Today, it is the 21st anniversary of my mother’s death. I have caught my mind wandering off and thinking about her and the time surrounding her death, more than a few times today. I know she will always be here in my mind, in my memories and in my heart.
(I’ve had some interest in where I got this ‘kewl’ lettering, so, check out this link, and all will be made clear….. )
I received a letter from the company I bought my scooter from, advising me that following an article in the Daily Mail, I now need to register my electric scooter with the DVLA and get a Tax Disc. It’s preposterous that Daily Mail readers have no greater ‘bugbear’ than people riding scooters on the pavement, on the road, in Sainsburys, etc. I’m sure if they read a decent newspaper, they might discover that there are things going on in this country, and outside, more worthy of their their scorn, derision, outrage or anger. If any of them happen to be reading this, you should know that my scooter is serviced once a year and I have lights and indicators and I am insured, so I would be quite happy to run them over, if they wish, for a small sum, for my trouble.
After receiving this letter, it so happened that I went to Sainsburys to get the last of my Christmas food-shopping. Although I was knackered when I got home, after going round the supermarket for 2 hours, at my lowest speed. I wasn’t surprised, because, after all, it is 2 days before Christmas, and the store will be closed for a whole day on the 25th, so people do need to stock up. Funny, every year, it’s like this, but it wouldn’t be Christmas without the mad, last minute rush to stock up on the necessities, as if we were entering a war-situation.
I do think it is necessary to fill you in on some of my experiences, while shopping, so that you can decide who needs indicators. I did feel my blood pressure rising when people insisted on walking behind me while I was reversing, and tutting when I wedged them against a wall, I wonder if they would have been foolish enough to do that if I was driving an articulated lorry? Then there are those that insist on walking right in front of me (making me swerve out of the way) while I am trying to turn a corner and not hit the people standing in the queue for the tills. If people are blind, they should be required to carry a white cane at all times, don’t you think? But then what should they carry to warn us that they are stupid? Then, obviously, there are those that stop suddenly in their tracks, or those that jay-walk, don’t look where they are going, have no ’supermarket-sense’ whatsoever, closely followed by those that insist on climbing over me when there is nowhere for them to go (otherwise I would be there!), and let’s not forget the empty aisles, where, as soon as I park, out of the way, to consult Miles about an item on the shopping list, a dozen other shoppers rush over to us and crane their necks to see what they are missing out on, on the shelves behind me. tiring, isn’t it?
Reading The Guardian today, I read an article about dodging the avalanche of reapeats on TV this Christmas, and was encouraged to check out some ‘alternative’ viewing on YouTube. In the top-ten of ‘can’t be misseds’ was some home-video of a kid opening his gifts on Christmas Day, and finding (an obviously much desired) Nintendo64.
Now, having watched this and read a tonne of comments about how funny, and fantastic and cool this video is, I felt repulsed. It just felt really sick that kids should be encouraged to behave like this, and be rewarded by being made world-famous because of it. Don’t get me wrong, I love presents at Christmas, and love to buy them too, but I found this child’s behaviour extreme, and I do think this is a time to think about the millions of people around the world who are less fortunate than we are, and be thankful for what we have.
Even if I had no Faith at all, I would think this vulgar, but since I do, I’d like to think people might remember ‘the reason for this Season’.
While playing around with some wax after making a card, I came up with this pretty cool piece. There’s something about it that really seems to resonate with me. I don’t know why.
I got a couple of great deals on eBay recently, both from the same seller.
The first item was a set of 50 nibs, only one of which looks as if it has been used. It was a real bargain so I am dead chuffed.
The second item ended up setting me back a fair bit more that the nibs, but I was thrilled to have got my hands on them. It is this small vintage wooden box containing brass stencils. This pic only shows one complete alphabet, but there are in fact at least 2 or 3 of each letter, and 4 of a few. There is also the full range of numbers and a few symbols like ‘&’ and ‘£’ as shown at the bottom of the picture. The letters are about 1″ high, and obviously used but in good condition aside from some paint marks. I’ve used one letter already on a piece I’ve made for a Chrimbo present, but I can’t show a picture of it just yet as the recipient might see it.
I had such a lovely surprise waiting for me when I got home this afternooon, my Flickr Moo cards had arrived! Yayyy! Boy, are they gorgeous, the prints are so clear and the finish is really shmooove - AND it was so easy to order them (bonus)
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The most time consuming part was actually uploading my images, as you can only upload 5 at a time (I think). Here they are in all their glory, if you’ve been checking out my gallery pages regularly, you’ll probably recognise these babies.
Now, anyone for a swap?
I almost forgot to post pictures of my spreads in Claire’s Italy AB. I had my spread all worked out, and had done my research, gathered materials, and was all set to work my magic (!!) until all of a sudden I changed my mind and decided the theme I had chosen wasn’t suitable. Then I floudered, for what felt like the longest time. Luckily inspiration came to me via some junk mail, now that’s not as absurd as it may seem. I was staring dumbly at the little Italian book when Miles came over with some junk mail that he had opened, and he put it down on the desk, saying something along the lines of “thought this might be useful for that book on Italy you’re having problems with”. I opened the papers and was gob-smacked, it was perfect, and my head was immediately filled with ideas for what I could do and how I could do it. So, here are the ‘fruits of my labour’.
I painted the pages with a pale wash of purple pearlescent watercolours, and then covered the pages with scrunched up, then roughtly smoothed purple tissue paper, to add some texture to the page. The papers that I used at the top and bottom of the spread are torn from a picture of Florence, made in 1470, using a wood cut. Since I was using Florence as the theme for the spread, and I had already decided that I wanted to feature Italian art/artists that wasn’t the Mona Lisa or Leonardo De Vinci, I began researching artists from Florence.
I found that many Italian artists had live and worked in the region, at some time during their lives, but that wasn’t quite what I was loooking for. Then, the art of Agnolo Bronzino caught my eye, and I was thrilled to read that he was born, and died in Florence, so there it is, a home-grown talent. I love many of the regal portraits he painted and his interpretation of some of the mythological and literary characters look like so much fun. I re-sized and printed out a few of Bronzino’s paintings and laminated them before adding frames to the pictures. I thought laminating them might encourage viewers to take them out and have a good look at them. They turned out better than I had hoped. I made a pocket on the right side of the spread and then added another image from the junk mail, on the left.
The signing in instructions for the book were to decorate a tag, ao I used another image from the wood cut print image, and added an Italian stamp, similar to the one I used at the bottom-right of the spread. I was pretty pleased with my work in this book, and I think it hit the right ‘note’, more-so than my planned spread of The Italian Job, would have anyway.
Guinness
Neil Gaiman (wedding photography)
California
Croatia
Sci-fi
Geek-dom
The Prisoner (- Port Merion)
