Side by Side

The artist Carol Peace is about to hold an Open Studio and Gallery Exhibition of her work in Bristol. Her email invitation uses this wonderful piece of sculpture and it really appeals to me.

side by side
equal
souls and soles exposed
heads held high
dignified
open
proud
the arm round the back
loving
tender
supportive
not belonging but sharing
one another with
each other
and with us.

Who would you write to if you could?

leemingwei.com

 

How profoundly moving. Standing in a gallery space in Dean Gallery silent, curious.  In the space is a beautiful Eastern-styled three-sided booth with a single step up to a low writing bureau.  On all three sides are carefully designed slots to hold envelopes.  "Please remove your shoes before entering the writing booth" - is this request in respect of the project being the creation of a Taiwanese-born artist? In respect of the spiritual art of letter-writing? Or perhaps in awe of the addressees on the envelopes...

To Emanuelle
To my brother and my sister
Gordon, PM
Pour Piotr
An Artist Among Artists
Whoever in the Whole Wide World
Robert
God
Budda
Wonderful Grandparents
x x x
We Are the Wise Ones

I am writing these down trying not to disturb the woman who is kneeling in her stockinged feet writing her letter in the booth. Another, older, woman enters the room. She must have come up in the lift - our reverence is temporarily agitated by the digital voice announcing that the lift is now going down. This new arrival walks straight up to the booth and lifts down an envelope, opens it and reads the contents. I am shocked; i feel voyeuristic but cannot help glancing across to see what is written therein. It has been 4 years today since our first meeting and... She returns the contents, slots the envelope back in its place and removes another on which is written:

Dear God...

The younger woman in the booth has finished writing. I imagine her folding the sheet of paper (her back is to us) and then she begins to rise back to her feet, places the folded sheet inside the envelope and then finds a home for it with the others. On it is scribed:

God of Life

So who would i write to?  Why didn't i write a letter while i was there?  Why don't i just get on and write the letters, send them to those still living, mourn those who i didn't write to sooner...?  I am uneasy with the idea of leaving a letter in a public place where others can read it, judge me, laugh at me and i feel sure that i would try too hard to make the letter "good" knowing that others might indeed read it.   And yet i write and publish this blog and i guess reading my blog is like reading a private journal that i have chosen to share with the world...

What about you?  What would you do?

Fine...don't think in Edinburgh, part 3

As the afternoon breezed by the clouds got ever more windswept and interesting!


Broughton Street is always full of signs, notices, objets d'art... well worth a visit!

Fine...don't think in Edinburgh part 2

The wedding party struggled with confetti in the breeze
failed to get on to the roundabout where the photographer wanted to take some "arty" photos
and all seemed to be having a lovely, happy time

The wedding had taken place in the Mansfield Traquair Centre at the foot of Broughton Street - full of Phoebe Traquair work

life on two wheels in Edinburgh - rapid? dangerous? the only way forward?

fine...don't think in Edinburgh...

From Tollcross to Barony Street on foot
i saw Starbucks (mmmm),
Festival fireworks preparation in Princes Street Gardens (whizz!pop!bang!)
a guy trying to light his juggling batons with a malfunctioning lighter (aaaahhh)
a wedding celebration
a bicycle and a scooter outside Rapidos
and some interesting signs...


In Princes Street Gardens this mural caught my attention

a woman standing watching helped him out by lending him her lighter

and the signs i saw helped me to stop, rest and be...

Curve at the Bield

A pair of giraffes - one of Darwin's greatest inspirations
Lesbians scrawled across their graceful necks
What can i say to people who know almost everything?
Warrior pose in studio - oh how i want that studio!
Walden Pond in Massachusetts -
stunning light - sky and water reflecting each other's beauty
branch of a tree framing the scene
leaves of autumn gold, bronze and copper
variously backlit by the sun.
Across the pond words appear:
Mysteries of Christianity

A scrap of writing from Resurgence

A finger maze by Chris Drury (more truly a labyrinth)
MORAL shouts above it
and beneath it a card sticks out
brazen, immodest - the Queen of Hearts
in the intimate embrace
of another Queen of Hearts...

And from the bottom corner of this fabulous trump card
snake two trunks extended into sand,
plaited like a loaf, created by Goldsworthy.

CURVE is important, softening the collage
yet also emboldening.

And then we come to the piece that began this particular process -
a gorgeous barn owl peering out of its nest site in a derelict barn.
Entitled HOW the words wisdom and grace
appear and at the foot of the sheet:

EXERCISES IN THINKING.

Divine Abidings at the Bield

Today was truly wonderful, the only downside being that my camera broke down before i had captured the completion of the creative process. So here are some of the moments of the journey in picture and in word.

The Bield is a special place near Perth, Scotland. Gail and i first travelled there as friends last summer and have returned several times for simple retreat days, creative and reflective.

[to bield means to shelter in Scots]

...wandering outside, collecting. A leaf curling at its fingertips, browning in the elements; a twig discarded and forlorn; lichen in pale hues of green; a feather sodden and dulled; a flower plucked; a grass tugged.

Collage Process
Start with the card, collect some items and brush glue across the card. Create the river - add, remove, change around... Let the space speak, see it as it is inhabited - blue fabric suggests sky, brown tissue the earth... wasteland or wild places?


Large sheet of burgundy card,
tissue and crepe paper -
blues, greens, white;
fabric of hessian, satin, wool,
bubble wrap, chippings,
foam cut-outs;
PVA glue, hairspray, tape;
magazine clippings -
words, phrases, letters,
boots, cows, flowers, birds, fairies, trees,
scenery - a dead body floating face down in the water.


Does the swan fly through the sky
or does the air carry her graceful body effortless in the space?
A fairy swims up there
a butterfly flaps and a damselfly swoops
all under the piercing eye of the falcon.
Two cows stand on the river's edge
udders full, minds wandering
as they meditate on the items that drift past.
A pair of walking boots stand to attention,
laces untied.
Is the body beached below the owner?
Did he drift past the cows?
Did the falcon notice?
The body bleaches slowly -
driftwood now,
encompassed in art.

Spirits in the doorway

On Saturday Gail and i went to a unicorn healing workshop hosted by the Body and Soul Fair in Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall. Diana Cooper, acclaimed speaker, writer and "highly evolved" human being informed us that she was showing us orbs on a series of photographs. These orbs, she told us, were unicorns. What we saw were light spheres above individuals' heads, beside them, on them. These could have been due to flare, light spots or many other reasons and we were not particularly happy at being "told" what we were seeing...

Today we visited Jupiter Art Land (one of our recent discoveries and a wonderful place!). While sitting in the Proposals Room awaiting Gail's imminent arrival with our lunch i took photographs of the doorway as various people walked past. Is it just me or is there a spirit entering through the doorway?...

It is one thing to see something and to invite others to see it or to describe what they do (or don't) see but it is quite another to tell people what it is they are seeing...or is it? I mean the chairs that are in the foreground are chairs aren't they? And that is a pepper-pot on the table...and it is a table...isn't it? Ah, philosophy...

Lions

Ancient lions sit proud
against the cloud-blown skies
and the backdrop of twentieth century architecture;
they have watched over the city for three centuries
re-situated but unflustered
growling, prowling, knowing.

Dragon Encounters!

Cordelia Jade (the green and purple dragon) and Banksy (the red winged dragon) were finally introduced the other day. I have had Cordelia Jade for a few years now, having rescued her from TK Maxx in Bristol one time when i was visiting my mum. Banksy was rescued last month from a shop in Nailsworth where he was standing squashed on a shelf in the back of the shop with all the children's games and toys. He's called Banksy because we had been in Bristol with the view to seeing his exhibition (see earlier blog on this subject!).

Cordelia Jade is rather jealous of Banksy's beautiful wings while he is jealous of her fabulous claws!

Crosby Reflections

Hands and shadows and views through the gaps in between
reflections at an angle with shadows making clocks in the sand
time passes slowly and quickly as the sands shift and the tide recedes
before rushing back in, reclaiming barnacled limbs, rusting torsoes
and castles never built to last as long as the dreams that created them...

If a white feather is a sign that an angel has visited, what about other coloured feathers?

Whenever i see a white feather i am reminded that angelic presences are with us,
whether to keep us safe, cheer us up or remind us of our purpose.
So what does it mean to see feathers tipped with irridescence,
shimmering in the sunlight,
changing from turquoise to deepest blue to green and back to turquoise?
Perhaps that the angel has left behind some of her aura
the blues to remind us to slow down,
to take time to give and receive healing;
the greens to remind us to trust and listen to our innermost feelings,
to seek the restorative power of Nature...

Tree of Trees

Ancient
many-fingered trunk
much-hugged
and admired
twisted, troubled
reaching for the skies
thrusting deep into the ground
leaves tender
branches tough
ageless in her wisdom
standing firm through wars
weeping with the lovelorn
yielding to no arrow or rock or charger
oh, the stories she could tell...

Day Tripping

What a privilege to see swallow so close up! They really seemed to be giving us a display and enjoying the attention.













We were blessed with the most wonderful weather, lovely people at Historic Scotland and alot of fun. Simple pleasures...

North Pole Sunset

No not my own photo!

This photo was emailed to me with the message: This is the sunset at the North Pole with the moon at its closest point last week - a scene you will probably never get to see in person so take a moment and enjoy God at work at the North Pole... It invites one to share with others so i am assuming that includes adding it to my blog without claiming it is my own work! The following is my own work though!

tick-tock of clock
rhythm of day
"ba-duhm" of heart
rhythm of love?

sun rises
moon stays
sun sets
moon stays

lunar cycle
twenty-seven days
three times nine...
which is three times three
three gather three thrice
every nine days.

observe moon
pass across sky-scape;
stir pot, cauldron, kettle
coffee grounds
read in bottom of cup.

Bowl of Cherries

If life is a bowl of cherries what is a bowl of cherry stones and stalks?

The flesh of the cherries can be sweet or sour
the stones are inevitably hard, solid
the stalks are obvious, bold, erect
do the stones add up to the love of one's life
or are they simply the potential of life to come?

for me the flesh is sweet as love
as sour as lies
as shiny as a smile
as red as blood

the stones are as solid as the love i have
for the woman i love,
the family of my blood
and the kin of my soul

the stalks are the ladder
between heaven and earth
Jacob's dream, my reality
trust the stalk
heaven is here.

Shandon Friday

Sunset in Shandon
soft, silent, sober
reflections in the canal
gulls and terns soaring
dogs, bikes and joggers
dodge my shadow on the path
i drift along and homeward finally turn...

Turtle Print

I have discovered a creature that suits my creative style as well as my nature! I am having lots of fun with the prints i made from this original...yes i did make the classic rookie mistake of writing the letters without realising they needed to be back-to-front... Ah well!

Friday in the West of England, Part 2

Minchinhampton is famous locally for its cattle which are free to roam across Minchinhampton Common. Near "Long Tom's Post" we were able to meet some of the locals...

Local properties really do need to be gated communities if only to preserve their lawns and not get a fright every time they wake up - i guess it might be fun occasionally to sleep with the window open and be woken by huffing and licks from a doe-eyed cow but hardly something that is likely to appeal on a regular basis - i can certainly think of someone i'd much rather be woken by... Tee!Hee!

Friday in the West of England

Banksy in Bristol exhibition: ironic - queuing in the rain to be admitted to a gallery to view his works of art when he is famous as a graffiti artist and would surely abhor such plaudits?

Well, we gave up after a while feet soaked and spirits sinking and we went into Oxfam and bought some stickers made from his art works probably handed in by the man himself.

After a Starbucks to renew us body, mind and soul i trotted down Park Street to buy toiletries in Boots and, on my way there, i went through Banksy's gallery, saw his work now vandalised by "anti-griffiti vigilantes"...irony again!

And then i was halted in my trotting by this splendid unicorn and had to balance my camera on a post-box to get some close-ups of this magical beast...

Then after a bit more pottering we drove back to Nailsworth where this little fella had to be rescued from the indignity of being squashed on a shelf amongst childish toys and games!!! He has yet to find his name but has settled in well as car guardian while we had lunch in Minchinhampton and then as companion to the resident house creatures at Longfords Mill...