this time last week...

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

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...

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...

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?

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!