Love at first sight

This skirt is so beautiful I could frame it, It is from a shop well out of my taste zone, how can shop famous for naff florals produce such a lovely skirt, and its all mine. This definitely ticks Ms Rouge's Paris box. This ruthless rule is a brilliant idea and one that has very much wormed its way into my retail brain.

Takashi Murakami

The most comprehensive retrospective to date of the work of internationally acclaimed Japanese artist Takashi Murakami includes more than ninety works in various media that span the artist’s entire career, installed in more than 18,500 square feet of gallery space.
You can see this fantastic artist here, I am very jealous, I love his work and saw some of it years ago at the Serpentine Gallery, this gallery is a bit too far to travel though.

Hippo Birdie Two Ewes

I have spent too much. I was duped by the Decleor lady, I asked for a richer cream for my eyes, they are so dry, so of course she recommended one and when I payed I realised that one teeny, tiny, intsy, bitsy little pot of cream cost more than my face cream. Sucker!
I have bought some very sensible foot wear Havianas and Birkenstocks. Zara home do a very groovy faux snakeskin Birkenstock.
Finally a mac, the jury is out, but the girls gave it the thumbs up. Bless them they told me to belt it then recoiled in horror at the sack of spuds effect, so we settled for a tight belting at the back.
I spent a fortune on revision guides for Daisy, with Daisy its not if she will pass, but what grade she will get, she is bright but lazy, so time will tell if my nest egg will be paying her Uni fees.
Finally a Chinese take away for Kitty and I and a copy of Vogue, and my excuse? Its my birthday!

Deep sigh

Well two more down, just Kitty and I left. Daisy has gone skiing in 70cm of fresh snow in Austria the dog has gone to Emin's sisters house, so no more mopping up pee and sick and picking up huge mountains of poo. I have had a week of deep exasperation, 4 days of GCSE exams incarcerated in a room of talentless numnty's well maybe not all, but some of the dialogue I have had to endure is beyond belief.
Leanne is a small mousey haired child without humour. She has a vicious tongue and is mostly very rude and rarely works without a fight. She missed the first day of the exam and the school had to threaten the mother with a fine to get Leanne to come in, which she did with a great reluctance.
Me "so Leanne what are you going to do for your exam?"
Leanne "don't know Miss"
Me "show me what you have done for your preparation work"
Leanne "I ain't done much Miss, well actually, I ain't done nothing"
Me "What question are you doing?"
Leanne "Japan"
Me "So what aspect of Japan would you like to paint? landscape, Pagoda's or blossom?"
Leanne " That mountain"
Me " Mount Fuji?"
Leanne "Yeah whatever"
So because I am nice and kind I go onto Flickr and search for photographs Mount Fuji, I print three photographs Leanne chooses one, I blow it up to A2 and she traces it. I explain she will have to flip it over and trace it onto her paper.
Leanne " But Miss It will come out the wrong way round"
Me Well that is what happens, is it a problem?"
Leanne " Yeah I want it the right way round"
Me " Well you will have to redraw it on the reverse and then trace it onto the paper"
Leanne " That will take ages"
Me "Yes Leanne but if you insist that it has to be the right way round then that is what you have to do"
Leanne, Big fat sigh " Great"
And so the lovely Leanne does just that
The drawing is complete and so Leanne enquires as to what paint to use, I suggest as she lacks confidence that she should use watercolour.
I turn my back for five minutes and she has plastered a great big splodge of blue paint on the right hand corner.
Leanne" Oh great now I can't see the lines"
Me "Yes you can"
Leanne "No I can't"
I then get the brush, water down the splodge and dilute the paint. I have very poor eye sight and the lines are clearly visible.
Leanne " No I still can't see them"
Me "Well I can and I am sure you can finish the wash of colour and then paint the line in Ink"
Leanne, Big fat sigh "I ain't doing this"
30 Min's later I see Leanne washing the tracing paper because she cannot rub out the back she scribbled on, then she stoically redraws the lines
Leanne " See I can see them now what do I paint them with?"
Me "Indian Ink"
Leanne "Does it come out your clothes?"
Me " No"
Leanne, Big fat sigh "great"
It took Leanne 2 whole days to trace an A2 photograph and paint it three colours, she is about a third of the way through applying Indian Ink to create the silhouette.
I have had over thirty students to supervise, trust me it was no picnic!

Nathanael Archer

How wonderful would it be to sit and thumb through these for a day or two?

Page agenda medical, originally uploaded by Nathanael.Archer.

Some very beautiful calligraphy read more here

I discovered calligraphy about two or three years ago. I was writing poetry and a friend of mine drove my attention to short poems, haiku and calligraphy. I was seduced by what can be achieved by calligraphy and may be associated with the notion of satori or a sudden poetical enlightenment / awakening.

They are off!

Up at 5am to drive Emin and Leyla to the airport, this is the view from the Woolwich ferry of the Thames Barrier. They are off to Cyprus, Leyla is really excited to be going to school out there for 2 weeks, and peace will reign supreme tonight in the house.

Lee Chul Soo

Translation of text:
They said the vessel was useless because it was bent in the middle.I filled it with water and put a pruned-off twig in it.Suddenly today, I found the flowers bloomed.Ah, the vessel is pretty: it is perfect.


Translation of text:
Early in the spring, the dandelion has not yet blossomed. The mind already sees its spores flying away.



Translation of text:
Dandelion's Night Sky Today the whole universe seems to exist only for you.

Almost every Korean is familiar with his pieces. His woodcuts are often found in books and magazines, as more than two hundreds of his pieces have been used as illustrations. His art reflects significant periods of Korean society since 1980. In the 1980s, his work dealt with the social and political problems under military dictatorship. In his works of the 1990s, he sways towards Buddhist pictures to express the miraculous world of meditation. He also employs a traditional style called wenren-hua, a Neo-Confucian style of painting influenced by Zen Buddhism, liberally engraving simple lines on woodprint. The woodcuts also feature poetic texts. This unique style combines traditional aesthetics of woodprint. His art discloses the secrets of life and the universe in an unexpectedly refreshing way. from here and here

Lee Chul Soo now lives with his wife on a small rice farm in rural Korea. He grows most of his own food, and fills his days with farming, writing poetry and making prints by hand in the traditional way. The artist’s woodcuts, characterized by laconic prose, reflect his life as a farmer, Zen practitioner and poet-artist. His themes express a deep respect for nature, family and a quiet, contemplative way of life.His poems, both visual and verbal, speak to all people. Lee Chul Soo, in his simple forms and words, expresses universal messages that are beyond boundaries or borders.
At the beginning of the academic year I was luckily enough to be able to employ a new assistant/art technician, having really struggled with the previous incumbent I decided to ask around and find one by word of mouth. This process has often payed huge dividends, all three of the girls childminders were found via this process and they were excellent and so it was with Helen. My criteria was that it had to be someone with a really bad OCD, because whilst I appear to keep a relatively organised house I am useless at work, I work in complete chaos, which at times can feel quite over whelming. So Helen arrived and she is like a whirling dervish, she does not stop and she MAKES me make decisions. The result is acres of new space and a slowly clearing backlog of paper, books and journals either sent for jumble, recycling or back to the house. During a big push yesterday I found 2 boxes of jewellery one which contained my engagement ring! the other a really valuable Whitby Jet bracelet, and then I found some very old, but really beautiful old calendar's that my father had sent from Korea when he worked there. I loved these calenders so much I would just keep using them year after year, but eventually they vanished when we moved. But we are now reunited and I really want to frame them.
They are from a very popular wood cut artist called Lee Chul Soo and what makes them even more special is the text. The marriage of image and text is perfect. I just wish I could go and get some more.