Art and cruelty

This is the artist who had her work on show in the Gallery in the Crypt at St Martins in the Fields. I will update more of her work as I get in all the photos (on all my posts). Mixed media, floral drawings, her work is fine and detailed but with purposely placed dribbles of paint to create an interest factor in a largely monotanal and rather dull picture.













There were other items of interest...like this whipping post. Hmmmmm...things have changed somewhat but only in its subtleties!

Barbarism and cruelty, remains part of the culture in many sectors of society, especially to women, but in this very country which we visited and the one from which we came, the 'whipping' continues relentlesly..

Have we really changed that much?????




This is pretty much an overview of the crypt downstairs. As always, I FEEL the presence of history in these old places and am transported

St Martins and Brass Rubbbings

St Martins in the Field

Our last day in London.....Nor and I had a leisurely wake up but then darted off to St Martins in the Fields...An Anglican cathedral just off Trafalgar square, sporting our very own Desmond Tutu's conference room, a theater (I think) and a crypt used as a tea room and art gallery.....and the final resting place of quite a few people.....hmmmm, strange to be walking on bones!







This is my second brass rubbing in progress, a celtic circle. I honestly didn't realise that it was a Celtic crcle tll we were home.....my husband has strong scottsh roots, so ths was automatclly hs.













In progress, It looks easy but the way one presses (reasonably hard), the direction of the rubbing (one way only) and the time one takes (the more layers, the better) will determine the end product






Here Noreen is busy on her third. The fun thing about doing this, was that it was done with a fellow artist.....our darling husbands would have been chomping at the bit at the very thought.

We got caught up in the moment and in the process. We had spent two awesome weeks together, laughing, walking, talking, but this was the best possible way to have ended out trip...no words only smiles that confirmed our connectedness in doing something we both so enjoy.

The reason for the visit was to to do a Brass Rubbing....our last chance to do something arty as a memory keep-sake. Nor finished three and me, two and we were so emotionally hyped up afterwards. Aaaaah it was so good to do some art again! I decided to sign mine off with a fork....the reason will become clear (or has become clear) later (or earlier) :o)

Green Art...what would Vincent say?

This is the huge display at the National Gallery which we came accross on the day we left London.

I'm a keen gardner but have little knowledge of Botany, so couldn't make out the types of plants used in this work, but I was in awe.

Vincent Van Gogh is one of my favorite artists and to see this interpretation was facinating

Having left St. Martins in the Fields, we passed this display..the start of a 'Green art' exhibition, which we unfortunately were not able to visit. The Circa Gallery in Rosebank, Jhb, has got 'Live Art' as part of its building, which is simply a creeper left to grow up the side of the building, but this is an awsome display of what we can do with nature to create art. Different plants creating different textures and colours, all live and growing in huge proportions. There are no limitations in art.

Taking the time

I sat next to a young 25 year old Tanzanian journalist, called Moenga Shamilimo, on the flight home. She had been to SA before to report on the progress of the stadiums before the soccer world cup, and now she was back for a week. We did our bit towards international relationships and made a friend.

Having spent two very full weeks running around London and Madeira, there was still energy to horse around at the airport and meet new people. Laughter and conversation came easy no matter where we were and how tired. Nor in particular, seemed to start conversations wherever we were...once , at the ticket office at Victoria station, where the Pakistani guy at the till ran off to get a photo of his family in Lenasia during rush-hour. Unknowingly, there was a queue of passengers standing behind us, till one tall chap reminded us in high English, that we were causing chaos.......we were very apologetic but walked away laughing..... and really quite happy at making an 'invisible' man in a thankless ,monotonous job, perhaps feel a bit special for a few minutes.

Beginning at the end

This is a picture of Noreen and I at Paddington Station, about to catch the Heathrow express...still fresh!............Because of the nature of blogging, I've started at the end......... The end and yet the beginning.

We arrived home yesterday, absolutely exhausted yet elated, having experienced art and friendship through the privilege of travel. As hard as it was to leave our families behind, it was a glorious two weeks for us to nurture the 'me', the 'artist', and the joys of 'sisterhood'.......let me share it with you.

Art-hop in August

A little while ago, I went with a group of art students to visit some Galleries in Johannesburg. I'm always blown away at the talent on display and other than inspiring me to look further, see deeper, try harder...I was inspired to simply.....STOP thinking.....quieten my mind and just look!

I pour so much thought into the fine detail of my work (and almost every single aspect of my life actually) that I miss the essence of it. I'm just producing a picture (I'm so busy trying to live that I'm not alive). The day I finally manage to get someone to sit in front of my paintings with a box of pop-corn, feet up!.... and watch people walking across the canvas, through colourful flower lined streets and leaves falling from dancing branches and smell the cold salty air coming off the sea or hear the call of the fish eagle in the distance without seeing it ....only then, will I begin to believe that FINALLY, I am a true artist.

The art I saw that day was very diverse, very morally and ethically challenging (especially for some of the older Fundamentalist Christian students :o) ) but thought-provoking non-the-less. The artists got the reactions that they had intended...shock, horror, amazement.

My favorite Gallery is the Circa and its neighbouring Speke Gallery. The Everard Reed Gallery is the one gallery where I believe every artist wants to exhibit but holds little attraction to me. Commercialism saturates the very walls and one senses the 'business' aspect rather than the 'art' . Then, the UJ Gallery, is the one place I would visit before going to any other in JHB. The art is often totally off the cuff and crazy and brilliant and intriguing and makes one ask oneself: "whaat on earth is art????" I love the entertainment value and also being challenged on every aspect of 'me' the artist and 'me' the person.

One of Angus Taylor's sculptures. I LOVE his work


This was at the Speke Galery. I cant remember who this artist was, but it was one of the biggest charcole drawings that I've ever seen...beautifully done.

Noreen on top of the Circa Gallery. Beautiful views, the top floor provides chairs to relax and just absorb the experience. Angus Taylor often exhibits his works here because the space offered is huge as are some of his works. There's a story behind this gallery which appeals to me too.

This is another very poignant piece by Angus Taylor, depicting an elephant with a gazillion blazing arrows stuck in it....also at the Circa.

I'm off in a few days time and will be going to many galleries and am rubbing my hands together at the thought! Today I got an email that the SCA is having a one day exhibition at the Westminister Cathederal on the 19th of November and I've been asked to exhibit. I'm very honoured and blessed but gosh, I feel like a pimple when I see what is out there.

I need to focus on my dream now..Its big, unreachable sometimes, but for me, so real.

London Journal 2009

I was looking for contacts, addresses and street names for my impending trip and I discovered this..... and had a good laugh! My 2009 London journal ! Perhaps there are a few things in here which aught not to be shared but my age and current journey has rendered me (to a certain extent) immune to opinion!

A dear friend was so right....drawing/painting what you see makes a memory so much more vivid than a photo....perhaps because you are using more than one of your senses while recording something. I've only included a few pages but this is what I did then and intend doing now, on this next trip. I am going with a fellow artist and friend who is also a framer, art restorer and best of all, a teacher with a wealth of knowledge and passion for seeing and recording art in everything she sees. This promises to be an enlightening and interesting trip.

I really haven't been in a great space over the last two weeks. There has just been so much on my mind, not only linked to emotional upsets and misunderstandings and weird things which have complicated my life( and perhaps shouldn't have) but the events of the exhibition have also been somewhat overwhelming. I never expected any of this!!

At one stage over these past few days....and even today in fact.... I honestly though I was losing my mind (the little that appears to be left of the cognitive bit!) I have torn up drawings of my dreams, destroying them rather than trying to understand them...I have scribbled down others that where soooo disturbing, I have had a desire to do things that are so inexplicably odd and out of character for me. I think that perhaps my brain has been flooded by mutant hormones .... natures sudden and cruel way of letting me know that this is my body's, my 'normal' life's swan-song....changing me from a 'productive' woman into a strange, demented 'sports-model'. Hell...where to from here??!!!......In a soft rocking chair knitting baby Jerseys with bat-winged specs balancing off my nose....or sitting on a wooden porch with a stick of smoking hashish hanging from my wrinkly lips. (God strewth....now THAT'S a mental image!!!) Ooooooohhhhh, I'm not ready for this, any of this....whatever 'this' is!

Right.....off to the chemist.!!