A group of three lists

 

 

On the beach today, sunshine and the shadows of dogs, ice, a raven, underwings made gold by early morning rising sun.

 

From the studio, birds:

bright speckled redwing in winterbone branches
lapwing, brought close again by cold, small splashes of white in green fields
four swans flying landscape-low, blue sky

and sheep, heads down, cropping fresh grass.

In the studio, sketches for last but one painting of the Ice Bear.

And in the emails a request for permission to blog using some of my images from Ora in Romania. If her writing in Romanian is as beautiful as it is in English then I am honoured. This is the email she sent me to let me know that the posting was up.

"Here is the post using your beautiful images http://ora25.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/printre-respiranduri/. The text is a sort of  poem in prose, with different layers, mainly about how we borrow one another's breath from time to time, breathing the same air, from humans to the most fragile bird, mingling in a common fluid and bound by the invisible thread of shared lives. I'm sorry if it sounds incoherent, but it is built on metaphors (like the breath of the rabbit on the moon or the lesson of hibernation, decreasing the blind speed and making things more visible than through the usual rush)."


 

List 12

make list in attempt to organise day
measure paintings for Lyn
stretch paper
pack and post polar bears and ravens
think about last painting in Icebear
knit
hang some work in The House of Golden Dreams
stay away from facebook
make fire and stack logs and order wood
watch birds fly 
and take a good look at the wonderful tricksters from Anchorage on this link from Val
find out which way the wind is blowing
southerly

Silver fox, parcels, Dubai, a polar bear and an amber heart.

 

Almost finished and today I posted the package to Scotland and then crossed fingers. Feeling a little lost and difficult. Hannah goes to Dubai on Thursday. I have two and a half paintings to do to finish The Ice Bear and then the books should be finished, though the text needs a little adjustment and I don't know what I am going to do for the last spread yet. Nothing like running the difficulties right up to the line on something.

Listening to Woman's Hour on Radio 4 today and there was talk about silver fox fur being glamorous in the 30's. Made my little fox who haunts The Ice Bear quite nervous. I find that fur only has glamour when attatched to a live animal.

It is always a difficult place to be at the end of a book and this one feels rather like the end of an era. Not sure why.

 

I want to draw running hares and may have to give in to this desire before the end of Ice Bear. As it is I am going to have to read through my own words and take them for a long walk to try and find the right image. Elusive, elusive, elusive.

Meanwhile, in a corner of my studio, a polar bear, a sea urchin found on the beach and a tile from a friend in America.

List 11, in no particular order of importance.

pack painting and books for Erin
Pack Walking the Big Cat painting
packed and posted and on the way to Scotland
stretch paper
knit
make supper
blog the rats
draw out last but one spread for Ice Bear
When does a deadline become something else? I have until the end of Feb to get the art to the publishers so that the book can go to press and be published this year.
investigate flotsam and jetsam
post painting for Erin

Over the hills and far away......

 

 Walked away from work and off onto the hill on a misty moisty morning. Cold wind and dogs full of delight. Cold, sun veiled in low cloud, wind sharp and biting.

No one about for miles, but then we met Jetske and Sarah on horseback.

Homewards we wandered past the blind eyed windows of the ruined cottages at Maes Y Mynydd, so still, so cold, so full of stories.

Back home again I hung  prints from The Seal Children in The House of Golden Dreams.
 

Lists x 2

1. On the beach this morning:

pattern drawings in sand, water and light
golden splinters of shells
reflective dogs
birds over waves like an elegant string of feathered beads, hunting jewel bright fish
clear air, salt on lips

2. On the beach this evening:

stones smoothed by the sea's touch

snipe and turnstone

ancient bones of long dead trees

my children

clear air, salt on lips

And in the woods they climbed the tree, woven by the sea wind, and sat like sprites in its cradle branches.

Back home, supper looked beautiful. Sweet, rich and spiced.

List no. 9, a somewhat prosaic collection of things that need to be done.

1. Make list
2. Hang work in The House of Golden Dreams
3. Pack picture ready for delivery from The House of Golden Dreams
4. Pack dragons for Hertfordshire
5. Stretch paper
about time too. I usualy stretch my paper onto a wooden board, not a drawing board from an art shop as they are so expensive, but some fairly thick plywood taht I have scrubbed first. I use wide gum tape and before I start sretching I get 4 pieces the right length. Then I shut myself in bathroom with paper, board, tape. I have to shut myself in otherwse I have cats supervising me. I soak the paper under the bath tap. You can soak it overnight to ensure that the maximum amount of water has gone into the paper, but this is a bit purist for me. Then I hold the paper by one corner to drain off the excess and when it is just drip drop dripping I lay it on the wood, trying to lower it on so as not to trap air pockets. Then starting with a long side I use dampened gum tape to stick it down. Then I leave it, flat, to dry. Most times it works ok. It is a chore but it means that the paper stays flat when the painting is dry.
When it is dry I brush off the cat hairs and scribble and colour in all over it.
6. Walk dogs along the beach, morning, evening
7. Paint

A parcel from The House of Golden Dreams, waiting to be delivered.

Dream list

1. Dream of unicorns.
2. Dream of pirates, Conrad, and a ship with wings.
3. Dream of riding a horse, bareback and shoeless, by the edge of the sea.
4. Dream of hunting, with cheetahs and hawks, in silks and gold brocade.
5. Dream of river music, warm sun, the scent of honeysuckle.
6.Dream of dancing close on the bridge of stars that arc the earth.
7. Dream of riding the great gray wolf through the dark forest night, in the company of owls.
8. Dream of Icarus, before.
9. Dream of waking into birdsong.
10. Dream of dreaming.

List 8.

On the beach today:

The fragile bones of broken sea birds.

The texture of stippled sand where rain had fallen, smoothed by the incoming tide.

The bones of a great tree washed up by the power of the sea, stranded on stones, smoothed by waves.

And plastic, always plastic; small beads, pots, gloves, splinters and brittle shards in unnatural colours, ropes and crates, pieces of buckets, lighters, lids, balls, all manner of discard.

Back home, there are cats and angels in my window.

 

 

List 7

1. Maintain radio silence on facebook in attempt to find more minutes for painting in.
Failed miserably as drawn into a thread on Meg Rosoff's page.
2. Knit, even a bit.
3.Paint, finish the mother and child piece and if possible the father, mother and baby piece.
4. Sign The Seal Children books for Dubai school trip.
Curiously defeated in signing the correct number as 5 out of 19 books were printed upside down. Note to publisher. Print books the right way up.
5. Go to meeting at school for Dubai trip.
6. Make fire to chase away the cold and damp of the day.
7. Talk to accountant and send off papers in the post.
8. Do blog stuff, including links to John.
9. Draw Evelyn's dragon.
10. Stop making lists.