Monday 13 June 2011

Monday 13th June 2011

I love this drawing (of me!) by the very talented Laura Dunmow.  We were working at Howgills in Letchworth and I had no idea she was drawing me.  I am going to use it to remind me that I feel at my most complete when I am drawing.

Tuesday 7 June 2011

Tuesday 7th June 2011

Found ourselves watching a film about Johnny Cash and June Carter.  Then I found this of the real pair:



Monday 6 June 2011

Monday 6th June 2011

Today I went to St Albans in the rain with a friend who is on an unstoppable quest to buy all the second hand plates in Hertfordshire - we were going to go to The Courtyard Cafe on Hatfield Road but it has recently changed its opening hours: now Tuesday to Sunday.  Apparently it is very nice and has local artists' work on the walls.

Never mind - popped into the museum next door and was pleasantly surprised that one room is now an art gallery (run by Hertfordshire University) and there was a fun installation by Aviva Leeman, celebrating the original opening of the gallery a million or so years ago (actually 18 something).  I liked the bright bunting with words spoken by the dignitaries about the museum and the photographs of historical mayors in sepia and black and white.

Yesterday was my husbands birthday and one of our friends gave him some exciting books.  But the best present was for me - a shopping list snaffled from a local supermarket trolley.  Yes - I collect shopping lists; I have quite a good collection.  Not sure what I am going to do with them but I count them sometimes and read them to myself.  Find them very touching and also aware that they may be important historical documents one day.  Anyway I am going to share with you a picture of the one my friend gave me yesterday (front and back).  Lucky you:


Sunday 5 June 2011

Thursday 2 June 2011

Thursday 2nd June 2011

I am very much enjoying 'Think inside the sketchbook', a nsead publication by Gillian Robinson, Alison Mountain and David Hulston.

It is very beautiful and feels nice as well as being full of images and ideas for using the sketchbook in ways that become part of the creative process. As well as detailing some wonderful examples, it has quotes like: "Learning to think is less a matter of instruction than of experience and opportunity." (Frank Smith)

I particularly like it because it is full of good, informative, exciting images; the introduction includes this sentence which sums it up nicely:"Sketchbooks are visual things, and we hope the images accompanying the text will serve as both inspiration and challenge."


I would highly recommend this to all teachers (and to anybody else who would like to be reminded about the power of the sketchbook as a working tool).

Wednesday 1 June 2011

Wednesday 1st June 2011

Just been reading Granta magazine and came across an article by Tea Obreht about  'Un-Possible Retour"(which I happened to see last month at the Saachi Gallery); I love this project, by photographer Clarisse d'Arcimoles; she used her old family snap shots and portraits and rephotographed the same family members years later with the same details, expressions and gestures.
Here's a link to information about it.

This one is called Daddy (Grand-father).  Poignant in a more obvious way than the others.  But they are all startlingly moving, whether you believe we are an ever changing mass of ever changing parts - or that we always remain intrinsically the same person. (Don't know what I believe but I prefer the latter.)