sophie munns : visual eclectica

pinch and a punch...

2012-02-01T23:24:00.000+10:00

... first day of the month!

This morning I booked tickets for a trip to Sydney leaving tomorrow before everything begins in earnest. I was to go on this holiday at Xmas but you know how it goes when the year's been too fast and too full.... given the chance to change your mind sometimes home can seem like simply the best place to be.

Now I feel so much more ready for a week and a half of walking here and there, catching up with friends whilst staying with family, and viewing some interesting shows. With that studio overhaul I've really gotten back into painting (and using my camera) so the return home will be to an organised living space and studio with plans well under way for the months to come.

First I wanted to share some shots taken of that special painting job referred to last month here. A Xmas gesture to my mother was this room makeover! I possibly should have taken these in less of a rush... the light is not good and low res images don't help ... but you can get a sense of the finished room I hope.

the corner next to the door with the stained glass circle window

looks like someone is now proud owner of a new painting!

a cosy corner for writing and reading...
light filmy curtains are a must in the sub-tropics!

a place for momentos

I don't seem to have managed to get much colour consistency in my shots to show the particular grey I used. What I will say is that it works beautifully... the new colour is both soothing and pleasing.

Best of all it was greatly appreciated and well worth all the days of effort to see the smiles and pleasure it has brought. Just a few tasks remain to cross off the list... a couple of pictures to hang, whilst the door needs to be painted carefully as layers of paint were revealed after a washing down with sugar soap. The rest was far less complicated.

On another note altogether, last night I gave a slide presentation for a local environmental community group's monthly meeting in a library close by the Botanic Gardens at Mt Coot-tha. It was great to meet people again I'd met before and have interesting conversations with new people.... a delightful crowd indeed.

This was the perfect chance to review aspects of my work from recent and earlier times through the process of putting this together. I like to put ideas into context so there was imagery representing the span of time, right back to fossil seeds all the way through to recent past and present. Ive selected a few images here from what was a diverse coverage of the topic.

2009 - homage to the seed dinner in 2009

postcards sent by lovely bloggers for the Mail Art Show
in homage to the seed 2010

introducing the ideas behind the oval painting below

discussing the KEW MSB residency late last Year in the UK

drawings of a Lebanese seed pod that was quite fascinating

Wolfgang Stuppy contact person for my residency... below
seeds he's photographed in his work as a Seed Morphologist

talking about my projects for 2012... one of which is to
produce a book that expands on the previous one from 2010

my work from the last few weeks... concertina books

There were 168 images on the slideshow, some content heavy, others simply offering visual variations on a theme... stimulus that prompts questions and so on. They were such a wonderful group... very engaged and open. The entire process... first assembling the focus and thread of ideas in the slides yesterday, and later presenting, was a fantastic experience. I learn so much from recapping and formulating the overview that speaks to the central themes in the work and project, close up and at large.

If you visit my studio blog you can see images at my (newish) flickr site of this latest work on concertina books and here read the latest post on this most recent artwork.

Have a excellent week or two won't you! Back before long,

Sophie x

The Office... interesting!

2012-02-01T21:33:00.000+10:00

The Office

Artists: Gerda Steiner and Jörg Lenzlinger Brazil

"A fully furnished open-plan office in the administrative centre of Brazil is overwhelmed by fertility. Shoots begin to sprout from a workstation, the office plants grow like wildfire, sumptuous vegetation spreads, and the table tops start to bud. It rains fertilizer, and the workplaces as well as the computers are gradually coated with a layer of fertilizer crystals like a patina." More

Whats your office like?

I'm just about to download some photos to post of what I've been up to.
See you soon!
Sx

Order ... then I guess the inevitable!

2012-01-28T01:40:00.000+10:00

If you pop over here to the studio blog you can see small low res images of the studio after a clear out and re-organisation.

Weary of the feeling there was no room to breathe it gave me great pleasure to rethink this essentially very small studio space and make whatever changes would resolve the dilemma of feeling crowded.

I have space under the house not suitable to work in but ideal to store large paintings and such.

The computer moved into the window area of the next room with a great view from the bay window. I thought carefully about what could go and that also helped. At the moment I'm doing a lot of small work, mostly working on concertina book formats. Also being planned is a second printed book for my homage project following on from the first which was published late 2010.

Even though I have ideas for large pantings on my mind the book and preparations around that may keep me working small scale for now. I'm picking up work this semester tutoring in Visualisation at the QUT Architecture faculty. Having connected there previously, and finding staff most engaging and friendly, an afternoon a week collaborating with other tutors and students in a very large open space offers an alternative from the routine of solo work at home. Ive had a keen interest in designed spaces over the years, lingering on from an adolescent obsession with designing houses and such. I'm rather keen to put my mind to this fresh departure in thinking.

And what is this you ask...

some might recognise it as a jacaranda seed!

I spent some time drawing one under the microscope at the Millennium Seedbank last October. I was captivated by its delicate structure... this image is quite a low resolution so it might be difficult to see quite what I'm talking about.

Today at the homage blog I added articles on the KEW Millennium Seedbank as an update... always such a lot to read over there!
Time to be off now.... Have a good weekend won't you!

Resources? WHat are our most precious resources?

2012-01-25T14:59:00.002+10:00

First some pics.... from seed capsules tumblr of course!

iceblack, via beverleyshiller)

Sometimes i feel like doing this...

(via Merce Cunningham Dance Company in ‘Roaratorio’ - Review - NYTimes.com)

Not that I can ... but I have imagination!

Pause to wonder...

Litter?
yes...

Litter by Anna Hutchinson via Sweetpeapath from Edge - Textile Artists Scotland

And this extraordinary painterly view...

landsat satellite image a of a swamp in Russia. from The RX tumblr

When I moved to Brisbane in 2008 locals were catching every drop of excess water in every bucket they could find the drought had gone on so long. One could almost hear annoyed mutterings about yet another person moving to this State and using their precious water. How dare I?

Well I thought about that and the place I had just left, Newcastle, in the Hunter region of NSW, which had such a good track record with water use because they had been charging for its use for many years and the locals had been careful in consequence. It was also a MUCH less affluent and showy place on the whole... presumably without a huge home, pools and lots of cars on large driveways, water use is less!

A boom state Queensland had been when I arrived ...and they kept coming till the GFC slowed that down. Last summer the rains certainly did come. This year so far has been rainy too ....nowhere near as catastrophic in term of deluges...but the last couple of days have brought flash flooding so I was outside in the middle of the night checking drains and moving stuff under the house. Our run-off is from neighbours with drains on their properties that get blocked. So at midnight there I was in the next door's yard with my brother to the rescue unblocking their drain of bark chips so the water could flow out where is is supposed to and not drown us! I was reminded how necessary it is to think and work together if we want the best results for all.

When I came home from my getaway last week this wonderful big fig tree (photo taken two years ago), that takes up half the street, had been chopped back so harshly we were in shock. Its already pruned frequently for power lines and the trucks using the street... huge limbs were now gone...though not once has there been any reason to worry that these stately old limbs were a danger. I was just pleased to hear we weren't the only ones in the neighbourhood horrified by this.

Trees that have taken decades to grow chopped out (or stripped back) in no time! Ive been seeing to much of that around here of late. Yet... paradoxically, because we are next to a tennis court and there are several huge wonderful shady trees on this part of the street, we get many vehicles parking here to eat lunch or rest throughout the day. They come to sit in their vehicles in the shade... buses servicing local schools, removals trucks, tradies... which reminds me each time how invaluable trees are to us... but do we forget this?

Over at the homage blog I have been reblogging some excellent articles found of late... I know how much you... like me... like to be seduced by all things wonderfully artistic and inspiring...and I guess the homage blog is short on that at times. BUT can I just fly the flag for a stopover at Homage today... ask if you might take a moment to read one of the articles I've reblogged of late. I know some of you pop in when you can... its a darn nuisance really not having a single blog... so I am not wanting to be be greedy and demanding in wanting your time...

simply saying...

I know you all care about theses themes ... and are doing things in your own signature way to make a difference...

so IF you can retweet or reblog for me I would be VERY grateful as the latest posts are all from reliable and news-worthy sources... I am simply being a vehicle... (OK... a little added editorial) for passing things on... so if you can be too I'll be SO delighted!

Lucy... big thanks for retweeting:

lucy_nourish_me lucinda dodds

@sophiemunns always has the best links RT food sovereignty ... are we talking about that enough? fb.me/16HWKfQA3 .

OK... I just did a tricky thing and linked this from the Homage blog so you can visit there more easily.

Yale Environment 360: Value of Conserving Habitats Could be Worth $500B to World’s Poor

Jan 25, 2012

As we in the...

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Food Sovereignty in New Orleans

Jan 24, 2012

Found at the...

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Improve your plant life balance!

Jan 21, 2012

An interesting...

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The biodiversity crisis: Worse than climate change

Jan 20, 2012

The biodiversity...

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Diverse ecosystems are crucial climate change buffer

Jan 19, 2012

This article is...

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Why plant science matters!

Jan 19, 2012

The following...

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low tech vertical farming from Sweden

Jan 13, 2012

Found via Green...

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thought for the day!

Jan 13, 2012

Next year's...

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I hope you don't need a whisky after this reading ... but you know... its stuff that's gotta be chewed over.
Maybe I'd better find something really good to finish up with!

How about a cup of tea?

stilllifequickheart: Rosemary Valadon - Tea for Two III

pics from up the coast...

2012-01-20T10:21:00.001+10:00

It was a wild old day when I set off on my coastal escape.

Heavy rain slowed things down ...but I had a lovely afternoon with my niece at North Arm, near Yandina, before joining friends at Coolum for the evening. Next day we found a dry hour or so for a beach walk ...the coast looked windswept but the ocean water was rather tempting as it was warm enough for a dip!

These images are very low resolution ... still getting use to the laptop i-photo. Tried adding them to Flickr and Facebook this morning... I'm only keeping a public Homage to the Seed page on Facebook... the wonderful followers here at Blogger are the friends I want to keep in touch with ... I can't quite see how there could be enough time to keep track of the friend scenario over there at FB so I have not gone that way!

As for Flickr ... well I am a slow learner over there... nothing much happening yet... thinking about a new camera at the moment. Anyone know of a fail-safe camera for dummies... I really have little interest in gadgetry...i like on-off buttons,,, point and click. Well ... I do like being as artful as possible with framing things... but the technology for recording the image.... simple please!!

Coolum .... steps up from one of the many small beaches.

When we settled in at Noosa on Monday afternoon at our accomodation it was bucketing down. The pool was steps away, a private jetty a little further along... and where were we? Inside with our noses to the window staring out.No... it wasn't that bad!!

A trip to Organika for a few supplies and coffee (+ to check emails) was highly worthwhile, in large part because I discovered that my fav bookstore/gallery (that had been next door) where I had a show early in 2010 has relocated to Melbourne where its doing well ... situated close to the State Library in the heart of the city.

Organika in Wyeba Rd, Noosaville

Embiggen Books previously next-door to Organika in Noosaville...

Warren and Kirsty at Embiggen's first wonderful home - next to Organika!

I just found a great blog post on the new Melbourne store... so if you get to/live in that fine city be sure to pop in! And here's a photo (below the map) from the blog post.

Embiggen Books on little Lonsdale St in Melbourne

the Melbourne store

Back to the getaway story....

It rained heavily day and night Monday... and when I woke at 5am next morning I was itching to go explore. Despite grey with heavy clouds it was definitely not raining outside. At 5.30 I headed out with an umbrella and a little cash hopeful to find a coffee spot after my walk.

I came across this tree after hearing a quite amazing cacophony ( will send pics to a botanist friend for the name of this tree) coming from its blossom-heavy branches. Excuse my low res pics... can you see what was hiding in this riot of yellow?

Not just one... but a whole host of what I think were Rainbow Lorikeets. If ever there was need of a good photographer to capture this sight of a tree laden with delighted birds after the heavy rains... feasting on the nectar from these blossoms.

I think I passed two others on my walk along the beach. I guess everyone was tucked up asleep... you'd have thought the town completely deserted on this morning ... a rare sight over summer in this popular place I must say!

and yes... I did find a place that opened early... I was here by 6.30am and as you can see getting a seat was not an issue! The morning paper from Brisbane was gloomy about possible flooding... but then it was the 12 month anniversary last week for those who'd been through a particularly harsh summer of floods in our neck of the woods.

another cafe view...

Just about home from my walk it started raining again... luckily my spotted brolly, which I picked up at an Op shop in Cornwall last October, was on hand!

I managed to get in a swim everyday ... and found cafe's with wi-fi. I'd brought along my inks and brushes here ... and as getting to the end of a busy day I was left to occupy a corner seat for a long stretch!

Berkelouw Books (and cafe) has long been a favourite of mine so I was so pleased to discover a few years ago they'd set up in Queensland at 87 Memorial Drive, Eumundi.

This is a cotton paper book Ive been working in of late, playing around with the possibilities this paper offers. A basic mono-print below ... pressing onto the page that has been applied with paint straight from the tube.

my watch from the November Paris excursion... no... i didn't apply it with paint and press!

This concertina book I started at the KEW MSB in October... I find it interesting to keep adding and altering images at whim! There is something about this format that so suits mobile art-making.

MORE IMAGES of this work at STUDIO ARCHIVES blog ...posted also today!

Just noticed one of Berkeleouw's Sydney stores has this wine bar below.Now that's an idea!

The river-frontage of where we stayed was very peaceful. There were kayaks we could hire... perhpas a trip back here sometime when its sunny!

This amazing plant contains so much detail... where to start drawing?

Yesterday before heading for home we stopped for a coffee... loved this very homemade fruit scone!

This chair perhaps will be waiting for me if I return... next time we'll hope with clearer skies!

Well... there's much to do now... its been a wonderful time away and I'm ready to hit the studio... so more soon!

Have a good week won't you!

a little summer excursion...

2012-01-15T10:51:00.000+10:00

I have been in my studio till late last night finding a home for every single item thats kicking around that space...if It doesn't belong then it has had to go.

Today I an off to Yandina to visit my lovely niece and her partner, then staying a might at Coolum with an artist friend and tomorrow some of my family will join me for a few days here on this map.

Its only a couple of hours to drive here... so I am pottering around finishing off the studio before I leave so that when I return it will be all ready for the work I have been planning, So good to feel that the space is fresh and I know where everything is!

aerial view of Noosa

I'm staying where I can walk to that long beach in 5 mins... can't wait... and if it rains I'll still be swimming...i can promise you that.

Looking north

Noosa is a UNESCO world heritage listed site... so that even with its being a much visited tourist mecca a strong community has fought for contained development and preservation of national parks and surrounding habitats.

Read about other Australian sites on the World Heritage List.

Well ... I will take my camera and hopefully post on my recent room makeovers as well as holiday shots.

If you skip over to my Seed Capsule tumblr you can see it has been filling up with images during breaks from all these tasks Ive been consumed with at home of late. Its been great musing on what I am going to concentrate on in the studio whilst spending time on Tumblr. Part of my process has always been to search for images and ideas through all kinds of sources during these moments of stopping and refreshing my vision...tidying or redoing the studio.

room269:

At tumblr the world comes to you , visually, so its been a fertile thinking space during my search through imagery.

berndwuersching:

This one got me thinking about where I'm off to... loved it.

Now... wouldn't this make a great studio?

waaayward:

San Francisco’s Flora Grubb Gardens’ Wally Woolly Pocket

(via awyeahverticalgardens)

Interesting ...

Cordy Ryman via julianminima:

and a little reading perhaps?

via uncertaintimes:

Speaking of books...

yesterday I found myself a great breakfast spot in a cafe at New Farm... yes... its a Brisbane suburb that once was just that and now its so close the the city its filled with apartments and cafes! I decided I will perhaps frequent this cafe in the coming months .... its a large breezy space with good niches for writing. I started serious planning work on my next 'homage to the seed' book (she says tentatively!) yesterday whist observing this space... so that's where the idea was born to make it a bit of a working destination for this particular project.

well friends...

have a good week and I will be back with a fresh outlook I hope!

S xo

trying to summon the archaic...

2012-01-12T01:54:00.000+10:00

Here's something to ponder for painters...

TAAFFE: Essentially, I’m trying to make a primitive painting. I’m trying to summon the archaic. I want to enter into a primitive situation. This is my protest against the sensory deprivation that we experience, which is due to this tendency towards globalization, towards homogenization, towards the generic—a technological standard rather than an aesthetic standard. I’m mining history, trying to regenerate a pictorial situation that is more humanistic. It’s not about commodification, it’s not about fitting into some sort of corporate structure. It’s opposed to that direction.

That is part of this piece from Interveiw magazine which I found today.

October 2008 issue

I've posted on Taaffe here before in May 2009... an early post when I had just started blogging and was very uncertain about the way I wanted to present ideas. However... I was never uncertain about this artist and his paintings or ideas. Since discovering his work some years back now I found myself drawn... and curiously ... able to resonate with certain leading themes and ideas in his work.

Juncosa, Enrique (curator), Colm Toibin, and David Brody (artist interview). PHILIP TAAFFE: Anima Mundi. 128 pages, roughly 40 color plates, numerous color and b&w figures. Small folio, boards. Dublin, Irish Museum of Modern Art, 2011. Exhibition in Dublin. Book available through Ursus books and prints.

Composition with Egyptian Vessels 1998
Mixed media on board, 32 x 24 in (81 x 61 cm)

Taaffe at work

I found the following quotes about his work here.

"What Taaffe has been doing now for almost three decades, as his paintings reveal again and again, is nothing less than bending the shape of time. He began by looking at art from the '60s; today he travels much further back, to earlier centuries, to ancient civilizations, searching for ways to reimagine the world in which we live that acknowledge those 'ancestral connections.'"
Robert Nickas, Artforum, May 2008

"Mr. Taaffe aspires to the condition of an Oriental rug weaver: Strict yet playful, he intertwines a lexicon of motifs into inventive structures. Then again, great rugs usually achieve an internal dynamic; however much they play games with scale, they exude a sense of containment. Like mosques, they are conceived as symbolic portraits of the universe…In his new paintings, as much as ever, there is a bravura insolence in his collision of cultures, his insistence that everything can be reduced to ornament. But philosophically these sumptuous canvases can equally be argued the other way, as reminders that every ornament has its origins in something once deeply experienced. Mr. Taaffe's eclecticism long outgrew 1980s attitude in favor of an enlightened universalism. These accomplished, rich, thoughtful paintings mark the election of the artist as a trustee of what André Malraux termed the 'Museum Without Walls.'"
David Cohen, The New York Sun, March 1, 2007

LEBENSZEICHEN - KUNSTMUSEUM - LUZERN via here.

Well ... perhaps this is quite a foreign line of thinking for you?

There are, after all, so many approaches, so many philosophical view points and ways into painting.

A title I've used for a painting more than once is "archaic, yet reverberating still." For me that is a really important idea and in Taaffe I find an artist who extends this thought quite profoundly through his work. He has been recorded in interviews, had a number of critical commentary pieces written on his work... and you can read more at his website. Also really engaging are his studio viewings here.

Its late so I will pop back tomorrow to check for spelling mistakes and such!
cheerio,
Sophie

"Swallowed up in the Land of Getting my House in Order"

2012-01-07T00:00:00.001+10:00

This post is for a lovely blogger friend Mary. She lives 1,000's of miles from me and we've never met ... but we talk... well... email really. We assure each other to respond whenever... knowing full well life can get in the way... but somehow the exchange continues! It was she who pointed out to me I'd created a title in my email to her today where I started with the comment that I was swallowed up in the land of getting-my-house-in-order ...which I decided was the perfect title for this post! So thank Mary for picking up on the threads that matter frequently in our exchanges!

So much grace and friendship can be found across the miles...it often surprises me. I heard all those awful tales about internet connections for years so was very slow to get round to blogging! We all know things can and do go awry online... but I treasure the exchanges that have grown... the conviviality, the soulful depth, the playfulness, the poignant thoughts. Coming across wonderful people ... people I wish were round the corner or at least in the same country... is a tonic.

So about this getting my house in order... I mentioned painting a room the other day ... for my mother as a surprise. I was asked what colour I chose. Well ... its an old favourite of mine called 'donkey grey' from Porters Paints!

This is NOT my reno job below . I shall have to take photos this weekend... and dont expect anything like this photo shoot for Design Sponge featuring clever Melbournian Lyn Gardiner's cottage in the country. I googled donkey grey and her interior came up!

Lyn gardiner's cottage

You might like to pop over to the website of this creative woman to see just what she gets up to!

the store at Albert Park in Melbourne

Now... about Porter's Paints... their paints and wallpapers come in some fabulous colours ... have a look at these neutrals.... browns, greys all found here on this page of their website:

Macaroon

Marjorie Duck in Natural

Mavis Monkey in Natural

Silk Road

Fredrick Elephant in Natural

Haloumi

Pumice

Bellbottoms

Mist

Rubble

Boardwalk in Coral Stone

Turtle Dove

Donkey Grey

Stoney in Stone

Marble

Taj Mahal

Icelandic Stone

Flax

Abstract in Concrete

Beechwood

Pebble Cream

Spotcheck in Tangerine Grey

Doe's Skin

Abstract in Straw

Fleece

Looking for Water in Shadow

Scratchy in Buff

Nullabor

Bowral Stone

Calico

Country Road

Himalaya

Elegance

Braidwood

Marigold in Neutral

Scratchy in Fog

Camel

Herd

Sandstone

Banksia in Gold

String

Stoney in Clay

Dusty Mule

Dandelion in Eclipse Grey

Manuka

Sphinx

Sable

Passionflower in Chintz Grey

Putty

Grey Pepper

Lyre Bird in Grey Green

Phantom

Husk

Pilbara

Pale Clay

Navarone

Teepee

Potter's Clay

Rosso

Fired Earth

Yulara

Milk Chocolate

Ziddi in Smoke

Ziddi in Stainless Steel

Drumbeat

Banksia in Silver

Mandalay

Winter in Silver and Black

Chai

Caesar

Old Stone Wall

Shell Grey

Blue Concrete

Swiss Brown

Banksia in Pewter

Pod

Camouflage in Soft Grey

Feline

Brazil Nut

Aubusson

Rawhide

Mudlark

Nut Brown

Wet Cement

Dragonfly in Grey Green

White Rhino

Bullrush

Silt

Shale

Malt

Dandelion in Cocoa

Hot Springs

Banksia in Charcoal

Furnace

Marigold in Ash Grey

Grigio

Passionflower in French Grey

Lead

Mineral

Praline

Rococco

Toy Soldier

Oxblood

Brown Ash

Stripes in Putty

Burrow

Turkish Coffee

Pheasant in Deep Chocolate

Peat

Well... Donkey grey is going to look very different from that example because 20 years ago I painted a blue on the walls and even though I did 2 coats of paint this time round I didn't undercoat in white first... I guess I trusted that I would like the colour I ended up with. Luckily I do.

I used to have donkey grey in my living room at my previous home ... so donkey grey and me go way back! Can I find a photo of that... let's see.

Oh yes... here's an early one below... about 2003. I was forever changing this room and the furniture. I wish I'd documented all that... when I think of it now I was quite bold and experimental. Being a proud home owner for the first time then I was very keen on playing with the spaces.

How times change!

This next one is after I had completely changed everything in the room except the paint... donkey grey never faded from popularity ... I was a big fan and loved how the colour shifted throughout the day! The door is into the studio so everything that was going on in the studio would get to live in the lounge room at some point. I loved that chance to live with the paintings over time. There were a few spots that made for great viewing from the sofa... and the chance to get into quiet reveries and gaze absent-mindedly on a work was most helpful to determine if it felt resolved ... how it worked etc.

I got to love this colour as opposed to white as a background.

looking into the studio

well... its late... time to go. I shall get the camera out and try and capture a decent shot ...interiors are not my forte though. I've pulled my studio and bedroom apart in the last 24 hours... decided I was far too cramped so made some radical changes. My desire to paint has since rapidly increased. I suspected the room was not helping... I am astonished how much energy I've unleashed by getting serious about change as opposed to moaning about lack of space. My desk top computer is now in my bedroom at the bay window overlooking the back lawn and trees. There are 4 windows to gaze out of ...and tonight I've put together three blog posts. Its a lovely place to sit and ponder and write.

I fitted in a swim twice today and at 5pm made a quick trip to Ikea and picked up come specials. Its a place I tend to avoid except when I get in these radical moods of creating order. I don't purchase much but I sure like the brain exercise of imagining if I would like to go Swedish in my living spaces. Walking around that big store I start thinking how I can use what I have at home better... and for a small desk light with LED lighting ... yes! I found a goodie!

Well ... I do hope all your projects are going well... I'll back soon!

Sophie x

wishing you...

2012-01-01T02:13:00.000+10:00

a year of good things in 2012...

wonderful company and experiences to warm your soul, peace and quiet when it helps, bustle and chutzpah when necessary to get your show on the road... however that translates for you!

... and may each candle here represent thoughts, dreams and ideas that you hold dear to your heart... that each of those things has a life and meaning for you and others in this world!

Found here.

I'm sure we all have great hopes for 2012 being a year where fear is a less prevalent preoccupation or force... and our collective energy and will is put towards the greatest possible good!

freshening things up!

2011-12-29T13:43:00.001+10:00

well... its that time of the year for me when I am deliberately not thinking about the usual things and instead taking time to freshen up ... whether that be living spaces, recipes, clothes or even blog headers!

Getting my toes into the water... taking time to enjoy swimming over summer... always has a way of adding to the sense of being refreshed. When on a good thing go for it I think!

a photo I took a few years ago

I'm reminded of a post I did ages ago... by some odd google fate it happens to be the second most visited post I have ever done... on swimming. Curious that!

this is one of the photos that was in that post!

ditto

How about you? Anyone else out there in this mode at present? Or are you snuggled up reading books by the fire...out hiking around the country side or away on a holiday! I know some will be no doubt working away on a project of two ... whatever you're doing I hope it's pleasant and that the new years is approaching with some anticipation of good things to come.

I decided to take on a project I've been meaning to do for some time for my mother who's earned many stars for all she has contributed to me. She's off exploring the country and catching up with various ones... so I'm painting/recreating her bedroom in her 1930's timber house which I did a makeover on years ago when I was visiting. Keeping it simple and fresh. The weather's mild so what better time to get up on ladders and sweat it over the paint rollers and brushes. I hope to report a job well done before long. Its one thing to please my eye... but it is on my mind to consider what she would like... a harder task!

Now for some tumblr inspiration I am going to link you to tumblr: colours of life...

Quite a number of bloggers are also to be found at Tumblr .... its a fascinating visual world where the simple act of reblogging allows one to build up an archive according to one's whim. I particularly like knowing that I can return to my tumblr site and find things I wish to revisit ... and I love to see the very individual pathway that each person takes through this visual realm.

I have a tendency to eclectica... but still there are themes within that. Others curate very singular thematic material. It does not matter what approach one takes... that not the point! I think it is a wonderful visual panorama that is endless and yet it is soulful and particular... depending on the site.

Colours of life often attracts my eye when I'm visiting the dashboard behind tumblr. A colour is often the focus ... visit to the archive will reveal this as you go back through the months... and what I like is being reminided tht even if you choose a colour like blue in this case...there are so many versions of blue and directions one can take.

Yesterday when choosing the paint I was going to go for a green... but I started to feel more unsure the longer I considered all the greens that in the end I went to a totally different colour altogether... so stay tuned for more on that!

youmightfindyourself:

burned package sent to Henry T. Hopkins

crushculdesac:

Habu via Coloursknits

yama-bato:

Arthur Dove (1880-1946) [+]
Silver Sun, 1929
Oil, metallic paint, and wax (?) on canvas
55.3 x 74.9 cm (21 3/4 x 29 1/2 in.)
Signed and dated verso, top stretcher bar: Silver Sun / 1929 Dove
Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1949.531
http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/65868

graphandcompass:

Blue Flower Vase (by mitch kimball)

mrkiki:

Tyson Reeder
“Blue Wasteoid”. 2007
Acrylic, nail polish, ballpoint pen
14 x 11 inches
VIA

Reblogged from witanddelight with 276 notes

veronicalovesarchie:

original watercolour via louiseestart buy here on etsy

Flora Douville

Well...I'm off now to get going with the interior painting! Enjoy your week everyone!

cheerio,

S x

together ... with gifts: community!

2011-12-22T12:38:00.002+10:00

In my latest E-NEWSLETTER sent out last week I celebrated the people and places I visited on my UK Research Trip. Quite an exhausting process it was recalling details and documenting it all, checking facts and links, so much so that once it went out I more or less came to a stand still. On the computer that is.

Click here to read!

I relished cooking for a sunday afternoon tea, reading a highly thought-provoking novel set in London, Hearts and Minds by Amanda Craig, going to my local library and coming home laden with cook books, fresh magazines and a talking book.

A week later I'm only just getting my focus back on the computer.
I owe emails and Xmas notes still! I wrote a blog post on Saturday morning and deleted it just as I was about to Publish. So on Monday... after the most charming gathering the previous afternoon... I did nothing... all day. NOTHING! Well, I finished that gripping novel and watched a few films.

Now I feel ready ... my studio table has been cleared the inks are out and soon I will be off and painting! I've got a few things form tumblr to add here... this one below made me long to get out my ancient sewing machine and try some stitching again. I know many of you are extremely proficient with needles and textiles.

artspotting:

Thomas Campbell found via The Jealous Curator

Two programs by English chefs celebrating Xmas viewed on ABC Catch-up TV got me thinking... re-runs from previous years I'd not seen them before. The first was Rick Stein celebrating Xmas in Cornwall. Having spent a wonderful week in Cornwall in October I made a point of watching this.
If you are in Australia you can watch it here. It featured so many traditions like the annual Wassailing ceremony from Saxon times celebrating the earth's cycles, renewal of life and hopes for the next harvest... the green man presided over the ceremony transporting us back through the centuries.

It was actually quite a comprehensive history, reminding us of the daily struggle for food in the lives of so many who lived on potatoes and pilchards for much of the year in this region. The singing fisherman were a treat explaining how their songs developed to keep their rhythm for the arduous daily work tasks.

One Cornish dish featured was the Stargazy pie ... this is a pie I vaguely recall from children's books ...it always seemed so far-fetched... so to learn the background is quite something!

Star Gazy Pie History and Folklore-Cornwall

Star Gazy Pie is a dish unique to Mousehole (a fishing village in West Cornwall with a most beautiful harbour). Prepared in the Ship Inn, ate on 23rd December- Tom Bawcock's Eve. Long ago Winter storms had prevented the fishing boats putting to sea. In a lull in the bad weather one of their number Tom Bawcock managed to catch enough fish to prevent the village from starving. A pie of many fishes was made from the catch -Star Gazy Pie.

A cornish speciality

I was really delighted to see Rick Stein included the Eden Project is his program... interviewing the founder Tim Smit who was recently written up here in the Independent ..."Tim Smit doesn't do well with the word "no". He successfully persuaded 300 people – bankers and financiers who tend to like the word a lot – to pour £141m into what was basically little more than a disused clay pit. Some 15 years later, what he referred to then as the most derelict place on Earth is what we know as the Eden Project."

Whilst at the Eden Project I posted twice here and here.

The other one I watched was Heston Blumenthal's Perfect Xmas.

He invited 6 lucky guests to dinner ... Yes it was perfect and you would be very privileged to sit at this table with the likes of Richard E Grant and the hilarious Sue Perkins. It was most engaging watching as he took off to the Middle East to get hold of frankincense, myrrh, and gold, to a Paris Perfumier to find a sent of leather, burning wood and whisky, the north to get Reindeer's milk.

Despite all the science and the exquisiteness of it all I must say the Cornwall xmas was, to me, more endearing by far.

I liked hearing Tim Smit refer to Xmas as a time for community... with the note he had learned that:

The word "community" is derived from the Old French communité which is derived from the Latin communitas (cum, "with/together" + munus, "gift"), a broad term for fellowship or organized society.^[2]^(wiki)

A community garden in Melbourne - I added this photo as I thought it i such an apt contemporary symbol for community... gardens shared by people of all backgrounds coming together for a common purpose.

I've been keeping in touch with friends at the Millennium Seed Bank and hearing how they are faring in the cold. No snow as yet.
I know many of you who pop by here are experiencing the depths of winter at the moment.

We are having a much cooler time than is common as this time of year here in the sub-tropics. Xmas is rather a strange experience at best in the midst of summer... the traditions of the north translate less convincingly.

good idea for the heat... Frozen Xmas pudding!

Sometimes I think that means here in Australia we end up with the commerce, a holiday and little sense of tradition apart from some food items and gifts.
Still ... many make something special of it that transcends mere commerce. At best we get to slow down and notice things... remember others and make space for sharing and exchange.

image from Gourmet Traveller Magazine

So I rather like that idea of community ... together ... with gifts! And the idea of gifts being much more than what comes with a price tag from the big stores.

Seeing people making gifts in their kitchens, with their hands, or in their workspaces... stopping to think about what they can offer and exchange... who they can invite to share their table or a note or card that is sent off containing more than a few rushed words - to and from - this makes for something more soulful. Extending the notion of family to include many more than one's literal family seems appropriate at this time.

I know many of you will be giving things you've created. That's my next task really!

As to the xmas menu here ... this is a popular Xmas dish here in Queensland...

Gourmet traveller

well my friends... your'e all invited over for a bite....

crab and cucumber sandwiches

I am making my own version of rocky road with cranberries and nuts and toasted coconut flakes... so I'll let you know how that turns out if you don't pop in! Not sure that I'll get to make those sandwiches... something more rustic is on the cards!

Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, whatever your beliefs and traditions... I hope that you have a peaceful time this year as 2011 draws to a close.

Love and warmest wishes to all!
Sophia xx

Paul Klee : Forgetful angel

Found over at Seed Capsules tumbler!

Frivolity

2011-12-07T22:41:00.001+10:00

Its been a long week or so on the computer and I think its sending me around the twist actually. Had all such very serious stuff to do... so tonight a touch of madness...or whimsy...whatever!

xmas in a dish?

from here at Food Librarian!

and this too....

Food Librarian I found visiting here at Miss Moss from South Africa

and here also at her website.

I think I just needed to look at something very different to what Ive been working on.

See Ya!

a week in photos...

2011-12-05T22:52:00.001+10:00

Despite being home a couple of weeks or so now things are not yet settled into any kind of normal routine. If I thought there'd be plenty of time for online visiting I was wrong!

Last week I was consumed by trying to write up my trip for both a report I have to do and for my next E-newsletter. Emails have been coming in that are really interesting and I've not yet had time to get back to some of them which, fortunately, don't require immediate response.

So what have I been up to?

Coming home one night I drove by this tree laden with paper lanterns in the church grounds in Racecourse Rd. Its such a beautiful tree and its in blossom now... the branches spread out horizontally and if you look closely you will see children running under the tree.

This is a similar tree I saw next day in a nearby street... an introduced species the Poinsiana is so colourful when in blossom. It feels like Xmas is near when the red and green are this vibrant. My neighbourhood has so many of these trees.

With all that time on the computer writing I am relishing the fact I am not stuck in one place since getting a lap-top. Last week was a search for places with wifi to spend the hours... and of course an old favourite destination is the State Library.

The cafe at the base of the Library is a great space with those comfy big chairs ands breeze coming off the river.

Only problem was the day I was there I soon realised the breeze was more like a gale which seemed to have blown away any humidity and most other customers. I retired indoors. The rain soon came!

This upstairs room is a glass sanctuary added on to the side of the Media room. The u-shaped lounge area has individual reading lamps which you can adjust ... its not unusual to see people snoozing here or at least getting very comfortable. I loved the fact you could sit and watch the rain falling on the glass roof.

I parked my chair at a small table here and was tapping away on my newsletter which is still not quite finished. Its taken a lot of writing to get the entire trip down and then the work of culling had to begin in order to make it readable. That's taking the longest time.

The weekend thankfully was taken up with quite different tasks... catching up with friends... a birthday celebration, market shopping.

Last night I created a long table out the back in the garden at home to bring together a few people I wished to thank who'd played a crucial role in getting my trip off the ground. I could have easily created a table for many more who were gracious contributers, however, I decided being so out of practice with catering I'd best have modest aims and so several key people, partners and family sat together in the wonderful evening outside enjoying each others company.

I shopped at nearby markets and took out my Ottolenghi cookbook 'Plenty' which I referenced but ran out of time to follow recipes too closely.

Out of practice is right... I forgot you need some stamina to cook up a storm. My mother, bless her, helped out... making a fabulous big nectarine cake from a much loved polish friend Krysia's repertoire... Krysia recently passed away, well in her nineties, and she would have so loved this dinner. In her memory we made her recipe, substituting blood plums, which are available around january if you are lucky, for nectarines. It was delicious even if the blood plums are unbeatable really because of the stunning colour which stains the cake as it bubbles up in the cooking!

Not a great photo! But actually for me it does capture something of the warmth that was present at this table.

At the end of the night... a few of us sat up late and talked .... the evening was so mild and pleasant. I took a shot of the table at the end of the night My brother had strung the light over the table which was just the best thing ever. One of those odd xmas lights he found that day and thought...what the heck...we'll see how it goes!

It was sublime in that it glowed, you could see each other but it was quite ambient. I rather liked this shot at the end as a reminder of all the conversations that lingered in the air. Halfway through dinner an owl had come and perched on top of the nearby clothesline... contentedly watching over us. Every night it comes... keeping the possums away ... stopping them from eating the contents of the garden!

This morning I took great pleasure in opening a gift that kind friend Marilena had brought along for me. She makes gift giving an art-form... i should take note. My creative energies are generally put elsewhere!

Seeds in various forms... spice mixes and Massala chai tea she'd made herself... so fresh the aroma was amazing! She packaged seeds with small labels for growing. There was a wonderful seed-bead necklace and spicy tomato jam she'd made. A handmade card and envelope and the Indian spice set with recipe booklet.

The beads on the envelope sewn from recycled paper

Massala chai tea mix on a handmade ceramic plate I bought in London

Seeds she packed into these hand sewn envelopes.

Well, tomorrow I hope to finally get the new E-newsletter out. Stay tuned if you want to read an overview of the trip for the link to the e-newsletter.

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend and life is treating you well!

ciao,

Sophie xx

Home ... and away again!

2011-11-25T22:42:00.001+10:00

Finally downloading photos from the last week. And it is almost a full week since arriving home.

This was my view when circling over Brisbane last Saturday morning.

And on the screen in front of my seat.

I was very anxious to get back just so I could stretch out and feel the ground under my feet again. And get a good night's sleep. The first few days I was very exhausted... a chest infection had played havoc on and off for weeks... so I felt weary from trying to push on when I could have easily given up and rested.

Hence a friend's call to see if I wanted to join her for a few days break down south at the coast was good timing. Did I? At first I mumbled about being too busy. Later that night I phoned and said... "forget that for a joke... I'm coming!"

Heading south ... about 90 mins or so from home ... is this lovely coastal community of Brunswick Heads.

Photo: Flynn Cowan

These images from the tourist site featuring this area.

I've been passing through here since I was a young girl ... my family had a holiday here when I was very young as it was only 2 hours north of where I grew up.

The centre of town... and the van below reminds one of the predominance of colourful local characters ... it might be a sleepy fishing village but there has been strong counter-culture presence for a few decades in these parts.

Conti is a great cafe that I made myself at home in ... located at 3 Park St, Brunswick Heads... the morning started with coffee and avocado on toast. I was keen to get out my watercolours again... so, settling in at a large table near the front ... with welcome breezes coming from every direction ... I was soon lost in my simple task of working on postcard watercolour paper to my heart's content.

This was an opportunity to play with colour and composition...nothing fancy... the most simple of formats in order to get into the process. Primary task was to enjoy... nothing more.

Having the tags with me was fun too.

After a good four hours session with my paints... talking with various people and tuning in to passers by here and there, I finally said good-bye to our kind hosts at Conti and headed off... eventually for the beach ... but not before a visit to some great vintage and gift shops and a delightful ceramic artist, Lucy Vanstone.

It was threatening to rain by the time we got to the beach in the later afternoon. Walking close to the water's edge was a discovery of small round stones which I was hay to collect and all these mangrove pods, leaves and such.

I like how this mangrove pod is shooting.

I enjoyed watching the leaves float as the water came and went. Its was so refreshing to be down on the beach fossicking and just breathing the air... didnt matter than the rain was coming!

Today I was back in my regular life and feeling all the more refreshed for my few days away. Somehow a little of that exhaustion seemed to ebb out...

I think I will have to make a plan to try and get away a little more often than I usually do.

this time last week...

2011-11-20T10:41:00.001+10:00

This morning I am making the most of being able to linger at home in my own space after arriving home from Korea in the early hours of the morning yesterday! I proceeded to sleep away most of yesterday after breakfast with family first. I vaguely remember dinner on the back verandah too ... but when I went back to bed I still managed to sleep till 5.30 this morning.

After finding my car keys I headed off this morning at 6.30 to a local cafe and read the paper over coffee and then made my way to a fairly new local market where I enjoyed choosing from the abundance of fresh herbs, fruit and vegetables.

Now I've just gone through photos for several hours and decided to post photos from Sunday a week ago when still in London I had headed off to the East End to visit Columbia Rd Flower market, Brick Lane and Spitafield markets. I left London the following evening and arrived Tuesday afternoon in Korea, staying in Seoul for 3 nights and flying out on Friday evening ... landing 9 hours later here in Brisbane.

So its been a huge week ...

but for now.... the East End story!

Columbia Rd was not hard to find once I knew the right bus to take. Many were heading the same way.

There were rows of market stalls selling flowers, bulbs, potted plants and such for a very good price.

Love hyacinth I have to say...

around some corners were some very tempting eateries... liked this oyster stall on the street... bread, butter, oysters being shucked, lemon... so simple!

Great street entertainment!

This was over near Brick Lane Market this woolly vehicle!

Wasn't quite sure what I'd find in these parts!

Lots of street eating for one!

From Ethiopia...

I took photos of endless varieties of cuisines... VERY multi-cultural in origin. I could barely decide what to choose to eat... somehow I went for Moroccan but it all looked incredibly appetising and well prepared.

The street went on forever.

London 2011 is a different place to the times of this man!

Food mecca!

This stall holder was just back form a buying trip in India... and I had fun choosing some braids for my mother who lives to sew.

Yes... I had to buy the one with the Pom Poms...and it was very popular when giving gifts yesterday morning!

I'd like to have taken closer photos of this whole stall... very ingenious repurposed goods!

I bought a wonderful bag made from African fabric.. made an excellent carry on bag for the plane as it was a really long shape ... held rolled up art work which was an answer to a problem. Met some great people at this market...and got a few last minute gifts. Took loads of photos...these are just a few!

Well my friends... so much to do now that I'm home... but I will be back visiting you all as son as possible. I thank all of you who popped in with well wishes whilst I was on the journey!
Ciao,
my best to your all!
Sophie xx

City of lights... part 2

2011-11-08T21:39:00.000+10:00

If you read the last post you will know where I ended up... briefly... for 2 days.

Not a great photo...but I wanted to reference the amazing river made of projected light in the form of words on the entrance walkway up to the permanent exhibits at the Musee du quai Branly which was my destination on arrival in the city... once I'd stopped in at my hotel.

The museum contains the collections of the now-closed Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie and theethnographic department of the Musée de l'Homme. Wiki

Loved this item made of carved bone.... one of many exhibits from Papua New Guinea.

I could share a lot more form this wonderful museum... go there or visit the website!

Walking... cold, windy, a little wet, freezing in the big open spaces... this carousel was somehow heartwarming in all that greyness!

Quite liked this image... guess where I am if you can...

Pompidou Centre indeed. Waiting in a long queue I got talking with a young Korean pastry chef who was

wonderful to chat with and gave me ideas for my stopover in Korea next week. He was off to the Pompidou Library to research for his work.Only when I was nearly inside did I realise I didn't need to be in this queue ...we laughed... the conversation was worth it!

Green crosses ... I like!

An atelier all lit up... it was only as wide as you see...and in a area of many galleries just the perfect size really!

A small window nearby.

Closeup of the light fittings in a bar in the Marais district. Loved this!

where do you think?

of course I passed this twice in 2 days..so the second time I stopped in!

Notre Dame... so many people... I'm sure there are many quieter churches... but i, like so many, was drawn in!

... and before I left... dinner sitting at this corner below. Croque Monsieur and pomme frites. OK... what a cliche.. simple but so good!

Did I have a good time....?

Well... as usual... the things you plan and what then happens doesn't always coincide... I bought a two day museum pass on the Eurostar then found all the Museums were free on the one Sunday I was there... a once a month thing!

By Monday I'd lost interest in Museums anyway... I just wanted to walk... so I have an unused ticket that cost 35 Euros! C'est la Vie!

The residence where I spent three weeks recently was inside a virtual museum... its left me hunkering for my wandering time... less organised and far curated experiences. Not that I haven't appreciated that opportunity immensely. But when time is precious I'm thinking about what it is that will stay with me... and being able to absorb a place and its people, sit amidst the busyness and take it al in... of course that is important...

Plus... don't know about you... despite comfy, sensible shoes my feet still get really, really tired ... and to sit and stare is both pleasing and life saving!

I took lots of photos... but these are in keeping with the theme of light somehow!

Au revoir,

Sophie

City of lights...

2011-11-06T10:11:00.001+10:00

It was Guy Fawkes night here in London town but I missed sighting that... however ... I was down on the river on dusk at the Tate and did see this as I walked in through the Riverside Entrance.

Forgive me this flying post... no details... nor posting many photos I took but could have added...

This was my photographic version of walking across the Millennium Bridge

and this is a few nights ago at Sloane Square.... tonight I could have taken a fab shot of Harrods all lit up but I was a bit slow on the uptake.

... city of lights?

Well... in fact... I'm jumping on the Eurostar to the City of lights across the Channel tomorrow at 8.30am... only staying a night... got so much happening back here... what can a girl do!

have not been there for 23 years ... 2 whole days is better than not going I reckon! Don't you?

My lovely afternoon today I have to tell you was at Borough Market... don't remember that all those years ago... what a lovely surprise it was to visit. Monmouth's coffee... being able to order a flat white... I was blissed out. Speaking of which... Princi, Soho now, has to be the best thing since... if you like what Italians do with fire,waiter and flour!!!! More on that later.

Gotta get some shut-eye...
ciao lovelies!
S x

PS... The residence...

2011-11-02T11:35:00.002+10:00

PS! This is connected to the previous story I just posted.

I'd forgotten I had saved these images in draft.... they are of the residence at the MSB. Designed by architects Stanton Williams you can visit the MSB website to see more images.

Kew's Millennium Seed Bank - Design and build

The architects Stanton Williams worked closely with Kew's scientific and buildings maintenance staff to design the Millennium Seed Bank building.

The architects used Entadaspecies as inspiration. (Photo: H.J. Schlieben, Tanzania 1935)

This is exactly the kind of seed pod I love to draw so I was fascinated to read a book in the library about the design and build of this amazing facility.

These are a few I took of the courtyard which has been dugout... the resident's rooms all face onto the courtyard and have privacy yet the large windows allow for light.

My room was commandeered for a studio as well. Other residents were all doing seed-science research therefore working in the Labs or Library down the hall.

Directly above the rooms on one side was this greenhouse.

It was easy to feel cosy and warm in this accommodation.

there's so many photos...where do I start?

2011-11-02T11:15:00.000+10:00

Here's a few...
from the underground Seed Lab...

Yesterday was my last day at the Millennium Seedbank...

and it was quite sad indeed to say farewell! I feel as though I made some very good connections ... such warmth through sharing time in close circumstances without the usual distractions of regular life.

I wanted to post a few images that were special and speak to time and a certain continuity...

stored seeds up close

archival material

This book were quite a find... the earliest records were from about 1910. The writing was very appealing BUT hard to read.

This typed record was from 1956. Its interesting to note that

records in herbariums and seed banks etc are approving to be

critically useful in the process of observing climate patterns

and much, much more.

There were drawers and drawers of these old seed specimen cases.
I seemed to spend the whole 3 week worrying if i was getting enough photos.... documenting enough as I went! One does have to fight that feeling a bit lest it cancels out one's capacity to be in the moment and just doing what is possible.

Last week I started working on larger paper ... this was on a lovely water-colour paper and I gave it to my delightful contact person Wolfgang Stuppy who is quite familiar with Australian seeds in his work as a Seed Morphologist.

This one below is not a great photo.. its about a metre square ... on Swedish natural linen ... I stitched the edges using a strong brown linen thread that I was glad to find in Brighton the previous week. Given I was travelling light the challenge was how to create a large work I could give as a gift to the Seed Bank Partnership that would not require framing and yet could be hung and also be long-lasting.

This is effectively a wall hanging but it could be framed at a later date. I had two days to start and complete this 1 metre square work .... a huge task for me because my work takes longer to physically paint most of the time and I personally like a lot of time for the work to mused over, possibly modified, before I sign off. So... had I not been so tired from the frenzied final weekend of painting I guess Id have spent more time worrying would it work...what will it come across like etc.

So... after three weeks of drawing some amazing species I didn't go for something new and risky to pull together in a couple of days... variation on a familiar theme it was. I had a good time working with some new ink and pushing aspects of it in new directions. I used a pen nib towards the end and got some wonderful textural layering that way... impossible to see here.

Guseppe, Marco and Gisele in Brighton recently

I think I must finish with this one! On the train trip back to London yesterday afternoon I thought about the good people I was in residence with over the last three weeks ...and with my laptop open as the train sped along through the Sussex countryside I looked through all the images of my time at Wakehurst Place.

Cheerio my friends from Brazil, Sardinia, Sicily and Pakistan ...and of course all the lovely people who are permanent on the site.

Efisio... telling Gisele a story at the pub last friday night!

Unusual finds at the Seed Lab...

2011-10-22T04:53:00.004+10:00

Late Friday afternoon... its the end of my second week at the Millennium Seed Bank Residence at Wakehurst Place.

Each day has brought new discoveries via walks in the grounds, through the Lab facility, time in the Library or conversations with any one of the many staff here. Then there's my fellow Residents and some other visitors to the site.
An amazing crossroads of cultures and knowledge all up! Much imput and inspiration!

Ive taken endless photos and produced a couple of slideshows using the (for me) new Origami template that some of you will know from Macbook Pro. A great way to share images in format that is not tedious when sharing with others.

However... there is no quick way to get that material onto the library PC I'm writing this post on. I'm off to the Apple Store in Brighton tomorrow... maybe I'll quickly upload some visuals onto posts whilst I'm there. We foreign residents are catching the train for a day to this coastal city which I'm really looking forward to. After two weeks here ... outings being the weekly one hour supermarket shopping trip by taxi and a couple of dinners at a pub down the road when we are up to the brisk walk through the fields in the dark.
There'll be lots to share soon... so I wont ponder tech issues further. Wolfgang Stuppy, a Seed Morphologist who has produced several brilliant photographic books(more on that soon) is my contact person here ... he gave me some wonderful species to draw when I first arrived. Yesterday I decided to photograph everything I'd had on my desk this past week or so in case I didnt get around to drawing it. My camera is a humble Sony number which did not cost a lot... nor have I read the manual on using it...so my images are rudimenary at best. Even so I find the act of capturing something from various angles ... simply playing around with the limitions ... still yields something of value for further reflection.

Wolfgng has amazing images of these seeds below he'd taken with serious professional gear... and when the seeds were fresh and at their best. I will post those images when I can... but for now I leave you with these most basic of images... I stole them from my Seed Capsules Tumblr which I posted them on last night... for some reason I can manage that on my laptop!

I'll pop back with the name of these seeds and info later... time for dinner now.
Thanks everyone for your warm messages... Ive not been visiting so am missing all your news.
Have a great weekend !
S x

staying connected when in transit...

2011-10-13T07:30:00.004+10:00

I know many of you are mobile, quite frequently... savvy with i-phones and have travel blogging down pat. I had a mobile for two days on arrival in the UK ...but then it hasn't worked since Cornwall. So I lost interest and kept at my laptop for communications but now thats not doable...so this is a quick post to say that I may not be blogging much over the next few weeks. No Wifi at the current base so no laptop ... although the library is very accessible ... but not having been a PC-user these past few years I'm definitely a little rusty and shocked to remember how different things are between pc's and macs!

I've set up a small temporary studio here which is excellent for my purposes. Pop over to the homage blog for more info on where I'm staying and what I'm up to here.... I've taken lots of photos but as I can't use my laptop I've not worked out how to connect photos to blogs yet.ont have a lot of time really ... thats the point... on to painting and such! Keeping up with emails is now ten times as complicated... dont ask... I told you I was inept on PC's!

My apologies to all the lovely bloggers who pop in...i'm failing to return the visits at the minute... I will be back and miss you all!

The gardens near the Mansion on site where I'm presently staying!

This photo was found here... with other photos you might want to see. I will get to post my own photos soon I'm sure... bye for now,
Sophie