drawing for dad

My Dad suggested that i keep a sketchbook with me and draw things as i go about my everyday. Well of course this is a very good idea, makes a lot of sense, and i do keep a little sketch book with me anyway, but have abandoned actually drawing in it for a while. Anyway, so this one's for you Dad!

drawing

This is something i am playing around with in flash, thought i would post the testers.

The garden is in bloom

mapping damage

Getting distracted, I am supposed to be writing an assignment about photography and mass media, how i get distracted, I have chosen a photo from the Sunday Times, from 18 May 2008 of rescue operations in China. On the same page is a story about the aid mission in Burma, directly comparing the way each government is dealing with each crises, and the freedom of press in the area. So I got googling, maps, trying to inform myself a bit about the area affected. It felt a bit like snooping or spying, I wanted to see how google earth covered each area. The satellite photos of Burma are quite clear, they even had extra images to show the cyclone path and some of the damage (screen-grabs), but not so clear for China, thought about the mapping and coverage. anyway as i said, i am getting sidetracked. i thought i would include my side tracks anyway.

views

Al in the kitchen
tulips

The Christmas stuffing sage always seems to have a new leaf.

Pot plants at the front door... I still need to figure out the best angle for photographing the garden.

from my window

I have moved into a new little room, I painted it white and this really pleases me because i hate the dingy magnolia colour all these walls are painted here, with their woodchippy wallpaper- it ends up resembling oats porridge - or worse sick. I moved all my pot plants from the old place so the garden in the front is much less of a wasteland. There is oregano, rosemary, lavender, star magnolia (which is white), varieties of heather, the clementis which seemed to be dead is getting new leaves and so is that other little shrub, although i'm not sure what its called. I've sown spring onion and wild flower seeds in some small pots, there is a fig 'tree' with two leaves and i'm just waiting for the lilies to pop out their shy little heads. As you my have gathered, gardening gives me the greatest pleasure. I love seeing things grow and helping them on the way.

I have finally come up with a rough idea for my research article- what a relief! funny how it was there all the time and makes so much sense - it has to be about contemporary South African art. I was doing all these searches and getting quite depressed about the whole thing, feeling so detached from South Africa, and making art, and all of that. It felt like these countries are all like separate worlds, the uk and London is like this world with so many different windows looking out and into it that you don't know which ones to choose. Anyway, i want to write about digital art, specifically internet art, and fortunately this is literally at my fingertips and on top of that it connects with my third year research article about the relationship between digital texts and history texts, embroidery and digital images. it fits. Need to speak to katty!

Art is a guaranty of Sanity

I went to the Tate Modern at the beginning of December, and the Louis Bourgeois Retrospective was showing. I have been putting off getting a membership, but suddenly it seemed all the more worthwhile, I wanted to see the show as many times as possible to really absorb it. I felt so privileged to have the opportunity to see so much of her work. It was a really emotional experience for me. She is one of my favourite artists and her work is really best seen in the flesh so to speak.

I identify with the way in which she uses art as a way of coming to terms with life. Her skill, the incredible layers of meaning in her metaphors, and frankly the tenacity with which she has continued to create for over half a century. There are further connections, the theme of thread and weaving that runs though her work, in her giant sculpture of spiders and fragments of tapestry and later soft sculptures. I went back again this weekend, thinking it would be th last time before the show ended, but fortunately I might just be able to go again before it closes net weekend.

I feel inspired to step forward and be brave and make and explore this little life of mine through my art, to really live it.

Apologies for the low quality of images, my scanner is not talking properly to my computer yet, negotiations are slow, but reconciliation is in sight.

Workbook

Meditation

This is a love meditation one of my friends passed on to me, and I really feel that it is quite beautiful. In the begining you are suposed to use I, then he, she or they for someone we love and then someone we like, someone neutral to us, and lastly someone who has made us suffer. The idea you need to nurture and be happy in yourself before passing this on to others.

Love Meditation
May I be peaceful, happy, and light in body and spirit.
May I be safe and free from injury.
May I be free from anger, fear and anxiety.

May I learn to look at myself with the eye of understanding and love.
May I be able to recognize and touch the seeds of joy and happiness in myself.
May I learn to identify and see the sources of anger, craving and delusion in myself.

May I know how to nourish the seeds of joy in myself every day.
May I be able to live fresh, solid, and free.
May I be free from attachment and aversion, but not indifferent.