that otherwise would be impossible to see because of it´s brightness.
The Sun always reveals truths, it´s the oracle.
This was an unusual day because this time he could see someone trapped somewhere half way up. Neither being able to go up or down. The Sun told him that this person was very intelligent, astute and disciplined, and that after much practice had been able to go through the peacock test. He had also been handed the egg by the lady to then crack open over the house, but each footstep up the steps would be erased instantly. This happened because deep down he didn´t really believe in what he was doing. He was only there to prove the tale he had heard about. He didn´t really believe the Sun would be able to teach him anything. Because of this he had been hurled to the next hill, detached from all his possessions, naked, condemned to observe with great attention at the fire his hand held. The flame wouldn´t go out till he really believed, only then would he be able to start the process again, the peacock, the lady with the egg, the stairs and so on.

LA MAGIA DE CAN BARRINOL
Había una vez una casita mágica que estaba encima de una montaña. Era la montaña del pavo real. Muchas personas peregrinaban hasta este lugar para poder intentar acceder a la casita.
Si una persona deseaba ir a la casa, debía primero pasar una prueba al que el pavo real le sometía. Desplegaba su bello plumage y aparecían diez ojos a los que la persona debía poder mirar a la vez sin distracción, con toda su atención. Cuando esta persona haya podido hacer esto, aparecería una mujer para entregarle un huevo lleno de pintura blanca que debía subir a la casita. Para subir habían unos escalones tallados en la tierra, llamada la escalera del elefante sabio, que al pisar con pura fe sus pisadas se convertirían en gemas brillantes añadiendo a la montaña un atractivo visual de deseo para los que la vieran después.

Una vez en la casa debía subir hasta el tejado, partir el huevo y dejar que la pintura blanca se deslizara por sus paredes. Finalmente podría acceder a la habitación mágica y hacer lo que realmente había venido a hacer: Mirar por la ventana que tenía un cristal graduado y que funcionaba como la lente de un telescopio, mirando directamente hacia la montaña de enfrente que tenía un gran espejo que ofrecía el paisage que vemos en el cuadro. La finalidad de poder ver esto era descifrar los mensages que el sol trasmitía con sus sombras, que de otra manera no podríamos ver por su intenso brillo. El sol siempre revela verdades, es el oráculo.

Este día era especial porque el señor vio que había alguien atrapado en un lugar entremedias, sin poder subir ni bajar. El sol le contó que era un señor que había sido muy inteligente, astuto y disciplinado, y que después de mucha práctica, logró pasar la prueba del pavo real. La mujer le hubo entregado el huevo de pintura blanca, pero al pisar subiendo por las escaleras de la montaña su pisada se borraba, esto era debido a que no creía en lo que hacía, solo iba para comprobar la leyenda, porque en el fondo no creía que el sol pudiera enseñarle nada. Esto hizo que fuera lanzado hasta el otro monte, desprendido de todas sus posesiones, sin ropa…observando con atención el fuego que salía de su mano y que no quemaba, cuando creyera, tendría que volver a empezar y encontrarse con el pavo, la mujer con el huevo, las escaleras y así de nuevo.

George at his desk. Writing, drawing or reading. at Can Barrinol.