wordless wednesday .....

frivol finished .....

As I said in my previous post, this little collaborative piece was really about having fun, playing .... having a frivol.  I was unable to show you our shared pieces and how they sit together so well as I had not completed the black and white design on the back of my last eight pieces before swapping them with Fiona.

Here they are - sixteen squares in all - decorated front and back.   Eight done by Fiona and eight by me.  As yet we haven't really resolved the way we present this little book - our current thinking is to leave them as unbound books in a box.  That way, we get to arrange and rearrange the story - the visual poetry - in numerous ways.  It is actually fun sitting there and swapping all the pieces around .... quite contemplative.

I am returning to health .... more slowly than I would wish but am definitely improving.  Thank you all for your well wishes. 

our first anniversary .....

Today is World Book Day and it was this time last year that Fiona and I worked together on our first collaboration.  At that point we had no idea that we were embarking on something so special .... we had just decided to spend WBD together.  The fun and success we had on that day led into a dance that has brought us both heaps of joy during the last year.  We managed to make four collaborative works .... all very different yet each one sharing the collaboration in a different way.  Our sixth book, which we will have until the end of July to work on, is a collaboration in theme only.

However, this last collaborative piece, number five in our collection, was just a frivolous little plan to do something whilst I was away for nearly two months.  We each worked on the front and back side of sixteen squares - I think the weight of the paper we used is about 600gsm.  Thick, luscious, wonderful. The work we have done on them can not be called art, but playtime which is often just as valuable.  The guidelines we set were that one side would be to do with travel and journeys and the other side would be black and white designs.  Neither of us were very enthusiastic about our results until we got together this afternoon and swapped half of our bundles.  They worked beautifully together - surprisingly, or maybe we should no longer be surprised about how our works sits so comfortably side by side.

Today I am just showing a few photos of my fronts and backs ..... I confess to only having eight backs done so that I could give them to Fiona.  Tomorrow I will work on completing my eight pieces and then I will have the full deck to show in the next posting ....... with Fiona's and my pieces.

yellow for Jennifer .....

This was the best I could do with Jennifer's call for yellow!  I have started looking over some of the blogs I usually follow, and haven't been whilst away and as always, thoroughly enjoyed my wander through Jennifer's posts.  The most recent one send me scurrying around the studio looking for yellow .....

Alas, barely any yellow in my studio apart from this biscuit tin which I bought in Paris thirteen years ago and which sits in my studio holding all sorts of 'stuff'.  I love the tin as much now as when I bought it - a little splash of sunshine in the room.

my impressionist normandy .....

I arrived home three days ago, unfortunately my good health didn't make the same flight but I hear it is safely on its way.

I am not yet in the studio but oh so looking forward to that!  Just a few more posts about our holiday which though marred by poor health and weather, was still enjoyable.

These photos were taken on our cruise along the Seine through Normandy.  A couple of them are taken through the window of a bus and the slightest blurring seems to have turned the photographs into impressionist paintings.  I am thrilled with them and have more understanding now of some of the impressionist paintings I have seen that are so evocative.  It is all very well travelling in good weather in Spring and Autumn, but the visual experience of travelling in the cold of winter with all the earth hues and misty muted colours was quite something.

I will be back again blogging more regularly.  Soon hopefully showing some creative work.  Thank all of you who have sent me comments along the way .... it meant a lot to me.  I am not going to get around to commenting to each of you personally, but thank you - those who have followed me for some time, and those who kindly came and visited while I was away, and stayed.

Very soon I will be enjoying visiting you all in your studios via your blogs ..... what a treat that will be.

a quiet couple of days .....

Hello friends ..... As you can see it has been a week since posting and I am not going to be able to write about all I have seen and done since our time in Andalucia and now we are in a beautifully modern little apartment built into and old farmhouse just outside Cardona, not far from Barcelona. I am having a couple of quiet days hoping to break this bad health cycle before moving on from here .... Steve has gone into Solonses, and I am literally going to write this blog, then read a book! Delicious amidst all the travel.

What a time we have had, despite myself and the weather. I can't even begin to write about the mezquitta in Cordoba or the Alhambra in Granada other than to say they are every bit as wonderful as one imagines. I have just finished reading People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks and am now reading Leo the African by Amin Maalouf. Both books talk about the cross over time between Moor and Catholic times, the expulsion and so forth. wonderful to be reading these books while actually in the towns mentioned.

I am just going to write briefly about the last two days and the will write again from France.

I MET ERSI ........ And I must tell you all that she is just as beautiful in person as one expects from her blog. I can't tell you how exciting it was to find her in the beautiful tucked away medieval village where she lives! The week before they had had a huge amount of snow as we could tell from many flattened trees on our drive there .... Broken branches, evidence of flooding. Apparently the snow was gone in five days and then there was a rain deluge. Having made the decision to go and find Ersi, it was quite an adventure getting there. Steve was marvelously patient! And he could see the joy it gave me - I could not stop grinning for hours. I was lucky enough to see a few of the pieces Ersi is preparing for her exhibition - most of the finished work was with the photographer. The work was beautiful - understated, evocative.

I really didn't want to leave after the few hours I had with Ersi but I am certain I will see her again and spend some creative time together. I will be plotting and planning for sure. Fiona and Helen, I remembered your messages and Ersi was so pleased.

The next day we headed towards the Pyrenees - the plan had been to spend a few days in one of the mountain villages and do some walking. Ha! Everything is still snow covered and oh so cold. Steve put his protective foot down and said no ....... And now we are booked into the cutest little spot,with two bedrooms and a kitchen so we can eat our own food for a couple of days. Quite a treat when travelling for so many weeks with barely any downtime. Down lower in the foothills of the Pyrenees the sun is shining, birds are singing - there are no cars or people to be heard. Cows at the back window!

The first few pics will be of the divine little village we made our base in Andalucia - when we arrived and opened our window a rainbow greeted us. (Actually lost the rainbow photo but found it again so it is the last pic!) Next photo the village was a white out and we had a domestic day. Di and John hosted us in their home and it was a perfect english speaking respite for us in Spain. We are both working out how to get back there for art immersion and mountain bike riding for Steve......

The next photo will be Ersi and me in front of the church in Beceite and then some of the snow yesterday. We are hidden away here today and tomorrow, then off to Barcelona for our last two Spanish days.

Thank you all for wandering along with me and leaving comments. I have enjoyed them. x

across the north and around the corner of portugal .....

From Bilbao we kept travelling west, through Comillas with its particularly beautiful cemetery and famous angel, past the fishing village of Luarca and further along to Santigo de Compostela. Along the northern border with Portugal and onto a little medieval village atop a hill, planning to walk the woods but spending an indoor reading day as the rain was just too heavy and the mist impervious to curious eyes.

I have found it difficult to photograph places such as the cathedral in Santigo de Compostela and the Mezquita in Cordoba (which I am saving for the next post) - these are just too overwhelming in their beauty and best either photographed professionally or in small details which is what i am doing. I think sometimes it is just better to put the camera away and soak in the personal experience.

Many of you are asking if I am finding inspiration or influence along the way and the truth is that in light of the marvels one sees when travelling through centuries of art and architecture in this part of the world the temptation is to stop creating altogether. What are my meager attempts in the face of this ..... And yet, because the urge to create is so strong within, we find a way to make our own small mark in the hope that it sings or reveals itself to someone!