Thursday 30 December 2010

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 requestmake 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:

Tuesday 28 December 2010

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?

Friday 24 December 2010

☯ 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:

Sunday 12 December 2010

◼◻ 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?

Tuesday 7 December 2010

⊰⊱ 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:

Saturday 4 December 2010

⎚ 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:
 ^_^

Friday 3 December 2010

⨀ silver spinner

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

someone show me their decks:

Thursday 2 December 2010

❄❅ 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:

Wednesday 1 December 2010

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:

Thursday 25 November 2010

⎐ 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:

Wednesday 24 November 2010

꒽ 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:

Monday 22 November 2010

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:

Sunday 21 November 2010

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}