Why is it...

that when I decide on a once a week blog, I suddenly get hit by things to say?
Lucy Rae ( who I never knew whether rhymed with sigh or say).  I'd forgotten all about her:

And then one thing leads to another: 

 I love the way these from the Japanes exhibition catalogue have names - as well as the way you can feel them on your bottom lip even in the pictures, especially Omokage

and another

Jim made this when he was at Goldsmith's trying to get a low fire red glaze I think

and another
I began to wonder how long it was since I updated my pages and found I hadn't added an etching that I wanted to tell the story of.
I went to the Italian renaissance drawing exhibition with Tracey and was struck by the expression of the women - from the one on the cover:

through those I recognised the names of:
Leonardo da Vinci

Michael Angelo

Raphael

to the one I based my etching on:

I though it was a look of submission but someone said maybe not. maybe it was someone hiding their thoughts  - that's why the veiled head and someone else that it was a common pose - so many did it and I wondered
why is it?
and the drawing of it and the model and the artist and the studio all sort of took shape in my head - which is where the words came from.

They might look a bit scruffy but it took a lot of thought to work out how to do it. 
Since caligraphy is not a skill, I

1. found a font I liked and that looked in keeping
2. Typed out the poem
3. prt sc'd it
4. opened it in Paint
5. flipped it horizontally
6. printed it
7. copied it backwards onto the plate as neatly as I could.

Serendipity and the once a week blog

It's only Tuesday!
I really need a flow chart for this but have no idea where to get one.
I think I mentioned that Susan got me a book and wanted a jacket
Diz liked the bright, india inspired quilt. 

A couple maybe years ago I discovered Gond art on BibliO... 

thought I'd browse a while to see what other types of traditional Indian art there were.

A happily spent afternoon later - doesn't time fly - decided I liked warli,

looked on yahoo images

tracked my favourites down

found that peakay was in fact the nom de flickr of the BibliO... bloke

looked through his flickr pics

found that he had some Yuko Shimizu pics on BibliO...

found she'd got a monograph printed

not sure what a monograph is but bought it with one click

and I have

more blogs ( on indian art) to look at

become a follower of peakay on flickr

AND

managed to postpone cutting into the silk for yet another morning

AND

have this great book of pictures

The Big Wave (I put this in for Jim)

Take Your Time and Relax

Now hear this (2)

Bear Measuring

Apparently this one is on a GAP teeshirt

Wednesday - another day hotter than the south of France and I went off to York.  Had a great time trying out Blackberry maps to find my way.  It was OK about telling me where I was but not so good at how to get to the Quilt Museum.  And then I realised -  It thought I was in a car.  That's why I was in the middle of a patch of mist.  I was in a pedestrian precinct.

  I found the museum though and the weather was just right to try out the restaurant in the garden

and feel dead sophisticated with my glass of wine and dainty salad.


I didn't like to spoil the mood by asking but I reckon that the big green things are capers - hard to tell since they weren't pickled like I'm used to.






















The exhibition in the main hall is fantastic;  This isn't my favourite but they didn't have a catalogue

How did I manage to miss the issue of this?
 I don't know how they got him to have a trim and tidy for the photographer.  And he looks much too sharp to be the Rincewind in my head, but perhaps that's the spell looking out of his eyes.

Angel had her check up on Thursday.  Healthy and hearty and 1.8Kg heavier than last year:

She has to eat less since it is not possible to exercise more at the moment

 She tried out stretches

but gave up and decided that the best way to cope with eating less is doing less and dozed off again.

I've discovered amigurumi!

 When Susan, Diz and I went to the Hepworth Gallery, which was a great visit.

I bought this in the gift shop

                                This is Rhoda. She turned out a little small.

This is Digbot. He's based on Boxbot.
          
The pictures of them in situ are in my facebook pics. http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100001376270871&sk=photos

Nelly Pailloux also has a blog - who hasn't - http://cthulhucrochet.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/crobot-roll-calland-review.html .  There are loads of amigurumi (yes, I do still have to look at the title to spell it - ami = knit or crotchet, gurumi = doll.  Thank you wikipedia) blogs, maybe I'll add one to the site list.

I made a decision walking the dog this morning, in between noticing that someone had been hedgecutting and wondering if the world could be divided in to those who wake up to look out of the window and those who dive straight into a book.  I am going to be less precious about my blog.  I don't need a round robin to keep in touch.  People can read my blog. Or at least can be invited to.

I had to earth up my taters today, and I've planted up the aubergines.  The okra and chard have come through so have the radishes and alyssum.  Apparently, according to the Daily Telegraph website, okra like hot and humid so they're in for a shock when they finally shake the soil off - I'm still wearing scarf and gloves when I walk the dog.

I'm thinking of going to Whitby at the end of June beginning of July. This was meant to be a video of  Angel playing with Belle who lives in the farmhouse.  Unfortunately, the video won't upload.  It won't upload to facebook either.  I don't know why.  I tried changing it from quickplay to windows media but it still wouldn't load and it won't go into facebook on realplayer because of something to do with august 2012 and platform migration - which leaves me none the wiser.

What colour is violet and other vital questions

What colour is violet?  This is the aquilegia I thought was going to be blue, but I'm not sure that it is.

Is this violet?







 Or this







Is it possible to use colours effectively without being able to name them or is it the naming that allows me to distinguish a difference?
Why do I slow down towards the end of a project ?
Why do I plan a thing to the last milli... and then shut my eyes, forget the plan and jump in?
Is knowing that I do that why I hate the first mark in an exercise book
and the first cut of a piece of cloth?
If Beatrix Potter wrote 'Peter Rabbit' what did Alison Utley write?
Why won't the like button work for my facebook page>
Susan wants me to make the jacket from this book'Sumptuous Patchwork' and I've been putting off starting it and getting on with the quilt (some new pics on the quilting page though) all week.  Is that why I'm blogging now.

May pictures of my garden:






May 2010



May 2011

                                                                                           


May 2012










The alium continues to improve and it looks like the others will all come out together.
And the, even though I don't much like magenta, I think they will look quite impressive.