scribbles adagio

Painted Memories - A 60's childhood in St Andrews, Scotland - done at last!

2011-02-17T21:25:00.003+11:00

My first book. Done at last. In the photo here, the slightly shiny cover is reflecting the camera flash, making it look washed out. Really, it's quite rich colours with psychadelic 60's flower-power flowers.

I have shown the book to a lot of people and everyone is amazed at the quality. The layout software was a pleasure to use and has enabled me to create pages that support the paintings effectively. The colours are really very good and the binding feels and looks beautiful. Best of all, I like the personal handwriting font - it really 'makes' the book.

You don't have to buy a copy to see it - you can view the whole book on-line (click on the link in the side bar at right) though of course it's not the same as musing over a personal copy while enjoying a cuppa in the sun or by the fire.

Blurb does not seem to recognise fluctuating exchange rates so purchasers should check which currency would be cheapest for them to purchase in - for Australian purchasers, it would definately be $US.

Also - I recommend a hardcover copy as the binding is stitched as well as glued. The softback binding is only glued. The hardback with dustjacket version will have no title on the linen cover itself - so all in all, I recommend the hardback, wrap-around cover. Copies arrive within two to three weeks.

2010-12-23T18:00:00.001+11:00

I have been delayed by extra care duties but now I'm nearly finished the draft of my book, Painted Memories. There were also more pictures insisting they be painted than I thought there would be. I'm just hoping that the colours will print true enough but will have to wait to get a proof copy before I know. In the book, the text will not be in a 'box' like this - I had to scan this sample as Blogger won't (yet) do personal fonts.
Anyway, for now, I can only say Happy Christmas all.

Back at last

2010-11-09T17:07:00.002+11:00

Well, it months since I've done any blogging - or painting. I have been distracted with gardening mainly, and I'm not sorry as we have had the best Spring for a decade and everything is looking marvellous. Recently I have been inspired to do some more upholstery. This 30's chair has been in a wretched state in our kitchen for the last 15 years but now she is in her glad rags and has announced herself to be Ruby. I had to learn respringing and repadding techniques.

And below is Estelle. Yesterday, I went to drop off some garden waste at the recycling depot and popped in to the shed 'just to have a quick look.' Immediately, I heard Estelle calling, "Hey, over here - I'm Estelle - come and get me! Quick!" She'll have to wait for a new outfit because...

I have am now very busy getting my memory paintings into a book format to publish, initially at least, through Blurb. Above is the title part of the front cover. There are over 120 pictures with text, including quite a few new ones - I have about 8 pictures to finish, but hope to get a proof draft off in a few weeks. It's a very exciting project, watching the book structure appear, arranging all the pictures into a narrative of sorts, making my own 'handwriting' font, designing the cover - I think it's going to be pretty good. Watch this space!

A beer for the replay

2010-04-29T14:37:00.007+10:00

Acrylic on canvas
40 x 40cm;16 x 16"
It must be the replay because he is always too anxious to watch his team playing live!
This is another class exercise. The 'brief' was a domestic scene, Matisse inspired - use of some black outline, areas of flattish colour, simplification, spontaneous, - the tutor used Madame Mattisse as an example - but reading later about Matisse working this painting, I discovered he required over 100 sittings - of course many sittings would have been for sketching, preliminary drawings etc. However, I won't be too hard on myself that it looks more like the controlled work of Australian painter John Brack - spontaneous-looking will require a lot more practice! In 'simplifying', I have dispensed with the mess and clutter in our heavily used 'sitting'-room - a great way to 'tidy up'.

Rosalie Gascoigne - Icon painting

2010-03-26T16:11:00.004+11:00

Considering Landscape
Acrylic, imitation gold leaf and collage on board
Each section 20x30cm

I have signed up for one more semester of a weekly painting class. This time we are 'imagining what if a medieval icon painter, Vincent van Gogh and Matisse came here - how might they depict the contemporary Australia?'
We first looked at icon paintings from Greece, Russia and elsewhere, especially noting the use of gold leaf, combination of simplified, flat depiction and often heavily modelled forms and drapery. Icon painters often begin with a red underpainting.
For our own effort, we were to think of a contemporary Australian icon - a thing or place such as Sydney Opera House, an activity eg. surfing, or anything else. I chose to depict Rosalie Gascoigne (1917-1999), an Australian/New Zealand sculptor who worked with found materials, particularly wooden drink crates, yellow and orange road signs, builders' used masonite boards, old sheets of corrugated tin, linoleum scraps and doll parts, to evoke the Australian landscape. She scoured local dumps (and sometimes traded beer with road workers) to collect her materials, being inspired by the landscape of the undulating Canberra region at the same time. Many of her images look like quilts eg All that Jazz and Off the Beaten Track.
This time we had to do a dyptich, carefully designing the composition. I am very hesitant about doing 'landscapes' but considering the genre through someone else's eyes was a good way in.The gold leaf is generally applied last and is very fragile and fiddly but I like the effect.
By chance, I found a book about Justin O'Brien, an Australian painter who lived for much of his life in Rome. He was inspired by icon paintings and painted a number of works which include landscape, interior and still life all in the one piece. There is a retrospective of his work at the Art Gallery of NSW in December.

Shadow tryptich

2010-03-26T15:25:00.000+11:00

Acrylic on canvas
50 x 50cm
A class exercise from last semester, we were instructed to produce a tryptich, be graphic, experiment with shadows and use a limited palette with increasing amount of colour from one section to the next. I have played with shadows before in some of my other still lifes and I do like the way they can extend the image. I initially drew up a more typical division of the canvas to create a tryptich but found it uninspiring. I am pleased with the torn paper effect.

Masterpieces from Paris - Maurice Denis again

2010-01-14T23:52:00.007+11:00

Dawn Start
20 x 20 cm
Acrylic on board
Last night, our daughter rang to cancel a dinner arrangement for this evening. She and her husband had just been called to help in a bush rescue in the Blue Mountains and they were hurriedly packing before driving 300km in the night, ready for an early morning start. This morning, I googled to see if I could find any details and learned that 6 canyoners were 36 hours overdue from a day trip. There was a photo of my daughter and several other searchers disappearing into the misty dawn. Of course, they were on my mind all day.
On the way back from helping my husband choose new glasses, I stopped off at the Gallery to find an inspiring painting and was drawn to Maurice Denis' Landscape with Green Trees. It is a mysterious picture, figures gliding through a forest towards an angel. I will do a painting about the rescuers.
Late this afternoon, the canyoners were located but tragically, it seems there was a rock fall and one of the group has died and two are injured. My daughter and son in law are back at the rescue base and will be home tomorrow.

Masterpieces from Paris - Maurice Denis

2010-01-11T20:40:00.010+11:00

The Gallery was very crowded today but I saw only 2 teenagers. I saw them first snogging in front of Mr Denis' Homage to Cezanne (click to view) and was struck by the enduring appeal and variety of black attire. The men in this painting are all artists, unusually garbed in business suits. They are discussing a painting by Cezanne, the younger Serusier explaining to Redon, on the left, why the Nabis group of artists admire it.

To complete a sketch, I followed the young couple as they moved from picture to picture. At home, I decided to liberate Redon from his canvas..... A is for apple, art and ardour.

Masterpieces from Paris - Albert Besnard

2010-01-10T21:35:00.000+11:00

On Thursday evening, I went to my monthly art group get together. We each take something for dinner and whatever 'show and tell' we have. I sketched Meredith who is doing a project which requires daily stitching. I loved the blue of her blouse, and the shape of her armchair - which she calls the Albatros (the whole lounge suite) because, despite its inconvenient size, she drags it round whenever she moves house.

The Masterpiece work that I chose to guide me in painting this piece is Albert Besnard's Portrait of Madame Roger Jourdain - for the colours - white, pink and blue with highlights of yellow. Working from just the sketch, on sand, gessoed board to prevent over-detailed working, I have managed to get a likeness and perhaps the quiet mood. The composition is not ideal - perhaps it would be better croppped but then I would lose the shape of the armchair. Although this sort of portrait is not really what I want to do, it has been a good exercise. The scanner does not deal well with the rough surface.

Masterpieces from Paris - Emile Bernard again

2010-01-06T17:34:00.009+11:00

Today I went to the funeral of Jean, an elderly friend of one of my friends. It was a very intimate ceremony with just a dozen or so mourners, at a peaceful lawn cemetery. I didn't know Jean well, but I heard many stories of her from my friend, who has visited her weekly for years. The eulogy, given by her son and only child, was beautifully written. Some time after the war, in England, when Jean found herself pregnant and 'let down' by the father, she bravely decided to have the baby and raise it herself. When her son was still small, she emigrated with him to Australia, knowing no one and with no support.

After the funeral, I went to the Gallery and popped into the Masters' exhibition to find a painting that spoke to me of Jean. I decided upon Breton Women with Umbrellas(click to view). The catalgue says that Bernard saw the Breton women as living simple, pious lives but it seems to me that four of the women in the picture are gossiping savagely about the young women seated in the foreground. She holds herself very still, refusing to rise to the bait - developing nerves of steel, maybe. Perhaps she is in the same situation as Jean, many years ago.
Back home, looking at the catalogue for a way to use this painting to make one about Jean, I noticed that the background is very reminicent of Canberra - the brown and yellow hills, blue/purple Brindabella mountains, central lake - even our (white) Parliament House. So that forms the background of my painting.
Jean loved the colour green and knitting, twice she travelled first class round the world with only carry-on baggage, and she was vigorously engaged politically. She was a forthright and determined lady. Sometimes it was difficult for her son to be her only family. At the end of the funeral, after we had scattered delicate, crimson rose petals onto the coffin and listened to meditative music, her son said there was just one more thing. He fumbled in a plastic shopping bag and drew out a net of oranges - "It's a mother and son thing", he said as he tumbled them into the grave. Australians will likely understand! For others, it is necessary to explain the reference. In the 70's there was a sharp comedy (called Mother and Son) about a confused, controlling mother and her long suffering son. On one occasion, they attend a funeral and somehow the mother drops her shopping - a sack of oranges - into the grave. It is a hilarious image which remains in the mind of many. Jean would have been heartily amused at her son's final offering. Everyone laughed and clapped. So that explains my painting for the day.
I find green a very difficult colour to work with.

Masterpieces from Paris - Emile Bernard

2010-01-05T15:58:00.001+11:00

Emile Bernard's The Harvest is one of my favourite paintings at the Paris exhibition. It is only 56 x 40 cm, graphically striking with its contrasting, simple colour shapes and the strong diagonal. When Bernard hung this painting in the dining room of his lodgings, the other guests demanded it be removed and so he exchanged it for a work by Gauguin.
I have wanted to use the round shape of our dining table in a composition for a while and it seemed to match Bernard's curve of the hill. I had endless trouble trying to do the table surface - I find it hard to visualise what I want - and then there's the question of how to achieve it.
Acrylic on board
20cm x 20cm

Masterpieces from Paris - sleeping baby

2010-01-04T14:50:00.003+11:00

Acrylic on board
30cm x 30cm
We are lucky to have an exhibition of post-impressionist paintings from the Musee d'Orsay on at the Australian National Gallery and I have bought a season ticket so I can ride there for my daily exercise. Last Friday, after I got tired of looking at paintings, I took to people watching and was able to sketch a man who had finally got his baby off to sleep. I loved the arrangement of his arms and the totally relaxed form of the baby.
I think I have over-worked again but am pleased to catch the image anyway and I am pleased with the composition - I like the two pink shapes, the central entanglement of the father and baby - and the way Van Gogh's Starry Night provides a depth in the flatness of the wall. Recently, I purchased a small painting from Sheila Vaughan who told me that over the past few years she has done over 800 painting - perseverence is the way to go.

2009-12-13T20:20:00.003+11:00

And here is my other 'creation', Tor, graduating last Friday with a first class honours degree in maths.

2009-12-13T19:41:00.003+11:00

Not much art to show recently - but here is Finnian, my sailor girl, in the dress we made

with a 'sailor' collar - her drawings, my stitching on tulle

and she made the waistcoat with 'chilli' buttons for her David.

2009-09-01T11:20:00.008+10:00

Charcoal value study
A5

Hot-Glass Polka

40 x 50cm; 16 x 20"

acrylic and sand on canvas

This is another class exercise. We have been looking at Degas - particularly the way he caught a moment/movement, use of 'empty' space, working from photos, blurred edges and lack of detail. I made a trip to the local glassworks to find some interesting subject matter. From photos, I did a charcoal value study - rather more 'finished' than was necessary. Before painting, we created a rough surface by gluing a fine layer of sand on the canvas. The value study was roughly reworked in charcoal on the canvas and fixed. Then we were instructed to build up the paint layers with a soft, dry-paint brush, gently stroked over the canvas. I found it difficult to get the composition working well as the kiln opening pushed to be the focal point and behaved like an eye, small changes in shape shifting the way it 'stared' and diverting the viewer's eye out of the picture.

I like the idea of painting people at work. I recently discovered English painter Kate Lynch who paints studies of traditional crafts people at work.

After posting this blog entry, and seeing both pictures together on the screen, it looks as if I should knock back the intensity of the coloured kiln opening so it doesn't dominate quite so much - as in the value study.

2009-08-17T08:37:00.008+10:00

Dog Star Strathspey
60 x 45cm; 18 x 24"

acrylic on canvas

At last, something to 'show'! I have started a new painting class where we are looking at and being inspired by Chagall, Degas and others. I cycle 20 km to the class so I am using quick drying acrylics on smallish boards. Chagall's paintings often feature invented compositions, inspired by his Jewish childhood in a poor Russian village or Biblical stories and evoke a sense of child-like whimsy or naivety. They include non-literal narratives, theatrical, with distorted scale and strange perspectives. He uses non realistic, reduced or full pallette luminous, jewel-like colour to evoke mood, time of day. A heightened sense of drama can be achieved by employing contrasting elements eg dark/light values; warm/cool colour; coloured/black outline; hard/soft edges.

My 'Chagall' piece is inspired by my childhood in St Andrews on the east coast of Scotland - the bully gets his come-uppance at last and the fields are represented by painting the designs from two tiny scraps of fabric that I have saved from 60's A-line dresses my granny made for me.

I made a very pleasing discovery when Googling to confirm my memory about the dog star (Sirius or God star) being used by east coast fisherman to guide them to harbour - the only reference I found was from a wonderful folk singer/song writer, Tom Fairnie, in his song Rolling Home (avail. under creative commons). When I am creating, I often listen to just one piece of music (not necessarily related in any obvious way to the work) . I find that switching on the music puts me instantly in 'the zone' and I think provides a consistent harmony to the piece. Rolling Home is the background music for Dog Star Strathspey. Thank you for sharing your songs with the world, Mr Fairnie.

2008-12-13T12:14:00.003+11:00

Pot study #12
12.5 x 12.5cm; 5 x 5"
.005 Micron pen

2008-12-09T20:57:00.007+11:00

I have been busy converting much of our dried up old lawn to a vegie patch and today I was able to harvest nearly a whole meal - basil, 3 sorts of squash, radishes and shallots. I made pesto, briefly stir-fried the vegies, tossed in some cooked chickpeas and then slathered on the pesto - dinner - so delicious!

2008-11-30T20:23:00.004+11:00

I stubbed my toe quite often but it was worth it to feel the world beneath my feet. Maybe, if I had been allowed sneakers...

EDM Challenge #199 Draw a toe

2008-11-26T17:46:00.010+11:00

Some Sundays, Daddy got up early and shot rats foraging in the compost heap. Other Sundays, he refused to get up, saying he was feeling bilious - something in the water. Hmmn - tainted water only on Sundays?

After Church, we were allowed to choose something at the sweetie shop. If Granny was with us, she forbad bubblegum and gobstoppers. "All that masticating makes you look vulgar," she said. 'Masticating' is a very vulgar-sounding word, I
thought.

When we got home, the paper and comics had arrived. "Do your jobs and then you can have it"... I sometimes took mine up in the loft and cosied into the pirate chest. I had Wonderland, then Treasure, then Look and Learn. My brother got Beano and then Mad.

2008-11-20T16:56:00.008+11:00

These are the pieces I did in the second semester of a water colour class, one evening a week with lots of homework.
The purpose of the first piece was to experiment with guache, mixed quite thickly. We used black and white photocopies of flower photos to provide form and relative values. We combined flowers, leaves etc from several photos, as we pleased. Using black and white guache, we first did a grey scale and then light, medium and dark plant sections. Next, mixing permanent rose and ultramarine, we did a purple value scale. Mixing the purple with cadmium yellow we produced a yellow to ochre value scale and painted the plant strip on the left. Finally, we had to use the range of purples and yellow/ochre to do the piece on the right.

In the next piece, above, we were to combine guache with watercolour which we had studied last semester. First, we laid sheets of A4 paper on top of our stretched watercolour paper and spattered with watercolour. Removing the A4 paper, we had white, paper-shaped spaces in which we had to use watercolour to paint copies of pages removed from art catalogues. Then we had to use thickish guache to paint a variety of things on top. It's meant to be from the perspective of looking down but I think I have several perspectives here so it looks a little odd.

In the third piece, above, we began by spattering with watercolour onto a wet surface, then drew direct with nib and ink from 'forest floor findings' that we brought in. Then we used guache to colour some items and watercolour to do shadows. I haven't finished this one - nature studies out of context aren't quite my thing.

Finally, we had to combine watercolour, guache, pen and ink and watercolour pencils in a 'cupboard' piece, one door open and the other closed with a poster or similar on it. In the cupboard, we had to depict a 'collection'. I chose some of my son's trophies, with the idea that once successfully caught in a picture, we could throw the gaudy things away - he took the best trophies away when he left home - these are the 'seconds'. There are also some of his war hammer creatures and 'Potato', a soft toy I won at a fair five minutes before my son broke his arm playing on a bouncy castle. So Potato became the hospital friend but now, after this immortalization, I think he too, is headed for the bin. We were shown how to do one point perspective - all the interior lines of the cupboard, except the hoizontal floor and ceiling lines inside the cubbies, run to the centrepoint of the whole rectangle - then had to do the collection with watercolour pencil, mixing from primary colours. The door is guache with pencil over the top to provide the pattern and the calender is done with pen and watercolour.

I have learnt a lot about the various watercolour mediums in this class, though the style is way more precise than I expected. I still would like to learn 'loose' but must finish my memory paintings first.

2008-11-17T17:46:00.003+11:00

I was sketching at the National Botanic Gardens today and of course lots of people stopped to have a look - including 5 1/2 year old Daniel and his Mum. Daniel did this self portrait in my sketchbook. I sketched a wonderful variety of Spring flowers in Kerry's Moly for the Moly exchange - here

2008-09-07T22:13:00.011+10:00

St Andrews was divided into 'town' - butcher, baker, candlestick-maker, tinker, tailor... and 'gown' - university people - which included us. Some 'town' people were sort of honourary 'gown' but I knew very few 'town' people. Sometimes, the 'town-school' boys spat on me as I passed by on the way to my school. Us and them...

Grouse - pheasant - peasant - I thought they all referred to poor Scots in the highlands whom the English tried endlessly to exterminate. So when I heard ... I wondered... Just as well we are 'university'.

Then one day, while reading, I noticed on a page that one 'pheasant' had an 'h' and another, not. I looked it up in my dictionary and reality dawned! What relief that I never asked - everyone would have laughed at me.

2008-07-19T15:11:00.006+10:00

Once or twice, Mummy went to hospital. Children were not allowed to visit so we stood outside and she blew kisses and threw down a bag of sweeties. She must have bought them before she went to hospital.

2008-07-13T22:35:00.006+10:00

At meal times, we had to have some of everything and eat all that was on our plates! This rule was most horrid when we had deep fried cod roe - grey balls with a gluey, granuley paste inside. The Rule versus the gagging throat... Fortunately, Dad loved cod roe balls so if he was hungry, he would suddenly say, "if you're not going to eat that, I'll have it," and swiftly spike it away. Relief, until next time.
That's the Assisi jug with the plaited handle.

2008-07-12T21:35:00.006+10:00

A while ago, I did this sketch of sulphur-crested cockatoos which congregate in their hundreds at this time of year in Canberra to eat acorns. Today, on another bike ride, the unbelievable happened. A cockatoo left its busy gang and flew into my front bikewheel where it got entangled and stuck as I was flying along. I stopped, quite shocked at the sight of the squawking, flapping bird. A woman rode past, saying she couldn't possibly stop to help. Then two guys stopped and after covering the bird's head with a jacket, were able to disentangle it.
It had lost a lot of feathers but no parts seemed to be broken, so they let it go and it flew messily away, feathers awry - poor creature - I don't suppose it will do that again. I sketched this when I got home.

2008-07-09T16:09:00.004+10:00

Once a week, we all lined up for the "don't complain - you're so lucky to get it" spoonful of cod liver oil. "Open! Wider! Quickly!" - Oh, fishy-flavoured slime, most foul - shivers rippled down my spine. My Dad always wore Fair Isle pattern jumpers.

2008-06-08T18:25:00.002+10:00

And here is Shula again. It's hard to sketch her other than asleep as she is quite mobile and our house is not baby-proofed so I have to be ready to jump up at any minute. To think - there used to be playpens.

2008-06-05T14:13:00.005+10:00

My sister is visiting for a month with her baby and so I get to have a turn of Shula, aged 7 1/2 months. Swaddle her firmly, put on some peaceful music and within minutes, she is ready for her modelling work and I am in right-brain mode.
An hour later, we have one un-grumpy baby and two sketches.

After this nap, Shula scavenged for 'droppings' on the kitchen floor and then we read Where is Spot?

2008-05-07T15:30:00.004+10:00

Auntie S sometimes came for Christmas. She always gave us the best books. She wrote our names in with a fountain pen even though she could have used a Biro. Sometimes, Auntie S read just to me.

Auntie S was a bit of a puzzle. She wasn't married and had her own house. She was a headmistress - I couldn't imagine her strapping a queue of children or even confiscating someone's marbles. Her eyes were too twinkly and she was too smiley.

Auntie S - 80 years young today - happy birthday to you. Thank you for all the fond memories.

2008-05-06T21:41:00.005+10:00

Pot study #11
Pen and wash on cold press water colour paper

2008-05-06T20:12:00.005+10:00

This is not my own memory - as so often happens, when I am showing my memory paintings to someone, their memories are jiggled and they recount them to me. I was particularly struck by my friend Judith's memory of going into her father's private space after he died and seeing a lot of war memorial poppies hanging up. She knew his best friend was killed in the war - perhaps her Dad bought a poppy every year for his mate and remembered him in his quiet moments. With Judith's permission, I painted my mental image - I'm sure many details are not correct but as Judith said, the picture would represent many men of her father's generation who remembered in private.
Now in Judith's collection.

2008-05-02T23:28:00.004+10:00

Pot study #10
5 x 5 inches
.005 micron pen on cold press, watercolour paper

2008-04-30T20:41:00.005+10:00

Here are a couple of my homework efforts for the water colour class I'm taking. Because I cycle to the art class, I have a half board with only a half sheet of paper and I have to divide it into three so I get this odd shape. But I like the challenge of making it work - in the landscape format, it's quite theatrical. As you can see, I use the homework exercises to play more with vessels and shadows.

2008-04-30T15:02:00.005+10:00

Down the Drain
Recently, I went to the inland town of Orange to attend the TAFTA Fibre Forum. I took a workshop with Sandy Webster, a mixed media artist from North Carolina. She emphasises content in the book arts and we were instructed to come with a theme to work with. I went to the recycling centre and found three drain tops, all different. Googling the phrase 'down the drain' + visuals, I found lots of stories about things gone or lost down the drain - everything from ducklings, keys, husbands, careers, hopes, the future - so I though there was potential for a book, maybe. I took along a few other related 'ingredients' - some failed rusted dishcloths, threads saved from the washing machine after dyeing fabrics, some papers that resembled tiled surfaces and some plug chains. Creating content in a short time is a hard ask as even a few pages could reasonably take many hours. However, some pieces did evolve over the five days. We also learned a variety of book construction methods and ways of creating secret spaces in books.

Down the Drain 1

Down the Drain 1, detail - open

Note the cockroach that slides in and out of the lower grill

Down the Drain 2

Down the Drain 2 - open
Unfinished - there will be 28 different cut-out drain patterns, each with text written on rice paper inserted behind in such a way as to give an appearance of the moon waxing and waning over a month - suggesting time down the drain, maybe - time is precious

Down the Drain 3Down the Drain 3 - open

We learned to spin thread out of mulberry paper - such thread or the process is called shifu. Apparently, Japanese warriors wrote messages on paper, then shredded and spun it and sent it via a messenger to the receiver who unspun it and laid it back together to read the message. Anyway, writing on the paper before shredding, gives a nice effect to the thread. In this book, you can see the shredded text on the left, becoming thread, escaping through the spine and then whirling down the drain, back over the text. Words/knowledge/thought lost, maybe. On the right, I used some old, bead-style plug chain to 'write' text

2008-04-25T21:24:00.004+10:00

Pot study #8
5 x 5 inches

Pot study #9
5 x 5 inches
pen and wash on cold press water colour paper
I'm still inspired by the possibilities of these pot arrangements. At the textile forum I attended in Orange last week, I purchased these beautiful sea-urchin-shaped vessels. Handling them gives one the magical feel of finding a whole, unbroken sea-urchin but actually they are knitted, stiffened and rolled in sands of different colours by textile artist Jane Whitten who I will link to when she has a web site.

2008-04-03T22:19:00.005+11:00

Pot study #7
5.5 x 5.5"
Micron pen and water colour on water colour paper

Continuing my 'pot studies' and mindful of this week's Illustration Friday theme, 'homage', I got out my monster vase - a wonderful $5 worth from the charity shop - and set a small white pot in front of it. Playing around with shadows again, I noticed the reflection of the small pot on the larger one - and indeed a reflection of the larger pot off the ground back on to itself. Difficult to render but worth a go. I couldn't resist using colour this time.

2008-04-01T21:45:00.003+11:00

Pot study #6
5.5 x 5.5"
micron pen .005 on cold press water colour paper

I've solved my difficulty with 'morning pages'. I don't like the idea of writing screeds and then falling under the proverbial bus and having some one else come along and read them. Nor do I like the idea of throwing them straight away. But writing small, and overlapping lines straight onto an art work makes lovely texture, don't you think!
As you can see, I'm having fun with these pot studies -focussing on using composition and playing with shadows to create an expressive piece.

2008-03-31T22:10:00.003+11:00

Pot study #5
5.5 x 5.5"
Micron pen .005 on cold press water colour paper

2008-03-30T22:02:00.003+11:00

Pot study #4
5.5 x 5.5"
micron pen .005 on cold press water colour paper

2008-03-26T14:14:00.006+11:00

Pot study #3

Micron pen on cold press water colour paper

7.5 x 7.5 inches

2008-03-25T16:47:00.007+11:00

Pot study #2
Micron pen on cold press, watercolour paper

7.5 x 7.5 inches

This is my second attempt at this arrangement - I learnt to check the composition very carefully before beginning, because it's difficult to change things halfway through.

2008-03-22T19:27:00.014+11:00

For a while, I have been intending to take a closer look at, and be inspired by, the works of Giorgio Morandi. He mostly painted arrangements of pots and boxes in muted colours. The compositions are very unusual, often a central arrangement with the tops of the pots nearly aligned. He also did beautiful etchings with detailed crosshatching.I purchased a variety of small, old pots from a charity shop and made a 'corner box' out of a sheet of foam core board to isolate my arrangements as well as project shadows, which Morandi often eliminated, but I find very interesting.But the colours were too distracting, so I painted many of them white. This felt like dressing them in school uniforms but, unlike uniforms, the white had the effect of enhancing their form and individuality.I played around with them for a while and did some drawings. But I didn't achieve whatever it was I wanted. I have recently been working with a beautiful blue piece of fabric - and wanted to continue working in colour so I roughly over-painted some of the pots.

... and set up an arrangement, again with the spotted scarf, in the corner box. I painted with water colour, 6 1/2 inches square - and, playing around with the computer cropping, realized that the importance of the shadows is enhanced if the blue pot is cropped on the right. - still, it looks a bit clumsy.I tried again, this time without the scarf - and experimented with text as texture and to provide a 'base'.Then I thought I'd try machine embroidering it. I should have experimented with thread colour swatches before starting, as even a 4x4 inch piece like this takes several hours to stitch. In the event, most of the threads I had, turned out to be too frail to use for such dense stitching. In this medium, the blue pot looked uncomfortably chopped off - but it's easy to just place a bit of extra backing in the right place and add to the design.

Still life

4 x 4"

These are some pots that won't be over-painted as I really like their 'outfits'. Watch this space for more pot studies.

2008-03-10T20:51:00.002+11:00

My mother loved to sing. Sometimes she would give a rendering at breakfast time. Some of her favourite songs were:

2008-03-04T22:13:00.005+11:00

Just once, on a visit to us, Grandpa said he was going to swim. What a surprise - only children and lunatics swim in the freezing, sewage-soupy sea! Even stranger - when he appeared from behind the sand dunes - his bathing suit! My suit had rows of shirring elastic so was all bubbly-bobbly - and never dried once wet. Actually, Grandpa only paddled.

2008-03-03T15:00:00.002+11:00

Blue Lady with Cactus
45cm x 45 cm:18" x 18"
February 29 2008
Applique, machine quilting
This piece was done in response to a challenge to be inspired by Matisse's use of textiles in his paintings (see the book, Matisse: his art and his textiles - pub. Royal academy of Arts, 2005) I actually missed the deadline, but the leap day seemed to be an extra day in my calendar and I buried myself in my studio. I had a photo of Matisse standing on his balcony next to a large cactus and I happened to have some very dramatic cactus fabric. After several hours of playing around with fabric bits - standing back to view it ... I had to laugh...

2008-02-28T13:51:00.006+11:00

Just playing with primary colours, collage and machine stitching on 300g/m2 watercolour paper. 6.5"x6.5"

I love this spotted scarf. In the September/October 07 issue of the English magazine Embroidery, there is an article about the development of these spotted bandanas. Glasgow, Scotland was a textile centre in the 1800's and there was a Red Society devoted to seeking better ways of dying light-fast and wash-proof red fabrics. In 1785 the dye known as Turkey red (or Smyrna or Adrianople) found its way to Glasgow. In 1802, Henry Monteith began producing bandanas, bleaching out the white spots, instead of tye-dying, and achieving a rate of 224 every 10 minutes. They became a popular neckware and were taken to America by Scots forced from the Highlands during the Clearances. In America, many moved west, droving cattle - and so the cowboy with the red-spotted scarf became part of history.

2007-12-21T13:27:00.001+11:00

Graduation ceremonies can be tedious but today I was watching my daughter receive her first-class honours degree in physics and a university medal for outstanding achievement. Hoem educashun reely werks! - especially when there is lots of play, reading aloud, adventure, conversation and time to just 'be'. (Click on picture to enlarge)

2007-12-03T17:24:00.000+11:00

At school , we copied history from the board for hours. In Scottish history, there are only two women - Mary Queen of Scots and Flora MacDonald. Apart from them, it's all about Englishmen killing Scots over religion and power.

In St Andrews, history seeps from every corner. Sometimes, I stood outside the castle at the spot where George Wishart was burned at the stake for preaching protestant reform, and imagined the scene. His clothes were stuffed with gunpowder but he still took a long time to die.

At home, Sindy was found guilty of the crime of impersonating Barbie. We couldn't be seen owning such an imposter! We made a guillotine with meccano, filled her head with tomato sauce and set the teddies round to watch... of course, the axe wouldn't chop so we had to finish her off with a saw. We didn't like dolls anyway.

2007-09-12T19:36:00.000+10:00

One evening, just before my seventh birthday, I couldn't find Mummy anywhere. Then I saw her, through a crack in the garage door, painting a small bike crimson. I know it will be for me - my first bike.

Once the trainer wheels were off, I could go adventuring anywhere, all about, to see the world...

"Hey, Girlie!"

What's happening here? I never forget to pull up my pants! Haven't their mothers taught them anything? I always just cycle quickly away and of course, I don't tell. It would probably be me that gets in trouble. I think it's something to do with girls having to keep their legs together when they sit.

Blogger protocol seems to require that I black the 'essentials' out. I'd rather do that than change the composition as these are the pictures that fall from my memory onto the page. I want to include this image as it seems such an intrinsic part of small town life in the days when children were allowed to roam free.

2007-09-02T20:01:00.001+10:00

Every day, the nappies had to be boiled in the boiler, then put through the wringer. I had to stand well back as the water was very hot, and children sometimes got mashed flat in wringers. My mother got a washing machine when the third child came along.

We also used the boiler for bottling fruit. Granny did a lot of that and I often helped her. We topped and tailed the gooseberries, cored and sliced the apples, and stoned plums and apricots before packing them into jars and pouring over the sugar syrup.

2007-08-24T14:08:00.000+10:00

Sometimes, we went on holiday to the west coast of Scotland where the islands are called Rum, Muck and 'Egg'! Once, Daddy took me fishing. I had never been fishing before.

Just when I was sure that there would be no fish, there was a tugging on my line and Daddy was shouting and laughing at me to pull it in. Huge, ugly, flopping and flipping - I just wanted a goldfish. "Get it away. Put it out." But I did catch it. Me, not Daddy.

On the way home, something was not right. Daddy was worried and rowing as hard as he could. I didn't have a turn of the oars. I sat, silent and small in the bottom of the boat. When we got back, Mummy was on the beach, packing up the baby and the green rug.

2007-07-31T19:38:00.000+10:00

Once, I was invited to attend the youth group that my aunt and uncle ran for their church. We made viking boats from cardboard and then painted and varnished them.
The next week, we took the boats to the outdoor Steprock swimming pool. At the base of the masts, we stuffed balls of cottonwool soaked in meths and set light to them. It was a magical sight as they drifted away, beneath the flood-lit walls of the ancient, ruined castle.

Thirty years later, this activity was the inspiration for the equally magical 'viking-style' funeral of our beautiful, but profoundly handicapped, 3 year old daughter, Hermione Rose. See here.

2007-07-27T10:01:00.000+10:00

'I wish I lived in a caravan,

With a horse to drive, like a pedlar-man.

Where he comes from, nobody knows,

Or where he goes to, but on he goes!...'

That was my favourite poem. When the gypsies came, I loved to see the accordion man pump the bellows and breathe his joy and sorrow into the music. Oh, to be a gypsy child - no shoes, no school, no Sunday best...

I asked my parents if I could play an accordion. They said I had to learn the piano first. I bet the gypsies never played piano - they couldn't have fitted one in their caravan. They didn't need music or lessons either. The children joined in as best they could and I think they had such fun they just got better and better.

Inspired by Illustration Friday 'Poem'

2007-07-20T10:45:00.000+10:00

Muma and Dada lived next door to us in Boarhills. They weren't really relatives - we just called them that. Muma had the most musical laugh. She cleaned at the school and did the lunches. She always wore an apron and made the best cakes and cocka-leeky soup. They actually displayed the photos of their children, who they named after themselves.

Dada was always smiling. He was Polish and once walked home from Siberia. He was the ploughman and had to get up very early to feed the cart-horses so they would be ready for work. I think Muma and Dada believed they were the luckiest people in the world.

Dada kept racing pigeons in a loft in his back garden. He was so proud of his winners.

Late in the Autumn, when we heard the wild ducks flying over, Daddy and Dada would set off at dawn to go duck shooting. Once, I crept out of bed and followed them a while.

EDM challenge # 125 Draw some birds

2007-06-06T20:52:00.000+10:00

Sometimes, the doorbell rang. The onion man came once a year. He was thin and brown and didn't speak English. Why did he cycle from far away to sell onions in our street? Except for onions, he had no luggage and where did he sleep?

The coalman, smiley, dirty and torn tossed the huge sack over his shoulder and did a fast trot to the back of the garage where he sliced open the stitching and tipped the sparkling, blue-black, jagged lumps of coal into the bunker. Then he did it nine time more.
Every Friday, the icecream man announced his arrival with twinkly, tinny music. (Thanks to endless adult warnings, I imagined myself running onto the road and getting hit, SPLAT, by a car). One of us children got to choose a chocolate, neopolitan or raspberry ripple family block. It wouldn't last long in our fridge's little ice box so we always ate it all for tea.

Once, the children of our cleaning lady came. "Have you seen our mother?" the oldest one asked. "She's been gone a week."
"She hasn't been this week," my mother said, though she didn't say that the last time their mother was here, she had stolen the Sunday sherry bottles. Mum gave them a loaf of bread and some apples which they started to eat straight away.

2007-06-06T17:39:00.000+10:00

Walloppings - a very bad idea

2007-05-14T20:56:00.000+10:00

At Church, girls and women get to do nothing except worship men and make the tea. I like to look at all the patterns - the rush weave on the seats, the herringbone on the floor and the tired cracks in the kneelers. I wish our church would have a kneeler embroidery project.

There are meant to be ten commandments. 'Love thy neighbour' can't be one - look at the Reverend!! Ian Paisley stirring up murder and mayhem in Northern Ireland - driving even my Granny to hate (him, not the Catholics). Church people here seem to observe only four commandments - Thou shalt know that boys are best. Thou shalt wear Sunday clothes. Thou shalt push back thy cuticles (females only). Thou shalt not question.

The first person I knew who died was the Sunday school teacher. She was not old. It was very odd. If Heaven is so wonderful, and she's been chosen to be with God, why is everyone so sad? I don't think I'll be chosen soon 'cause I never get chosen for anything, but just in case, perhaps I'll only mouth the prayers.

2007-05-13T09:53:00.000+10:00

For some reason, I always had to have long hair - such a bother and so painful. Mummy brushed it in the mornings while she tested my brother on his tables and latin.

"(bang)11, (bang)12, (bang)13, right 8 times now, 8? (bang)17, (bang)18 ... " - "64"

"3?" - "24"

"(bang)33, 34, 35...now, amo"

"amo, amare, amari..."

"...(bang)99, (super-bang)100"

EDM challenge #118 - draw some hair and memory painting

2007-05-04T21:47:00.000+10:00

EDM challenge - Draw something round
A pumpkin pincushion - sort of round! Toni, at Forum, gave this to me - just what I needed for my sewing spot by the fire.

2007-04-22T16:02:00.000+10:00

On My Way
2007
50cmh x 55w (20" x 22")
Paint and fabric applique on old woollen blanket and calico backing and stitch
Done in a workshop with Kate Green
In this piece I sought to catch the pleasure I have found in my paintbox, sketchbook and bicycle, particularly doing my year-long FiveKRadius challenge.

2007-03-30T12:11:00.000+10:00

At school, I watched the clouds sail across the window and the three hands of the clock swirl, stroll and sloth around - "Come on 4 o'clock."
"Eyes on the board!" Cumulus. S is for stupid, scary, strap. W is for why - don't ask.

Every term, we took our report book home to show our parents. Once, I got an A. I was so proud. On the way back to school, I had another look but it was drizzling and the page got smudged. The teacher was so angry, she put it on the shelf for everyone to see - for a week! H is for horrible, hurtful, humiliation.

At playtime, we played ...

But if I had a sixpence, I escaped to Joe's Cafe where it was steamy warm and the air was raw vinegar. I read my book and listened to other people's chatter.

"...all for your own good... (said the ape). There'll be schools and offices and whips and muzzles and saddles and cages and kennels and prisons - Oh, everything."
"But we don't want all those things," said an old bear. "We want to be free..."
from 'The Last Battle' by C S Lewis

2007-03-02T18:34:00.000+11:00

We had birthday presents at breakfast time. The birthday child had a wreath of flowers round their plate. Other children each received a small un-birthday present. I often asked for a Pelham string puppet to add to my puppet family.

We could choose any shape for a birthday cake and Mummy and Granny would make it. One year, I had a volcano cake. It had licorice allsorts and marshmallow 'rocks' stuck into chocolate icing lava - and sparklers and candles. Suddenly, the marshmallows caught alight and burnt icing oozed down the sides. What an eruption! Then someone doused it with the party lemonade. My other Granny said that eating burnt things helped her live to a very old age.
(memory book paintings)

Today is the first birthday for this Scribbles Adagio blog. This past year, I have learned to draw, started daily sketchercising (on my Five K Radius blog) and done all the memory paintings on this blog. I have Danny Gregory to thank for getting me started with sketching and the visitors from the Yahoo Group Everyday Matters, and others for encouraging me to keep going. Here's to another year.

2007-02-27T22:50:00.000+11:00

Einstein's Tablecloth, Haiku (5,7,5)
2005
90cmh x 113w
Responding to a challenge to 'be inspired by Japanese fabric', I chanced upon a roll of 40's vintage Japanese silk, already stitched in a long strip and bizarrely cut full of holes. Seeking to manipulate the fabric as little as possible, I decided upon this 'visual haiku' format. As I patched the holes, hand pieced and quilted (the quilting lines are about 1/8 inch apart), it became a meditation on how we use and value time.

2007-02-25T22:23:00.000+11:00

Tray-cloth
28cmh x 40w
2004
Done from a postcard size linocut that I made many years ago, when the children were small - they wanted to make biscuits so we got out all the stuff and made the dough and a big mess - then they ran off to do something else. The thought flashed through my mind that I may as well roll myself out - and this image appeared. Now it is embroidered, ordinary sewing thread and single strand DMC on black homespun.

2007-02-21T21:48:00.000+11:00

The Meeting
2005
28cm diameter
That's me in the red shoes, about 25 years ago, at a group training session. What an incongruous lot we were!

2007-02-20T10:12:00.000+11:00

Three Bags Full
2003
55"h x 76"w
commercial cotton prints; wool/polyester batting
Construction by piecing appliqued, postcard-sized blocks reflects both my original linocut postcard (conceived while crossing the road outside the supermarket) and the many fragments of inspiration, beginning with childhood songs and stories, gathered during life's journey and stuck like postcards to the noticeboard of my soul. This quilt speaks of optimism - which underpins persistence, resilience, risk-taking and joy. Optimism can be delightfully replenished by simple things in life.
Exhibited in the Husqvarna Viking Gallery of Quilt Art, Spirit and Strength exhibition, 2003

Detail of shopping bags

2007-02-18T21:17:00.000+11:00

Cajun Nights
2002
Approx 80 x 100 cm
Sleeping upside down to escape his snores. Frequent waking to a roasting. HRT? Pills or patches? or menopause tea? For me or for him? Well, the vine's still green and new seeds sprout.

I woke up in a hot sweat at 3.00am one night and thought, "there must be a quilt in this!" I did some research on menopause, looked at HRT products at a pharmacy, went to a women's information evening - and so the quilt happened.

2007-02-15T21:59:00.000+11:00

Climb Every Mountain
A4 challenge exercise - response to a postcard of an icy mountain.

2007-02-14T21:42:00.000+11:00

Pool Peace
A4 challenge exercise
A response to the word 'contemplation'. I can contemplate as I do laps (always on my back) at the pool. There is a new ceiling there and it has interesting shapes - just enough to keep my mind ticking over and yielding occasional glimmers of inspiration.

2007-02-11T20:26:00.000+11:00

Ode to mothers who wake at 3.00am and worry 'til dawn
1999

A4 mini-quilt - a challenge exercise - a response to a postcard of a rocky coastline.

As my 14 year old daughter prepares to go to sea for the first time (on a tall ship), I cannot help but think of the drowned sailors, their mothers at home, and all mothers who must let their young ones go. Just have to have a cup of tea and watch the next dawn. The triangular/square background is part of the traditional 'storm at sea' block.

2007-02-08T21:11:00.000+11:00

Loving Hermione #3 When despair came yet again to claim me, I played a wild and joyful tune
2001
95cmh x 100w
A response to the Theme Women's Work. With the birth of my profoundly handicapped daughter, I became a carer, joining thousands of other women daily doing the impossible despite constant exhaustion and an inner waterfall of tears. Playing my accordion provided moments of oblivious fun during those years.
95cmh x 100w

2007-02-06T20:44:00.000+11:00

Loving Hermione #2 Release
17.5"h x 14"w
Response to the theme Horizon.
This piece captures the moment of death of my beautiful, profoundly handicapped, 3 year old daughter, Hermione Rose. The dagger of The Future fell out of my heart, creating a new horizon for me. Hermione's soul flying free on its journey, lighting up her tree of life, our souls left behind (mine diminished through exhaustion), the rocking chair now empty - and the back - brightly coloured, the quilting lines coming through to provide a memory of the past.

2007-02-05T22:19:00.000+11:00

Song of the Unsung
2000
120cmh x 80w
Chux dishcloths,cotton homespun, organza, old lace tablecloth, buttons
Pieced, stamped and machine quilted' in the ditch'
Created for the Celebration of the Centenary of Federation Quilt Exhibition, this quilt captures the 'get on with the job, do it economically, add a little something special' attitude to life held by my grandmother, Nora Lightburne (1898 - 1996). It is my salute to all those whose efforts quietly underpinned so many achievements of the last 100 years.

2007-02-04T21:58:00.000+11:00

Metamorphosis - self portrait on the 23rd day
125cmh x 125w
1999
Inspired by a 'rhythm of life' theme. The kitchen dog represents my monthly 'dog of a day'. She cannot escape as she has been lassooed by the vacuum cleaner. Juxtaposed is the absurd idealisation of domesticity emblazoned on the yellow dishcloths (difficult to see in these photos, they are dancing ballerinas, as on the corner blocks - click to enlarge). A daily diary, embroidered on the contraceptive pills, gives a real picture of my life. A mood graph goes off the scale on the 23rd day, and the 23rd ballerina is peeled back like a chrysalis skin.

2007-01-23T16:53:00.000+11:00

In the bottom drawer in her bedroom, Mummy kept secret craft supplies. They might be for presents or to bring out on a rainy day - things like pipe-cleaners, felt, raffia, kapok and Copydex, the only glue that would stick fabric. Sometimes, I had a peek - then I could say, "do you happen to have...?" And Mummy would say, "I just might..." and go and get it.
(memory book painting)

2007-01-16T13:58:00.000+11:00

One of the best Sunday afternoon outings was going to the dump. We didn't usually throw anything away but scavenging was great fun. We found lots of useful things.

Once, my brother found a lot of chemistry glassware. He took it home, washed it and set it out to dry. The chemistry professor passed by. "That looks like our glassware," he said. "Finder's keepers," my brother replied. "I might sell you some." My brother was having a real shop.

Another time, my brother found an unused lemon soap. "That'll do for Mum's birthday," he said and put it in Dad's coat pocket for safe-keeping. Months later, when we were visiting Granny and Grandpa in Bridlington, we went to Sewerby Park. Dad felt in his pocket for a sweet for the camel. He pulled out the lemon soap and offered it to the camel which chomped it all up.
(Memory book paintings and EDM challenge # 101 Draw some soap)

2007-01-10T20:43:00.000+11:00

We prized plastic bags. We tried not to tear them. We washed them, hung them out to dry and then carefully put them away.

(memory painting)

2006-12-02T21:43:00.000+11:00

At nursery school, we each had our own biscuit tin for elevenses. We refilled it at home on Sundays, before bedtime. We had to make the biscuits last the week - eat too many and there'd be none by Friday - Thursday, even. I liked the chocolate jaffas best and the ones with icing pictures.

(memory book painting)

2006-11-28T22:14:00.000+11:00

This is where the witch lives. The big boys said so. They told us that she saw a boy stealing her apples and she caught him and ate him, then sawed off the over-hanging branches. Does she have a cauldron?

At Halloween, we made lanterns out of turnips. We dressed up as something scary and learned a scary poem or skit to say at the houses we visited. Maybe we would get an apple, a sweet or a penny. Of course, we never went to the witch's house.

One year, I made a witch's cloak, hat and broom. We went to Agnes's Granny. "Come in, come in..." and there in an armchair sat the Real Witch. Hiding under my hat, I trembled through my piece. "You did it beautifully", she said, and held out not a sweet or a penny, but a florin - 24 pennies - a month's pocket money. Don't listen to boys!

(memory book paintings)

2006-10-18T16:03:00.000+10:00

"The milk's boiling over!"

"Oh, who's left the milk to boil over?"

"The MILK!"

"Audrey! The MILK!"

"Wipe it up straight away."

Our family was always boiling over the milk.

(memory book painting)

2006-10-18T10:40:00.000+10:00

One Sunday afternoon, when Mummy was sick and wanted a long rest, Daddy helped us to build an orange box kite. I wanted it to have a tail but my big brother said it wouldn't need one. How did he know? I wished I could know why the kite would even fly at all... It's too hard to hold - we need to make a string winder now.

EDM challenge #88 Draw something breezy and memory book painting

2006-10-17T17:59:00.000+10:00

Daddy was going to Russia but first he had to find his ticket which he had hidden in a book for safekeeping. Mummy and him were very cross. If he can't find it, then he won't be able to go and then I won't get any zuruck mitbringen.

But he did find the ticket and a long time later, he came home, bringing me a wind-up tumbling monkey for a mitbringen.

EDM Challenge #78 Draw a souvenir and memory book painting

2006-10-10T17:22:00.000+10:00

Sometimes we had white bread. Granny made it and she gave me a bit of dough so I could make a loaf too. We always made plaits. I liked it best hot from the oven with lemon curd or marmite but Granny said it should be kept for several days so people wouldn't eat it so fast.

EDM Challenge #85 Draw some bread and memory book painting

2006-09-14T14:22:00.000+10:00

Our first house was next to Bill Roger's farm at Boarhills. Sometimes I crept round to the farmyard and climbed the haystack in the barn. It's a good place to be.

Illustration Friday Farm and Memory book painting

2006-09-07T13:30:00.000+10:00

I went to stay all by myself with Granny and Grandpa in Bridlington. Grandpa showed me how to make his favourite breakfast. Hot, tinned tomatoes on toast ("don't bother with the toaster - new-fangled rubbish, they are") with grated cheese on top - put it under the grill - watch to see it doesn't burn. Scrumptious.

I make it still and always think fondly of him.

EDM Challenge #75 Illustrate a recipe and memory book painting

2006-09-07T13:13:00.000+10:00

During a long car journey, in America, in the Summer of '67, I woke to find we had stopped at a 'gas station' to buy 'gas'. Standing right next to our 'auto', I saw a girl wearing a leather mini-skirt (up 'til then I had only seen mini-skirts on television when the Mods and Rockers were having battles) - Oh, my goodness!!! - what would Granny say?
"What's pizza, Dad? What's a pizzeria?"
"Ah, when I went to Naples, after the war, I had pit-sa..."
We didn't get to try one.
(memory book painting)

2006-09-06T13:13:00.000+10:00

At last I have got round to binding new watercolour pages into an old cover. I chose this French grammar book from my shelves because I liked the size (11x16cm; 4.5x7"), it was in reasonable condition, easy to take apart and I didn't think I'd ever need it. After I'd taken the pages out, however, I started to read them and thought how much better French grammar was explained therein and if only I'd had such a book when I was at school... To do the rebinding, I followed Jan's instructions - very easy and satisfying. Thank you Jan for inspiring me.
More technical details requested by Jana: In this book, there are 5 signatures(sets of pages). Each signature is 3 rectangles of paper, folded in half to make 6 pages, 12 sides. The paper is Arches watercolour, cold-pressed, medium rough, 185gm/M2 - this makes a spine thickness of about 1 cm. Jan hasn't explained how to do the stitching. I already knew a method or two - I now want to do another with smooth paper so maybe I will do some diagrams of the stitching method as I go along. If you are comfortable with a needle, this rebinding of a book takes only a couple of hours, you get the pages you want, any extras added in that you fancy and the pages open flat.

2006-07-11T14:53:00.000+10:00

In 1967, we went to Woods Hole, in America, for the summer. One day, we went to the marshy 'Sippawisset'. We had nets and buckets and soon discovered there were lots of eels. Dad said they would be good to eat.
"THEY'RE GETTING OUT, DAD! WE NEED A LID."
"WELL, FIND ONE, AND CATCH THEM AGAIN."

Back home, the eels had to be skinned - not as easy as skinning rabbits - there's nothing to hold on to and they're so slippy.

Then Mum made eel pie - with mashed potato on top. It was full of horrid, little bones. "Crunch them up," Dad said.
... For once, leftovers were not served up another day and we never went eeling again.

(memory book paintings)

2006-07-08T14:41:00.000+10:00

EDM challenge # 74 Draw some clouds and memory book painting

When it was a little less cloudy than usual, my mother liked to note that, "there's just enough blue in the sky to make a cat a pair of trousers."

I think the 'cat' actually referred to sailors, hence the 'need' for some blue.

2006-06-21T12:29:00.000+10:00

EDM challenge #71 Draw a sport and memory book painting

Some winters, we did a child swap with our down-the-street cousins - I went skiing with them and their littlest stayed with us. I loved to ski but by the end of each morning class my feet were sooooooooooooo cold.

EDM challenge #69 Draw a favourite beverage and memory book painting

.... we had lunch in the Combi-van - hot tomato soup - and watched the droplets race down the steamed-up windows. Then, out into the cold again for a free session, all of us together.

2006-06-16T14:29:00.000+10:00

Stinky school toilets! Pesky boys! I always tried to hold on all day.
(memory book painting)

2006-06-12T22:20:00.000+10:00

EDM challenge #70 Draw something you fear and memory book painting

At last, the day came when I felt big enough and brave enough to walk along the highest wall of the pier. It was very windy up there.

2006-06-10T18:14:00.000+10:00

EDM challenge #67 Draw something Mum and memory book painting

Every day, soon after breakfast, my mother said, "I must go and put my hair up".

2006-06-09T15:28:00.000+10:00

When littlest sister didn't need the big pram anymore, Dad and us used the wheels to build a sand yacht. We lashed it to the back of the car and towed it through the town to the West Sands where there was a long straight road that led to the town dump. It went better there than on the sand. Once, second sister fell off the front and the sand yacht passed right over her. We didn't notice until we heard a voice calling from behind. She was just a bit grazed.
(memory painting)

2006-06-02T20:59:00.002+10:00

Everyone had jobs to do. Mine were variously... laying the fire - first chop the sticks and fill the coal scuttle - remember to sweep up afterwards.

... cleaning the family's shoes. Granny's are the lumpy ones with room for her corns and they have to be brushed with a wire brush. I loved to clean the red shoes with slimy paint from a tube.

...and collecting littlest sister from nursery school and running for the bus. That's my best scab on the back of my leg. I kept it going for a whole year, digging at it with my compass or fountain pen. It was something to do when school was too boring and my nails were already bitten past the quick.
("Don't get your foot stuck in a grating", Dad used to say as we were going out.)

2006-05-18T13:16:00.000+10:00

Jako has tagged me.
My closet is too boring (it's really my DH's space) so here's a tiny selection of what's beside my bed. A lamp that was passed to me - I didn't choose it but it has a certain charm.
And Clown, recently retrieved from a box of childhood toys; a 'nose' my son made with help from my brother, for resting my glasses on; a tub of Nivea - I'm addicted to the beautiful blue and a glass of water that I now can't reliably use as I can never remember whether I've used it to wash my painting brush in!

And here is my fridge - full of - too, too much- I don't want to think about it - but today particularly featuring one lovely green lettuce; eggs our hens didn't lay since they have been twice taken by foxes so the hen-run is vacant; pink, plum fluff, just made - from my father's plums and a can of Carnation milk; gravy waiting for sausages to be added - a meal for my parents so my Dad doesn't have to cook so much as well as care for Mum, and a red pencil on a piece of string so everyone can add to the shopping list.

And I don't have a car but my studio is a converted carport. It has everything in it (except food which would bring in the cockroaches). Featuring today, scissors (17 pairs somewhere, here badly drawn because I couldn't actually find any); Clothilda, my muse; my sewing machine; the 'last elephant'?(Ihope not), made in Africa from a Mortein(insect spray)can; and a headline from the newspaper - 'Missing Mother Found'. Note the sign by the door - it catches my 'I want to do art but sometimes I just don't get started' dilemma.
I don't know who else to tag. A lot of people have done it recently. If you haven't, go ahead - it's fun - 5 things each in your closet, car and fridge - or anywhere - you don't have to draw them.

2006-05-16T16:14:00.000+10:00

EDM Challenge #66
Draw a fire hydrant

Very early one morning, over 20 years ago, I was helping my boyfriend, Ralph, type up an essay when we heard a huge explosion and then a very strange noise. We crept outside, and there, down the street, was a surging fountain! We walked closer to inspect and found a car with a fire hydrant wedged under the front. The driver had fled - most likely he was intoxicated.

How amazing after all these years, I should be prompted to think of that night and even draw it. Ralph and I are now married and our children stay up late to finish university assignments!

2006-05-08T21:06:00.000+10:00

BULLY
(memory book painting)

2006-05-08T20:42:00.000+10:00

One morning, I came downstairs and noticed a familiar marine-blue, but very strange fluff frothing out of the gerbil cage... Oh, no... it's my new school jumper that Granny knitted - nibbled into a million tiny curls in just one night - and let me see - they've laid 1,2,3,4...8 babies in it. I put a piece of wood over the cage to hide the evidence until the babies were reared. No one seemed to notice.
(memory book painting)