Walking round the 'hood

Fonthill Road "fashion district"

More Fonthill Fashion

Finsbury Park's skyscraper being built - maybe in two years
we'll be able to access the tube station without having to walk under
the railway bridges, in the dripping semi-dark, past the rough sleepers
and the buskers - today it was bagpipes!

 On a happier note - a section of one of the local "organic shops" - I'm utterly bedazzled by the choice in each category of fruits and veg, especially the tomatoes (not shown this time) -

 They have various types of lentils, as you'd expect -

 Another range of lentils gives Turkish names too -

This isn't the organic shop that stocks 8 (eight) kinds of tahini ... I forgot to check how many kinds of tahini this one has...

Woodblock Wednesday, first independent week

The course has finished so I'm keeping up the momentum by reserving Wednesday mornings for woodblock printing. It took a while to get organised this week, but now all the equipment is gathered in one place, ready for next time.

The current project is to develop a book on the theme "offset". 

"Start where you are, with what you have" - which is the blocks containing segments of circles. 

While messing about with adding smaller circles to the sequence, I wondered about overlapping the same image by turning the block upside down...

 The red and the blue were to hand as well - dried up tubes that have now been diluted and stored in little jars.

I tried to make subtle variations in the red, but the contrast between red and blue just swallows them up -

 Carry on nonetheless, just to see what happens -

 Here are two arrangements of the prints, two possible sequences -

I prefer the "let's see what happens" approach to deciding beforehand what should be happening. I prefer surprises, and even accidents, to total control and then not being happy with the results.

Poetry Thursday - Delay by Elizabeth Jennings

Calligraphy practice (rediscovered)

Delay

The radiance of the star that leans on me
Was shining years ago. The light that now
Glitters up there my eyes may never see,
And so the time lag teases me with how

Love that loves now may not reach me until
Its first desire is spent. The star's impulse
Must wait for eyes to claim it beautiful
And love arrived may find us somewhere else.

Elizabeth Jennings (1946-2001) was noted for her clarity of style and simplicity of literary approach. Her Roman Catholicism coloured much of her work. She lived since childhood in Oxford, studying at St Anne's College and working in advertising, a library, and publishing before becoming a full-time writer. Her  devotion to poetry yielded more than 20 books during her life, and New Collected Poems appeared in 2002.

I first encountered the poem via "Poetry on the Tube" - probably on the Victoria Line in the 90s - and it immediately became one of my favourites, to the point where I wanted to "possess" it more fully by using it (about 1997) to practice calligraphy. 

Progress in the studio

A worktop is ready for Wednesday's task - woodblock printing, carrying on from the class, which has finished for the term. 

Not perfect, but there's enough space to spread out a bit. And woodblock printing is meant to be a "compact" sort of production. 

Hidden in the far distance is a radio - it will be a morning of listening to whatever's on Radio4. When I was still working in the day job, it was my dream to spend the days in the studio with the radio on in the background. Now, I'd just as soon have silence ... though of course there's the temptation of podcasts ... which did not exist in the days of the day job.

I keep finding items that need to be documented before being passed on -

A collection of broken car mirrors, found in the street

From a Tate carrier bag - what a good idea to have ART, rather
than logos, on (paper) carrier bags

Menu from a Paris restaurant - 1994 - prices in francs

Can you believe it, a collection of Russian toilet paper -
from the plane and various hotels and bars, 1995
(these had been rediscovered in an earlier studio reorganisation)

An idea - unsuccessful - for the "Underfoot at the V&A" project

Years ago, the London region of the Quilters Guild had an annual
celebrity lecture - this may have been the last; I was involved in
the regional newsletter and flier production at that point

1999 - I was part of Fibre Art London, exhibiting at Leighton House,
London and also in Broadstairs, Kent

The Loomus cartoons in the Guardian are sadly missed

Creative memories from the early 2000s -
pergola at West Dean, on my first visit there;
felt stitched with a poem (Mornings Like This);
indigo dyeing from City Lit;
a fling with clothing as a subject;
 and the quilt that nearly cost me my relationship

"The view from my chair", June 1992, on an A5 envelope

4x6 cards from a larger series, each a textile collage made quickly before
going to work; they were how I kept the creative momentum going during
a time when life seemed to be just work and sleep, work and sleep

Sunsets, much the same round the world
Petworth, Chillon, London, Vancouver

Drawing Tuesday - Southwark Cathedral

I started by having a coffee in the cathedral cafe and drew what was to hand - then later as people appeared drew what could be seen -

Rather a lot of coats on chairs - and two people missing from the scene

Never did get into the cathedral itself. Some days are like that.

 The others were busy, though. Janet B came upon the cathedral cat, Doorkins -

Judith had been happily sitting outside, but was told she was within a construction zone and had to move on; she managed to draw a lot, though -

 Carol found "heads" everywhere -

Sue found dazzle patterns had been painted on HMS Belfast, which is moored nearby -

 Jo was intrigued by the statue of the Roman hunter god -

 Joyce used shades of grey for the cityscape -

... and found, among the roof bosses, a green man swallowing Judas Iscariot -

 Coincidence - "quite a strange statue" by Janet B -

 ... and by Jo -

It's a modern statue (1989) by (prolific) sculptor Peter E Ball.

Several people had done the "homework" - to draw a creature.

Carol wondered if using plastic models was cheating - no, not at all; depicting animals has two components, the furry or hairy (or scaly) texture, and the disposition of bones and muscles - tackling one at a time is fine! -

 Sue tackled some gulls and found they were always moving -

I worked from 2D representations and was surprised to see that my drawings were much the same size as the originals - must try different sizes -

Extra-curricular activities -
Janet B had been drawing tigers' skulls at the Royal Veterinary College -

 The two skulls - and a "real" tiger -

Joyce had been out with Urban Sketchers in Leadenhall Market -

Sue took some photographs of chairs, in strange lighting conditions; she first represented the entire photo ...

 ... then found areas with interesting shapes ...

 ... and finally, abstracted them even further ...

Sorting out the tool box