gardening and things

today on my walk, i passed by a water tank that is a pretty large reservoir for watering gardens around it, the tank was half empty and from quite a way up the hill, acoustically projected was the gleeful sound of frogs fucking - the dog was beside himself as he could not see over the wall of the reservoir where or what was making this tremendous noise.

spring, the smell after rain of the pine trees, the wind dropping to a gentle stillness and... warmth.

johns been out doing his vegetable garden, things are starting to grow and besides that he cut the jungle that was out the back of the house, where finally after all the years of being here the trees have turned it into a secluded shady place.

so not only is it the most beautiful time of year to be out, but i also received not one but two terrific packages. the first is from beatrice and is a glorious blaze of colour and ethic materials, actually theres lots more but i'm infatuated with that density and hum of colour

the second is yet another bundle of surprises from steph, whose gorgeous ceramic beads always come with so many other goodies, but this box was megalo!

then the things i've been working on - the earrings have already sold, which is very nice, again its working with some stuff from treasurehider, and the other pair is a new way i have of suspending the beach stones, which i'll be playing with more - it kind of keeps their shape cleaner than drilling a hole through - i was also really pleased with the photo of the second pair

and this pendant which i'll maybe list tomorrow, its an artists pendant [no shit sherlock] and has been hanging around in pieces for ever, getting longer and shorter umming and ahhing about itself til it finally bit the bullit. the ceramic wizards cappy look alike thingy comes from an olive grove that at one time must have been a place where they made water urns and is now a rubbish dump of ceramic bits and parts. its gold leafed underneath. the 3 brushes are used calligraphy and water colour brushes and its all been sealed. the rope is a 4 string [hemp] round plait thats been painted and rubbed like you would a rawhide braid and wax sealed, its actually soft and supple now

orthodox easter

strangely it seemed to almost not happen, perhaps the weather, which was nice on sunday but has been pretty blustery since the last full moon. still my mum made her easter eggs, using some of the eggs from john's little silkies. i just love how these eggs come out, she dies them by slow boiling them in onion skins and water where she has drizzled some oil. slow means barely simmering overnight, and when you take some eggs out you put some more in. the whites of the eggs inside are a kind of purple colour and they take a flavour from the onion skins. i wanted to try doing something like this to cloth.

and just before easter i got a beautiful package in a swop i did with kim rogers over at numinosity, these are a few of the things, that lampwork on the rusty metal is really something in real life. i love it.

then there is a beach shot i took last autumn, that i kinda like, this is just outside where my mother and her partner have a restaurant. the fisherman is a regular feature. its the geometrics again, thats coming up in some of the jewelry i'm making.

hasselblad - ilford delta 400

i've been moving half my work bench up to the summer shop we have in a very beautiful mountain village - which is why i have had very little time for blogging or anything really. its also pretty confusing at the beginning with what i have where.

and finally some work in progress, the earrings i already listed and they sold which was sweet. the pendant is along similar lines. a kind of simpler geometry is what i'm after with these. i love the fossilized bone i got from treasurehider, the piece of ivory - which i believe is off cuts from piano keys - steph from vladthebatsattic sent me to try some scrimshaw on but i liked its white smoothness too much - so maybe with another piece

the 2 bracelets are using techniques that fanciful devices has devised and shown on her blog and now has as downloadable pdf tutorials that i've heard are very good and selling like hot cakes. she is a real whirlwind of creativity and ingenuity.

and thats all folks - kinda counteracts the image hiatus thing, and is like 3 posts together cos i just dont have time these days to sneeze.

image hiatus

just a quick note to say that the horse is ok and gone to a better owner, thanks for your comments and concern, it rarely gets to me these days but when it does it really pisses me off. 

i was also pleased by a recent invitation to do an online exhibition of photos here:

591PhotographyBlog

lots of images there. what was interesting was seeing a selection made entirely by someone else, after a difficult winter with very little film photography, it was nice to reengage with those images Ulf picked.