Dog Willing and with a Fair Wind

i'm in London now

staying with my friend Sue Pearl

and steering the current class

through gentle waves towards their 'Landskins'

there are still images to share from Hart's Barn

especially this one

sent by Caroline

and these two [also from Caroline]

and here are some more with rather

glorious colour, especially the brilliant yellow

from purple buddleia flowers

the green and pleasant land

the Dogs Above have rewarded us

the colours of the green and pleasant land are rather wonderful

[all found within a 5 mile radius of the workshop]

and to our delight

they echo the colours in the paintings on the wall

that are our windows to the whirled

from Sally Stafford's studio at Harts Barn

open sky/road

yesterday i headed south

in the company of friends

[a Very Good way of travelling]

 

i want to share this post from Zen Habits

that fluttered into the inbox recently

it's about being open

and i particularly like the advice

to be like the sky

am taking it to heart

playtime today

here in the southwest of the green-and-pleasant land

already we have found ragwort [Senecio jacobaea]

in abundance

i see a golden glow ahead

gibbering happily

i was so excited after the performance last night

which i have to say was utterly magical

that i forgot to wash the conditioner out of my hair this morning

and went down to breakfast wearing

a new and startling version of the 

"surprised parrot" hairstyle i seem to have been perfecting this year.

sigh.

luckily it was yummy Aesop and so

the fragrance [when it dawned on me]

didn't overpower my bucket of coffee

it was a pretty exciting day yesterday on all counts

including catching up with a friend i hadn't seen or heard from for 8 years

[who now lives mostly in Spain]

doing a trade with a stallholder at the Fringe Craft Market -

i swapped a silk scarf for the big white bead in the image below

...it is "vegetable ivory"

and i like it very much indeed

it goes very well with the rest of the collection

which features treasures including work by Roz Hawker

and Hanne Eriksen

the copper pennies in conjunction with

berberis and local water

produced an unexpected colour

but quite suited to Scotland

Lady Macbeth would love it

but i poured it onto the work anyway

waste not, want not

and after all

it IS a travel journal of sorts

and last but not least [and much less surprising]

the one bunny

had morphed

into two

and the icing on the cupcake

is that i'll be back in Scotland next year

details coming soon

one man's weed

one man's weed is

another woman's dye experiment

spotted Berberis darwinii on one of my perambulations

around delightful Edinburgh

...at Massey University back in 2007

this berry yielded a lovely purple dye

when mashed in hot water

and then turned a rich indigo blue in the presence of copper

[substantive on wool + silk, the samples are still very pretty]

here are some berries crushed into my travel amusement

in local water {from the Novotel tap]

it looks like this

not at all purple or blue

but

when smooshed over an area

previously anointed with mud from San Francisco Bay

it indicated there are probably alkalis [certainly there are salts]

in that lovely goo

it went blueish on the crossmark

which was stencilled with mud

the splodges at top left

are from the blackberries at Fort Mason [SF]

anyhoo i thought it might be interesting to see if copper made a difference

fortunately

i'm carrying US pennies

and a handy magnifying glass, necessary in order to sort sheep from goats - in this instance pre1982 pennies from the others [the old ones are copper, the new are some kind of trickery]

 so

i added some pennies to the mix

and a sign to deter over-zealous cleaners

we'll see what tomorrow brings

meanwhile on another note

i made friends with a local resident

while toddling down a set of stairs

[i love cities with hidden stairs]

s/he is bottom right in the bigger picture

sending a quick pigeon from Edinburgh

it's been 29 years since me feet last wandered these cobbles
some things have changed
others not so much

i tramped down the west coast of Scotland
when i wore the clothes of a much younger woman
[it seems i've always liked the lefthand edges of places]
i told the wee man on immigration about it
when he asked if i had been here before

his response..."whatever for?"
clearly not the wandering type

my kitbag [the one containing threads and scissors and stuff]
was momentarily mislaid by British Airways
so
i had to resort to dyeing thread with coffee
for some costume repairs yesterday
[luckily there is always #5 silk+cotton thread in my pockets]

Europremiere tomorrow evening

fingers crossed

fingers crossed i'll see you on the other side

off to see 'breathe' performed at Edinburgh

then teach two classes

and

hop the Atlantic

to take part in the New Work

Session at Haystack.

shall drive up the coast from Boston

maybe make a detour into Vermont

for another adventure

or

three

we shall see

looks like the cat's IN the bag

it's tricky to pack a bag

that is already full

when NO turns out to mean YES to so much more

some months ago i pulled out all stops

and wrote a grant application

hoping for financial support for an exhibition project

that would allow me to take time out from my busy teaching schedule

so as to immerse myself in country

and undertake a substantial project.

as part of the process i was required to gather letters of support

and be able to give evidence of where the work would be shown.

it also involved rather a lot of photocopying [for which i am planting another tree as soon as it warms up a bit]

on Friday a letter arrived telling me i wasn't successful.

fair enough, this grant involves a single amount of money

that is handed out across all art forms [so applicants may be writers, musicians, artists, actors etc]

initially i was a little despondent

but then i realised that the Dogs Above had once again conspired for the best possible outcome.

let me explain.

to apply for the grant i had to write in clear and concise English exactly what i wanted to achieve.

i also had to approach galleries and museums with my proposal

and as a result the exhibition back country

is confirmed for

The Barossa Regional Gallery [SA] 2014

The University of the Sunshine Coast Gallery [QLD] 2014

Quarter Gallery at the Regis Center for Art, University of Minnesota [USA] 2014

The Manning Regional Gallery [NSW] 2015

The Tamworth Regional Gallery [NSW] 2015

which means it will be shown in three states of this wide brown land and in America [and there are five other museums still sitting on the fence]

so it was a truly splendid exercise in getting organised

and making plans

- exactly what i most needed to do [besides do my income tax]

best of all, i have a pile of lovely supporting letters

which have not only affirmed that what i am trying to do makes sense

but will also be very comforting reading if i ever make it to the Shady Glades Home for Retired Bears