Weekly Photo Challenge … on top.
In the Land of NelaBligh and the window of opportunity when considering this week’s photo challenge, my new hawthorn hedge is as high as it gets. It was planted last year with one or two other native hedge plants in my garden. It has outgrown the rest and will be trimmed to encourage side shoots. I am hoping when they all become more bush like it will be populated with creatures of the feathered kind. It will not only be a pleasant backdrop to other plants it will be a mini nature reserve!
Wood engraving, to be or not to be that is the question …
Last week, I began a new aspect of my new found ‘hobby’.
I began printmaking on a very simple (and inexpensive) level a little under two years ago. I enjoyed it very much and began to see an opportunity to do something creative and with a little more (or a lot) work I could become an artist as I hoped for 60 years before.
I enrolled in some art classes and have continued to attend on a regular basis with various teachers. Whatever the outcome, these lessons will continue as they have become a vital part of my life not just as a would be artist/print-maker but as human being wanting to find her way in the [art] world.
As already discussed I learned a little about wood engraving I even produced some small works. It is quite different from lino-cutting and of course my rudimentary eraser cutting.
Needless to say, I will need different tools and wood that are all considerably more expensive … beside all other equipment bought over the last few months; the monies invested will never be recouped. I have to make some pragmatic decisions about how I should continue; like any person beginning a new hobby whether it is music, sport, photography (to follow a local football team requires a huge investment just for the season ticket); cost versus enjoyment.
Having made the decision to take up the tools; so ‘other’ discussions come into play; still with limited time and money, being happy doing something doesn’t make the problems go away!
For instance;I have bought a clutch of second hand tools;
Are they sharp? They seem so; but are they the right size? i.e, length?
It cannot be one size suits all; as they have to fit snug!
What are the names of these tools?
A Graver? a spitsticker? Round scorper? Tint tool?
What size are they? Do I need more ? If so which? and size; small medium or large?
A square scorper or a multiple tool or both?
I have learned a little about the wood but even practice pieces are expensive. While I don’t want to use cheaper alternatives I don’t want waste money either.
So I would like to learn the basic skills while incorporating them a potential work of art; as they differ so much from those I learned in the past.
There is a supplier up north (a good and expensive train journey way) he would give me sound advice; but is that overkill?
Is there a wood engraver nearby who would for a small charge help me through these early months?
So while I continue to ask myself will it be fun? And the answer is yes!! I would value (seriously) advise on the way forward.
I am planning to attend Kate Dicker’s workshop in October. Giving me a good 6 months to practice!
Silent Sunday …
Saturday … Its OK
All my 60 plus years I have fought against Alopecia (and GPs , who wanted to blame anything but not psychological disorder and reluctant to consider holistic methods of cure even if they knew about them)
Fortunately, it has mostly been a private battle; unnoticed by others except my hairdressers who soon learned the technique to tell me gently that there was cause for concern again. (not that I knew the answer or the cure) Having said that I usually knew when the baldness was about as the skin where the hair had been yesterday was surprising cold; It is remarkable how warming hair is, even a few tufts.
Sadly, on more than one occasion the effect has be total; for many months I was completely bald.
No one can tell what has caused it; although I can make some calculated suggestions. Sometimes, it comes back as quickly as it went often it takes longer seems like weeks or months.
There is no rhyme or reason; as child and teenager my hair grew back my natural dark brown. Then after a particularly troublesome time in my early twenties I lost much hair and it grew back white. It continued in this way, so by the time I was 30 my hair was white as snow and has been ever since.
It continued to go and come and it wasn’t until I turned 40 and the birth of my last daughter I decided to study the condition more closely and take some action.
It had been easy to say the the Alopecia was just to do with anxiety or stress levels. Or worse blame myself using poor quality shampoo, bad diet, hair spray etc etc.
While it I am not about to apportion blame to parents who had neglected to see that their little girl had genuine and treatable emotional and hormonal disorders. It did soon become clear that Alopecia is not just about hair loss and baldness.
Even now after years of ‘therapies’ treatments, change of diet etc. I am not sure if any of it has worked. Sufficed to say I am OK, the psyche is complex, I am complex … The condition doesn’t appear to upset the rest of my life. I lead a rich and fulfilled life, my garden is a testament to that. A tiny patch 3 metres x 10 metres of delight. ..
Sadly these last traumers have taken their toll; my recent hair loss is considerable. I have gone beyond the careful combover and strategically placed scarf. If not just for vanity I wear a hat; I wonder who would choose to shave their head, even in the lovely sunlight the wind is still keen.
From the favela
This week there is opportunity to celebrate a little; after their accident and confinement my daughter and her partner have returned home. Although there is still a long way to as regards getting back to complete mobility they are at least in a position to try to fend for themselves.
So while the library is closed for Easter, I remember back to our first visit to Rio and panic a little when reminded of the uneven steps that two people with broken legs and crutches will have to negotiate daily for a few more weeks.
From the favela the lady went down to view.
From the intimate bustle,
And the touch of human clamour.
From behind the curtain of discretion
And the secret warmth of home.
Where the forgotten forest forces through fissures
Of encasing concrete.
Away from the privacy of alienation
That welcome mutter
Bom dia!
A side step on the upward step or down.
No grand façade or colourful display.
To the motorway to somewhere
And the mighty silver glitter stage for the world
To gaze upon.
The backdrop of nondescript haunts
And hideaways
The space for the mundane in carefully selected costumes
The paraders must not catch the watcher’s eye.
The energetic power-walkers
With bouncing golden bosoms
Thighs honed to perfect and buttocks trimmed.
Here the forest must not appear,
Only a strategically placed palm
Its emerald fronds bow only when directed.
The sculpted children and coiffured hounds
Obediently maintain jovial front.
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Alphabe Thursday V is for Violet
I have already dined out on purple and the way it was discovered by William Henry Perkins in 1856. Then, the way in which every lady in London, Paris and New York who could afford it was wearing mauve.
Without, his discovery industrial dyers would have continued blending indigo with madder or using lichens. Nothing compared to the dye created by Perkins from coal tar, which is an organic substance that comes from ancient fossilised trees. Perkins’ invention went on to inspire other chemists to find other petrochemical dyes and paints.
There is no doubt that Perkins’ discoveries did have many beneficial medical effects and would lead to other scientists to the discovery of cholera and tuberculosis bacilli , to chemotherapy, immunology and saccharine.
Some of the biggest pharmaceutical companies such as BASF, Ciba and Bayer began as small dye works, trying to extract more and more colours from coal or fossil fuels.
Wednesday’s woman … returning to Meinrad Craighead
I have as I hoped returned to the Sign of the tree; meditations in images & words by Meinrad Craighead. I came across the book by accident and bought a copy soon after; I had really good intentions to read it more fully and I did. However; soon, I and the book got taken over by events and it got shelved.
However, this weekend after doing a wood engraving course I remembered Meinrad’s lovely images and I wondered if I could perhaps be inspired.
She doesn’t do wood engraving rather more wood cutting, or scraping on a board, mainly in black and white. However, her approach to this medium is as original and innovative as the images themselves. Meinrad’s work is at first glance is ‘black and white; but she brings in an infinite range of mysterious greys and subtle textures … and enviable feat; which I may not achieve in this life time!
Weekly Photo Challenge Monument
Reading is my adopted home town; I like it and wouldn’t live anywhere else at the moment! Its no great shakes but to quote a dear friend ‘it ain’t no sin city either’
It is a very close to London; so many people commute there daily; while by the same token many people come here to service the shopping centre, hospital, university and the huge computer industry.
In a broad sense Reading is a monument to that!
It is hive of industry doing what it needs to …
Monday and on Saturday I learned …
I am back now from my wood ‘engraving’ week end … where I was reminded more than once it was not wood cutting! Furthermore it bore no resemblance to my previous attempts at pencil rubber cutting and more recently lino cutting. So there were some hard lessons to earn.
I was as usual the dunce of the class; all the other students had years of experience as artists and or teachers. Me, despite my wizened appearance was the new girl and green! Noting that I thought I was on a woodcutting course.
I was like a fish out of water; caring more about the temperature of the water for my green tea at break time!
I was already feeling a little vulnerable ; batting off remarks like ‘mmmm I like your style, its ummm unique’
I was fast running out of jovial retorts.
I was in awe of the other students who began and continued to produce delicate delights like feathers and leaves in filigree designs. Brown, spotted trout gliding down stream, a tiny mouse peeking from a lacework of leaves … a dolphin leaping from the ocean depths in a shower of tiny droplets of water.
The weekend went on, we began to print our works and experiment with depth of colour and shade etc.
It was at this stage I began to wonder whether me and wood engraving were ready for each other … the jury is out.
Silent Sunday
Coat Hanger Doll's House 