Friday 26 February 2010

i like the way this guy reads



i'm off into the Wild on the land of the Long White Cloud
and shall be out of reach of the interpixies for a couple of weeks
so
shall leave you with Viggo Mortensen
who [among other things] is quite good at reading stories from books

i'll be back on the Ides of March [look behind you, Mr Caesar!]

Thursday 25 February 2010

leaf wandering in the fall...



i'm getting a few friendly enquiries about onward wandering after Shakerag and Toronto...i have to return to Oz [maybe i need magic red shoes] early in July
but
it occurred to me over a very nice cup of tea
and after a long conversation with the calendar
that if there were sufficient interest
to run two week long workshops
i could come back in the Fall.
specifically in the first two weeks of October
one workshop could be [thanks to a brave enquirer]
in south western Ontario
the other
in New York state

so here's the deal...if you think you might be interested in attending
please email me

mail[at]indiaflint[dot]com

tell me which location would suit you best
and then we can do the math and see if the numbers stack up...

Wednesday 24 February 2010

slightly stunned



dear readers

Rachel McHenry - the brave soul who recently invited me to come to Canada in July
has asked me to post the following phrase

"As of February 22nd, this workshop has generated more inquiries than
can be accommodated. A waiting list for workshop spots and other
related programming will be accepted by email only"

i am, as ever, humbled and amazed by the kind interest the whirled has in my doings and aspire to live up to the expectations...

Tuesday 23 February 2010

resilience


regular readers will know that the Dog is preparing to embark on her next big adventure
but not just yet
Border Collies have extraordinary resilience
as well as great love and loyalty


this one is still insisting on coming for a trundle across the paddocks
albeit somewhat slower than ten years ago
and the line of travel is straighter
than the spirited casting about that used to clock up 80km [about 5o miles] a day

yesterday she even managed a swim
in what's left of the dam

Monday 22 February 2010

a moment in the sun



it's been a wild ride this week [but fun]
and i'm feeling a bit like my friend
JonniePyjamaSack [pictured above, doing what he does best]

not much to read here
but
Lotta
over at InLeaf
has written some very kind things
about your correspondent
and has lots of interesting reading
as well as lovely images
on her blog

Wednesday 17 February 2010

i'm allowed to pass this on

There will be a 5-day workshop, “Mapping Country”, at the Contemporary Textile Studio Co-operative in Toronto, Canada from June 28th to July 2, 2010. The workshop will take place at 401 Richmond St., in downtown Toronto from 10 am – 4 pm daily and will be open to no more than 12 participants. Please contact Rachel McHenry

rachel[dot]machenry[at]sheridanc[dot]on[dot]ca

Tuesday 16 February 2010

enfoldments


today [on this side of the whirled] is February 16
another Phoenix day slides by
the 27th since 1983
and there is, i think, a new moon
a good day for announcing new beginnings
here are a few

firstly, Elaine Lipson of the Red Thread Studio
has launched a splendid new initiative

and
given that the two textile retreats planned for Mansfield [Victoria]
in November this year
seem to have filled themselves before i've even had a chance to mention them in a newsletter
[apologies to folks on the mailing list]
it seems timely to announce a special retreat in rural South Australia

'enfoldments - the traveller's notebook'
will run from September 5-10, 2010
on a lovely property near Strathalbyn
it will be live-in
in simple dormitories
we will be permitted a fire for our brews
and my favourite cook will be preparing delicious meals
to sustain us in our work

if this interests you, please drop me a line through my contact page

Saturday 13 February 2010

home run running home


on the home run now

there are places where being honey coloured
is an advantage
1960s Melbourne wasn't one of them
neither
truth be told
is Japan 2010
that i am large
up and down
as well as
side to side [sigh]
isn't terribly helpful either.
much as i like the country
gardens, architecture, food, textiles
and other treasures of Japan
the pointing and laughing
[my coat doesn't help]
does wear a little thin after a while

one man craned his head to watch me
a look of utter amazement on his face
he he
it was my turn to giggle
when he very nearly crashed his bicycle
into a lamp post
sadly schadenfreude doesn't fit well
with vaguely Buddhist aspirations
in Aotearoa no-one raises an eyebrow
they just assume i'm
"from the coast"

that said
if you have a chance to visit Tokyo
and see the Boro exhibition
stay at the
absolutely lovely
warm and friendly staff
who will help you with the language
and the Japanese breakfast [delicious and different each morning]
is not to be missed
sustains you for a whole day of walking
even from Hindode Pier to
Shinjuku
and the Ryokan is only
5 minutes delightful walk
from the Amuse Museum
[make sure you use their lovely bath on the 6th floor]

Friday 12 February 2010

still walking







i tried, believe me i tried, to make those journal pages match up
they're all the same dimension across
but
i guess blogger makes up it's own mind
how the shopfront should look.
and yes, the last two lines of the last page have a few similarities
and need editing

ps i just noticed that Elis Vermeulen has kindly named me in her blog. it's a tag thing where one has to reveal seven things about oneself and recommend seven other bloggers.
i'm not really into the whole award thing
but it's very kind of Elis to have thought of me
so i'll just recommend all of the folks in my blogroll
[you'll have to scroll down a ways to find it]
more than seven
and as to revealing?
well the handwriting above probably gives away far too much as it is....

afterthought....i've written cherry blossom! they were plum blossoms....

Thursday 11 February 2010

walk this way, please



those of you who were brought up properly will remember this phrase
spoken by Igor
[played brilliantly by the late Marty Feldman]
in the film classic
'Young Frankenstein'

does it with signage
and without the "thump, drag"

if that doesn't make sense to you go ask your mother
or
work your way through this post
elucidation as a reward
right at the bottom

today i went to the Amuse Museum
and followed the pointing fingers around
feasted my eyes on exquisitely the patched and mended
textiles in the Boro exhibition
a small part of Tanaka-san's wonderful collection



i was stunned that visitors were encouraged to touch these
precious fragments


but very grateful that photography was permitted


and now, for something completely different
shedding light on "thump, drag"

Wednesday 10 February 2010

adrift in tokyo




sometimes life feels like a game of musical chairs
you know
where everybody skips and dances while the music plays
and you have to quickly find a chair when the music stops
or you're out of the game

this time when the music stops
i find myself in Tokyo


in the park behind the Senso-ji Shrine in Asakusa
a man quietly and thoughtfully tends a conifer
trimming back the foliage with slow but sure movements
bunches of needles fall into a cloth placed ready on the ground

he takes his time
that which is cut
can not be pasted on again

he realises i am watching
and gives a gentle smile
before turning his full attention
back to the tree


Tuesday 9 February 2010

HandEye BLoG



that most delicious of magazines, HandEye
now has [in addition to all that lovely online content]
its very own Blog

suggest you get a cup of tea and settle in for a nice read...

Sunday 7 February 2010

more detail


when you step back a bit [taking care not to step into something]
you get a better idea of what it really looks like



as you can see
the nest of this bower bird
is impressively cluttered

the iPhone takes quite good snaps
but it's more fun with


not quite as good as a Box Brownie
but rather easier
to fit into a pocket

Thursday 4 February 2010

a bit of a scrub up





today a very nice photographer came to shoot pictures
for 'Home Beautiful' magazine
so a bit of a scrub up was necessary
just the encouragement that i needed
to sweep up the piles of leaves
and refold various pieces of material

lovely neighbours
blessed me with an abundance of roses
so it smells even better than it looks
swept floor
beaten rugs
and lovely clear space to work in again

Kip the wonder dog
wandered in and out of frame
perhaps there'll be a photo of the two of us together
to add to the layers on the pinboard

Monday 1 February 2010

well i'll be Buttered on Both Sides [again]


dropped into my blog this morning and discovered that the number of friendly readers has suddenly hit the 250 mark.
this is a big thought.
tried to imagine how that might look in bite-size lumps
10 groups of 25
5 groups of 50
50 sewing circles of five people around a table
or a tree full of twinkle lights like the one i saw in Copenhagen recently

so of course i went looking for the photo
and found a few other nice ones
here they are


my stuff in the Mostings Hus [apologies, the 'o' there should have a line through it]
the middle piece, called 'petroglyph' has found a home in Denmark


in the image above you can see how Anette Blaesberg Orom [again, insert stroke through first 'o'] provides the gentle order to my chaos
our work is in dialogue
yin and yang
give balance to the Planeta Project
and as you wander through the four rooms of the exhibition
stories and readings
change with perspective
we think it works


here's what the exhibition space looks like from outside at night
we were SO lucky that our dates were changed from autumn to winter
during daylight hours the reflections from the snow cast an ethereal glow in the space
and at night
wandering into colour from the frozen whirled outside
was simply splendid, if i say so myself



wondering where this brilliant pink came from?
not from me.
twas brought in as a lovely 'show and tell' by someone who had putting their copy of
Eco Colour
to good use
contact prints from begonia leaves
with a bit of help from all that calcium dissolved in the locally reticulated water

thanks folks, for your kind support
for swinging by and leaving a calling card
and for reading what i write