sunny weather, new bird houses

Out for a sunday drive we saw these for sale by the side of the road. The man who made them makes each one different and really goes to town on the details. We bought these three because they are the wackiest...and a real bargain I think at only £5 each. They make me smile when I walk past them, and I hope that some little bird will move in soon :-)

moleskine

moleskine
Originally uploaded by paintistworks

my new moleskine has posed a few problems...I am not keen on the paper, it seems to hate moisture and de-laminates when I try any experiments on it. This sketchbook is the small size which limits my mark-making too. But I am having a good time with stencils and spray paint, not my usual method so I am wresting with the challenges it throws up. All this 'fun' does make me wonder when I will grow up and settle with something and make a go of it though.......but until I do I shall keep on playing.

Ayala Bar

My husband has just given me this necklace....wonderful textile beads, I love it, so hippy :-)
But (and this may seem stupid) I worry about the beads......who made them, how many man/woman hours went into making each bead and did they get paid a fair wage?
I love it and will enjoy wearing it, but I will think about who made it

Prague trip....folk museum

We went to the Musaion in Kinsky Park, a wonderful little museum full of beautifully presented folk costume and folk art, it was all laid out in seasons, spring/birth/  marriage/summer harvest etc....and lots of wonderful toys and sculpture.

The winter section was my favourite, this display really made me gasp, it frightened and fascinated me....so beautiful and so scary

"the first sunday in December opens the Advent, the time focused more upon the spiritual values of life, preparation for Christmas and the birth of Christ. This period of preparations is accompanied by figures with masks related to the way of thinking of pre-christian times. They appear in several groups of customs as witnesses of human conscience with punishments for committed crimes and rewards for promises into the future - Barbara, Lucia, Nicholas, and with them the devils, angels, various demons and animal masks. The time of Christmas continues to belong up to now to the peak periods of the year. The folk tradition has retained many values both in the spiritual and the creative spheres. Folk nativity scenes represent a connecting link between both these spheres"

Polaroid

When my first son was born I used a fabulous way of capturing his baby years....polaroid film. It was instant, and captured those magical moments of babyhood, then the pictures faded, his little features were bleached out and I lost my memories . However i felt about losing these precious memories I still see them in my minds eye when i look at the faded photographs, memories are polaroid coloured. When I heard that Polaroid are no longer making the film I panicked, i got out my old camera and bought some discontinued 'unsaleable' film. I have bought possibly the last of the old stock and find that every photo I take has got to be precious.........I can't make precious photos, I may lose them again, so I have been 'snapping', and find that each of the pictures taken have a glow of memory already imbued by the polaroid process.....I am so sad that the film will not be made anymore

I have been on a short break to Prague. I really enjoyed it and think that I will have to return to have a look the things I know I didn't get time to see. The two most exciting places for me were the toy museum and the folk museum, I would have bought books from both places but they were all in czech ....

these are some of the faces from both museums, I have got many more photos and may put them up here, but most of them will be on my flickr pages.

into the ether?

I have just discovered that there are still mail art fiends out there in the world, I shall give it another go. Previous experience has shown me that I should expect nothing back, no sign that the post has been received, or even the swaps that are promised but thats OK, I quite like that a postman has taken a fancy to it, or that it is stuck down the back of a cupboard, or even heaven forbid thrown into a bush by a lazy posty...:-)
This call amused me as it was specifically about thumbs. I had done a small painting of thumbs last summer so I have copied it onto a postcard and sent it off....if anyone else reads this and would like to give it a go.... the deadline is June 30,2008 and the address is
Thumb!
c/o J. Desmond
PO Box 2287
Lake Isabella, CA 93240
USA

PS.... put name and address on it too, and email/website..
PS