New paintings and regular art updates.
I thought they were holding hands but my friend said dancing. Imagine the branch in the middle is two arms entwined, clasped hand to elbow Then the branches on the other side of the trunks are like outstretched arms, and the other branches higher up are like hair flying outwards as they spin each other in a dizzy whirl of autumn leaves..
An idea for a painting. I also like the way the hedge cuts between them and splits the composition.
X
I went to bed two hours early (the clocks changed on Sunday night to Greenwich mean time). So now I’m awake…it’s just after 5 am. I was shattered from rehearsing for two seperate things I’m in (only a choir member in one, and three lines in the other as well as singing in the chorus) nothing impressive, but it all takes time to learn. Somehow the rehearsals ended up on the same day, one an hour after the other. So came home, grabbed a sandwich and went out again.
Rehearsing for things can be boring, a lot of standing around if you have a minor part, or full on if you are singing to accompany a show and also going into the acting space. At one stage we have to try and intimidate the audience!
So…..I’m awake and buzzing. I’ve just had a decaff coffee, oh for the joys of cocoa..I will have to buy some. The songs we are singing are spinning, spinning, round in my head oh what a poor soul.
I’m going back to bed and hope to Dream a little dream…sounds like I still have a bit of teen spirit despite my age! Then of course I might shoop in my sleep instead of snoring as I still have this cold ? I would write some more clues to the songs we are singing, but I have forgotten…..a bit if late night/early morning amnesia I think…
Rehearsing again tonight for this weeks show..oh joy!
This little I inch square sketch is me trying too quickly draw three of the people at a rehearsal.
I just came in after 4ish hours rehearsing with two Choirs I am in, Clay Chorus and some of Loud Mouth women. We are accompanying a play that is on this week at the New Victoria theatre in Basford, Stoke-on-Trent.. Its called Bright Thing and is the 25th anniversary of its first performance, so no pressure x.
Oh heck, it’s almost time for the first rehearsal at the theatre tonight. We have been practicing as a choir over the last few weeks, but we are not perfect yet. I finally got a CD with the songs on it and I have been trying to learn them as I drive my car…..
Nerves are kicking in and my throat is dry with the cold I have had for the last few days.
The production runs from Tuesday to Saturday including a matinee. I really do want it to go well.
X
Take a picture and twist it,
Mix it,
Turn it round and bend it,
Don’t mend it.
Shake it up,
Blend it.
Shape that space,
No disgrace to fix it.
Give it Grace,
Make a place,
New is ace.
Change its face.
There’s no race,
Just keep up your pace.
Spin that pic,
Twin that pic,
Win that pic.
Love that pic.
That pic is sick!
(A possible Rap) x
One thing about Britain, and in this case specifically England is that we have our fair share of eccentrics, collectors, restorer’s and skilled artisans.
Today was a case in point. I met some lovely people who restore and make their own organs and are known as organ grinders because they turn a handle at the back of the machine to work a set of bellows to play music.
Apparently you can get various sorts of organs. A lady showed me how hers worked, with a roll of paper, held on a tube (a bit like a toilet roll). As she turned the handle to pump the bellows the paper roll passed over a series of holes attached to pipes at the top of the machine. the paper was slightly waxy or plasticised, it had small holes cut in it and as each set of holes lined up with the organ pipes it played a note, pipes that were covered with the paper did not play. The lady told me the organ was made in Germany by a famous maker. Sadly I forgot to get a note of his name.
Other organs music was on flat peices of card joined together like a jacquard pattern for weaving. One even had a sim card in it and all the player (grinder) had to do was turn the bellows handle.
The owners of the machines were all dressed in Victorian costume and were dotted around the Etruria Industrial museum. They were there for there national meeting and had come from all around the country. They are staying for a week and will be here until next Sunday.
X
This is a digital drawing that I did of a cave painting, ancient and modern in one picture.
The urge to make marks and create images seems to have been with humans since the stone age. I do wonder if Neanderthals were artists too? Perhaps someone out there knows if they were. Art seems to be intrinsic to humans , a way of visualising the external environment. Whether it was animals they hunted, or eventually farmed, they created images of them that are beautifully depicted.
As the millennia moved forward art continued, but also turned into pictographs, such as hieroglyphs, or other ancient languages. The words I am writing now have there roots in ancient art.
Of course painting continued, and people also created sculpture and invented ink and printing. We are the mark making hominids. Without art and language we would not have science, mathematics, map making, books. Art evolved into design, photography, architecture. Art and culture, I wonder if music emerged at the same time as art. Possibly earlier as spoken language was probably used in parts of the ape family before home sapiens appeared. But to point at a cave painting and use a word for cattle, or hunt, or flock. Thats interesting …I’m sure there is a lot more information out there.
Whatever happened I feel there must be an “art” or “creativity” gene. I know I cannot do without mark making.
I sing in a couple of choirs, one which is all female and the other which is a mixed choir. Both of them are acappella, which means unaccompanied by a musical instrument, except perhaps to give us our starting notes.
Summer time is when we do most of our gigs. Both choirs have things coming up. The mixed choir is singing locally this weekend, we will be singing for about 50 minutes, so we need to know a variety of songs. The gig on Saturday will be mostly Summer songs, for instance, “Summer is a coming in”. Some of us know the songs off by heart, and others will be using song sheets.
Both choirs repetoirs are very varied, the female choir knows more international songs like “Meliswe” which is Hoza I think? We also do Maori, French, Creole, Croatian, among many other songs.
I have to say singing in a choir can be wonderful when we get it right, and sometimes a real struggle while we are learning a peice. Recently we sang with another choir (a lung health choir) at a production of a play for four nights. We were singing to add atmosphere to the play, and we sang an arrangement of “cloudbusting” by Kate Bush, over and over again. 12 times on one night! This was while the audience were being led round the auditorium and getting the spooky, cold feeling of the place (we were at an old chapel that is being restored and it was probably the coldest May for years).
The female choir is doing a walkabout in a few weeks round the town centre, singing and then moving on. Our normal choir leader is away on that day so some of us are taking responsibility to lead the choir. It’s not something most of us have ever done. So if you see some confused women singing out of key….it might be us!
I sing with an all women a cappella choir and today was our annual trip out to sing in a little country village which holds a music festival every year.
My partner wanted to come along too, which is great, I don’t like leaving him behind, but then he had a massive sneezing fit which lasted 20 minutes!
After getting him to take a hayfever tablet, we set out knowing that I was really late. But it was a beautiful sunny morning. The hedgerows as we headed out of the city were full of blossom. The sky was slightly overcast and the air felt heavy and humid.
We got there just before the choir started its set. We were outside on the canal bank, with a small audience sitting outside the pub on the wharf. We were well recieved despite it being a bit breezy which made it difficult to hear the other singers. Then a short break and off to the local church to sing again.
Memory takes a big part of a capella singing. Remembering the words of songs from around the world isn’t easy. We sing Maori, Hoza, Latin, French, Croatian and other languages. We learn by repetition. Sometimes it can be hard to remember the words. But as soon as you start singing they usually come back. As a low voice I often sing bom bom, or other backing noises. It can be a bit boring, but then we will start something else.
Singing with about 20 women is fun. We are a bit older but that just means people have a wider experience of life, are quietly confident, and dont worry too much if we make a mistake.
I guess its all part of being creative. I get a kick out if singing with the choir. We have another singing session soon. I’m looking forward to it.
Mallaband-Brown