wandercards

goodness me.

I blinked, and now it is November.

It's been another extraordinary year.

I've had exhibitions in New Orleans, Scotland and England.

Taught in Canada, Scotland and France,

and taught myself a lot about small-scale

film-making for my online school.

The weather is still

awfully dry here in South Australia

in fact

the dams look a bit like that

lovely rusted image above.

I found a pile of dried eucalyptus leaves

in a garden in Mexico

which was a brilliant excuse

to acquire this lovely blue enamel pot.

It's beautifully light and fits

nicely into my suitcase.

The River Tay welcomed me back

(or so I like to think), and several

happy hours were spent filming

bundles drifting on the tide.

Now I'm home a while,

happily dancing with indigo,

teaching myself as much as

I can about that particular magic,

while also working on new projects

for the

School of Nomad Arts.

One of which has been released today.

Some years ago I published a very limited edition

of 'wandercards',

inspirational cards devised to offer ideas for

the exploration of the poetics of place.

There were rather a lot of enquiries about

a reprint, but in the interests of sustainability

I thought it best to make the texts available

online (saving the costs of printing and

mailing) so that people could make their

own unique sets, using repurposed materials

if they wished.

You'll find them here

still breathing

I apologise for the decreasing frequency

or

perhaps that is

increasing infrequency

of postings here.

blogger makes it tricky to interact with the readership, you see.

I can't respond to your questions, the platform simply won't allow it.

but I can still tell a few stories.

 

it's been an extraordinary year

(they all are, really) with wanderings that have included exhibitions in one of the busiest locations in the UK, as well as one of the more remote (but seemingly with lots of lovely visitors).

a day after 'leafpoems :: treeclooties from here and (t)here' concluded at the Inverewe Gardens in Scotland,   'incomplete journeys' opened at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham ... truly two extremes!

and presently I have work in 'borderline' at Fabrik, in South Australia,
as well as a chapter on my work in a beautiful new book

'True Colors'
by
Keith Recker

most of next year's workshops are up on my website

and I am very happy to say that the 

School of Nomad Arts

is blooming beautifully.

thanks for hanging in here.

if you have something that needs an answer, drop me a line.

there's a wee icon at the foot of my website

that will let you send me a message.

cheerie,

India

making for Hay while the sun shone

on my day off between the class in the mill valley

and pootling northward to Bonny Scotland [it is]

i was taken under the wing[s] of my friends Sally and Ben

and spirited in a magical four-wheeled jellybean

to Hay on Wye

described here most succinctly by someone else

and below in pictures

you can turn your whirled upside down

or

buy a basket full of bambis [eek]

or beetle time to the music

while wearing a crown of light

find a treasure in one of the bazillion bookshops

 and if you are hungry

eat lovely tapas at Tomatitos on Lion Street

and then pootle along a skyroad

for a quick photoshoot

with garments from "now" and "then"

thank you Sally for your patience!

then

it was nose for north

and now

i'm off to work

Ruskin Mill, so beautiful i simply had to share

my walk to work takes me past an exquisite woven fence

where the bumble bees hang out

it's going to be an excellent year for elderberries

 luminous clematis

 fields of flowers

hanging rocks

paving that reminds me of home

enormous trout lurking in calcium-rich water

[the green is a clue]

intriguing people in the forest

[very quiet.]

buildings that look as if they are literally growing from the ground

and a fabulous place to work.

the studio is behind that semi-circular window

+ + +

and at the end of the day

there is a very friendly cat

 

learning to expect the unexpected

we had another splendid day at St Augustine's

quite appropriately

ecclesiastical purple seemed to prevail

[the pagan orange usually provided by eucalyptus was in abeyance]

although a couple of pre-loved teabags did their best on this landskin

  

 

this little flower may prove to be the new love of my life

+++

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and in a remarkable coincidence

i said to the class "i'm about to hand out a little present"

and one of the students, Aviva

said

"i have a present for you too"

handing me a lovely ball of wool dyed in yellow and green

oddly similar the the silk thread i was handing out

 at lunchtime i swung into the Selvedge shop

conveniently situated just up the road

yesterday i found a book of Chiyoko Tanaka's work

and i thought i'd have a look to see what other treasure might be on the shelves

[particularly as they were having a 20% off sale]

imagine my surprise when i found the catalogue

from my 2005 L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival exhibition

"benedictus ex-dress" on the shelves amid the books being offered for sale
[i sent it to them way back then as part of a media kit]

especially remarkable as Selvedge declines to stock both

Second Skin & Eco Colour