this one's for you, Ma

one of the things I love to do in New York is get up earlyish and totter across to the Chelsea Flower Market

it's a visual delight and the fragrances are intoxicating - i wish this could be a scratch-and-sniff post

and then the contents of the gutters had me wishing for a dyepot

here and there

a couple of days ago my lovely Wild Rose kindly frocked up and let me take happy snaps of some recently finished pieces. i'm fortunate to have a family prepared to assist me by modeling!

a simple shift dress in SilkyMerino

sometime next week i shall be loading up the ute (that's a pick up, if you're American) and pootling off across the interior of Australia to deliver and install back country in the Tamworth Regional Gallery

the opening has been set for the evening of December 13th (which is also the feast day of Santa Lucia)

and there's a chance i could offer a one-day intensive workshop on Sunday December 14th if there is sufficient interest - please drop me a line in the comments below if you think you'd care to join us

earlier today i spent time in the Tardis at Australia's national broadcaster (Auntie ABC) pre-recording for the program Talking Plants with Tim Entwisle (Director of the Royal Melbourne Botanic Gardens) and fellow guests John Wolseley and Jim Fogarty, which turned out to be rather fun.

 

to fortify my courage i wore amazing socks knitted by my friend Sidnee Snell

who (as they used to say in the better fairytales) is as clever as she is beautiful

the series begins on December 21 but the program i took part in today will air at 9am on Sunday January 25...i will be in New Zealand so won't have to listen to myself murmuring away.

on the way home i dropped into the wonderful emporium in Hahndorf called Poet's Ode. the proprietor Alia and i talked about me maybe having some work on display there in the near future (which would be lovely as i don't currently have anything on show here in my home state)

it's a clean and beautiful space with the most glorious pressed tin walls.

and now i'm out to give the cowbabies their warm supper, before sitting down to a cuddle with Yoda-San

close to this lovely fragrant Hoya bella

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

dyeing paper

much as i enjoy wandering

i also love being back in my studio

pottering about, stoking the fire

and of course opening up bundles

 at the risk of boring y'all

with too frequent references to my new book

i just wanted to make sure that those of you who had already bought it

knew there is now a lucky dip involved

[i'd mention it on the Blurb site if i could]

i wrote this book for those of you who don't have a chance to attend classes

as well as those who just like a refresher or

to read about the process in different words

and of course there's the field i haven't discussed in print before,

++ dyeing paper ++

finding my feet

it has dawned on me that it is the first time since 1985

that i am living in a dwelling on my ownsome

[note ownsome, not lonesome]

the faculty here at the Oregon College of Art and Craft

have been so kind and welcoming that i feel as if i have been here for more than five days

but that's all it is, so far

even so

the studio walls are filling.

i shall have to grow taller

or find a ladder

in order to make the most of the space

i have been wandering and gathering surface textures

as well as a few words

marvelling at the wonder of the leaves

gathering

and then bundling them up

with happy results

and i had a somewhat larger bundle going

a little ambitious for the pot

but a quick flip solved the spatial issue

then

later today

 a kindly former student

took me to the Japanese Garden

afterward

i felt as though someone had taken my soul out

given it a good scrubbing in a hot bath

fed it a lovely warm bowl of chowder

and tucked it in again between freshly pressed sheets

that had been dried in the sun

then read it the most beautiful bedtime story in the whirled

NB the chowder [mentioned above] did not have any koi in it

so now i am back in my wee cottage

reading this splendid book

which i found at Gold Beach

where i called in on my journey because the nice woman at the coffee shop down by the cannery dock makes the best ever double shot moccha frappes, except that it was Sunday and her day off [and who shall blame her, it was a glorious day] and the coffee shop was closed

anyway

on pages 14 + 15 there is good advice

i'm glad i bought it even if i did pay rather more over the counter 

than i would have from the Book Depository

if you live in the North-West Pacific and like food 

it's essential reading

and

the philosophy applies to dye gathering.

except that windfalls don't get much of a mention.

north by north west

i didn't take many pictures in San Francisco this time

too busy

listening to the sounds of the city

the glory of foghorns

parrots around t-hill

the whirr of humming birds' wings

the slow drift of the fog

the espresso machine as it unleashes my Africano into the glass

at Cafe Trieste

where

two older men address each other lovingly in Italian

i sipped my coffee

and

thought about friendship

and how much certain friendships mean to me

while reading "World enough and Time"

a book i was introduced to by my friends John + Patsy Sangster

on Lopez Island.

i think

i may make this book compulsory reading

for all workshop attendees.

after coffee i headed north.

i could simply have driven up the Interstate 5

but

it doesn't go anywhere near the edge.

i love the edge

so

i took the 101

which took me through Fortuna

and past this magical old cinema

i took this photo for my friend Shelley

i wanted to build a fort for her

but

it was really really cold.

so i went wandering instead

while wandering

i began to fill my pockets with stones

having a vague plan in my mind

to use them in Portland

+

looking down at my pinny

with its bulging pockets

i remembered that somebody

[contemporary of Virginia Woolf ? or other rejected lover somewhere?]

sewed stones into her dress

and then walked into a river

it would be so easy to do in a place like this

in the fog

where

footprints would soon be awash

and

the continental shelf drops away in moments

however

that was not something i was about to do

the water was far too cold

and i am enjoying the wild ride of this adventure we call 'life'

far too much

 

+

 

then a figure emerged from the fog

wandered over, making greeting noises

showed me a handful of exquisite polished stones 

pulled from a pocket

fished one out

and gave it to me saying

"take this one, it's a lovely amber colour and have a good day"

 

the stone looked like a piece of cold honey

reminding me of the eyes of a friend

[they are like those of a wolf]

honey coloured unless sparkling with excitement

when they suddenly turn green

 

 i was already having a good day

but that reminder made it even better

+

later i saw mollis azaleas

growing right beside the ocean

in Australia these plants are mollycoddled

and protected. otherwise they shrivel in the hot north winds.

here they grow like weeds. sigh.

wandering further north

i found evidence of my people

so

i left a mark of my own

 

and now i am in Portland

for six weeks.

bliss.