Simon Tofield: Cat Man Do
I have watched this animation about 20 times in 12 hours and laugh every time. It is how I get woken up most days, apart from the bit at the end. I urge you to watch it, especially if you are a cat owner. Click the image to link to the animation on You Tube or see the original work by English animator Simon Tofield at Tandem Films by looking in the menu for Directors-Simon Tofield-Cat Man Do.
I tried posting the actual youtube video but it was huge and had a big black border, not the pure white I'm after this month. Speaking of which... it's snowing!!! 5 inches so far, I'm ecstatic though a bit heartbroken that I'm not well enough to got out and take photo's. Not that I even had my camera, Mr P took it when he went to England for New Year so no image of the snow laden bush with red berries right outside the window this afternoon, oh, it was gorgeous!
Update: for anyone who knew about my hair dilemma, it is nearly over and I won't have to cut off all my hair. For anyone wonder what on earth I'm talking about, I've been so unwell I've not been able to brush my hair and it had turned into a big dreadlock. I've been gradually and painstakingly untangling it and most of it ok, though I am struggling with a little at the back that may need cut off, but I can live with that.
Crochet Cells No.5 with shadow (detail): Started 1992
Picked up again and growing 2007Long forgotten crochet (among other things) has been found and is now been continued. Ihave to thank Marjojo for reminding me that crochet is something easy-ish to work on when you're not well, particularly the freeform type that I like where counting chains is not essential.
Crochet Cells No.5 (detail): Started 1992
Picked up again and growing 2007
What I want is to work on papercuts, drawings, prints and sewn pieces, but they all require my hands, energy and concentration to be good which is simply unrealistic at the moment. This piece of crochet (abandoned when I left the textiles dept. in '92) can be done in darkness, under the covers, in small bursts. I don't have to lift my arms at all - perfect.
Mr P's cat to give you some scale
(before he attacked and tried to eat it)
I've always been bad at starting things and not finishing, so I'm really liking the thought that I can finish some old work. Not that I ever really finish anything, as long as pieces are in my possession they will always undergo various reincarnations, being incorporated into other works, being painted, or dyed, stretch, cut or melted, the list goes on. My tutor Ann Marie Shillito (now teaching at ECA), was the first person to grasp the evolving nature of my work and let me know it was ok to work that way.
It will be interesting to see how this piece changes from the original vision. It was planned as a piece that would be felted when finished and would stretch across a room from one wall to the other - inspired by Andy Goldsworthy's twig wall at the Botanic Gardens in 1991. But now it may develop differently, I plan to take it for a beachy photoshoot as soon as I am well enough.
I don't have access to my photo's of Andy Goldsworthy's original twig wall so here is one he did this year...(via Chris Wright)...
Andy Goldsworthy: Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 2007
Exhibition ends early Jan 2008
As I uncover more and more work from '92, '93 it is so clear the enormous influence Andy Goldsworthy had on me, and he still does. More on that as I reveal further pieces (still struggling with the shyness and secretiveness).
Now, entirely unrelated... I think we've established that I don't get out much, which may go some way to explaining why I laughed so much at 'the Ebay song' when it suddenly began to play during a search today. I've never heard it before and I was groaning that one of my tabs was playing boy band music, then I realised it was a spoof and loved it. I searched for it on You Tube, here it is for anyone who feels like some cheesy listening.
About my email: It seems nothing has been getting through to my Big Fish account since August so if you've mailed me there I probably never received it unless you CC'd to one of my other emails also. As always, the easiest way to reach me initially is right here on my blog and I can try to get back to you with an up to date address, though I am still struggling a bit to keep up with correspondence just now, but I do try.
One last piece of news, I accidentally came across these images of fire damage (sculpturally beautiful but actually terrifying) on Five Gallon Bucket. An earlier post has some important information on keeping your house and possesions fire safe, like apparently everything they had in suitcases was ok and smoke alarms need completely replaced every 10 years, not just the batteries, the whole unit. Read more here. I feel so bad for them to lose their things, their home, their pets. It makes you aware of the things you do have, your life, your friends/family, your memories and hopefully for most people, your health.
Ok, enough writing, can you tell I am avoiding some really pressing (or perhaps depressing) form filling and financial dealings. I hate when other people mess up, but hate even more when I don't deal with it as soon as it happens. Time to pull the finger out.
