we miss you magic land

Art work from GOMA by Perth artists Pip and Pop - possibly capturing the nostalgia we have for childhood and christmas...definitely worth a look. Merry christmas!!

more later.

free range eggs - and veggie restoration!

After two weeks away on holiday, we came home to a decimated veggie garden, largely eaten and vandalised (mulched moved around, plants broken) by our own chooks! The lovely neighbours who were feeding them in our absence, had (for reasons unknown) not kept them confined in their run, but let them free range all over the new veggie patch and the rest of the garden.

Chooks loved the Tuscan kale and silver beet, but didn't find the beans or cherry tomatoes. I did some repair work earlier in the week, and planted replacements. So it is with some irony that I post this photo of the harvest from the garden today. Lots of eggs (particularly well-flavoured no doubt) and just a few tomatoes and beans. Oh well, almost a meal!

more later

Travel diary 2 - Holiday reading

driftwood mobile photographed at dodgy motel

Two days before going away, I bought a Sony e-reader, which was highly recommended by JB hifi. I was thinking I could save some luggage space in my bag, by not packing the usual 3-4 library books as well as the impulse buys at one of the many identical bookshops at Brisbane airport, usually purchased during the extreme boredom of waiting for international flights to start.  

After discovering that the Sony e-bookstore was 'opening soon', or in other words, 'unavailable in your area', I paid for and eventually appeared to have successfully downloaded two e-books from Borders, but was unable to open the files. I took the analogue books in my suitcase anyway, and yesterday returned the e-book reader to JB. The sales assistant fiddled with it for an hour, before saying he was baffled and didn't really know much about e-readers, and nor did anyone else there. Yes, it was the same store that had recommended this apparently already obsolete piece of technology. He was keen to sell me an i-pad, but on principle I declined.

At this time of year there are lots of book reviews around, partly to reflect on another year of publications, and also to recommend holiday reading. This is what I read on holiday (paper versions only):

• I read How it feels by Brendan Cowell, which I had been reluctant to read (this was the impulse buy at the airport bookshop), because I thought it would somehow be a glorification of dodgy drunken male behaviour, based on something Cowell said in an interview. However I loved this book, it was apparently autobiographical, based on the last few days of high school (I remember it well...). I found it emotionally honest, alarmingly believable and well-written.

• I also read Let the great world spin by Colum McCann, about the day a tightrope walker called Philippe Petit walked between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in NYC, in 1974. Of course it was also about 9/11, (how could it not be?) but that was the sub text rather than the main narrative. It was about a group of people in the city on that day, who are linked in random ways. It reminded me of the Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder, which I loved as a teenager (probably around 1974), which had a similar theme.

• Blue Monday by Nicci French, (who is apparently two people), is about a female psychoanalyst in London who helps police solve a child abduction, as she believes one of her patients may be the criminal, and promises to be the first of many about this character. Quite disturbing, and scary at times, as a thriller should be.

• Finally, I read how to look at a painting by Justin Paton - I bought this in the Art gallery shop in Christchurch, which was the only part of the gallery that was open. The rest was closed (like many other buildings) due to earthquake damage. Art was what I needed after seeing the badly ruined city. Its a great book, and has been made into a tv series in New Zealand. He quotes artist Alice Neel: "The minute I sat in front of a canvas I was happy. Because it was a world, and I could do what I liked with it".

Now I am home, I am reading a book by Lionel Shriver, from the library, but not the one about Kevin.

I got my tax return done yesterday, and found I had not spent nearly as much on books as I had expected, in the previous financial year. (And there is more to being frugal than buying books from the Book depository.) 

more later.

Travel diary 1 - In Akaroa: the Giant's house

out of the cracked plate...

Well, its been a while, but its good to be back. I have been away from my computer for two weeks, and to make up for it I will write and make art in response to my time away. I am going to start with this amazing artist's garden that I visited in Akaroa, NZ. The drawing above is attempting to show how the mosaic sculptures emerged from the artist finding broken shards of crockery in her garden: 'From little things, big things grow...'

The Giant's House in Akaroa, near Christchurch, was an amazing surprise at the start of our family holiday in New Zealand. Artist Josie Martin has created a fantastically creative and humorous mosaic garden in the grounds which surround her 1881 Akaroa home. 

Mosaic artist Josie Martin, photo from her website

In a DVD which was playing in the gallery, Josie describes how when she was gardening (she has also studied horticulture) she started finding pieces of broken crockery in the earth, which gave her the idea of creating mosaics - and she has hardly stopped since. The huge terraced garden has been beautifully landscaped, and filled with giant sized concrete human figures which have been covered with coloured mosaics (broken or cut pieces of ceramics). The garden structures and furniture (walls, benches, steps, public toilet, even a piano) have also been mosaic-ed, so the overall effect is quite astounding. Its like being in another, more magical world. 

Apparently you can also stay in the house, Linton, as it is a B & B. Here are some more photos (I took hundreds).

For something completely different, here is a link to Charlie Brooker's annual review of 2011. Another Guardian writer who puts things nicely into perspective.

Also, I have now had 1,499 views of this blog so far, hopefully I can make it to 1,500 today!

more later.

'Papa was a Rolling Stone': post conference debrief

poster: leaves on the Brisbane river

This was the conference poster which I made with my student (who is about to finish her placement this week). Nobody really knew about the poster session, so it was a bit of an anti-climax...the poster is about the Brisbane flood, trauma in general, and art therapy, and mindfulness, and 'flow'. Its a very hand made production, a laminated collage.

Bedhead: My many coloured days and nights - mixed media - collage and paint

This was inspired by a painting by my dad which he gave me just before he died (lots of squares...) He was the keynote speaker at the last Brisbane ANZATA conference in 2004 so it was a poignant moment. Hence the title for today's post - I guess you could say he was a rolling stone...but he did gather a lot of moss!!

Well the ANZATA conference is over, and its a good feeling! It was a lot of work, but mostly people seemed to be happy with how it went. I had an upstairs downstairs sense of being on the one hand a presenter (I did a Masterclass and a workshop) but also running around organising art materials and being an 'apron-wearer'. Interesting experience. My feet were tired (and black from the carpet which was a bit gross) at the end of yesterday.

My sessions went really well I think. Feedback was great.

This is another artwork from the exhibition, by community artist Karma Barnes. The sand was actual sand from the river and it was a communal art project started on the opening night, which was fun to participate in. 

Oh and I heard someone else say 'everything happens for a reason' on the radio this arvo on Awaye!, the indigenous arts program on Radio National. Argh. Its forgiven (this time) as Daniel Browning has such a nice voice.

On a similar note, more sensible words from Oliver Burkeman here, on the fact that Life is not Fair!

more later.

I heard it through the grape vine

vine

Interesting article by Oliver Burkeman here about inspirational quotes, in particular the one attributed to Nelson Mandela,  which I must admit I have used and enthused about. It starts, 'Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate...'.  He never said it. Oh well. Its still inspirational...

One week until the conference, and I had a phone call from the Hotel Diana, who are jointly hosting it, saying we had to stop taking registrations, as they were worried about accommodating everyone - yes its been very popular and they were panicking about the numbers. We also received a huge art materials order a week early, which has also caused panic and anxiety. All part and parcel of organising a conference - please can someone remind me never to do it again!

My conference poster about Art Therapy, Mindfulness and 'Flow' is almost finished. Its called 'Leaves on the Brisbane River' and has a background of the river, and some old images and photos. Oh, and there are a few words as well. I will post a photo once its done. My conference artwork is also almost there. Everything is coming together, albeit sometimes with added panic.

More later.

superstition

sugar skull - oil pastel

Its Halloween today, which is causing me to reflect on the theme of Superstition, also a song by Stevie Wonder.

I am not superstitious, so this is a list of things I don't 'believe (in)':

• 'everything happens for a reason' and the variation:
• 'this was meant to be/this wasn't meant to be'
• star signs/horoscopes - not a good basis for parenting wisdom or other relationships, in my opinion
• feng shui - likewise for interior design
• not mentioning certain words (and thereby giving them magical properties): death and cancer spring to mind, plus the name of your ex.
• halloween
• oh, and religion

the last one has surprised a few people, but as I have never believed in religion, I am equally surprised by the fact that other people do. 

perhaps I should add 'qantas' to that list. I cannot help thinking they are being very 'un-Australian' at the moment.

The sugar skull was fun to do. The first new drawing I have posted for some time...Teaching period is over, now we are in marking/exam period, and did someone mention organising a conference?

more later

whats going on?

What's going on? Clearly not much here, but elsewhere...things have been busy busy busy.

Been sooo busy I have been having one or two serious work malfunctions, which feels like incompetence but is actually overload. Small example: leaving camera at work (so no new artwork). Big example: getting client appointment time wrong. Even my laptop started malfunctioning (does anyone know the purpose of the scroll key?...it somehow got activated, and numbers appeared when I typed letters). Shut down was the only solution. Unfortunately I have to keep going, for another month. Then its time for my holiday in New Zealand.

Meanwhile there is an art therapy conference to organise, and a pile of final marking for the end of semester. 

I have decided to extend my Motown titles through November (Motember?) since I just missed two weeks of October (and its nearly over).

However I did have time to pause and reflect on the difference two weeks can make: 

1. Gadafi - gone
2. Offshore processing of refugees, aka the Malaysia solution - gone (we can thank the Coalition for this one)
3. Carbon Tax - on its way to being legislated
4. Same sex civil unions - introduced into Queensland State Parliament
5. And around the world, the curiously enigmatic Occupy Wall Street; Occupy London; Occupy (insert your city here) movement...

more later

Don't leave me this way/never can say goodbye

Art therapy and social action - logo

Love this logo! After trying to convince students about the importance of cultural competency in our tute last night, this makes me feel validated! Hey guys, 'assimilation' is really not such a great concept...working in London, in the 1980's, it seemed much clearer, (and we all happily did Racism Awareness Training as it was called then) perhaps because some ethnic minorities were very vocal and visible (and grossly over-represented in mental health services). Here we have this wishy-washy 'tolerance' of multiculturalism, which assumes we just all want to be homogenous Australians, but perhaps with more interesting recipes.

On a similar issue, I will always associate the song Don't leave me this way sung by Jimmy Somerville of the Communards, and Sarah Jane Morris, with the demise of 'Red' Ken Livingstone's Greater London Council in the 1980's.

My ex-personal trainer, who broke up with me last week (for personal reasons), had a goodbye breakfast on Sunday. She told us she was not allowed back in the gym after she gave in her notice. This seems to be common management practice. What about valuing the relationships? Saying goodbye is hard already, don't make it impossible please! Someone who has seen me at my worst, sweaty and grumpy, and wanting to give up, and still has been encouraging and positive. Thanks Jess!  Here is Jimmy again singing Never can say Goodbye.

Listening to Motown on my I-Pod whilst running this month. No shortage of inspiration for blog post titles there - not enough days in the month (or time to write).

Looking forward to starting Six Degrees of Creativity, an e-course, which might get me back into some art practice. The next few weeks are looking pretty rough, work wise.

More later.

Standing in the shadows of love

 

The Four Tops song Standing in the shadows of love was also (almost) the title of a great  film about the support band for the Motown hit factory of the 1960's and 70's, the Funk Brothers. These 'unsung musical heroes' were not famous or well known like the singing stars they supported. But Motown would not have been Motown without them. And in relationships, our partners are often our unsung heroes as well. Mine is.

Which leads me to the question, what is the shadow side of love? Is it hate, or is it indifference? Or perhaps just grumpiness...its so easy to become that grumpy person you don't want to be when living with another human being at close quarters. I have to keep remembering to be the person I want him to be...

I heard an interesting discussion about human sexuality on the radio this week. It was about the book sex at dawn, which argues that monogamy is not 'natural' as it was 'only' introduced into human behaviour at around the same time as the development of agriculture. Well, growing food in the ground has also proved pretty popular since then. Pretty much all human behavour is socially constructed, I agree. But that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

On the same topic, I saw Crazy, Stupid Love this Friday night with S, I had a few ethical issues with the film (excessive and deliberate use of alcohol to manipulate and give 'Dutch courage', implied non use of condoms, endorsement of porn for a minor), but would still recommend it. Just don't take it too seriously. The plot is pretty implausible too...but fun.

My personal trainer broke up with me (and the rest of her Fernwood clients) last week. We are going out for an all you can eat breakfast this morning at the Stamford Plaza, to say goodbye...irony there somewhere too. I have missed a couple of my regular Saturday and Monday night gym sessions recently due to the ACT conference, and supervision, mainly. It was so good to be back yesterday, and guess what - I slept so much better last night!!

More later.

War (what is it good for?)

photo of Melbourne graffiti from  made into Peace Poster with I-Phone app.

War, by Edwin Starr, was released in 1969, as a protest song against the Vietnam War. Two of my good friends were talking on Saturday night about both being present at the anti-war demonstration in London in 1969, when the gates of the US embassy were broken down and the police used tear gas to control the crowds. I was still at primary school.

Last week I spent two days in a pre-conference workshop (before the ACT conference) which were facilitated by trauma workshop by Robyn Walser, who works on the Coming Home project, at the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) research in San Francisco. Robyn works with war veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Vietnam. I believe the US does trauma therapy well, but then, they have a lot of veterans who need trauma therapy.

In another workshop, John Forsyth, from the University of Albany, SUNY, spoke about kindness and compassion, and he showed this very hard-hitting Miniature Earth slide show - and this is another version with music by John Lennon. He also talked about sowing seeds of kindness and compassion, which is a cool idea. I think this could involve real seeds...perhaps a new version of Horticultural Therapy?

Both John and Robyn facilitated exercises which involved looking into the eyes of another human being, without talking, for some minutes. In John's case this was an exercise to practice the Buddhist concept of tonglen, which is to 'breathe in another's suffering'. I am slightly ashamed to admit I bailed on this one.

More later.

nowhere to run, (nowhere to hide)...

a coping strategy...

Did I mention having Tamla Motown song titles for my blog posts this month? Well this seemed the perfect one for today. 

I was due to present 'creative ACTivities for mindful therapists' at the ACT conference this afternoon at 3.45pm, the final session after 5 days of workshops and conferences. I was sitting with my anxiety today (and last night) and looking forward to it all being over. Usually the anxiety is worse before I start, and this was the case today as well. It is certainly out of proportion to the risk, and it felt pretty uncomfortable before I got started. I was conscious of going too fast, as I had only just over an hour. Of course, it is now over, and I am so glad I did it, in spite of my abject fear. I think it went pretty well...

hearts out on the grass

This picture captures some of the sense of having myself spilled out all over the show when I do a workshop...what if they tread on my feelings? (they didn't, they were mostly kind psychologists)...

the art shed

And then there was this article in the Guardian, about Kim Noble, who is an artist with Dissociative Identity Disorder, who has over 100 personalities. Thought provoking.

more later.

be nice to me!

The first day of trauma at the ANZACT pre-conference workshop was great, I am looking forward to more today. The most excruciating part was near the start of the day when we had to 'meet' three other people non-verbally. This kind of stress brings on the hot flushes, but the point is, I survived and enjoyed the rest of the day.

The food was surprisingly good, varied and plentiful. 

I am so tired today, as my insomnia is back and I had an info night to attend and facilitate last night, for future MMH AT students, after a full day at the workshop. It was an interesting night, and it makes me appreciate again how difficult it is to get into art therapy training, and also, how tough it is, to get through it. 

I think I need to make an insomnia monster, to help me externalise this sleep issue, and I have an idea of what to make it out of, a dark brown sweater I bought in my workplace's op shop...(did I mention work has its own op shop? - very cool!). Its probably going to have to have at least two heads, and other unpleasant protuberances. My next art project...

I was going to try to make it to Body Balance class at 6am today but just felt so tired, having been awake already for about two hours, so decided no, I will BE NICE TO ME today. So I didn't. That felt good. 

This link is to an interesting article by Cathy Malchiodi on art and happiness.

more later.

anticipation of trauma

Not many people would be this excited at the prospect of spending two days learning more about trauma therapy experientially, but thats me! Its time for the ANZACT pre-conference workshop...at QUT, a university I may be a student of next year...

I am hoping for some good networking, good ideas, and even good biscuits...although these Mater biscuits are hard to beat.

more later.

'Devon hippie' - now an official category

Moonlight by Samuel Palmer

I know because I read it in The Australian weekend magazine. Joss Stone is described as 'leading the lifestyle of a Devon hippie'. Sadly (or not) the details of said lifestyle are not documented.

Meanwhile, in a village called Chagford, near Exeter, (where I was born) in Devon, a vege box scheme with a difference. The boxes are delivered in a horse and cart. So old school (thanks for the Banksy birthday card, boys).

It wasn't quite Cider with Rosie, (although the cider part would be true), but I think of my childhood as being basically rural: even though we lived in on the outskirts of a small (hippie) town called Totnes, I could see Dartmoor from my bedroom window. So it was nice to get out into the hills on my birthday yesterday, even though the hills around Boonah, in South East Queensland, are nothing like the hills of Devon.

me and the boys at Kooroomba

Lavender!

We were at Kooromba Lavender farm and vineyard, Mt Alford (near Boonah) for lunch. I came home and made lavender bags...(this is true - but I didn't steal the lavender - its in my garden).

Big week just about to start (in an hour or so).

more later.

feeling my age

 Um...Today is a special day, like every other day...

I missed writing a daily post yesterday. By the end of the day, I was feeling tired, and feeling my age! Its my birthday today, the day when you always write the date incorrectly, as you automatically write the year you were born instead of the current year.

Some days thats all I want to do...

I am finding it difficult to get things done at the weekend at the moment. I need to accept that doing nothing or not much is ok. However, I did make myself a birthday cake, I think it looked better before it was cooked, here is a photo.

an (uncooked) version of Nada's cake from JaMie's Italy

Birthday flowers, a day early! Thank-you...

more later.

bad coffee day

This morning started badly - the coffee machine told me it was out of beans and I couldn't find the packet - S had put them in the place we usually keep dog biscuits. I had to ring him, as it was a sort of emergency,  and then just saw the packet as I was talking to him. I left a message but he didn't listen, he just rang me because he had a missed call. He had to come home as he had left his ID at home. I made coffee, then spilt it all over my clothes whilst I was eating breakfast and not paying attention. 

Things did improve once at work. We made Mindfulness cards (left at work, so no photo yet) and I remembered fontifier, which allows you to make your own handwriting into a font on your computer, which is really useful for writing christmas letters, and making them look handwritten. 

I have written every day this week so far, Which is more more than I expected. As I was running with the dog this morning (before the coffee episode, so actually the day started out ok, then went bad) I wondered if I could use a Motown song title as my blog title each day for a month. Like Rocktober, but actually more like Soultober or even Motownober. What a wonderful source of random thoughts the human mind can be at times.

more later.

my word - namaste!

peace poster (using HOPE Poster I phone app.)

When I wake up early enough, I enjoy this Thursday morning ritual. Driving to the gym, I listen to the last segment of the very retro 'My Word'on Radio National with Dennis Norden and Frank Muir (about 5.45am). Dennis and Frank have to tell outrageous stories to explain the (imaginary) etymology of phrases such as 'Maybe its because I'm a Londoner' or 'Better to be envied than to be pitied', which were the phrases featured on today's show. Dennis Norden's morning contribution was a classic appropriately involving a long explanation of doing difficult and strenuous gym exercises (or PT as it used to be called) thus yielding the term: 'Better to be unfit than to be PT'ed'. The longest applause determines the winner.  The original Spicks and Specks, 'My Music' is on another day. Must date from the sixties or seventies, I am guessing. Pure gold.

After the drive to Sunnybank, its time for Body Balance, which is a class that combines Tai Chi, Yoga and Pilates, all choreographed to music. Very good for stretching those hamstrings and glutes (not to mention all the rest). The class ends, like yoga, with a ten minute meditation. Today this somehow involved the word 'peace', and we were invited to notice any examples of 'unpeace' in our heads - I was so focused on this abuse of English I felt quite unpeaceful there for a while. We end the class with our hands at the 'heart centre' saying 'namaste', a salutation from Sanskrit, which has a nice friendly and inclusive tone.

more later

full mailbox on empty lot

What were they thinking?

Good day today, teaching journal-making to a group of teenagers and two other staff members, all seemed to really enjoy it, although we were knee deep in materials by the end of the day. 

This is the type of journal we made, but without the padding. The girls were very creative and got very immersed in the project. Perfect for a school holiday activity.

PT first thing this morning, I can tell I am getting a little bit stronger, which is exciting. Just as well, as I spend a lot of time carrying materials and equipment around, its an integral part of my job.

more later.

fear of failure: blogjam and laser show

Laser show, Brisbane festival

Late again - I had been thinking a lot about trying the challenge of posting everyday for a week - thinking so much in fact that I forgot to do my usual weekly post. However, the theme for today is suitable - (fear of) failure.

The chooks ate well last night - a food experiment based on leftovers went wrong. I must remember to follow recipes and not improvise so much with 2 day old root vegetables. I may have gotten away with it, if I hadn't used beetroot, but that pink coloured bubble and squeak mocked me somehow as it sat in the frying pan - not a meal I could believe in. 

The nice thing about chooks (as well as the eggs) is they are not too fussy about what they eat, as long as it contains calories and/or chlorophyll. I have been picking weeds for them on my morning walks. This is because they are now banned from free-ranging to protect the new vege bed. Hopefully one day soon we will have a chook tractor for them to roam around the garden in, getting some green stuff and fertilising the ground, without decimating the crop. They seem to like the weeds but they prefer pink bubble and squeak. They are not dumb. One woman's mistake is six chooks' feast....

Brisbane city lights, from South Bank

Another area I can stuff up in easily is painting. I would love to have the skills to paint something (ok, a painting, not a wall) I can be happy with. I have been trying to complete a piece for the art therapy conference exhibition in November. I think I messed it up the other day.  I reached this familiar point, where I thought it was going well, but I went too far and now I am thinking I need to paint over it and start again. The theme is recovery from disaster, suitably enough.

I definitely need more skills, and this comes from informed practice (10,000 hours to be really proficient at something), but at the moment, the more I practice, the more discouraged I become. I think I need to go to a painting class or have some coaching or something. But that would involve exposure. Perhaps its worth it as I often think about wanting to enjoy painting (yes, the product as well as the process, sorry art therapists) - that would be a change I could believe in.

No 3

The laser show at South Bank on Sunday (and every night, for another week) was cool. It started 20 minutes late, but we were also running late, so it didn't matter. What a warm night, and its only early Spring.

more later.

parenting muse

'talking to S.. about relationships' - pastels

'work life imbalance' - pastels

These two images are from the online parenting group I have been participating in, which finished last week. It was strange but gratifying to be part of a group that only met online, but no more strange and gratifying than writing this blog...

The first image 'Talking to S.. about relationships' was made after reflecting proudly on what a thoughtful and emotionally literate son I have - taking so much in his stride at the moment despite a very difficult year, and about to graduate as a high school English and ESL teacher in about 6 weeks time...the drawing is supposed to show the ebb and flow of our conversation the other night as we discussed the trials and tribulations of love and romance in 21st century, well more particularly, coping with break-ups in a Facebook World...wish I could take the pain away, but motherhood has its limitations.

The assignment was to make a piece of art about spending time with your child/ren. Which I found surprisingly difficult, as they seemed to be quite elusive at that time...

The second image 'Work life Imbalance' is about work commitments, and trying to find the right balance. If I am studying next year, something will have to give...just trying to decide what that should be. The drawing is rather formal, restrained and geometric, compared to the first image (they go together). Perhaps its just a timely reminder. I have worked two Saturdays in the last three. On the third I was sick in bed all day with the Headache Virus. Not a cold or flu, just a very bad headache.

I planted out some seedlings in my new vege garden this weekend (well, Sunday), after strewing the beds with chicken manure and compost (who knew we ate so many peanuts?) Dirt under the fingernails again, yay! I am looking forward to success, which has eluded me on previous attempts. For the record, I planted rainbow chard, corn, beetroot, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, and marigolds. We'll see what happens...

We  took S's younger brother to see Submarine at the weekend, which deals with young love, with great British (ok, Welsh) humour and quirkiness. What could be more embarrassing than an honest and awkward movie about your first girlfriend? Seeing it with your parents, right?

more later.

sick sick sick - and its Spring!

outside Logan Regional Art Gallery - this is so cool!

I spent two days last week in Logan, at a Child and Youth Mental Health Conference, Priority One. It was a thought-provoking conference, with a creativity theme, but I was surrounded by people coughing and sneezing...

'headache' - how it feels, blurry and colourless 

...so it had to happen eventually - just as I was congratulating myself on getting through the winter without a single cold or flu virus - I had a lingering headache for three days, followed by a weekend where I barely got out of bed until Sunday lunchtime - and suddenly, its Spring!

'baby shower owl' - stuffed fabric toy/pillow

This owl was supposed to come to a baby shower with me this weekend, but sadly we didn't make it. I will have to deliver him another time...

I did manage to see a couple of quirky films this week on DVD (great for sick days). Junebug and You and me and everyone we know. Junebug is definitely the less weird of the two...plus it has Embeth Davidtz in it, a city slicker who collects 'Outsider art', and who played a patient undergoing couple therapy in Season 1 of In Treatment...

Plus, the September Issue on ABC1 was a disappointment last night, despite the beautiful frocks and shoots... If this is the reality, give me fiction (the Devil wears Prada) every time.

Plus, I put in two applications today, for further study. 

more later.

introducing the labyrinth...

labyrinth 1  - pastel and ink

labyrinth 2 - pastel, ink and wool

I have been preoccupied with labyrinth images this week.

The first image is the 'standard image' of a traditional labyrinth design, which I have recently been exploring (as a mindfulness exercise) in a variety of media, including clay and textiles, and which I created for this blog using oil pastels and overlaid with Chinese ink, to get a resist effect. I wanted the background to be black, to represent the internal experience of the labyrinth, but it came out as pale grey.

The second image is the same labyrinth, overlaid with a somewhat haphazard and multi-shaded wool yarn, which loosely tries to follow the path, but which has multiple sidetracks, loops and deviations. As it turns out, this yarn continues into the rest of the ball of wool, so it doesn't actually 'end'...

The first thing that stands out is the contrast between the first and second image. The first is orderly and has its own logical structure, the second is 'all over the place', but loosely follows the same path, or tries to.

The colours (white/red/black) were deliberately chosen. I used white (the path, the blank page, 'innocence', the beginning of life), red (the earth, the body, blood, the middle of life) and black (death, night, darkness, the internal experience), as they seem to link the image to many archetypal experiences. This sounds very deep and esoteric, but its not really.

The path or road goes from the outside to the inside and back again, so it represents the inward journey, and the return to external reality. The wool in the second image represents the busyness, and the meanderings of daily life, as well as the constant distractions provided by thoughts, feelings and the demands of work, life and other people, i.e. the opportunity to be pulled off task by a million other possibilities, which creates a constant tension and challenge, but I guess is also exciting... if it wasn't for this ability to be distracted, I wouldn't have been thinking about and making labyrinths in the first place, for example.

I feel I am usually in the second image, but am constantly striving to be in the first image. In other words, like the image last week, there is a wish for order and structure, which is unrealistic most of the time. Better to go with the flow...

*I also found a relevant quote, in relation to the spiral theme that was emerging in some of my images. Its from a novel called 'Disobedience' by Naomi Alderman, and I have written it out in full, in case it strikes a chord with anyone else as well as it did for me:

What is the shape of time?

On occasion we may feel that time is circular. The seasons approach and retreat, the same every year. Night follows day follows night follows day. The festivals arrive in their time, cycling one after the other. And each month, the womb and the moon together grow fat and fertile, then bleed away, and begin to grow once more. It may seem that time leads us on a circling path, returning us to where we began.

In other moods, we may view time as a straight and infinite line, dizzying in its endlessness. We travel from birth to death, from past to future, and each second which ticks by is gone forever. We talk of managing time, but time manages us, hurrying us along where we might have wished to linger. We can no more halt time than the moon can halt her nightly journey across the sky.

As is so often the case, these two seemingly irreconcilable observations combine to form the truth. Time is spiral.

Our journey through time may be compared to an ascent around the outside of a round tower. We travel, it is true, and can never return tot he places we have left. However, as each revolution brings us higher and further, it asl brings us round to encounter the same vistas we have seen before. ..

Well, its a bit long, but I think it says something about the spiral, and our relationship to time, which is important. As a child, I was so aware of the cycles of nature, and the rituals and changes of the seasons. This faded as I grew up, and life became more linear. I like the idea that the cycles are still there, because the spiral is a 3D structure that is both circular and linear at the same time.

more later.

how to...enjoy your moment in time

'how to...enjoy your moment in time': pastels, paint and collage

This post is taken directly from another (closed) blog I am participating in at the moment, and the directive was to make two images, the one on the left is about thinking "I'm so busy", and the one on the left is about the feeling of being busy.

The left hand image (thinking about 'I'm busy'), which is a mixture of collage and pastels,  is organised, square-ish and wordy. It starts from the middle with the words: "How to..." and a series of verbs from magazines. Busyness is about doing stuff, so verbs seemed to be what I needed. It reflects the anxiety of trying to do things well. It is also about thoughts, and the fact that busyness if often about over-thinking. Do I know "how to..."?

It spirals outwards and reminds me of my previous image. I like the colours and the final result. The outside is different from the text-y area, it is more like the other side.

The spiral is also a motif in the right hand image. The right hand image ('feeling busy') is a swirl of movement using paint, pastels and collage. This is how being busy feels. It is looser and free-er than the first image. It also has a contrast between the inside, the heart/core, and the outside swirls.

In this one, the heart shape contains the words 'your moment in time'. This is a comment about trying to be mindful in day to day busyness, and this experience of mindfulness can be something of an 'anchor' in the whirlwind of activity (like the eye of the storm perhaps). So the heart is anchored by the blue and purple stripes, to stop it getting carried off by the whirlwind. It is also a reminder that we only have a short time on this planet, this is our brief moment, and we can ignore/forget that if we get caught up in mindless activity.

more later.