Friday’s Snapshot from Special Collections ….
For the past months I have been working on a small collection of books that belonged to James Knowlson, a friend and scholar of Samuel Beckett. So while many of the items are related to his works about Beckett and perhaps for me not so interesting there are others that deserve a second look.
I am getting near the end and now looking at the smaller items. I like to do the larger tomes first and leave the thin, less interesting with those in need of repair until the end.
These very thin and in need of care are just so lovely … I don’t know the artists but adore the bindings and images ; telling of cheap early 20th production but gorgeous book design … this is why I love my job and these little gems will be protected.
Alphabe Thursday … E is for Este desenvolvimento
Este desenvolvimento
Que o poeta leva e traz
Mensagem a todos que ouvem
Onde a música também faz
levando aos corações
momentos de amor e paz
… as it goes
The poet takes and brings
Message to all who hear
Where the music also makes
gives to the hearts
moments of love and peace
I wasn’t going to continue ‘translating’ the this poem … but for me at least, it does seem significant. Yesterday I celebrated a little achievement in my life as an artist, it is true we do have a message and we do hope to bring peace not to the world but in our hearts. So while not wishing to sound like a contender for the Miss World contest I do send love.
Wednesday’s wood engraver …
Wednesday, a the day I usually champion a woman and often a wood engraver, I have been doing it for months and it seems like I have come to the end of the road. Which it is shame because ‘researching’ on Tuesday evening with a cup of tea had become a joyous habit. I would upturn up the bookcase labelled ‘wood engraving’ and search for a new name or an appealing image.
Last night I didn’t quite find what I was looking for, but these by an Italian printmaker called Benvenuto Disertori (1887-1969) are just so lovely.
The dormitory, an illustration from one of the stories in the Decameron with simple and uniform lines, yet so comforting as the cat looks on too!
The Musa del la Loreto is described in the Art of the woodcut : masterworks of the 1920s by Malcolm Salaman as a ‘rhythmical design that seems to have created itself on the wood, so spontaneous is the impression’ and he is right.
Off Season …no problem!
When I was child I remember long hot summers, frosty winters, cool autumns and bright pretty springs. There were, I recall a distinct mark as the seasons came and went. My mother religiously changed our ‘wardrobes’ with suitable clothes; woolly sweaters, vests and long socks were replaced with our spring and summer ensemble around Easter time.
Now, not only are the seasons inseparable. they seem to overlap and we have so called unseasonal weather.
As a cyclist I find this uncertainty disconcerting; so I have learned to keep my wardrobe simple and easily layered.
Shoes are not so easily layered but with the help of Dr Marten … I can mix and match and do not find myself ‘off season’
Weekly Photo Challenge …
When I was child I remember long hot summers, frosty winters, cool autumns and bright pretty springs. There were, I recall a distinct mark as the seasons came and went. My mother religiously changed our ‘wardrobes’ with suitable clothes; woolly sweaters, vests and long socks were replaced with our spring and summer ensemble around Easter time.
Now, not only are the seasons inseparable. they seem to overlap and we have so called unseasonal weather.
As a cyclist I find this uncertainty disconcerting; so I have learned to keep my wardrobe simple and easily layered.
Shoes are not so easily layered but with the help of Dr Marten … I can mix and match and do not find myself ‘off season’
Remember Che Guevara on or very near his birthday
No dia 14 de Junho de 1928 nascia em Rosário, na Argentina, Ernesto Guevara de La Serna. Querido por muitos e odiado por alguns até os dias de hoje o Guerrilheiro, político, escritor e médico sem dúvida é um dos maiores ícones representativos de resistência e luta revolucionária na história mundial, não atrás de Martin Luter King, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Luxemburgo, Dorothy Stang, Chico Mendes, dentre outros grandes nomes que deixaram suas marcas ao lutarem por seus ideias crendo sempre na consolidação de uma sociedade mais justa e igualitária.
Uma das curiosidades sobre o “Che”, é que muitos anos antes de se tornar um dos símbolos da Revolução Cubana (1953 à 1959) e realizar a tão conhecida viagem de motocicleta pela América Latina com seu amigo Alberto Granado (Livro “Diários de Motocicleta”) o jovem ainda com dezesseis anos realizou uma viagem de bicicleta por algumas províncias argentinas, tendo ainda realizado uma…
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At the weekend I learned …
A couple of times during the last few months I have had the opportunity to see mono-printing in action. Notwithstanding, some YouTube videos of course, but I do find these a little like Blue Peter (here’s one I did earlier.that bears no resemblance to the one in hand), or Paul Daniels-esque (he is a magician) for their own good. Also, as I use lino and wood at the moment, it is enough to be learning that with the drawing, painting and use of colour. So it all seemed a bit too much.
However, mono-printing and in fact ‘other’ print methods have become more attractive lately, so I decided this Saturday to learn a bit about the ‘rules’ and methods from an expert (s).
So for the next 4 hours, I learned about the different papers, inks, the need for a press or not, the reasons and requirement of wetting the paper and much more. In an open access environment and with other experts there were some conflicting ideas and of course some playful deviations.
Nonetheless; if not a little overwhelmed I am now well equipped to practice at home; if only I find the time!
It was lovely and a learning experience I had enjoyed 50 years before!
This little works made on Saturday will be today overprinted … or just kept as a precious reminder!
Silent Sunday …
Bags for the art class …
Today, I am off to an art class. It is my regular monthly open access, where a group of printmakers get together in a local school and print. It is a wonderful time of sharing experiments and tea. I have been attending for two or three years and have learned much. However, it has taken a long time to gather momentum and actually feel and see what I have achieved.
My previous experiences at home and school in the 50s and 60s have left me with an irrational fear of school and teachers; even today I have nightmares about the outcome of lessons; now and planned for the future.
So the preparation of the mind (clearing of) is as important as the accumulation of ideas (thoughts and sketches) and the materials. Bags of regret, doubt and fear, more bags of stuff and a little pouch of excitement and joy!
These sunflowers are the results of some oil paint (not done before) on the sketches for my wood engraving; all in progress.
Friday snapshot …. from the campus
Today is the end of term. For the summer the campus will be quiet while the undergraduates have returned home. There will be of course some students about and life in Cataloguing will go on much as usual.
I do feel sad though, as the students never see our wonderful campus in the full summer. Even during the Autumn and spring terms their mind are elsewhere; so they never enjoy this haven of green in the middle Reading; not even me, as I hurtle through on my bike moments before nine!
Until this morning that is I was able to snap this cygnet and its mum.
Coat Hanger Doll's House 