bags and gardening

This first photo is out and out bragging- look what my vegie garden has produced. I have been neglecting the garden for ages and finally got out there.
i make the effort to do literally 5 mins a day but even that is yeilding results, and the satisfaction of home grown veg is great as well as the taste.


next image is a detail of when 'there' was 'here'. oops I just realised it is hanging in front of something else- it ends at the whiter border and will go into a deep balck frame.



Here is a new bag for my upcoming travels. I have recycled 2 panels [ I needed the frames for new pieces] from an old series cloth[e]s all the rest have sold- recycling them into a bag seems rather fitting as the idea of the clothes being hidden with in the cloth was my idea behind the series.
above is a detail- i have over stitched the surface heavily fro the texture and to make the fabric as hard wearing as i can

Hello, the sewing machine and washing machine are smoking- I am working flat out to finish things for my Australian exhibition and have things to take with me when i fly out on 11 Sept to hang in an exhibition in the UK....And iI am making clothes to waer as well!!
here are a few bits as a preview.
the first one has been completely felted by an electric sander- doesn't really suit my current themes but i think will prove useful for more misty location like the Uk when i am working on some images after my trip there??? I will see. Of the other 2 one refers to Australia- White Cliffs to be exact and one India- can you guess which is which? Duuhhh?
it is great to be really running with ideas and producing a whole body of works at once - rather than a piece for here and one for there.... bye

These photos is meant to go with yesterdays post[ but old blogger was having a bad hair day and I could not upload it??]

The first one is the entrance to the temples at Galta[ also known as the Monkey temple because many monkey tribes live in the valley and are happy for you to feed them].at the top of the valley is a temple where priests have maintained a continuous chant for 100's of years and a little past that is a lovely temple to Suyra, the Sun and a fantastic view over Jaipur.

The secong one is the top of the Hawa Mahal or Palace of the Winds. so beautiful and you can see how wide it is from this shot. it is 5 stories high and built so the ladies of the court could see what was happening in the market place whilst not being seen themselves.

Jaipur's architecture is a place of fairtales- looking at the patterning every where in India has helped me understand patterning a lot more.

i have this ingrained sort of Modernist idea that if you pattern something it is somehow less serious- the serious work cuts right to the bone. and I must say growing up in a house where fashion and my mother went for rather loud wallpaper added to that idea- the very endless repitition of the pattern without change used to leave me feeling like i could not breathe.

At Ranakpur there are some wonderful Jain temples- all carved white marble. 1444 pillars hold these temples up and each is similar to all the rest in size but each sports a different design.

noticing that is when the penny dropped-it is the similar but different that gives it a living quality.

when i go out to the desert you might think at first the landscape is monotomous but take time to look it is full i subtle variations and there lies its beauty.

Jaipur

I am so excited- I have just found out there is to be a cultural fair in Jaipur next January[ the first of many- I hope] www.jaipurfestival.org
Not only do I wish I could be there and will certainly be at the next one but if you read the website you can see they are sort of a cultural Greenpeace.
By bringing prestige to the arts and crafts[ and most importantly income] it will help keep them as an live and vital part of the culture.
People have their traditions and a love of activities but if they literally can’t feed the family they will wonder at their value and we will become a society where everything is the same [ Macdonald’s society] but if through a global influence we can all support and enjoy the uniqueness of each area, each person we will have a truly rich home- the Earth.

And truly Jaipur is a fantastic place to visit and the thought of all those activities and the venues for music etc- WOW it would be magical for anyone to see and experience.

Thank you to those who send me comments- I really appreciate it [ for some reason some I can’t email back to with a personal thank you??] and if you ever in this neck of the woods please contact me you are welcome to visit.

I attended a seminar on ‘textiles’ in Australia on the weekend at the College of Fine Arts in Sydney- part of the University of NSW, I think.
Very interesting- there were presentations from some of the heads of dept of the textiles sections of some Arts schools and others. Great to get a chance for an insight into what’s happening at an academic level, frustrating to hear once again of the squeeze our elected govt is putting on all things educational and cultural.

The seminar was running concurrently to the opening a national touring exhibition organized by the Tamworth Regional gallery. Very interesting work examining time and place both on a personal level and some within a more ‘historical’ context.

The seminar highlighted for me the importance of being clear about the the work you are trying to produce but also the importance of being articulate about it. Now I don’t think a great long essay is necessary for you to appreciate the work but I did feel there was a subtle link in getting what the work is trying to convey and those who were able to be articulate in this seminar situation.

This suggested to me the clearer I am in my writing and artist’s statement, much of which is just stuff I scribble in my notebook- not necessarily for dissemination, the more I will also refine what it is I am trying to say, or in my case I am usually trying to evoke a feeling, and the clearer it will reach my audience.

Back to the sewing machine- I am working up some pieces and should refrain from distraction……

Oh but…I also noticed there seems to be 2 ways practitioners go about their practice, one seemed quite planned from the outset- a thoughtfulness in the process and the other came more from responding to what happens during the process[ I always feel this is like a gift from the Gods- see what evolves and go with it] both methods overlap but are also subtly different. Probably a personality thing and also dependent on the media you use.

Ok sewing machine is now shouting!
good to type something not just talk to myself for hours whilst i work....bye

hello I am home and in the studio, boy does it feel good- having something you value to do with your time is , I think a big basis of the problems i could see out west- it is still disturbing to think about....

Anyway
this is what i have been up to and much more happening
iIforgot the images would jump up to the top - so back to front like usual.

I have started a new series called Elements- focusing in on the basic aspects of a place.
the purple/green is a deatil of 'Elements: Saltbush'
the other one is 'Elements: Jodhpur" and then I came across 2 pics of Jodhpur so I included them for interest- one is the Palcae up on Meheranghir Fort and the other is the view from the Fort ramparts out over the old city. In India you will often hear Jodhpur refered to as the Blue City and now the reason becomes obvious.

I am at Bourke- Far West NSW [ In Australia if you want to indicate somewhere is remote then you say it at the back of Bourke] . the land is very flat and dry – semi arid. The first time I came out this way I first thought how tough the land was but as I spent time walking around and taking a closer look I started to realize how fragile and vulnerable it really is. Much of it is only just surviving- it can barely support western style farming.
Due to little rain many years a farmer can’t put a crop in and the mighty Darling River is barely a trickle because of water harvesting. and it is the most unhealthy shade of green dur to poisonous algae blooms....


This trip I have visited a number of towns I have not been to before and am feeling very sad. I grew up with violent, alcoholic parents and so from a young age have learnt to be very aware of the ‘vibe’. Is there tension in the air, how are things to-day….? it was like jumping back 30 years [ and not a pleasant surprise]
Some towns out here have a lot of tension in the air.. people seem tense, shops and houses have large security grills everywhere. It is real, it is happening in our country, some of our people and towns are not happy, there is nothing to do perhaps…. I don’t really know the problems but I can feel their existence and it leaves me feeling very sad….
once you could see the label "Lucky country" was quite true by and large for the people of our country...now it is a place for those that 'have' and those the 'have not' and if you are on the 'have not' side of the fence beware the govt is going to kick you in the gusts as much as it can [ and pity those that also come from a minority skin colour or religion] we are becoming a bunch of rednecks

I think all the people of this land are just like the land itself- they seem tough but are really fragile and vulnerable…what can we do to help…??

I am going to head back out of town tomorrow and into the bush – it feels good.
Towns are just not my place….

It is so big and flat- they sky is enormous and so rich a blue.
Once you cross the Great Dividing range all the trees change- they are a beautiful silver colour, with red growing tips and an underling golden colour at the corner of your eye. The earth is a rich almost vermillion hue…it is good to be on the land I am trying to do some Australian pieces and needed a colour top up to get into them [ lately all I can think is India which tends more to the purple/ golden range…] Australia is a tone up on the vivid scale.