Crystal Ball – a glimpse into my world
May 1, 2011
All back on track now, so much going on of late, so many distractions and also a lot of time to think. Travels to Chartres Cathedral and Brittany, Torn ligament in knee, laptop died. So drugged up with pain meds one weekend it just drifted by in a sleep haze. This weekend much better, loads of rest which my knee needs and a dash of creative inspiration, time to write ( writing a fairy story), time to read “The mysteries and Chartres”, time to just be and time to be a little creative.
Have been very Inspired by my son’s creations , he is soon exhibiting in a London art fair and have been watching his pieces coming together, very inspiring, so much so it spurred me to interpret something my way.
Here is the result, a glimpse into my world…….. I get lost in there sometimes, so much goes on inside, like a magical mystery tour. Sometimes I wonder when people peer in if they see clearly, does my glass bubble, my crystal ball that I call home need polishing and cleaning m0re regularly so people can gain a better understanding of who I am ?……. then I stop thinking, this is the best time of all, because nothing exists really, only that which my thoughts conjure up. I know my thought process depends on which lenses I wear in my metaphorical glasses, sometimes they are clear and bright and everything is, sunny, hopeful, joyous and full of wonder, sometimes the old lenses in the back of the box gets inserted and the view is not so good and thoughts can plummet, its then that I remember they are only an old viewpoint and I can take them out and be left with no thoughts, just taking every moment as it comes and watch life unfold, watch as it ebbs and flows and have this inner knowingness that everything in life is just as it should be, even when, as my inner world shows there are serpents and ravens, flowers and rabbits, butterflies and tortoises………………
Click on the image for a larger view
Ballet Russe
April 4, 2011
Thanks Mr Bowery, it was because of you I came across this image, I thought it was a costume of yours, but then I read it was in fact a costume for the Ballet Russe designed back in 1935 !
Leon Bakst drawings I have always admired, and recently when I watched the Chanel / Stravinsky story my interest in the Ballet Russe became more prominent in my life again. I find the colours so inspiring. Diaghilev was a very clever man, he put together composers and artists the most avant-garde of their time, Braque, Stravinsky, Chanel, Picasso, Matisse and Nijinsky the famous dancer and produced the most inspiring and challenging ballets. He was not at all afraid to break with convention and his passion paid off, however at his death it limped along but was never the same again.
The boldness, the colours, the loose shapes, ballet costumes had never been seen like this before. I just love them, the colours sing out, I so would love to have been around to see their opening nights, especially THE RITES OF SPRING, apparently this caused a riot and they had to close down the theatre!! It’s hard to believe that now, but here is a collection of some the hundreds of costumes that were designed and made especially for each ballet.
Could they be transformed into paper sculptures, could the colour combinations be transformed into my design work and paintings, somehow they will have an influence, my creative mind is like a sponge, its absorbs everything around me so that one day it will be expressed in some form again as I continue along this creative path
talking of geese? here’s a few feathers !
March 29, 2011
Creative………….. Amazing what one can do with a few feathers………….. http://www.katemccgwire.com/
The feather explosions of Kate MccGwire | Yatzer™.
Mmmm bed
November 14, 2010
Its been a long while since I posted, been away and been very preoccupied with a new project at work
However, right now Bed beckons, not for sleep but for reading, writing, making notes, sketches. This is the hub of lot of activity on the creative front, its the place where I think, where my ideas come to me and and get recorded for use in futher projects.
Its also a place of great comfort, a nurturing space to get into at the end of the day………….. tomorrow is a new week, how exciting.
Inspiration came to me this morning in many forms
June 5, 2010
wow I came across a link to an exhibition called FASHIONING FELT at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York. The beautiful textural image on the flyer I found out was created by Claudy Jongstra and was actually a huge wall mounted piece for a public library in Amsterdam. How amazing is that !! so inspiring, her work really moves me and from my one small piece of felt I feel really moved to scale up, be experimental and felt, felt, felt. i can feel this is going to keep me occupied and find ways to be creative and install large pieces into my interior projects………….
Something about Claudy’s whole ethos of felt making and dying, she even has her own flock of rare breed sheep and an herb and plant garden for experimental work with dying, using Weld for beautiful shades of yellow and Madder for rich earthy reds. Such an inspiration to me this sunny morning……
And More Red
February 15, 2010
Creative inspiration: Brown Paper
January 5, 2010
symbiotic relationships – Nureyev and Fontaine
December 7, 2009
yesterday I posted an image of one of the most powerfully beautiful images of the male form. It belonged to Nureyev. What took me along that path was researhing old leather panelling. One of Nureyev’s numerous homes had a room lined out in it, very sumptous interior, exotic, lavish, just like him. i read his autobiography a couple of years ago, what a man………..
I also came across a docudrama advertised and watched it on iplayer, the relationship between himself and Margot Fonteyn. Their presence was electric, their passionate romance was clear to see in their dance, their symbiotic moves, like their relationship was as enriching for them as it was to everyone who watched them. His raw passion, his exotic background, his youth, his strength and determination fired her with a renewed vigour for her dance at a time when she was just about to retire. Nureyev said about her “At the end of Lac des Cygnes when she left the stage in her great white tutu I would have followed her to the end of the world” and he did. Margot, twenty years older and already married, their physical relationship eventually struggled and came to an end when margot made the decision to retire and nurse her then invalid husband at their Panama farm. They danced again one more time after this in 1989, when she was 69 and Nureyev 54. There emotional symbiosis lasted until she died of cancer at the the age of 72 in 1991.
Nureyev continued to be a legend in his own lifetime, his tempestous, lavish lifestyle, his amazing vitality and fame continued. However in the 80′s this began to wain, displeasing audiences with his less than perfect performances. Aids had probably began to take its toll, he denied it though and wouldn’t admit to having it right up to his death at the age of 56 in 1993 , 2 years after Margot’s death. Knowing how they lived for each other, no decisions were made without each others approval, he talked to her weekly, paid her medical bills, visited her in Panama, did he give up his fight for life after her death, could he no longer survive without her? I wonder?
If you go down to the woods today ……. dream
November 14, 2009
“The greatest achievement was at first, and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities”
James Allen (statesman)
so when you go for a walk in this deep dark woods of the soul, listen………… underfoot things are stirring.
I took creative inspiration from the quote and created this image. Its layered from photographs I have taken in nature, ferns unfurling, grasses swaying, teasels drying in the hot sun and sketches that I drew from my own souls journey .
YOu can see more on this image at http://www.livingenergyhealer.com
GUIDO ARGENTINI SILVER EDITION PHOTOS
September 7, 2009
inspiration, thanks Annie
July 30, 2009
Alice in Wonderland inspired Annie Leibovitz to come up with this image. Annie inspired me to think of this dress made of paper? Overflowing, lavish sculptural with a “life” of its own.
More images that inspire me
April 20, 2009
photographers that inspire me
April 12, 2009
marmalade and inspiration
January 2, 2009
Mmmmm, you just cannot beat it, this is how I usually start my day……….. Marmalade, the orangey sweetness with a real sharp tang of juicy seville oranges, just delicous. It needs to be spooned over lurpak slightly salted butter spread on really crunchy toast. This morning whilst sipping a large steaming cup of columbian flavours, looking out of my window I began to think about the time of year, how its a beautiful clean sheet, everything wiped clean for the year ahead……… How its time to water the growing seeds within, the creative seeds, the burgeoning strengths I have here that have been left to stagnate for many years. This year is the year they will come to the forefront of my life instead of letting them sit within the wilderness…… My interior design business is now a more balanced part of my life, I can have both ! ………. that is a good feeling. My biggest seeds of all are my two very adult children whom I love dearly, but I have so much more, my new attempts at paper cutting, photography, clay sculpture, drawing and sketching in oil pastels, writing, its all so exciting. Etsy, and new people I have met through the blog have been so inspiring to me, a big thankyou to Elsita for starting me on the road of paper, its magical. Even think I may open an Etsy shop!!
