adrift in a cloud of Aesop

 i think we can say it has been a mixed week

during which i discovered that a silk jacket

[pre-loved Liz Claiborne]

did not dye well.

suspect it has been coated with stain resisters

 

the lesson is not to purchase in a wild rush

but take time

do the drink bottle test

ie splash a tiny bit of water on the surface of suspect silk

if the damp silk has a whiff of gas station

or worse still if the water rolls off 

leave the item in the store

the lesson is, in fact, to s l o w down

and smell the flowers

it's spring

 just be careful with Geraldton Wax

they seem to harbour a lot of flies

 happily some other things yielded better results

 i have been wandering the paddocks

gathering up bones

that are the remnants of cattle and sheep 

who have shuffled off this mortal coil

mainly due to age and infirmity

 it is not as gruesome as it might appear

and is in a good cause

in a week or two i will be taking them to the 

Arid Lands Botanic Garden

where they will form a bonecairn 

anyway after my gathering

i tottered off to the Post Office

where a delightful parcel awaited me

         

thank you Aesop

for sending me a sample of your new perfume

it mingles bergamot and orange

jasmine, rose, clove and cardamon

and two things i had to look up

Fusianus spicatus [which turned out to be sandalwood

...i always think of Santalum album together with that common name]

and

Cananga odorata [ylang ylang]

     

it smells so much better than bleached bones

that it had me dreaming

of places and people faraway

in the way that certain fragrances do

and though i miss their old fragrance

which has been discontinued

i will say that this one is quite delightful

thank you, Aesop!

+

that scent makes me want to take a tent

to the far paddock

wrap myself in teasilk

and dig a natural swimming pool

nine years later

back in 2005 i had the absolute joy of undertaking my first [formal ie paid for] costume commission.
the production was 'petroglyphs - signs of life' and the company Leigh Warren + Dancers

i designed and made the costumes, twined a large ball of string that became a key prop and devised the poster image.

it was a wonderful experience.

working on 'petroglyphs' led [in 2007] to creating costumes for the West Australian Ballet production 'debris'...dancer Frances Rings [who had joined LW+D for 'petroglyphs'] had been commissioned to choreograph the show and requested to have me as costume designer

now nine years later i have the delight of working with Gala Moody and Michael Carter who were also members of LW+D back in 2005

both now live in Spain but have been in Adelaide this month working with Leigh Warren and State Opera on the Philip Glass Opera trilogy, Leigh's last production before he hands the dance company that he founded some twenty-five years ago to a new artistic director and heads for fresh fields

the morsels on their bodies were part of the blue series i began in New Orleans and continued in Portland [last year]

kicking myself that i skipped taking a photo of Michael in one of these shirt collar pieces

but am hoping that [sooner or later] a moving image will appear on Michael's website

&

my favourite production so far for  Leigh Warren + Dancers

two bodies dancing

about Frances Rings

lastly, clicking on the photo below will take you to a link with more images from Debris

photo above by Jenni Large, borrowed from the Artful management website for purposes of tempting readers toward the link

in the air and on the ground

silkymerino rolls looking much like bread dough

 last week i followed an old marmalade stain on the map

and found myself back at lovely Glenmore House

it had been a long day so i was particularly happy to be lulled to sleep

by the scent of my favourite jasmine [polyanthemum]

thoughtfully placed in my room by Mickey, bless her

a sniff and a whiff of that particular flower and i am seventeen again

at least

on the inside

we had a glorious sunshiny bluesky day for our "heart and hand intensive" 

botanical alchemy workshop

during which i was so busy that i hardly managed to take pictures

fortunately Mickey [and Alex the kindly gardener]

took lots. you can find them here

i did manage a happy snap of the cumquat icecream and rhubarb compote

swoonworthy deliciousness. 

and of our cooking fire

had there been time we would have stitched the glowing morsels [below]

into tsunobukuro bags

but by 4pm everyone was worn out

the next morning i prised myself out of bed
and hit the road for Tamworth
where I had been invited to come and inspect the gallery
prior to my exhibition there in December
the plan was to arrive on Friday evening, in time for the opening
of the 2nd Tamworth Textile Triennial

unfortunately
the inadvertent slashing of a tyre
caused by avoiding a close encounter of the unpleasant kind
with another motor vehicle
delayed my arrival until well after ceremonies had concluded
it would have been cheaper and faster to fly
even without the added cost of a new tyre
but the four hour wait was good writing time
and the five hour + drive was good thinking time
even if i did have to drink an awful lot of coffee





wandering around Tamworth on Saturday morning
i found a lot of men in hats



a rock from which someone had chipped all the bits that did not look like snake



an old friend far from home
[California poppy in a dry creek bed]



some stones to play with



and some rather too friendly seeds
Bidens pilosa
which had to be individually removed
NOT something i want to take home to the farm
even if they do resemble tiny stitches

after i had picked my dress clean
and had some breakfast i betook myself to the gallery



my favourite among the works in the Triennial
was that of Ilka White



the work below, by Gillian Lavery
based on a simple premise
of timed daily sitching
10 minutes with a piece of thread that measured from her
mouth to her belly button and back
needle in, needle out
breath in and breath out



every day for one calendar year
remarkable in its dedication and execution

there were others too
that i would have liked to have shown here
[but did not want to embroil myself in Viscopy issues]
including Kate Campbell-Pope
whom i had last encountered when we were together in the 'Seven Sisters' exhibition curated by Kevin Murray in 2004

it is an exhibition well worth seeing...and as it is touring Australia for the next couple of years many red island readers stand a good chance of finding it not too far from home.

happy [and dreaming of another roadtrip]

today is one of those days

on which i really really love my day job

doing what makes me happy

even if it does give me cracked hands

and appalling fingernails

the thing about my day job

is that it funds the indulgence of exhibiting

and

to a certain extent

my teaching

travel does not come cheaply

and workshop fees do not always

cover the spaces in between engagements

but [despite bringing me into disfavour in some quarters]

i love to wander

being

a wanderbear at heart

i had such plans to take a sabbatical

but teaching is fun

and

so is wandering
and wondering

and so is

patience with bundles

taking time to open

is rewarded

with slow magic

which leads me to think

that 

while i really love teaching four or five day retreat classes like 'being (t)here'

perhaps it is also time to offer some one-day workshops

because not everyone has the time

to take the time

and

as my friend John Parkes so beautifully writes

"strange that time is more uncertain than water"

+

so

i am considering offering a retreat

that would begin in the early afternoon

which would mean that

the dyeing has the benefit of a restful night

and

we can share a leisurely evening meal

which i will very happily prepare

also

the cocktail hour can be appropriately acknowledged

without having to rush back to work

and then

next morning

not too early

allowing for a lovely walk after breakfast

[and time for yoga]

we would gather again

to open the bundles

and wonder at their beauty

+

the benefits of this structure

would be many:

less rush to get to an early-start class

one night of retreat away from home

in the company of like-minded souls

not having to forage for supper in a strange place

and

going home with something beautiful to remember it all by

+

i can think of quite a few places i would like to take this...

among them

lovely Lopez Island, that magical wee house in Inverness (California)

Fort Bragg (in the same state), anywhere in New England in the fall 

riverside in New Orleans, outback Australia, an Oregon beach

Tayside in Scotland, on an island off Tasmania

somewhere up near Cairns (Australia)
as well as possibly

Germany, Austria (in which case the workshop language will be German)
and Japan (where the workshop language might have to be sign language)
oh and i'd love to visit Ireland too

and that is just the very tippity tip of the iceberg

but 

i would also be happy to hear from any kindly souls 

who would like to host this kind of retreat

 because

i think i feel another roadtrip coming on

+

did i mention that i have been working on a new cocktail too?
allow me to present my
'ginger bear'

ingredients :
gin [preferably that nice one from San Francisco that has a bear on the label]
ginger beer [in Australia, use Ginger Joe]
some fresh ruby grapefruit juice
and the zest of the fruit also
freshly grated ginger root
wild strawberries
  
method :
shake gin and ice and grapefruit juice
strain into well chilled glasses over more ice
dilute slightly with ginger beer 
garnish with grapefuit, freshly grated ginger and some slightly crushed wild strawberries

and the winners are

thank you all 153 of you who wrote to enter the tsunobukuro give away

the three lucky winners personally selected by Yoda-san [above] were: 

Monique Risch, Violeta Calzada and Kirsty Faulds

and afterward he very helpfully did this [below]

i have tried to answer all of your emails individually but about half a dozen bounced back for various reasons and some wanted me to register as an acceptable address [too much registering!]
but
i have done my best
so if you didn't hear from me
it was not for lack of trying!

only a few hours to go

if those of you who purchase the bundle book

[and those who have already bought it]

email me a copy of your receipt

then

i will make a lucky dip

choose three names from a tsunobukuro bag

and send a hand-embellished ecoprint tsunobukuro bag

to each of those three people

if you happen to mention the book on your blog or facebook

[and send me the link]

you will receive a bonus entry for each separate site on which you do so

entries will only be accepted via this email address

wanderbear[at]gmx[dot]com