Yesterday

 Just another lovely day. I'd done nearly 15K steps at the end of it, and wasted a lot of time in the charity shops of Crouch End as part of the walk. Walking round the neighbourhood seems to need some sort of purpose...

In the morning, though - painting a couple of geometry patterns -

Then off to the doctor for flu jab and covid booster - when I left  it was raining, so I ducked into the nearest cafe, Aladdin's Cafe, which has a junk shop attached, to wait it out. Drew a few chairs, very quickly -

Back in the studio late afternoon, greeted by a rainbow -

And later, arrival of my son after a day in the woodwork shop, using their big machines to cut stuff etc and take it all back to the next job in Cheltenham. We went to Korean/Japanese restaurant Dotori for a quick bite. Probably my last tempura, deep fry has unwelcome after-effects....

And so to bed.

Cafe culture

Sidewalk seating, Mayfair, London. 

Might these areas outside cafes qualify as parterres? A posh term for a posh part of town.
 

Geometry

During lockdown I happened on an online course taught by Tom Bree via West Dean. Loved it, and have been doing other online, and in-person, courses at the Prince's School of Traditional Arts, and following a few tutorials available on youtube and via websites. 

Most recent was a week-long course on five-fold geometry, taught by Mohammed Aziz. For four days we followed instructions to make ever more difficult patterns, and on the fifth daydid a less complicated one, and had time to add colour to the pattern. Ten-pointed stars are built up from a circle divided into five - using just compass and ruler, no numbers of any kind -

Colouring in -

Drawing a section of the pattern, which was then traced and transferred ten times to make the entire pattern -

Here are some I prepared earlier - the first is based on a pattern known as "pajaritos", little birds -

My workspace in Cheltenham is very like my workspace in London

An experiment in painting

Basic pattern (with stars instead of hexagons)

Inspiration - a tiled wall in the Alhambra

Variations on a starry theme -

Something a little more complicated

Finished

Evolving

Trying out colour schemes on patterns -

From a series of online lessons taught by Lisa DeLong

From the eight-fold symmetry online course taught by Tom Bree

Also from Tom Bree's course

Another early course was based on the windows of Ibn Tulun mosque, taught by Katya Nosyreva. These are works-in-progress from that series -

Some patterns have found their way into (onto?) woodblocks -

Some of these "flowers" received stitching to bring out the pattern

Checking in

 Mostly I've been posting my work and thoughts and photos of "the ordinary pleasures of life" on instagram, but it's not letting me access camera photos, just the ones already used in posts, how daft is that? 

So after a longish hiatus, it's back to the blog. A good place to accumulate posts of, eg, the geometry (ruler&compass, no measuring!) I've been doing lately, and the woodblock printing that will resume next week as a new term of classes starts, and other projects such as going to exhibitions and noticing things on walks.

This morning I pinned up my hair, which has been growing since before lockdown, to tame it a bit. Catching sight of myself in the hall mirror I thought "Zuni maiden with corn-flower hairdo" and whipped out the (phone) camera, which is always around my neck in its crossbody lanyard case, and snapped this*.

Hmm, not quite the Zuni maiden, and not a corn hairdo -

Squash blossom hairdo, Hopi maiden. "Adolescent Hopi girls wore their hair in the traditional squash-blossom hairstyle to signify their maturity and readiness for marriage" says the photo source.

*I have new glasses and am wearing a favourite scarf, found in Canada, purchased in duplicate as a "sisters present" (Sue, do you still have yours?). The oil painting of roses used to hang in Tony's kitchen. Lots of memories floating around! Including memories of reading about Pueblo life as a schoolchild, and later the crime/mystery novels of Tony Hillerman, set in the Southwest USA.