Archive for October 2008
Studio doings!
This is a little collection of what I have been up to lately in the studio. The brown paper Poppy seed head I wrote about in my last blog, it is the one that I stitched. The drawing is of how my heart felt while I was drawing over and over again, I had just been meditating! The most resent things that I have done are these long boxes on the left and below. I rescued them while I was doing the recycling, originally they had tubes of oil paint in them, it seemed fitting to make them into art! Inside are rolled up thick paper napkins. I have written things like memories and happenings that I consider to be precious. One of them is about the little things that happen to lead us to certain places.I like the idea of them being stored carefully in these boxes. It was as if they were made especially to fit them, and I just happen to have two of each!
Paper Poppy Seed Heads
A while ago, I made two paper Poppy seed heads and put some of James’ Juniper berries inside of them, so when they are rotated they make a sound like pebbles being dragged by the tide. After several weeks in the west of Clare, the juniper berries had started to soften and the paper was not so crispy, so the rolling berries made little sound! It was time to be plunged into hot wax, minus berries. Now they hold their shape and are slightly transparent when the light shines through them. I put some of the wax in it’s bead form inside the heads, it makes a great sound!
Last night, I started stitching a new one, it was made with firmer brown paper and I reckoned that some stitching would work instead of wax. I died the white thread with some liquid blusher, another one has lipstick on it! (the nearest one in the photograph). Another Artist who uses stitching in her work is Kirsty Hall and I would really recommend you having a look at her inspiring and informative sight.
The holes that the needle make when I stitch look like little stars when You look through them towards the light! I like to be playful and experimental with my sewing. Before I started stitching I had just been outside and looked up at the stars and they were amazing! Then I looked down at the ground and the line of shells along the garden path had been scattered into a very star-like Milky Way!
Little poems from Doolin
Eight years ago, when I visited Doolin for about a month during my M.A, I wrote these poems that slightly resemble Haiku poetry. I wrote them as I walked near the Cliffs of Moher and across The Burren. Now they are draped over our sofa on lengths of cotton! Little did I know that my family would one day sit on the words in the very same house! Life is very unpredictable and mysterious!
Here
horses graze
among sea-foam
Looking down
the sea-gulls
are imitating stars
Floating on
even thistles
become soft
Every day
I walk
a circle
The moon
is reflected
in a distant rock-pool
Wind is blowing
even horses
cling to mountains
Pink Marshmallow Heart
This mornings inspiration could be summed up in this little poem.
Marshmallow hearts and sea urchins
the giant turtle returns
she is in a trance
tears on sand
she’s multiplying
so she might survive
then disappears again
into marshmallow hearts and sea urchins.
Mariannne Potterton October 2008
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