FRUSTRATION

1. I have been unable to upload photos to this blog for a couple of days now. It churns away and then I get an error message telling me that there are 'problems' and I should check my connection. My connection is fine for everything else. Not life threatening, but irritating.

2. The battery on the MacBook has died. I have resurrected my old PowerBook. We shall see what ensues.

3. I swapped my work days so that I could have a WORKroom making and WORK day today. The cunning plan was to
(a) Dismantle The Boy's bed (he does know and has approved this measure)
(b) Assemble the Ashford loom and put a warp on it.
(c) Finish the cartoon I began yesterday and sample the colours on aforementioned warp.
(d) Bring a table up from the garage for the sewing machine (I am making a stitch-drawn piece)
(e) Bring up the easel and other workroom bits.
(f) Clear the dining table of art materials / sewing machine
(g) Restore social space to normality
(h) Enjoy having a workroom again

I failed at (a). Could not find either the special IKEA spanner required nor a sufficiently small adjustable spanner. The mattress is now on the (small) landing, easel and folding table in the (small) hall. The whole place is an obstacle course, and, worst of all, I have run out of milk, so no tea.

I am usually quite good at 'zoning out' mess and just getting on with the work I need to do, but not this time. I am regretting the big house that I once lived in and annoyed with myself for doing so. The temptation to hide under the duvet wailing, even in this heat, is very great.

I need a fairy godmother. With a spanner and big muscles.

And tea.

Grrrr.

Location:Home

Road Trip

I have been up to Manchester for a few days to help The Boy move house. It is bit of a trek, but traffic was good and the drive not unpleasant. After my failed attempt to visit IWM in London, I was determined to make it to IWM North at Salford Quays, and my visit was not a disappointment. It is a fantastic building, with a vertigo-inducing 'Air Shaft' viewing platform - which I braved, holding onto The Boy the whiles. The nice guide at the top coaxed me to the edge so that I could see Old Trafford and "into Coronation Street", and then started telling me about the zip wire that they run across to the Lowry. He was so excited about "opening this wall here" and "running this gantry out over there" that he failed to notice my green tinge. He suggested that I come back and try it, but I pointed out to him that my screams would break all the windows in a mile radius at least so he agreed that it might not be such a good idea. The other member of our party of two is, however, rather keen. It remains to be seen whether I could watch.

The main exhibition space contains a piece of wreckage from 9/11. Monumental and profoundly moving.



Inside one of the 'silos' is an archway made of suitcases, backpacks etc to represent migration and refugees. It stopped me in my tracks

Another highlight for me were two handwritten drafts by Wilfred Owen; one for 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' and the other for 'Dulce et Decorum', the latter including a couplet which did not make it to the final draft:-

"And think how once his face was like a bud
Fresh as a country rose, and keen, and young"

Heartbreaking.

On Wednesday I visited Dunham Massey, where the National Trust have re-instated the Stamford Military Hospital within the house. Too many people to really get the full impact of it, but rather well done. I shall visit again for a more thoughtful progress and read of the personal stories.

All in all, a good research trip, with many ideas now brewing / reinforced for September.

Airports passed:- Southampton, Birmingham, Manchester, East Midlands, Luton, Heathrow.

Counties crossed:- West Sussex, Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Middlesex, Surrey, West Sussex

And my back held up throughout, TBTG.

Location:Manchester (and the rest)

Mission Accomplished - In Part

After a late start (enjoying coffee and conversation with a friend in Chi) and a circuitous route (notes to self: take your A-Z, get off at Aldgate East NOT Whitechapel) the stretchers were duly delivered to my painter friend. I had help on my journey across London: an East End chippie, a Spanish tourist and a Bangladeshi lad who kindly picked up a bicycle that I had knocked over when I turned round forgetting my new wooden dimensions!




Painter friend EB was on a break and she took me to Spitalfields City Farm where we petted the donkeys and (myself alone) sang "I'm a troll, fol-de-rol" to the billy-goats, despite the absence of a wooden bridge. I apologise if this reference leaves you culturally alienated!
After EB went back to work I had a mooch round the Brick Lane area; antecedents of mine (one a Scandinavian immigrant) were married at Christchurch Spitalfields and lived in a house in Hanbury street, long since demolished. I have also just been reading Rachel Liechtenstein's book of the history and people.





In my thought-doodling about the September show on the train up to London, I had decided that I would visit the Imperial War Museum for some research. Not having my A-Z or Moleskine City Notebook, I had to take a guess at where to find it, not having visited since I was about 11. Things I learned:-

It is important to know the difference between Kennington Road, Kennington Park Road and Kennington Lane.

Named bus stops and maps in bus shelters are marvellous things!

An earlier destination decision and some preliminary research would have told me that IWM is closed until July 16th, when they re-open with a new WWI gallery. This will be very useful in a fortnight.

London was hot, HOT, HOT!!!

Another bus ride took me to the PV at Espacio Gallery in Shoreditch. Good stuff in the main. Free wine.

Bus, tube, train and car home. Shower, sarong and sleep.


This morning's thought-doodle: a name for the show, 'Not Only, But Also'. And there will be a poppy.
In some form or other.

Location:Brick Lane Circular

Coals to Newcastle

Today I am going to London carrying four stretchers made by the lovely workshop guys at WD and delivering them to a friend at an art shop where they make stretchers. Predictably, tomorrow is supposed to be the hottest day of the year and I shall be looking like a walking bonfire. Perhaps I should get someone to film it as a performance piece.
PV at Espacio in Bethnal Green Road early evening; I have not decided what to visit beforehand. I shall wait until I have done my delivery and then 'choice myself' as my Nannan used to say.

Exhibition News

Well, I have 'been and gone and done it' as a school friend used to say. I received word this morning of a cancellation at a local gallery, and by tea time I had booked and paid the deposit. It is just as well that always work better with a deadline, since it is September 22nd that I am now working towards. I will be finishing some of the work that I did not include in the 'Rebuilder' exhibition (e.g 'Abram'), revisiting some older pieces and following up some new ideas; all touching on a Remembrance theme.

"Lawks!" and I say again "Lawks!"!

A Good Day

After a busy few days, including an outdoor production of 'As You Like It' in Beaconsfield and a Chichester Festivities concert in the cathedral, a day at home and a minor miracle - I did some drawing! Actually quite a lot of drawing, including some stitch-draw on canvas. I have not been suffering creative block as such, just a bit of inertia* needing a catalyst to overcome it. In the end I 'self-catalysed' and just got on with it. Lots of ideas are now brewing.




This photo is one I took last September, looking west across a channel of Chichester Harbour from a garden in Bosham. It is the starting point for an exhibition entry I am working on in parallel with the Ruins / Paradise Lost series. There may be sketchbook glimpses.......


* and too many excuses, truth be told. I may not have a proper studio yet, but I have a dining table and all the equipment and supplies I need to fill a sketchbook.

Location:Home

Diamonds - Crazy and Otherwise

My weaver's mark in the top selvedge of the blue tapestry. When deciding on my mark a few years ago I opted for a shape rather than my initials, partly because of a certain favourite Pink Floyd song, and partly for reasons of practicality; LL would mean slits to sew up! There are quite enough of those in a tapestry without creating more.

Those few years ago I was also being put through some tough stuff and was at a bit of a low ebb, feeling unwanted (which I was) and worthless (which I was not) I can't remember now whether someone said this to me, I read it or it just popped into my head, but the phrase was "a diamond is a diamond is a diamond".
Hmmm.
Well yes. A diamond can be in a beautiful setting or it can be prised out and thrown in the dirt (or worse) but it does not cease to be a diamond and its worth is not diminished; it remains a precious stone. Good lesson!
I now wear a diamond (the tiniest that a certain pale-turquoise-themed jeweller do sell - but oh, they treated me like a Duchess!) in a silver ring on my right ring finger. Just to remind me.
And I often put a bit of sparkle in my weaver's mark too.