Sunday 29 December 2013

1 in 3 and the other parts of life

you might be wondering where I've gone...
Well I've been through the works - I feel a little bit cut up, but on the plus side... I've had a month of fun in athens.
the long and the short of it is that some time at the end of october my doc (a very lovely dutch lady, who unfortunately has closed her clinic and returned to holland) told me that i have a tumor on my breast that needed operating with some urgency. she also said i had them in some of my lymph nodes.
i was kind of prepared for such a verdict but it was still a shock. especially for my nearest and dearest.
anyway, my friend maria within days found me a oncological surgeon at a clinic in athens who was also a woman and part of a really exceptional team and i went under the knife. ok surgery doesn't bother me, but anesthesia does my head in completely (though this is a dichotomy as surgery without the anesthesia would also do my head in) and this was no exception - if the younger surgeon who was there when i woke up and was trying to persuade me to breathe had told me that she had just pulled me out of the deep freeze where i had been for the last 50 years i would have believed her. but things like that are soon forgotten and i was out the hospital after 2 days despite some difficulties they had with stitching me up - as i didn't have any fat and no elasticity in the skin because of it, so they had to do some creative tribal style slicing around the wound for the skin to give - yep pretty gruesome but it all adds up to a killer scar. i stayed for a week with my mother at a hotel near the clinic, then they left and i went back to maria's - where she and her friend stella looked after me like i was a princess - taking me out and showing me a side of athens i have sorely missed. i got to play a tourist in a city i love to bits - i even went to the parthenon after 35 years.
the cancer was stage 2 breast and 4 of the 8 lymphs they removed - the tests showed that it wasn't anywhere else and also that its a slow creeping variety - lucky me - known as HER2 negative. they said i needed to do chemo, radiation and hormone therapy but I've opted to go my own way on that one as i personally do not believe in these treatments, and have witnessed the distruction first hand.  i do believe in a viable lifestyle change and a bunch of natural treatments - and at the end of the day what we believe in is more likely to work.
in the meantime i got back into a bit of film photography - which i had sorely missed for about a year having not had time with one thing and infinitystop jewelry making and even got myself a new toy.

and now to the pics as i prefer them to writing anyway :)



self portrait - embassy hotel - nov 14
hasselblad 500c kodak portra 400 


self portrait as suggested by john - taken by stella - psirri athens
hasselblad 500c ilford fp4


thiseion train station 
rolleiflex 2.8 planar ilford 3200


iPhone moments 








The new toy




Treasures I found


Stella and Maria 






Well there are many photos, though I'm rusty with the film shots, and not so happy with the results - aperture from what I've posted here and a couple more - and obviously there are too many iPhone pics to choose from, but i might post some more in the coming days or I might not, I might just re-engage with making things before I get too bored.

I do want to wish everyone a fun and eventful 2014 










Saturday 12 October 2013

blast from the past

origins of the species - i was going through some old hard drives recently and was confronted by some old work, in the collage sculpture and shadow box vein, this work ranges from about 1999 - 2007 or thereabouts, some might be later. so i thought i'd share them here - despite the mediocre photography.


athena's dream
30x30cm mixd media


clio
28x28cm mixed media


mnemosyne
28x28cm mixed media



debate and political clout
25x25cm mixed media


forms of transport
28x40cm mixed media


archeology
25x50cm mixed media


geometry
110x110cm
mixed media collage



series - soothsayers
28x28cm mixed media


olive tree study
60x30cm collage on paper


shaman
30x60cm mixed media


pavel's cruise
20x28cm
mixed media shade box with light


neurosis
8x15cm mixed media


psychosis 1
8x15cm mixed media


hypnosis
8x15cm mixed media
the 2 halves of the globe have opposing pole magnets imbedded in them 


paranoia
8x15cm mixed media


psychosis 2
dia30cm mixed media

this last set is part of a series of works exploring greek words in psychological terms.

thats all I've got time for today, if anyone is interested i can find more of the shadow boxes, collages and sculptures.









Tuesday 20 August 2013

wow time flies

I didn't realize that my last post was so long ago, seems like yesterday, everything gets so thin at this time of year. wedged between the heat and the blinding light, which can be beautiful if you just lay on a beach most days. but needless to say - I've broken a record and been for only 2 swims this year - that's getting mighty thin indeed, I might as well be a piece of paper on the pavement. 
kinda lost track of all the making too as things just come and go, very little continuity to be found in that. so my hands smell of saddle soap and the village has a wine festival tonight and the man who sells vegetables from his truck is playing 20's Greek ballads and no I'm not going to take pics of any of the above. 
the other day I ran my dog over, luckily at very slow speed coming into my drive, he was wedged under the car, seriously squashed screaming his head off and there was 3 of us screaming at each other because we couldn't get the jack out from under the spare tire which has some kind of criminally slow screw you have undo to get anything out. tragically farcical the whole scene, but luckily perry seems ok - though psychologically and physically bruised. he now waits for me from the safety of the terrace above.
so that was ....
anyway here's some randomly selected work and few images of any other kind from the last month.


late roman coin, bone cross I carved based on a 16/17C Macedonian bone cross and a tiny red beach stone, the leather is beautiful soft analine nappa, hand cut oiled and saddle soaped to give it the wear and there is some cloth wrapped and stitched around it - 



another variation of this with a Byzantine cross, with kyanite set in it and a Byzantine coin.


a scrap strap fastening idea I've been playing around with, which becomes a feature of the strap.


some more of these



as a friend said, I'd really like her to go upstairs....


samos beach stone and silver themes



half moon wrap strap


a scapular with beach glass


silver, glass, linen macramé and roman glass beads (which I've noticed have really taken off on etsy)


she was really hot, not the one hit by a car


had fun making these, vintage Moroccan glass beads amber and a beach pebble each



scrap metal and ottoman coins, speaking of which someone kindly stole a pair of very complex chandelier earrings I'd made with ottoman coins from an outside display of our shop. grrrrrr


the dude, Jason brings me stuff from the beach and he's my best source of bones for carving.


perry and me in a happier moment prior to my trying to kill him


and last but not least, meteorite, copper, ottoman coin and fossil bone. 
so the village has filled up with wine drinkers, I have to walk half a mile to get to my parked car and hope that it's not been blocked in by anyone. 
one last thing, I want to thank all of you who have commented on my blog especially at this time that I have been so very slack about getting around - it really is kind and supportive and means a lot to me. so big thanks to you. and once the summer is pulling out I will get around and about again, between longer walks with the pooches.