Wednesday’s women engravers …
Yesterday the weather was best suited to indoor activities … so we went to a couple of museums and art galleries
I am particularly interested as you know in wood engraving and lino cuts … probably a little traditional.
Both exhibitions were of contemporary material so the techniques used were more sophisticated and for me less accessible …
Leaving me feeling as I have much to learn not just about the artists and but their methods.
Weekly Photo Challenge … Zig Zag
Always aware of daily prompt and themes; I prepare. However with the recent ‘without-nesses’ Those of you who know have been watching, there are two:- without hair and without Wifi. Fortunately the later has been resumed but the former needs a little more than a router and monthly instalment.
However, I learned about the Zig Zag prompt while in the midst of the ‘without’ wifi so my daughter and I in alternative mode decided to photograph with pavements of Copacabana. These images had to be ignored as the lines of coloured stones created by Roberto Burie Marx are geometric rather more wavy certainly not zig-zag (so any images can wait for another prompt)
So now with the Drop box facility on my camera and newly arrived WiFi I can, I think, use some images, shot with my art class in mind.
They are, I think zig-zag.
Last week I learned that …
There are holidays and there are holidays and there many multiples in between like grains of sand on a beach …. my holiday is not yours.
I am in Brazil as Brit, Brazil is as foriegn as it gets.
I have not come to see the Sugar Loaf or the Christ as he looms over Rio de Janeiro. Yes, I can bask in the sun on Copacabana beach, enjoy the sights and Caipirinha in Impanena or wander the Lavradio Streets on a Saturday morning to the beat of the Samba.
Being a tourist with a local I can enjoy much that others only dream about.
Nonetheless this last week has not only marked the end of nightmare … it has been a dream come true … My holiday …
Silent Sunday
Saturday morning in Rio
Yesterday we spent the morning on the beach at Leme; it was a momentous occasion for me as I chose to show the world my almost hairless head. It was probably the best place to take such a step. While one one is bearing her breasts or buttocks wearing little more than a shoe lace or him, tenderly covering his genitals with what looks like pocket handkerchief … My bald head went unnoticed.
So with a gladdened heart I move on to … Copacabana tomorrow
Meanwhile late yesterday afternoon we went the North-Eastern Fair we have been before, it something we look forward to doing. The journey was longer than we hoped the traffic was heavy; everybody getting out of the city on a Friday is a familiar experience. Our enjoyment was not spoiled by the lengthened journey. The fair is a place where Brazilian migrants from the north east come together at the weekend to enjoy their unique culture(s) There are shops, bars, restaurants and music a wonderful festival experience. To see is to believe!
Although the fair is a considered a tourist attraction, it not a place where you expect to see English sightseers so we looked a little out of place and felt at times overwhelmed ….
So yesterday was one of the days … for me a bit of this and a bit of that and the out come ‘Ok’
Friday and a Library
I have not been to a library this week, although we plan to go next week; so I am bereft of a snapshot. However, I have learned that the O Real Gabinete Português de Leitura which is in the centre of Rio de Janeiro, has entered the list of 20 most beautiful libraries in the world. We have visited this library and really is very beautiful.
However ,we also have impressive libraries in UK such as Liverpool Central Library mixing the old and contemporary. The Manchester John Ryland’s Library with its neo- gothic structure and interior.
Which is your favourite Library? Is it beautiful? Why is it so?
Alphabe Thursday K is for Kingdoms Kings and Princesses
In the absence of my trusty nursery rhyme book; I take the opportunity to look at the Cordel. I have written a little about these in a previous visit to Rio. We have since found a little collection of books where some of the fairy tales have been adapted for the new generations. Also looking more closely, the editors discuss the wood cutting methods used for centuries to produce the cordels and the way in which contemporary illustrators have embraced the old and new methods to produce something new and different …. refreshing!
This story of a vagabond called Jose, follows the way he goes to seek reconciliation with his father and brothers, revenge on a demon barber, the King’s honour and the love of the princess.
Wednesday’s wood engraver ….
I write a post daily for my blog. This method can be a delight [or not] especially as I work in mine of information. In a library and museum there is a font of new and old stories and images. I am comfortable and in a place where my blog works for me. Being on holiday is another kettle of fish; especially in a foreign country without the above mentioned resources and the social media niceties.
I don’t expect to find the information so readily, if at all so I am happy to refine my posts accordingly but without Wifi even that is difficult.
I am not saying that Rio is without the social media tools, however it is true that anything thing beyond the complexities of the mobile phone is not readily available and within the price range of everyone.
So with this in mind I go to bed and wake with one wish of the blogging kind that I will at least find inspiration and an image; that is easily transferred from my head to the cyber waves of WordPress.
Yesterday, we walked to Copacabana to shop; around 10 blocks away and a pleasant walk for my daughter still unable to walk miles.
I did not expect to find a wise woman, a wood engraver although we did pass the statue of Princess Isobel who I did feature on a previous Wednesday.
I could resort to a reblog; this is my journey so a revisit is sometimes an option. However until I have exhausted all the options, and the fat lady sings, I do not give up.
I am like a terrier running hither and thither following a scent for some prey. My long suffering husband and daughter come up with good ideas but they do not fit the bill and dampened by my self imposed restrictions. Woman, Wise, Wood Engraver on a Wednesday will only do.
But my tenacity paid off in a second hand bookshop we found two or even three items that i could employ at some point
But favourite was a catalogue for an exhibition of Antonio Berni (1905-1981) He was born in Argentina and is well worth a thorough investigation. These images from the early 1960s, a time when he returned to collage a technique he used to feature Juanito Laguna, a boy from the slums and Ramona Monteil, the prostitute. His choice of waste materials became significantly contextual. On the one hand, engravings on metal sheets and wood and surplus industrial materials were used to depict the fate of Juanito and on the other embroidery, plastic, paper and furniture mouldings, in that of Ramona.
I know the link is tenuous but these images are wood cuts and wonderful … good enough for my Wednesday post.
Weekly Photo Challenge …Summer Loving in winter and Rio!
Today the challenge has been as it says on the tin!
First , I am on holiday I don’t know what day of the week it is; being 4 hours behind and 6 months to catch up my mind is mush.
Then, there is my all singing all dancing camera that fails at the last post and needs Wifi. I have a 101 images that would demostrate summer and love. We have had a good summer in the UK I have captured many evocative images; Ok, perhaps with a little poetic licence . I am blogger in the absense of a image that can be downloaded by methods of the old age, I at least need drama.
Then there is Summer, I am in Brazil, it is winter and it is raining. There is love I am sure but it is not happening on Copacabana Beach, the sky is grey and the 20 foot high waves and crashing down like thunder. This is true I hear it as I speak.
We did venture out for supper to celebrate my son-in-laws birthday. When we returned to the Favela the little bars were others loving the winter evening.
Today I learned that being
…. without Wifi is not comfortable ; today allow myself not to care … and enjoy these flowers sent to me during my previous unease
with love.
While I am not sure that the withoutness will continue; so I will take copious notes and many pictures, and life in the world of Nela Bligh will resume soon or not.
Coat Hanger Doll's House 