Saturday and a plea …
Christmas and the New Year have happened for me as planned, happily, without the hype and false and expensive generosity. Nonetheless, I am little disappointed as the parcels I sent in October to Brazil and those sent from Rio well in advance of the last recommended date have not yet arrived.
We will at some point celebrate their arrival on Skype.
It is a shame because this love/hate relationship I have with the World Wide Mail service all the year round is bearable ; in say February or any other time of the year; at the moment it hurts a lot.
So please can we speed up the service or have some realistic dates for sending to and from South America … no pressure on the Snail Mail.
So these angels send good wishes to those in the Mail Service for reasons best known to themselves are sitting on my parcels of love to my children.
Snapshot from my library …
Again I am away from the University Library and resort to my own library this time my Alphabet books. This one holds a special place not only because it is a gift from Rio; but because it celebrates some of the things I hold dear, creatively.
I have, with the use of a dictionary tried to translate the first letter of the abecedário (ABC) A is for Gratitude
Agradeço a deus por tudo
que até hoje tem dado
O brilho da poesia
que me faz sempre inspirado
Fui por este dom divino
escolhido e premiado
I thank God for everything
who has already given me the splendour of poetry
that makes me always inspired
For this divine gift I was chosen and rewarded …
Alphabe Thursday G is for Allen Ginsberg
Another notable street walker was the writer, Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997). He began walking and writing poetry in San Francisco in the 1950s. It was in New York with the Beats, while the white middle class were leaving the city for the suburbs, when the passionate urbanist; wrote about the city’s harshness and beauty.
Ginsberg walked in the streets in New York, but in his poems they became something else; the sidewalk a bed, a Buddhist paradise and so on.
We are told in Howl that the best minds of his generation were “dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix” then go on to see those “who ate fire in paint hotels or drank turpentine in Paradise Alley, death, or purgatoried their torsos night after night”
Then later they would stumble into the unemployment office and then there were those “who wandered around and around at midnight in the railway yard wondering where to go, and went, leaving no broken hearts …”
Wednesday’s all round Woman
Aurelia by Gerard de Nerval ; translated by Richard Aldington ; with lithographs by Pearl Binder 1904-1990) I came across the book quite by accident and was interested in Pearl not only because she a writer, illustrator, playwright, strained-glass artist, lithographer, sculptor and artist but champion of the Pearly Kings and Queens.
Pearl “Polly” Binder was born in Salford in Greater Manchester. Her father was Jacob Binderevski, a Russian-Ukrainian Jewish tailor who came to Britain in 1890 and soon after became a British citizen.
Binder moved to London 1918, and studied art at the Central School of Art and Design. Her works drawn from scenes of everyday life in London were made into lithographs. She published a series that illustrated The real East End by Thomas Burke, a popular writer who ran the a pub in Poplar at the time.
Binder’s illustrations are an intimate, first-hand portrayal of grimy London life in the early 20th century.
Weekly Photo Challenge …. Warmth
I am a skinny mortal, with little hair and low blood pressure so I feel the cold even on a sunny day. I don’t complain too much but I am usually the one wearing rather too many clothes and clutching a fine cup of tea to my bony chest!
While in Oxford on Saturday the temperature dropped to freezing; I know this not very cold by global standards but here in UK and me that’s cold enough. So, I welcomed this mint tea and refilled the pot couple times until I was thoroughly warm.
While in Brazil at the same moment by daughter was not enjoying the humid climes of Brazil.
For some reason she didn’t get my sympathy.
Monday and Happy Old Year!!
As the old year closes I look back at my accomplishments as an artist. It is a pretty much a mish mash of good, bad and indifferent. I have copious, drawings, sketches, prints and paintings; I have shown some and sold a few.
It is my dream to write and illustrate a book, also to have the opportunity to exhibit my work.
This much I have learned ‘it ain’t easy!’
The dreaming and doing is relatively easy; it is finding the space to show and showing is the hard bit.
I have begun a dedicated portfolio … I have given it a name and there is a theme …
I am hoping by this time next year I can say ‘it happened’
This is me having faith … always with a cup of tea.
Silent Sunday
Saturday …
While most people have been preparing for Christmas I have had other things on my mind. My printing press now at home has to earn its living. I began with a simple three coloured reduction image. Since my recent workshop the procedure was fresh in my mind. I intend to do a series of lino cuts in this way using different inks and papers. In this way I hope to make some educated decisions when making more sophisticated designs.
For this I used Zerkall paper and the primary colours in Caligo safe wash relief ink.
So while this artist’s proof is not going rock any boats or pay for the press; the little press and little know-how has given me the opportunity to be constructive and have fun!
Happy Boxing Day
Friday, and I usually post a snapshot from the library where I work. It is Boxing Day and while I am not at work work, I am at work in my little work-space at home where I also have a relatively extensive library about a range of subjects. They spill into the rest of our tiny house. I tell my long suffering other half that they are a proven method of insulation and what’s more they do hold the house up. I am not sure that he is convinced but he does add to the collection from time to time. This one was a gift yesterday; today I will read it and discover whether it deserves a space on my creaking shelves; so far it looks promising.
Have a good Boxing Day especially if you are merely enjoying gifts as I am !
Alphabe Thursday F is for Dolores French
Dolores French
Seems a little churlish not to mention prostitutes while considering the walking of streets. For centuries until the 20th century few women walked the streets with or without a companion, fearing they were thought to be a prostitute. In most cities whores were confined to their homes or gated areas. It was however impossible to confine them; they would venture outside the bounds and find their way into the most fashionable parts of town.
Prostitutes walked; not just to find customers, but to relieve boredom, keep warm and safe and away from the police.
Women would gather in small groups in accessible green areas for companionship. It is suggested that same walk or stroll infused a regularly into what was an illegal and dangerous environment. Dolores French; a street worker and an advocate and activist for the rights of prostitutes says that her fellow street walkers “ thought that women who work in whore houses have too many restrictions and rules” while the street “ welcomed everyone democratically, they felt like cowboys out on the range, or a spies on a dangerous mission. They would boast about how free they were. They had no one to answer to but themselves”.
I suggest that the same arguments for ‘freedom, democracy and danger’ come up in other ways for those on the street too.
Please note, this is an illustration for my Alphabet of Walking ; not a comment for or against prostitutes and their business. It is a huge and complex industry, my inadequate view is romantic and questionable for, which I don’t apologise but just mention.
Coat Hanger Doll's House 