After the Rain

Well, I think I have jinxed the Costa del Sol. It used to be sunny here before I came to live here and now it seems to have turned on its head and become the Costa del lluvia. It rained all last night it would seem – I don’t know exactly as I slept through most of it. There must be a medal in there somewhere – something about Global Warming and all my wishes and hopes for the safe destiny of the Earth and the human race.

I woke this morning to the continuing sound of rain on the roof and on the street outside – always a little bit worrying as we need to get our roof seen to after the rains of last winter – it took a bit of a beating and will sadly have to be replaced to make it secure.

But on the upside – apart from the roof – I actually like rain! I know it sounds mad, but I did move to Ireland in the first place – nearly 30 years ago because I thought the climate would suit me and I was right back then. But everyone is permitted to change and have different wants and requirements at different stages of their lives and now I really crave the warmth on my bones which is why I came here – well one of the reasons. For me the climate seems perfect now as it is though as I do like the seasons and like to see the world turning. The day coming and going, the weeks passing and Summer turning into Autumn and then Winter, and as the earth revolves the Spring returns to warm the ground.

So I was happy with the rain last night and when I had got myself up and dressed and had looked up some stuff on the internet it was about half past eight by which time the rain had stopped and the skies had cleared so I set off for my Sunday morning walk and now jog through the forest. I have to say it was breathtaking after the rain. The air was clear and washed. There was none of the usual dust in the atmosphere. The ground underfoot was not packed hard and had a nice softness and give to it. Nice for walking and especially jogging on. I like the colours of the ground too after the rain – all the colours are richer and more defined.

And then I turned to have a look at the view! I don’t think a verbal description can do it justice. But I will try. The mountains looked like they were cut out cleanly against the sky by God’s scissors. The slopes were carved starkly by His carving tools – every crevice and nook and cranny showed up in stark contrast – that is, where you could see them, for the lower parts of the mountains were still swathed in wet washed clouds – white fluffy but ripped – they resembled really fresh washed bed linen, pure white and whipped around the lower part of the mountains. Breathtaking! I say it again with no shame – for that is what I felt as I stood there up on a height after a steady climb, my lungs were working hard at breathing in the clean and quite cold air – the little hairs were standing up on my arms, working hard to keep me warm – but it felt great, really fresh and invigorating and that view! If I did really believe in God He was there on the mountain today busy carving and cutting and whipping.

I wish I had thought to bring my camera with me – but there is only so much you can carry with you on a jog and I had not thought that there would be those sort of spectacular photo opportunities. Still I have the picture etched in my head and for you now described as best I can here. (The photo posted here now was taken after the last rains actually - and is of twigs which were swept into little banks by the heavy rains as they washed along the forest track)

What the clearness also brought to me were visions of some really nice ideas for future works – prints and/or medals. As I walked and jogged and thought I dreamed up four distinct different images – of which I think two are really viable. I noted all of them in my sketchbook on my return and look forward to starting on them as soon as my current exhibition is over. Of course being me I really want to start on them now – but time really being far too short at this stage I will have to concentrate on what I have already started first.

Tie me down!!

Talking up a Storm

I am really warming up to my subject now. It is fascinating how familiar you get with the curl of a particular lip or crease of an eyelid.

In addition I am enjoying the laying on of paint to create the volumes and forms of the flesh and bone structures.

i do like watercolour - it is definitely the most wonderful paint to use, stroking it on boldly in layers to build up colour depth or sometimes more timidly in little stipples or even removing colour when it goes on in the wrong place or creates the wrong colour - but that of course is not so easy to do as the colour does not always come away successfully and you are left with a shadow.

Of course, as you remember, the 'happy accident' sometimes creates an effect that is better than you could have planned in the first place.

Though I admit. Really the desired use of watercolour requires confident and first time placement of the colour in order to keep it pure. That will still take a bit more practice.

The theme:

Of course the Stavanger summer has descended into an Irish one! Each weekend seems to be rainier than the last and my tan has almost faded back to the milky pale complexion which i arrived here with last year. I think that those clouds are playing on my mind. Waking up to grey mornings really does not improve my mood - especially when it is Monday. Every weekend I want to go for a nice relaxing bike ride, but every weekend the opportunity fades pretty quickly.

So you can gather it is raining again today and now the clouds have even found their way into my paintings. Still clouds can be pretty cool - very atmospheric.

And here is Victor in full flight giving a lecture on something. He doesn't normally point when he talks but i thought the finger pointing made it more emphatic and when you are talking up storm clouds like that you need to be quite forceful.

Balloon

Well, rainy days seem to have come to stay!

It is absolutely lashing today - it almost feels like Ireland. I don't think I will be budging from the apartment today, glad now that i did my little bits of shopping yesterday.

I thought that this drypoint print most resembled the day that we see before us - rainy, wet and grey. This is a view out of the back window of my old house - I put in a balloon and the leaves on the wire - the wires are outside and the sort of abstract mountain in the centre. So in fact it has become something more than the view outside my window, but that is what an imagination is for!

The rain is such a pity though, as for me this is a very happy day - it is our anniversary! I can hardly believe it, but this day, two years ago my Darling Victor asked me if I would like to go with him to a concert. It was Richie Havens - who I had never heard of before, but who is now inextricably linked with my past as well as my future. If ever I meet him again I will shake his hand and thank him for the magic he created on that evening that led to two people falling in love and being more or less inseparable from that day onwards.

As we were both so old (hehehe!) we did not see much point in beating around the bush - we moved in together pretty quickly, throwing caution to the wind. We both agreed that the worst thing that could happen would be that it would not work out. But here we are still, so far so good.

That night was very romantic though. Vic really pulled out all the stops, even though I thought we were only going out as mates. He took me for a lovely meal and a bottle of wine at 'The Boqueria' in Cork. Then we made our way to 'Cypress Avenue for the Concert'. I was still trying to be just a mate, I bought my round of drinks etc etc. Twit! But later on in the evening and in the dark of the club, we kissed!

Well, that was it although I hasten to say that Vic put me in a cab home at the end of the night. It was all very proper and he is a gentleman and I did want to think things over too. It is difficult to think straight with your heart beating like a drum in your ears and with a few too many drinks swimming around your brain.

But obviously, even sober and cool in the morning light, I realised that this was a pretty good thing.

Oh Dear! I didn't mean to blab about all of that to all and sundry - and of course I could still delete it and just talk about the art and the rainy day. But where is the fun in that. This is, after all a blog, and for me that is a stream of consciousness, no matter what comes out. I just hope that I have not embarrassed anyone by this relevation - that anyone being Vic of course. But I don't think I have said anything untoward here. It was a good night and the start of a really good thing - and it just keeps on getting better and better.

Cheers Vic :-) x

Nature Contained and Nature Escaping - or Knights and Dragons

Oh Dear!

Another rainy Stavanger day :-(

Everything is so wet and everywhere you go you get wet.

One small blessing is that I have no workmen outside crashing and banging, so it is a reasonably peaceful day except for all the excitement going on in this house.

I have been very busy today and very encouraged by the work that is really starting to grow beneath my fingers. I started a new medal late last week and I can't wait to finish it now and show it to you - it is still not ready but being me I already have the idea for my next medal fermenting in my brain. i won't tell you what it is about just yet, that will be a surprise. But I am really happy with the development at the moment.

Because of my lack of facilities, the medals I am making here are only a model - made from a wonderful modelling material which i discovered a few years back, called SuperSculpey. It has a really nice texture for getting fine detail and then when you have finished your medal you can bake it in the oven and it cures to a hard plastic which still has a bit of flexibility in it which works very well for me.

I make each medal in two halves - that is, the obverse and the reverse. After they are baked I glue the two sides together and gently sand the edges back to smooth them off. However, when they bake they tend to curl up at the edges but owing to that flexibility, when I glue the two sides together they can be bent back and cancel each other out - if you catch my drift!

I will take these medals with me when i move to Spain and the first thing I need to do there is find a good art supplies shop where I can buy some silicon rubber to make moulds with. Once I have moulds of the medals I can start casting and editioning and hopefully selling my new body of work. I will also have something new to take with me to the next BAMS conference (which is in Cardiff next year.)

I used the image above in one of my previous experimental medals (do your remember the ones that i cast in clear resin) - it was initially an idea for a large sculpture to be sited on a motorway somewhere in Ireland (i did not win that commission) - I cannot remember the location now. I rather liked the idea of nature escaping from the man made landscape. It contrasts the rather untidy, organic forms with a more angular, tidy form to represent how man tries to contain nature, but rarely succeeds.

I like that - I like the fact that nature will be the eventual winner over man's stupidity and shortsightedness. Unfortunately i will probably not be here either when the battle is all over.

But right now i am here and feeling very optimistic for my immediate future and the next phase of Mary at Large!