The Unreasonable Man

Last spring I was suddenly involved in a poetry book illustration project… and here is the result:I am proud to announce today the publication of this book, called

“The Unreasonable Man”

and written by the Australian poet

Tariq Segal.

In his own words

“Well…  I’m thrilled to announce, the release of my book, my thoughts about life, through the years that this took.
Glad that it’s finished, and glad that I spent, time penning my thoughts, letting emotions vent…”

The book is designed as a coffee table poetry book. It contains 60 of Tariq’s favourite poems with each poem accompanied by either an illustration or photograph.

Tariq says:

“.. I think the artwork alone is worth owning a copy, and being able to review my thoughts as well can only but confirm your own sanity…”

Well I must confess, most of these illustrations, about 50 I guess, are my paintings.

And here is what I have written in the preface of the book:

“Having myself been an „unreasonable“ person from the very beginning of my life, my encounter with The Unreasonable Man could not fail. As I started reading his poetry, I felt at once a deep connection to his wild world of thoughts, passion and revolt, and agreed at once to become with my art, a part of it.

I was amazed to see how many of my paintings seemed to have been created exactly for his poems,  illustrating in vibrant colours, lines, forms and structures what the poet is saying in words and the empty spaces in between.

But not each of his poems found its rightful painting.. We both collaborated in a weird process of  re-creation, by which  the characters featured in some of my paintings started to assume a life of their own, moving and wandering around, invading Tariq’s universe of poetry, in search of their own particular place among his words. Sometimes they even ended up taking possession of other paintings, either chasing the original occupants away or, more peacefully, finding their place at their side. You will understand what I mean when you look at the original works through my websites!

Anyway, to work on the illustration of „The Unreasonable Man“ was a totally new and very exciting experience in dealing with my own art, seeing me naturally „forcing“ them to interact and fit to the words.

I want to thank Tariq for this wonderful experience and his wise and creative advice in the choice of the paintings.“

For those of you interested in the musings of this troubled mind the book can be purchased online from the US  at:
1.       Amazon.com : http://www.amazon.com/dp/098052380X
2.       Createspace.com : https://www.createspace.com/3354416

The books are also available through Tariq Segal himself, above all for those of you who are in Australia. If you are interested please contact Tariq at

tariq@segal.com.au

by Miki

The Tiniest Coffee in The World

I am working right now -and for 2 months- on my travel sketches from our last trip through Portugal (3 weeks in June/July 2009). Today I stumbled upon this one, which I did quite at the end of the trip, and I thought it was the perfect one to exhibit in Cafe Crem.

There is a little, funny story connected to this drawing. As always we were in the town, Kevin sitting at Cafes reading, patiently waiting for me while I was sketching around. And like always, after 1 or 2 hours work, I joined him in a Cafe to have a well-deserved coffee. That day, as every day, I ordered in my not-so-accurate, but kind of working Portuguese language

“Um  cafe com leite, en um gran vaso, com muito leite por favor”

which means something like

“A coffee with milk, in a big glass, with much milk, please!”

This was the way I normally ordered our coffee, and normally it worked quite well, although I needed quite a long time to find the adequate words since our first trip through Portugal last year. Before I came to this final version, I must admit that I had quite a lot of trials with quite a lot of funny results. Anyway… Today the man who served us here looked a little bit weird, after he heard my order… I had the feeling he wanted to say something but either he couldn’t find the right words (to tell the truth he looked a little bit “thick”… in fact this little bar stood  next door to a psychiatric institute…) or he thought there was no chance of a real communication between us (I guess I  looked quite thick myself when I ordered our coffees in my insecure language…). The guy went inside, and after a long long time, which made me think he needed a long time to prepare an enormous coffee, he came out with that coffee cup and a big smile for me. Without exaggerating, the cup was about 3 centimetres high (1.2 inches), it was half empty, totally black… and cold! I must have looked quite shocked as the guy replaced his former smile with a desolate look! He succeeded in asking me if it was “ok”, and I really could see how much he hoped it was  right. I had not the heart to tell the truth, I just put a big smile on my face… and tons of sugar into the cup, which at least made it look full. I hadn’t the heart either not to drink the stuff, I thought it could be offending, but it was simply awful and I have felt sick for many hours after.

But at least the cup was cute and is a wonderful subject for a Cafe Crem post…

by Miki

Another Baby Bird…

Just in the moment I saw Nicole’s Baby Rainbow bird in the Mini Bar this morning, another bird appeared in the palm tree in front of my office window…

by Miki

Mugs from Germany

Last weekend Kevin was again away gigging in Germany. Honestly, I hate it when he goes, although I am sincerely glad that he can live out his passion on big stages with such great bands and great musicians as Christie and BC Sweet. Always when I see photos or video footage of the gigs, it strikes me how happy Kevin looks: no doubt, music is his world. and I know it will always be.

Anyway, not everything is negative for me when he goes away. Most of the time, when he comes back, he has a little something for me. This time, it was something very special. Rainer, a German fan of Christie, who over the years became a friend of the band and in the meanwhile, since I met Kevin,  of me too (although I never met him personally), had brought to the gig 2 new mugs for our mug collection.. such a lovely gesture from him, isn’t it?

And here they are! I chose the one with the German colours, naturally,as I lived most of my life in Germany! I love my new mug and my coffee tastes especially good in it, of course 

In the background of the painting you can see the members of Christie: Jeff Christie, Adrian Foster, Simon Kay and, last but not least, Kev Moore. By the way, I hope the guys will forgive me if I put Kevin in the foreground, but well, HE is my boy and he clearly gets most of my attention.

A big thanks from Kevin and me to our friend Rainer!

by Miki

I sold our soul…

Hello Cafe Cremers….

I told you some days ago that there was perhaps a project in the pipeline concerning our (former) Cafe Crem logo painting.

Well, it has become reality now:

I have sold the copyright outright from that painting!

For the ones who don’t know what that exactly means: we are not allowed anymore to use this painting as a logo, or for anything else, and much more than that, the painting does not belong to me anymore, I have lost all the rights on it.

But to tell the truth, although some people say that selling a painting copyright outright is like selling one’s soul, I don’t feel guilty at all, on the contrary. Our former Cafe Crem logo will now be the logo of a REAL Coffee Shop in Chula Vista, California, which will soon open its doors

The owner, a very kind guy, wrote to me

“… the painting will be on everything for my coffee shop. My  cups, business cards, advertisements, everything, so it will be used a lot. “

And now I think, if we Cafe Cremers should meet one day – which has been my dream for a long time! – we should all meet in Chula Vista at that coffee shop where our soul lives now!

What do you think?

By Miki

Kev Moore @ Pride Park singing Commons People

Cafe Crem was for me always the place to share Art, Music, Thoughts and Words. but it was also the place where I could tell my friends what is going on in my/our life.

Some of you might have followed Kevin’s football  story which started about 2 months ago as his Home Team Derby got a new manager, Nigel Clough, the son of one the most famous English managers of all time. To express his deep joy and his new hope for a better performance from the team Kevin wrote a song called “Derby Pride”, went on the radio with it, and at different places in the net, and from reaction to reaction he finally wrote another song, and another and another. The project grew so big that it became an entire CD album. The CD will be released officially on the 25th of April, when Kevin will sing one of the songs from the CD

“Commons People”

in the very centre of the Derby Stadium,

in front of  33000 people.

It is an exceptional event in Kevin’s life. He has already been often on different stages throughout the world in front of many people, but this one, this is

AN EMOTIONAL BIGGIE!!!

Well, I am proud to say that I have been deeply involved in this CD, making the whole design of the 2 CDS (there are 2 different versions, one is officially endorsed by the Derby County Football Club), and I have also followed the creation of each song from up close, sometimes giving my humble advice and opinions.

I have also created a full product line for the fans: posters, prints, T-Shirts, fridge magnets, posters, keychains, mugs, etc… this was a lot of work!

A last info… Not that I believe that any of the Cafe Cremers might be interested, but who knows who will come across here:

The CD and some other memorabilia  are  available @ Miki’s Mart

and most of the other stuff @ Goodaboom’s Boutique.

PS: for the ones who don’t know: the Derby players are called “The Rams” and their mortal enemy, coming from Nottingham, down the road, are called   “The Red Dogs”.

This is why I have featured Kev Moore as a Ram fighting for the ball towards a red dog. I seem to be very successful with this design among the Derby Fans!!!

by Miki

Grotesque Café Art

Cafe Sketch, by Miki

One of my recent sketches at cafe Masko.

I was not in my best mood that day

- I explained why here -

and I tended to see the world in a quite  grotesque way, as you can see …

Some people try to invade everybody’s space, don’t they?

Have a drink on Café Crem….

or rather have Café Crem on a drink!

I have spent the last few days creating  Planet Goodaboom’s Art and Music Boutique online. I have started  creating products featuring some of my artwork: mugs, postcards, stamps, fridge magnets, aprons, ties and even shoes!

Of course I have started with the mugs, as they are my favourite products ever! And of course I had to make a Café Crem mug, featuring what was our logo from the very first moment. I will add some other products featuring Cafe Crem soon, so please keep coming to the Boutique.

Well, it is available now in Goodaboom’s Boutique, in many different designs, as travel mugs too, and in many different sizes and handle colours, and even inside. Have a look there, I have done many other mugs which I find quite cute. (sorry for the self compliments, but I do like them!).

Bubble Boy – 22 -

Bubble Boy - 22 - , by Miki

(Original German Version)

(Bubble Boy – 1 -)     (Bubble Boy – 21 -)

…

Tiwoo was not at all happy with this decision, in fact she was very angry. Really, she thought, now that it was becoming fun, that little coward wanted to go back home! She started shouting at Bub, as loud as she ever could. But well, she certainly had not as frighteningly powerful a voice as Barbra and what she thought would sound scary to Bub sounded only like one more of her silly and boring tiwoos.

No,  Bub was not impressed at all by her screams. But yes, he was scared, so scared, first by the skulls in the desert, and now by these horrible creatures, that he had only one thought: to run away as fast as possible and to hide in a safe place. Not that the castle was really a safe place, but well, he hadn’t really a choice, our poor boy, had he?
Tiwoo hesitated. She looked back with nostalgia to the wood. You must understand, this was the place where she was born, and she still felt her roots to be there… of course not roots like these big creatures called trees, but roots nevertheless! But then she thought of Barbra… yes, she was a tremendous little witch, but she had got used to her, and Tiwoo knew that deep in her heart, Barbra loved her.

What should I do now, she asked herself? The wood, yes it was her home, but to be fair, although there was a lot of creatures in the wood, she had always felt quite alone and cold among them. She thought a while longer, but in the end, she couldn’t really face the thought of being alone again, and chose Barbra and her castle!

She let a last deep sigh out, thinking “Why always me?”, and after a last sad glance back to the wood and waving goodbye with one of her big wings, she followed Bub. But she felt a deep weight on her owl’s soul. She comforted herself telling herself that in fact she could always revoke her decision and fly back to the wood if she needed to one day, she knew the way now. But deep inside she also knew that this was an irrevocable decision, that her real home now was in the castle, with the ugly, always angry and impatient little witch Barbra!

On the way back to the castle, Bub looked up to the sky, checking if the moon was back. But it was not there. not really, there was now just a very thin pale curved line where it used to be, and above all it no longer had any eyes.  The sky was almost black and empty now, apart from tiny little yellow points which were nothing at all compared to the wonderful ball of light with the big round eyes. Bub felt very sad again, wondering if the moon was gone for ever, and somehow he couldn’t bear this thought. This is what happens when one loses friends, a normal thing, but Bub didn’t know anything about it and felt simply sad and  alone.

Finally they arrived at the castle…

…

(next instalment on Thursday 9th April 2009)

By Miki

Bubble Boy – 21 -

Bubble Boy - 21 - , by Miki

(Original German Version)

(Bubble Boy – 1 -)     (Bubble Boy – 20 -)

…

… and he ran and ran until most of that oppressive, so unpleasant feeling had vanished. And when he couldn’t run anymore, he stopped and fell asleep on the ground.

But not long after that, he suddenly woke up, even more scared than before. He had had a horrible nightmare: Barbra had appeared to him as a gigantic, naked skeleton who tried to bury him alive into the sand! It’s no wonder that Bub awoke in such a mess, isn’t it?
Scared to death, he rummaged around in his pocket to check if the bottle was still there and the tiny creature still inside of it. Of course the bottle was still there, and Barbra was still a tiny little Witch in her purple gown and green hat! Our Bub had no idea that nightmares are not real, and often only the mirror of our most terrible fears. But well, real or not, the fact is that they can scare the pants off us!
As Bub took the bottle out of his pocket, he was stunned to see that Barbra was really still inside of it, still as tiny and fleshy and clothed as before, and apparently sleeping, He had no idea what it was all about, understood though that things around him seemed to be different when his eyes were closed or open. But he was too exhausted to think further and tried to sleep again.
But he couldn’t anymore… I suppose he was much too scared to meet the giant skeleton again! So he got up and walked all the way back to the crossing.

In the distance he could already see Tiwoo sitting on the pole. She had been so terrified by the bones and the skull in the desert that she had flown directly back to the crossing, without even casting a glance behind her and noticing that Bub had fallen asleep to the ground! But as she saw Bub now, she flew to meet him with hysterical screams of happiness
“Tuwit, Tawoo!”
Bub was quite surprised about such a friendly reception. It was the first time in his life that somebody seemed to enjoy his presence and a warm feeling for the owl invaded his heart.
Well, judging by her reaction to the skull in the desert, I suspect that Tiwoo too had had these kind of bad dreams which scare the pants off one -even though an owl doesn’t wear pants, the feeling is surely all the same- and was simply overjoyed not to be alone anymore!

Now there was only one direction left. This meant that theoretically Bub would find at the end what he was searching for all the time… supposing of course that there was something to find! And what if there was not?  This question slowly and painfully entered his mind, and the feeling connected with it seemed to live very close to all the other feelings of hope and nostalgia he had experienced since he went on this way through Barbra’s Land..
He was struggling in his mind with these kind of thoughts as he noticed, that the air went darker and darker, Not like in all the 3 other directions, where at least some nice light had arisen from behind the horizon or some pleasant smell was hanging around,. Not even the pale moon was to be seen up there in the sky! To tell the truth it had become in the meantime total darkness around him! He started worrying, and feeling very uncomfortable, as he suddenly heard a scream in the distance:
WOO OOH  WOOH WOOH TI WOOH!
A scream which quite sounded like the ones of the owl, but much more mysterious, and somehow they were sounding as if thousands of owls were screaming at the same time!
Bub thought that he couldn’t be right here. More than that: he had the feeling to go always further away from what he was searching for. But he knew too that he had no more choices, now, and well, sometimes in life appearances are misleading, aren’t they? Anyway, Bub decided to go further, somehow he could not accept, or didn’t want to accept, that he had gone all these ways for nothing, and even worse, that this something he was searching for didn’t exist and was only something like the apparition of the giant skeleton, not really real!

Tiwoo in the meanwhile had  become very cheerful and was flying big circles above his head, often flying a big distance away, then flying back,  screaming impatiently all the time as if she wanted to tell him he should hurry up!
But Bub was really not impressed, and in fact he went slower and slower as the screams from the East came closer and closer until he finally stopped. It was not even that he wanted to stop, he just couldn’t go on anymore, as if a mysterious, invisible force was retaining him.
The thing was that horrible figures were standing in front of him, much uglier than the Witch Barbra as she was angry and full of hate. Figures as big and scary as the skeleton of his dream, but these were really there! And they stared at him with so much more hate than even Barbra did as he locked her up into the poison bottle… surely you understand what I mean!

This is why he decided to run back to the castle as fast as possible and never to leave it again!

…

(next instalment on Friday 3rd April 2009)

By Miki