There are many tasks to do today but I knitted instead. The project will become too big for three needles so I’ve added more. They’re slightly bent from being stuck under a heavy item for too long. They still function well.
Multitasking
Tag: Chaos
Tutorial
Typical tutorial, a chat about the artists I *should* admire. Any artists I *did* admire were allegedly not the correct choices.
I was often advised to look at works by Sidney Nolan. Why? Is it helpful to keep telling people to research the same stuff constantly?
Lighthouse
This might be a sketch for a linocut. The lighthouse would be darker with more interesting light from the top. The waves would be darker, obviously.
The little figure about to step into the unknown is stolen from a tarot card. It’s usually a dog pulling on the clothing.
Climate
Art & Poetry won’t change anything. There again, the opportunity to look at everything from a different perspective might affect future behaviour.
Pembrokeshire Green Party is reviving slowly. West Wales has many people who are doing their best to not cause harm to their surroundings. Joining a political movement doesn’t appeal to most of us. It’s good to know there are others who would never support right wing policies. Hopefully this short exhibition will inspire someone to clean a river, stop building houses with leaky roofs, maybe remove all the obstacles to living well.
Pembrokeshire is also home to some narrow minded bigots. They will say climate change isn’t real. There can’t be any pollution here and the sun shines constantly. It does, it’s shining right now, behind some clouds. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but they are also entitled to look outside occasionally and observe the world. The planet evolves, the temperature changes. Arguing about whether humans have damaged the environment is less important than thinking about how to live without making everything worse.
Jack Frost
Made a start on a linocut, Jack Frost with the sun trapped in a block of ice. Or is it? Anyway, the repetitive action of cutting small lines isn’t good for the shoulder wound so I’m staying away from the lino today.
Tidying some space around the house. The last chimney improvements added a fine layer of dust to this dinner set that has been sitting around for years. Might inspire some still life drawings, or some pasta sauces that will be good in the wider bowls in the corner.
Knitting in the round
Knitting a spiral in the round seemed a good idea when it first appeared. I forget that it’s possible to knit in both directions while knitting a tube, so it might work. Using yarn from both ends of the grey, with the rainbow stuff in the middle. Nice reminder of how the ink looked on a zinc lithography plate before printing.
Increase stitches
Took photos because I always have to ponder where the needle picks up the yarn for an increase.
Other lives
The winter of 1985-86 was spent discussing methods of suicide. Could he wait for ten years or so, to see if circumstances changed? No. The two years of recovery after the last episode had seemed endless to him. When I pointed out that previous overdoses had inspired vomiting, so maybe the physical body had a strong life force, I was apparently ‘sick’.
The aftermath of an overdose isn’t as calm and peaceful as it appears in novels and films.
I thought I could go out for twenty minutes at a time, and would be back with suitable first aid skills. The kitchen knives were hidden. The washing line had been discreetly removed. There wasn’t any strong alcohol around, and he hadn’t been able to get a doctor’s appointment or any useful medication. He hadn’t been outside for weeks.
Who would find the deceased? When the plans seemed to be inevitable I suggested he should be close to a hospital at the end. Other people, who wanted to live, could benefit from healthy discarded organs, couldn’t they? This thought wasn’t well received.
Mostly you are the main character in the story. Sometimes you are helping someone else’s tale to unfold. There again, you might unwittingly be in the background of a much bigger drama. Your actions might affect the audience for many years hence.
Applause
I sketched a few pairs of hands, thinking maybe one of the sketches would summarise the warped conditions of various workers.
berry daines 