ᘎᘏ we come full circle

another exciting year is nearing close:

instead of resolutions 

I've chosen a word, an intention

for 2011:

listen [ˈlisən]verb {intrans.}give one's attention to a sound :take notice of and act on what someone says:respond to advice or a request: make an effort to hear something:be alert and ready to hear something:used to urge someone to pay attention to what one is going to say:noun {in singular}an act of listening to something:
here's to a happy, healthy and creative new year:with ears on:

ᚖ it's oh so quiet

snow fall made us go slow:

before christmas day:

setting the pace for festivities:

time spent with my girl:

with family and friends:

exchanging laughter:

and gifts ....

co-ordinated:

specially chosen:

handmade:

and delicious:

how was your christmas?

☯ twenty four

everyone's dashing about:

buying this: buying that:

seeking the good things:

sending greetings:

I'm not sure I've ever had a 'perfect' christmas:

the one we strive to re-create:

the one we try to make:

it's not about a heap of presents:

or a table full of food:

it's about remembering those that 

you wish were here:

thinking of those who aren't where they would like to be:

or not feeling as good as they should:

 be thankful to enjoy another day:

with the ones you love:

happy holidays to you all:

◼◻ pink to make us wink

there's an eagerly awaited 'reveal' in the print 

and design world:

colour of the year from Pantone:

the gods of colour and tone:

so for 2011 expect to see lots of ....

honeysuckle?

really?

for me {and most people} it brings to mind a warm

yellow hue:  the word honey is a clue:

Pantone say it's

'courageous, confident: 

a brave new colour for a brave new world:

let the bold spirit of Honeysuckle infuse you, lift you

and carry you through the year:

it's a colour for everyday

with nothing everyday about it'

well I'm not averse to a bit of pink:

although a bit of a 1990's throwback:

it lifts the complexion and gives accent to

interiors indeed:

but dear Pantone,

are the economic and climatic worldviews so bad

that you feel you have to distract us so dramatically?

☯ I don't remember who I was back then but I remember you:

imagine peace:

⊰⊱ stop children, what's that sound?

as students from London Art colleges raised their voices

against the coalition government's cuts to the arts,

Susan Philipsz received the Turner Prize for her 

sound installation works:

her first commission in London 
surround me

a series of haunting sound pieces in the streets

alleyways and roads of the Square Mile:

music gathered from late 16th and early 17th

century songs, madrigals and rounds:

her solitary voice singing out through the public spaces:

take a moment and listen to this excellent podcast,

memory by Francesca Panetta

personal, geographical, musical, architectural:

artists {including Philipsz} reflect on how this relates to their work:


the artist herself sympathised with the students,
and quoted in the Guardian today
"My heart goes out to them. I really support them."


the sculptor Richard Wilson said:
"I think it shows super-intelligence to have this done on the
night of the Turner Prize. This is the only way to do it.
They can't do it with a whisper, they must do it with a shout."

viva the voice:

⎚ choc exotic

four days, snowed in:

possibly the best combination ever:

no chills with spicy thrills:

the postman trudged through with

a surprise package from New Zealand:

hokey pokey bar & peanut slab hits:

never heard of the feijoa fruit

can't say I'm too jazzed by it:

but all donations {however strange}

are very gratefully received:

thanks cuz:

 ^_^

⨀ silver spinner

want this to be me in a few years time:
but with less accessories:

someone show me their decks:

❄❅ the north wind doth blow

a blanket of snow:

softens sounds:

tree branches bend:

every now and then, a 'plumph'

as the weight becomes too much:

deeper than this in drifts:

a 'plumph' of my own:

angelic imprint:

ᄈ chocolate crochet

last weekend we had a stall at the

handmade & vintage fair:

Wendy shared the stall with a rail of vintage frocks:

my table full of crochet creations:

it was good to see friends:

buy some vintage goodies:

rummage on the other stalls:

pickled onions or earrings anyone?

teabag pouch ~ what a good idea:

I secured this pretty green dress

from Wendy as a swap for sharing:

now that's my kind of tender:

❄❅❆❄ a million snowflakes fall

this morning looked like this:

⎐ treasure trek

after many many charity shop trawls:

nothing floating my boat:

coming home empty handed:

till the last shop ....

these glass beauties for 10p each:

welcome additions to my dwindling collection

& replacements for those, that in the past

haven't survived dog or children:

and two bone crochet hooks

for 50p:

they were meant to be mine:

꒽ intertwined

a new exhibition at the CoExist Galleries

curated by Amy McKenny

sees two artists exhibiting together, yet apart:

pieces by Annabel Dover

set objects with paintings:

delicious colour and strokes:

like sweets in a shop window:

lighting can't subdue the bright:

rendered mineral specimens from a

readers digest book:

past relics to the present:

her personal memory shared:

as the metronome finger wags and ticks:

she imagines herself running alongside

a tumbleweed:

the moment passed/past:

discovering that Peter Cushing lived in

Whitstable, Alex Pearl began to write

a vampire novel called

The Pearlfisher:

an account of a visit to Whitstable and 

the making of a work for the Biennale 2010:

notes, letters & thoughts from his blog

transcribed into a book:

Spaceman is a haunting yet amusing film

re-cycled from the 70's tv show UFO:

nostalgic childhood viewing:

both artists toy with our ideas of the past:

how we link object with memory:

a small glimpse into their personal worlds:

they are {as we are} uncannily similar:

ꃆ forty three years later

this is a photo of Michael and me:

I don't remember it being taken:

as you can see I was small then:

it's been quite some time since that day:

so he came for a cup of tea with his

lovely lady:

to meet with Libbie and me:

ᄆᄆᄆmagentacyanyellowblack

a few months ago, at the push>process

exhibition {blogged here}

there were hints of new workshops

being held at the CoExist Gallery:

yesterday I was lucky to have a place at a

tempera workshop with Alex Chater:

he pre-prepared our images into negatives

for contact printing each process colour:

magenta, cyan, yellow & black:

the tempera process uses egg:

ammonium dichromate +

a little matt medium:

this produces the standard emulsion mix or 'stem':

the 'stem' base is mixed with magenta pigment:

this is evenly rolled onto a polypropylene

plastic paper and dried:

carefully, we placed our magenta negative

surface to surface onto the paper,

using clips to complete the registration:

placed into a contact frame and under

an ultra violet light:

exposure for my piece was 3 minutes:

after rinsing into a clearing bath for

three minutes to wash away the residual dichromate,

we used soapy rollers to clean off

the unexposed areas:

using other sponge pads {even mister muscle!} 

to remove parts of the coat until 

we were happy:

a final rinse in clean water then

dry completely:

with a magenta layer completed,

start again using a cyan coating:

at this stage I repeated both the magenta and cyan

making four layers:

rolling directly onto the dried paper:

it seemed quite scary at first,

worrying about applied pressure and

a danger of damaging the previous layers:

yellow x 2:

black x 2:

happy with the luminosity and subtle colours 

of my final print, it was cleaned of any residuals:

then soaked in white vinegar for ten minutes

and thoroughly rinsed under running water:

carefully dried:

silence

tempera print:

1/1:

{original}