New paintings and regular art updates.
I was at Spode studios today selecting the images I want hung at my Retrospective exhibition. They are a colourful and eclectic mix. It should be up tomorrow. I’m having a closing evening on Friday when most of the work will be for sale. However a few works that are of my hubby and myself are staying with me.
I need one if those old fashioned ‘intermission’ films they used to show between films at a Saturday matinee at the cinema to relax my mind. Gentle music and the sight of a potters wheel twirling might help me to sleep. I’ve forgotten the various little strategies I use to try and fall asleep. Pain and discomfort have held my mind up like a theif of sleep. Haunting me in the night. A few, drowsy thoughts and I’m awake again, sometimes disturbed by a heartbeat out of turn or the patter of cats paws. I have things to do today and I didn’t want to be tired. 6am…..goodnight, I will try counting sheep
Green moss spreads over tree roots, a grass seed must have blown in or washed there. It’s nestled in a small pocket of soil in the hollow of two roots. Good to see green when the world is mainly grey and brown.
We were on a walk on a dry day, but moisture from the previous days rain had enhanced the luminous colour of the moss, it was almost lime green in contrast to the darker grass. A real hint of the coming Spring.
I only took the photo because I joined a moss appreciation group on Facebook. Along with other groups, it makes you look differently and more closely at the world.
What are three objects you couldn’t live without?
I tell a lie,
I could live
But would life be worth it?
Colours swirl and fade,
Brushstrokes create
Patterned surfaces
Canvas grabs paint
Textures grow
Light seems to flow.
No, without my creative things
A life of sadness it brings.
Give me my paints,
I will build mountains
Canvas for landscape
Or face?
Who knows.
Brushes manipulate
Joy it creates.
We just held, a celebration of my hubbys life. He was always interested in acting and theatrical performances so when my friends offered to greet guests at the start of the celebrations on stilts and in circus costumes I had to say yes. They stood outside and looked funny and magnificent. They stayed and enjoyed the rest of the evening. A group of us sang ‘always look on the bright side of life’. A good friend read a eulogy and showed slides and video of my husband. We had almost 200 photos of him on the hall walls. People read poems for him including one specially written and ‘do not go gentle into that dark night’ we had a harmonica playing and a friend singing and playing the banjo. There was a lovely buffet laid on by the hall.
People also wrote memories of him on cards so I could take them away. The plan is to create a memory book of the celebration. I took some of my portraits of him up to the hall.
All in all it was a fantastic evening and I was very pleased with how it went. I think my hubby would have appreciated the occasion. X
Do you believe in fate/destiny?
Which way do the dice fall for you? Can you control your fate or is it out of your hands? I’ve always thought I have some control, some freedom of thought. I don’t know any more.
Am I fated to end my life cast away on a desert island, or skydiving on a Sunday afternoon? No chance, they are just random thoughts. But I can sometimes see a pathway I don’t like. I will fight against that.
Destiny? A destination that is foretold or preordained? Like a Princess who is destined to become a Queen. Maybe that is what my destiny will be… To be a rich and famous artist? Nah!
I’m finding old portraits
Portals to a previous time
Not photographic images
But paint on canvas
You made me smile
You made me laugh
And cry too
So I hold onto these
Small tokens of love
With all my strength.
X
From the Internet ‘Kintsugi, (literally gold seams) is a traditional repair method that takes the broken or chipped parts of cherished vessels, glues them back together with a Japanese lacquer, and paints the seams with gold or silver powder.’
I’ve taken that idea to create this possibly last portrait of my hubby. It’s called ‘Mend Him’, and it’s my wish to put him back together again. It’s a bit rough and ready, but it expresses my feeling of loss. I think it captures his tiredness as he got older… I started this a few months before he died.
I miss him so much and if I could I would mend him, turn back time, use any power available to restore him to his best. X
Ugh! Red sky this morning, wet and cold warning.
It’s March 1st, St David’s day, symbol the daffodil, saints day of Wales. I have a few uninspiring tete a tete narcissi daffodils at the front of the house but they look a bit sad and forlorn.
Today is the first day of Spring here. I hope it bucks it’s ideas up!
It brightened up in the afternoon, but there may be snow, showers then fog later. What fun.
In other news I’m plotting a joint exhibition with other friends later in the year. I’m hoping I might get some respite from the tablets I’ve started taking. You never know. I just want to feel better.
Do you enjoy your job?
I gave up work to look after my hubby and try and set up as an artist. Sadly circumstances mean that he is no longer here and I don’t have the possibility of keeping my artists studio.
I won’t stop painting though, creativity is my reason for living. Despite health issues I cannot give it up. So I suppose really I do have a job, but it’s very much part time. I will still accept commissions and do my best to produce quality art work. I hope I continue long into the future, drawing on these recent events to produce new art.
Mallaband-Brown