Feet up this evening, and escaped into Tan Twan Eng's The Garden of Evening Mists.
Have you read it?
I was supposed to be saving it for a long train journey later this month, but having peeped at the first few pages I cannot put it down!
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Feet up this evening, and escaped into Tan Twan Eng's The Garden of Evening Mists. Have you read it? I was supposed to be saving it for a long train journey later this month, but having peeped at the first few pages I cannot put it down!
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The door is open, the weather is beautiful, the people delightful, and the work is selling. I'm one very happy artist. If you live near enough do visit! See www.cowalopenstudios.co.uk I laughed with the BT computer whizz who fixed my email and retrieved my contacts list after it had been hacked. (The hackers tried to extort money in my name by claiming I was stranded and in deep trouble abroad.) His first words were 'We can sort this.' Very reassuring. Then he said 'They're clever these hackers, but don't worry, we are cleverer!' and he proceeded to take over my computer, explaining what he was doing as he went, till he announced with glee 'The hacker is gone!' Brilliant. I learned a lot. But, dare I say it, it was a very peaceful week, a week without email....  I've found my buy for Autumn. (See post here.) Not the sweater or jacket I set out to find, but this unlined coat from Topshop. It's just the right weight, is beautifully cut and detailed and the finish is remarkably good (all seams are nicely bound, an extra button inside to make it hang well, the collar sits perfectly..). (Sorry the photograph isn't of the same standard! It's from Topshop's website)  Perfectly put together, and roomy enough for a warm layer underneath.  I thought the price of £79 was terrific for the quality, and because the popper fastenings were loose they took £20 off. Nice. Love it with these shoes. Have you bought anything new for the new season?  Thank you for this, Maggie. Gorgeous! I suspect I am not easy to live with the week before Open Studios. Paintings come off the walls, paintings go up. I change them about. I redo the frames. Sometimes I even redo the paintings. Every room in the house is turned upside down even though only the hall, the sitting room and the studio will have work on display. I have too many paintings! I have too many paintings I don't want to sell is nearer the truth. (I've even been known to give one to a gallery and take it back again because I decided I couldn't part with it yet.) Honestly! Toughen up Freda! There are screws to fix, labels to write, prices to be decided, lights to adjust, mounts to cut, collages to finish....while I wait for paint to dry - on frames, on paintings and on the floor of the studio. Every now and then I have to go and lie down on the carpet for ten minutes. So, excuse me please....  I find myself still thinking a lot about my recent visit to Harris in the Outer Hebrides,  and all those cottages I'm going to rescue..  when I come into my fortune. I loved the music on the video of Mol Ban, the house we stayed in, and sent for the CD Chasing The Sun by the young pianist and composer James Ross. It is a wonderful collection classical/jazz/folk with shades of Nyman, Peter Maxwell Davies and Andy Sheppard. A real favourite already and a lovely souvenir of this special holiday. PS I'm sorry this link doesn't seem to work - the same link at the end of this post does work (!) if you'd like to hear this music - or you can hear several tracks on last.fm (Will try to fix tomorrow.) Another funeral, of another Margaret, a dear Aunt. (See also here.) The words a long life, well-lived applied to this Margaret too. I would like them to be able to say the same of me when I go! I want to be able to say I lived it fully - the length and the breadth and the depth of it, the warp and the weft, the texture of it, the rough and the smooth, the thick and thin of it, the gossamer and the knotted oiled wool. The sound of it, the roar and the whisper and the music of it. The taste of it, both the sweetness and the bitterness. All the rich and subtle colour of it. When it is scarlet and ultramarine, or magenta or the faintest lavender grey. I want to be there for all of it. I want to experience the stars above it and the earth below it. Most of all I don't want to be afraid to both give and to take the love in it. Do you too find that funerals make you come over all philosophical?   In the garden this morning.... Three Crises and a Funeral. Oh, and a parking ticket. Not a great week. However the weekend is shaping up to looking much better.... I went to a talk by Liz Arthur, author of Robert Stewart: Design 1946 - 1995. Glasgow School of Art. I was lucky enough to have Bob as my tutor at GSA so it was quite a nostalgia trip and I met up with people from art school. Tomorrow the opening exhibition of Cowal Open Studios takes place at the lovely Creggans Inn in Strachur, Argyll, between 2 and 4pm. If you live near enough do come along. It's a good opportunity to see an example of work from each of the artists and to decide which studios to visit next weekend. Check out www.cowalopenstudios.co.uk for details and to download the brochure. Thank you for all the supportive comments last week, and I hope your weekend is a great one! Today - my computer was hacked, I had an emergency visit to the doctor (not too serious!) and my car broke down. Poor me!  It does rather makes me wish I was back here..  Relaxing, watching the seals relaxing. And the otters, buzzards, lapwings, stonechats, rabbits.. I may take a little blog break till I get sorted!  Harris is a rough textured place on the whole.  There are few trees, and the rocks are among the oldest in the world. What looks at first like quartz...  turns out to be lichen.  There are some beautiful walls.  And in complete contrast there are some very finely textured elements - the delicate shells which make up the sandy beaches....  SO tiny, and so perfect.  Floating soft grasses  and the marram grasses of yesterdays photographs. All darkly tweedy colours,  until the sun shone..  and the sea really was this colour! Nature does it best! Drawing that is. These strands of marram grass, left in the fine shell sand as the tide went out on Luskentyre beach on Harris, were so beautiful. They remind me of Chinese calligraphy in their elegance and simplicity. Every 'stroke' has such energy and vitality.        Some rather more conventional holiday photos tomorrow.... Wow! Harris,Outer Hebrides. Loved it.     For a flavour of where we stayed on the island here is a little video.... I'm off to join some intrepid friends in Harris in the Outer Hebrides, off the north west coast of Scotland. Three buses and two ferries. Here is the weather forecast for tomorrow: - Rain will continue to spread north westwards, some heavy bursts, then mainland areas turning brighter with sunny intervals and showers later. Winds easing. Temp 13C. Winds NNE 20mph. Humidity 83%. Hmmm. 'Pack your wellies' said Lynne. I leave you with some shots of the seed heads from Papaver Dark Plum which was gorgeous and is said to come true from seed. It's a delightful task, shaking the exquisitely designed little pepperpots....and finding there are thousands of tiny seeds.        Can you just make out that underneath all this stuff  is a rather elegant building, of beautiful stone and classical proportions?  I'm not always a fan of public art.... A two minute thought provoking video (see here) courtesy of Leo Babauta reminds me of watching a little boy of four or five at a display of birds of prey. He had a beautiful kestrel on his arm, and his parents were saying 'Look here, look at the camera. Smile!' I wanted to shout 'Leave him alone, can't you see he's go a wild bird on his arm? I think they may have mindlessly deprived him of the wonder of the moment, so keen were they to record it for the future. Will he feel the thrill of holding a live bird when he looks at the photograph? I don't think so. Do you?  A gentle disarray reigns over the herb beds.  Everything has gone to seed, but it has its charm.  I'm reluctant to clear it away yet....the bees love it, and the goldcrests,  and they make a delicate vaseful on the corner of the bath - dill, parsley, rocket, mustard and night scented stock - oh, the scent of that stock at bathtime! Have you ever been on a retreat? I was talking with a friend recently who told me that she and her husband used to plan two day 'retreats' every now and then, in their own home. They would stock up with lots of nice food which didn't need cooking, give themselves permission not to do any chores, turn off the phone and spend a couple of quiet days catching up with reading. I may try this. It might be a lovely between-seasons thing to do. I'm already mentally lining up a good book or two, could switch off the phone, the radio, (don't have a TV), the computer, skip the newspapers, and take time for more conversation, meditation, some walking or yoga perhaps, and there is a box of classical music CD's we've been given which need listening to.... What kind of retreat would you like? Or can you imagine nothing worse? There is a Guide to Good Retreats if the idea of a retreat with strangers appeals. Do you have a least favourite time of year? If you don't like autumn, or winter, or November say, now is the time to give some thought to what you can do to make it better. I used to say I really disliked February, now it is one of my favourite months and I actually look forward to it! It is my writing month. See more here, and here. (All of my February posts are about writing.) Do you have strategies for getting through the times you're not looking forward to? Or can you turn them into times you do look forward to? |
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