I've just deleted a tirade of frustration. However I think travelling along rocky roads with a positive view equips one with better chances of noticing the turning onto the smooth scenic route. Therefore to keep the spirits up and lubricate the creative channels I will embark on a retrospective of Tree's art.
Lets Start with my first solo exhibition in Cardiff, 'Acevedo'.
These large board mounted prints were photographed during my trip to Puerto Rico in 1999. I was 21 @ the time and visiting my estranged Farther, Donald Acevedo, his wife and kids who I hadn't seen or been in contact with for seven years. Obviously this trip was very emotional and transcendent and I hoped to capture that conflicting sensation I had of intense familiarity and cool distance that permeated my month long stay.
Jonathan had a pet cockrel whom he felt had the makings of a fighter. Cock fighting was still a common sport in Puerto Rico @ the time & I should imagine still is.
Our cousins silent macho boyfriend came to the farm one afternoon and took scissors to the poor bird's soft crown after dunking him in a cold bucket of water. Apparently this cools the cock so that there is a limited blood supply to the crown during his farmyard surgery.
It's this blood supply that explains the 'need' to remove the crown in the first place. When a cock is fighting the increased blood flow to his crown makes him vulnerable to any blows from his aggressors beak against his vivid skin, causing such rapid loss that infection or death is highly possible.
At the end of the operation the grumpy boyfriend plucked a white feather from the shrivelled birds breast and placed it on his wound. Apparently an effective bandage.
Compelling viewing if not a little disturbing.
But then that about sums up my experience on this island jewel during the last summer of the millenium.
Guy Fawkes night is so much fun. The freezing cold and damp is pacified by massive raging fires, loud colourful lights, stinging sulphur and hot English mustard on your hotdog.
I remember when I first moved to England as a child I was fascinated by the street urchins pushing round a stuffed pair of tights with a crayon scrawled face (the kind of ghastly features only a child could create) in a wheel barrow, squeaking;
"penny for the Guy"
So Medieval!
Where are all those industrious children now. I haven't seen a home made 'Guy' paraded around the streets in preparation for his ceremonial burning for years now.
Shame.....winter's dark nights are far less supernatural without him.
Enjoy!
..... and remember to have safe fireworks fun with the Fireworks Code!
I think it's about time I share something with y'all. It's a subject I get very vocal about after the water shed and a few stiff G&T's.
MORE SEMI NAKED/FULLY NAKED MEN IN ADVERTS
I am so passionate about this subject I would make it a national campaign if I could be bothered.
My point is that, apart from scantily clad men being nice to look at, whether at home or out and about I am constantly bombarded by women selling me mascara/rubber gloves/mini skirts, looking at me as if they want to have inexperienced sex with me.
Call me old fashioned but I would rather be overwhelmed with images of half naked men seductively touting their wears on the high street than the usual smug faced pinup. This, I think would make a very huge impact on my general well being and probably would have a great effect on all those 'girls' low self esteem inflicted by the 'evil fashion machine'.
C'mon you ad men, get over your homo-erotic nightmares/wet dreams and give women something a bit more interesting to look at on the daily commute/shop!!!!!!
Check out these links : news.bbc.co.uk and www.asa.org.uk
I had the strangest dream last night.
I was in an old Georgian style manor house that was surrounded by lush green clipped lawns. From inside the house I could see a herd of fine cattle grazing on the lawn in the summer sunshine. It was very much a working farm even though it was very grand.
I noticed this miniature pony, about the size of a large dog but broad and sturdy, sitting on a large cushion on the polished oak floor in the parlour where I was standing. It's fur was a deep rich purple velvet. It's mane glistened in the sunlight streaming through the tall windows; it was so soft it felt as if it were spun from raw silk. It looked up at me as if it were smiling and I thought;
"May I take a picture of you?"
Without it speaking I knew it replied that I could. At that moment out of the corner of my eye, through the open parlour door, I noticed what looked like a dark Arabian stallion in the shadows of the hallway but suddenly there was a fierce clattering outside on the paving and a huge bull burst through the French doors into the parlour, lowered its head and charged toward me.
I held my breath as it revealed its broad bright red shoulders above its black head, speeding through the air that stood between my body and his shining tusks. A sharp, hot CRACK jolted my eyes open to reveal a huge stallion butting the Bull through the door, showered with glass and wood.
I was saved.
I hoped the stallion wasn't pierced by the bulls tusk in the whirl of confusion...
and then I awoke.
When we moved our bedroom into the top floor we had to remove the door as it hit against our bed. I've intended to replace it with a curtain for a while and this weekend I finally finished it.
I have had this fifties material for a few years now. I got it from a quirky old shop which had this and other fabrics from the era in the window. Here in England material is sold by the metre and has been since '76 but these cuts were cut and labelled by the yard. I swear they've been in the shop window since the late 50's! Luckily the shop window is in deep shade so there's been no fading.
A few weeks ago I was rummaging through my material box ........................
(formally a box for a duck down duvet I bought a few years ago and loved so much I covered it in collage)
...............and found a whole host of gorgeous materials I've been collecting over the years with intention to sew some fabulous things. This cherry material was exactly the width of our doorway and almost long enough to double over and add a bottom skirt to create a lovely curtain.
I got the perfect piece for the skirt from the off cuts box in the John Lewis department store.
I loved the contrast and harmony between the two patterned fabrics but also the fabric for the skirt has an interesting edging, is double sided and had a pre sewed bottom edge. Less work for me!
Best of all it cost £1.50 so in total my curtain cost £4.00. LOVELY.
I'm sitting on my bed snivelling whilst my son Joe dozes in his bed downstairs. I'm afraid we have the dreaded lurgy!!!
However I'm still able to connect with the world via the intergalactic system called NET and especially via my thoughts. Hurray.
During my travels I came across Yoko Ono's Imagine Peace site.
It's funny cause I'm a great advocate of world peace but only recently I realised that not only was this possible but that I previously imagined it not to be possible almost by default. Quite a personal revelation.
Therefore I think John and Yoko are right when they say you only have to imagine peace. If we really want it, it will come true.
From this thought another leads me to say only this......
I LOVE YOU
x
My new banner photo above is making me home sick.
I took this last summer from Liberty Island. Manhattan looks beautiful from this vantage point. I'm always amazed at how much water surrounds the city.
The photo bellow is taken from Brooklyn. My son Joseph and I launched our kyak off this cobbled beach onto the East River. The wakes from the MASSIVE cargo ships were such a blast to ride.
I always end up missing New York, it starts calling to me. I need to head back there before next summer is out.
I love September, especially during an Indian Summer. It's been lovely this month and really warm. Our neighbour Stan turned up at our door with a bag full of green tomatoes, what a sweetie!
I think we may make a chutney with them.
We also have a bag full of gorgeous apples picked off some trees in the orchard at work.
I've just started working at a home for young people with challenging behaviour. It's an absolutely amazing place and really feels like a home and not an institution. I'm doing this part time flexi to bring in a little extra cash as we're planning on buying a camper van by Christmas. Not a VW, were' looking out for a ford transit which are bigger and way more reliable. I'm really looking forward to kiting it out.
Think Gypsy Caravan.......
meets 'Pimp my Ride'!
Awesome!!!!
I tell ya it sure does feel good to have the positive support of people I've never met. Mark and Christina you guys ROCK. Thank you for your kind words.
By the way I feel super today and have managed to think and communicate clearly for the first time in what feels like ages but was probably only a few weeks.
Oh the drama!!!
Below is a drawing I did this morning during a meeting with my colleague Ben.
Very uplifting and here's the proof...
My Groups
-
Photographers Updated: 1 hour ago
-
Technology and I Updated: 2 hours ago
-
Creative People Updated: Yesterday
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
Recent Comments
-
Emjay said:
I remember Bonfire nights from my childhood (in Australia) ... .. they were associated with the Queen's Birthday there I... read more
on Remember remember the fifth of November -
-
-
Mark said:
So, that dream wasn't at all sexual. And to think I'm always wandering around in abandoned factories, finding magic pianos. read more
on Animal Dream
Links
Rivers Baghdad - public art...
The RIVERS BAGHDAD project will commence with a 1-day int...
My name is Akira Hasegawa. However, that is not so import...
All things homey from finland
"Pride Pleasure" a durational piece engaging practically ...
on Alissa and Dalmation