Me with Shetland pony at Kailzie Gardens July '07
Sorry for the wait, after 2 days of nothing at all my Clustr map finally gave an update around 3am. 50,219 visitors since 11th May '07, amazing. Mr P has is on a training thing so he'll pick a name from a hat when he returns in the evening and I'll post the result on monday. Thanks to those who commented, and for those of you who are new, I'll pop by and say hi on your blogs when my brain is less fuzzled :0)
The Scottish Borders are full of sheep and rolling hills
The photo's shown are from my attempt at a holiday last year, and by holiday I mean an afternoon in the car. I was really struggling with my lungs at that point and walking was hard, but after 6 weeks of rain the sun peeped out a little and we agreed the day had to be grasped. We drove south past the house I still think of as home, and beyond to Kailzie Gardens where we stopped briefly in hopes of reliving my childhood by getting a giant gobstopper (jaw breaker) in the gift shop. No gobstoppers, I guess some things just aren't meant to be. I was consoled by the ponies as I shuffled back to the car. Then on to the Grey Mare's Tail and along to the Megget Dam...
The Megget Dam built in '78, is disguised from below by grass with grazing sheep. At age 9 this was the most amazing 'green' project I'd ever seen. It made a big impact. This is also where I first saw a green car parking area (the old concrete with gaps type).Then over the dam past the resevoir and down the other side where the beauty of the drystane dykes (dry stone walls) becomes more apparent. I remember feeling immensely proud as a child when my parents told me that the dykes in that area had been built decades and decades ago by one of our relatives, I think he was on my mother's side, I forget now, maybe one of her Great Uncle's or Great Grandfather, I must ask, particularly as they influenced my own work...
Piling stones is in my genes, this is a piece of my family history is still standing strong
Hope you are all enjoying the 1st weekend of February..oh! that reminds me, I've got Lucy for 3 days in a row starting today. Still not used to the fact that it's February already. Lucky I wrote this or she'd have been sitting 'till Monday needing a pee and a feed, though Mr P would have reminded me, I'm sure. Oh dear, now I'm seriously questioning the wisdom of being up blogging till 5.30am... but it's such a great distraction from aches and pains, a type of alternative therapy you might say.
Lisa Jones: Angell Wings, 2007
felt, silicone, thread
Lisa Jones: Part of the Symbiosis Chair series
Left - Butterfly Chair 2005 , wood, steel, silicone
Right - Venus Chair 2006, wood, steel.
Lisa's work has been consistently gorgeous and distinctive over the last few years. People always ask"what would you buy if you had a million pounds?", I'd buy Lisa's entire Symbiosis series and all her felt work to put in my salvaged wood beach hut. I say hut, it would be bigger than a hut, with room for you all to visit and create. It's nice to dream.
Well, there we go, January whizzed past in a matter of moments. How can we be 1/12 through 2008 already? I'm glad so many of you enjoyed the white posts. I will continue to post some of them through February, after all, it is still a wintery month here in Scotland (as evidenced by the second day of snow gales outside. But there will be a lot more colour as well, I need the colour.
I'll ease into the switch over with what I think is a good wintery pairing. I'm such a huge fan of Irina's illustrations, and this one looks so good matched with Lucy's brooch. I do like a good pairing, watch this space for more in the future. Happy February everyone.
Irina Troitskaya: Frost on flickr
Lucy Sarneel: Brooch Ensemble, 2004 via Klimt02Now, in other news... Today, or tomorrow I will be getting my 50,000 visitor since adding the Clustr Map to my blog last May (see side bar).
My Clustr Map 7 Jan 2008 with 'show smaler clustrs' option on, Europe has totally disappeared! Hello everyone.As far as I understand it doesn't include people viewing through rss feeds like bloglines, so I'm pretty thrilled and astonished. To mark the occasion I'm going to give away one of my little handmade books to one person who comments on the day it hits th big 50. I'll get Mr P to draw a name from a hat at the weekend and I'll contact the winner to get their address details.
Only one problem... you may have a long wait for your prize! My books are still packed up so I won't be sending it until I find them all and start posting out the pieces for the book collaboration this year, which is all a bit health dependent just now. Good luck, I hope you win!
Oh dear, I blew it. I'm very disapointed that my health couldn't match my intentions as far as blogging white all month. I only realised on the way to the dentist (94 out of 100, very pleased) that this was the last day of the month and I still have over 100 white pieces to show!
I decided to cram lots of then into one last post, but I see that blogger has a planned 'outage' today so I'll just pop in 3 of my favourite papercut artists and then, if by chance I can squeeze in a few more later it'll be a wee bonus. This post is dedicated to Liz, who I visited on the way back from the dentist. My first proper social contact since early November. We have probably sent each other into a downward M.E. spiral, but it was fun to have a good bitch about incompetent Doctors :0)
Andreas Kocks: Paperworks, detail
His papercuts are very organic and he covers entire walls of gallery spaces with them. Really stunning and best seen in context on his website. Seeing his giant pieces made me want to give up completely (not that I'm making currently), he does brilliantly on a large scale what I do mediocrely (made-up use of that word?) on a smaller scale. Andreas has 3 shows on in Munich just now (visit his site for details) and will be showing at the Chicago Art Fair in April.
Chris Natrop: Into the silver see through (detail) 2006
I've always loved everything Chris does, he is a paper-cutting god as far as I'm concerned, so much intricacy on such a large scale. As with Andreas, you should visit his site to see them in all their full glory. Chris has always been good at delicacy, creating pieces that totally fill the spaces they inhabit, but which seem light as air. If you are in LA you can see his work until February 16 as part of 'Possible Impossible Dimension: Six Artists on the Brink of Abstraction' at Eagle Rock Arts Center.
Hunter Stabler: Papercut, 2006, originally uploaded by Sokref1
Ok, not white, but his work sits so nicely with the other two. I first saw his work on Flickr and thought it was laser cut. Not so, apparently his pieces are hand drawn and hand cut - respect!
I picked this from my old photo's as it perfectly reflects how I feel just now... handle gently.
I never planned such a long break from my blog, but I feel like I still need a a little more computer free time so I wanted to let you know, and also to reassure you I'm looking after myself as best I can. Thank you again for all your comments, it's been extra nice hearing from lots of new people as well as those who's regular visits I treasure. I'm doing my best to visit all of your blogs whenever I do put the computer on.
One comment that especially cheered me came from Andrea Tachezy who gave me a 'You Make My Day Award', Andrea, thank you so much, you make my day too, truly.
"You make my day-Award" works like this:
1. Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make me think and/or make my day.
2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3. Display the "You Make my Day Award" logo with a link to the post that I wrote. (Optional)
4. Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs with the news.
Here are five that spring to mind as places that in different ways bring a smile, stimulate my thoughts and generally make my day better, I hope they will do the same for you...
Andrea Tachezy
Anna - Twelve22 Heather Smith Jones
Kirsty Hall - Up All Night Again
Mary-Laure - Aurea (only discovered today via her comment)
Detail from a page of a papercut sketchbook, 1991
I took this photo on Monday (rain and sleet outside, that's why it's so grey).
I'm needing a mini blog break, had a really stressful time with my Doctor who seems only to want to drug me to the eyeballs with things that make me sick rather than do anything to improve my health, or at the very least support me in my desire to do it myself. I'll be back in a few days I'm sure. Before I go I'd like to thank you all for your comments this month, they have really made a difficult month a lot easier. Wishing you deep sleep and good weather.
Well, you know how I said I'd lost lots of paper cut links when my internet connection kept stopping last week, well I've hunted about and re-found a few for you. Some can be seen larger if you click the picture, but as always, the best detail is on the artists sites which are worth visiting to see more of their work and to get further information about their methods and ideas.
First up a Scottish gal who went to the same art college as me (but a few years later). Eileen MacDonald now lives and teaches in the U.S. and makes very sculptural pinhole drawings...
Eileen MacDonald: Untitled, pinpricks on paper, 2005
Anna Mawby created 'Interminable' by hand piercing the phrase "I was waiting" on a 3 metre long piece of paper taking 6 hours a day for 6 weeks. 'One Day' is a piece with letters on a larger scale, each large letter made with 100's of pin pricks...
Anna Mawby: Interminable, detail. 2007
Eloise Ghioni made the next piece as part of her recent Third Skin range of work, available to buy on ETSY. She also has her work on Flickr...
Eloise Ghioni: Third Skin, paper (via Etsy)
Design for print and papercut 1991
Unfinished test cut from one of my papercut sketchbooks 1991
(reverse side shown)
I have mountains of white art, books, ceramics, textiles that I planned to photograph and show from my past, but my energy is at it's lowest in 17yrs, even picking up the camera seems like preparing for a mountain hike, so I'm afraid you are stuck with the things I had already taken shots of for other purposes. I do have some good pics, but it's things I'm still haven't the courage to show. You'd think I'd feel easier about it 17 years on but the fact that I made this work when I first had M.E means that all the feelings I had invested in it then are all popping up again mow, so it feels current, not old at all.
This next bit is just thoughts that needed out of my head after a particularly difficult time walking Lucy today, nothing to do with art so you may want to skip it.
Update - My post was depressing me a bit so I've moved it to the comments section, but have left the relevant photo's here and also the link to Danger: field liable to sudden collapse. Also the link for Marley, losing our jobs, and Lucy (who was called Tia then).
View from the dangerous field, December '07
Hedge on the edge of the dangerous field, December '07
Giant Hogweed in the dangerous field, December '07
