The impermanence of art

The impermanence of art

I suppose, if you want to be pedantic about it, ever thing is impermanent, but talking specifically about art; there are certain art forms whose temporary nature is an integral part of what they are.
I’m talking here about, for example,  performance art, once the ‘performance’ is finished, the art ceases to be, until the next performance, and then its not the same performance as it was, it’s not even an exact replica of the original. that would be impossible.

Performance art


There are other types of temporary art; Sand art for example, beautiful pictures created in sand that are constantly changed into other pictures. None of these pictures are permanent, the only thing that remains after the pictures vanish is the sand box and even that is dismantled and moved around.

Sand Art


And then there is water art, this is a relatively new one on me. Its nature is quite similar to sand art, pictures created out of water that emerge and then disappear.

Water art




 I think I have, (completely unintentionally), created something else that has built in obsolescence. I’ve told every one I’m copying my art and poetry posts from Multiply directly Blogger. There is debate about these posts will continuing to exist after 01.12.2012 when Multiply turns the  lights off. I’ve made a complete online gallery called, ‘The Forgotten Studio’, which is exactly what it will be if every thing disappears. The more I read what Frank says, the more I see the logic and believe it will cease to exist. But when I read what Bennett says, she makes a good case for things never actually being deleted from sites and every thing remaining. The uncertainty adds another element to the whole thing, this site isn’t exactly ‘impermanent’, but it’s not permanent either. I feel a bit like those people who were doing the countdown to the end of time according to the Mayan calendar.  It’s a case of, lets make the most of it until Dec 1 this year’ and then wait and see. I have really enjoyed making this gallery, I’ve seen paintings I forgot I posted and read poems I’ve not read for ages. I’ve read comments and treasured the times we spent together discussing this painting or that poem. The gallery isn’t finished, I still have about 6 months worth of posts to copy/ past and post but I’m taking a break because; I’ve posted so many things I have to decode those awful little words every time I post something new and its driving me mad. That is especially difficult for me given the state of my eyes right now. The album, ‘’The Forgotten Gallery’’ is on blogger, it is open to every one you don’t need a blogger account and any one can comment. If you want to take a look at the many, many art works we have discussed in the last 5 years or so, I recommend you go there as soon as possible and certainly before Dec1 this year………..we are on countdown

My next challenge is to post this, including videos, on 4 separate sites……….
Oh happy, happy learning curve.

http://theforgottenstudio.blogspot.co.uk/

Steve Miller Band

Its a late night for me, still not sleeping very well...............this helps

Moan Moan Moan

so now I feel like moaning: Blogging isn't fun any more, its bloody hard work. I'm on 'new learning overload', I can't remember which of my friends said what on which site and I'm fed up chasing around all over the place trying to figure out which site is best for doing what and which feature should be prioritised over what and who does what best. In general.............Multiply and the fall out has finally managed to piss me off. I'm trying to save all my stuff to blogger because I like the layout and my stuff looks best there, but its hard to use it as a social networking site and even if it was OK for social networking, people keep telling me that once Multiply turn of the lights my carefully copied stuff will disappear in a puff of smoke into the outer limits of cyberspace never to be seem again. This still feels like home but no one is here, probably the best time for me to have a moan becaus its a bit like standing in the middle of a field and screaming, no one is here to hear. Tried a couple of other sites and I'm keeping up with people but it still doesn't feel right and no other site allows me to insert pictures and videos as easily as I can here, AND...........I can't make my site as 'pretty' as it is here. And now I've just had a spammy email on one of the new sites which I never had here. Just tried the new site here and maybe I'm a bit paranoid, and who wouldn't be given what we have been through, but I see the beginnings of a dating site there, they need to know if you are single or in a relationship and there is a place for 'personal' or some such thing. So..........now that I'm utterly, utterly pissed off I'm going away from the whole bloody thing for a while  and I'm going to buy an ice cream

AND NOW...............my notes don't work so I have to post as a blog...........going to buy ice cream asap.

Garden2012 no 16

Feeling very proud right now, have done my first garden update in my garden blog at blogger.............I was going to re-post here, but its late so for now, its just a link.


http://trespasserswillbecomposted.blogspot.co.uk/

Ten days post surgery

Wednesday 22 Aug,
I wasn't going to post this here, but |in the end I couldn't not. Like I said, old habits die hard.
I’m now ten days post surgery. This has been a very strange ten days. When I left the hospital they told me how they had put a tiny bubble of gas inside the retina. Its purpose was to hold every thing in place and allow the eye to heal.
They explained I wouldn’t be able to see out of my right eye because I would be looking through the bubble. Initially I would only be aware of light and dark and a few hazy shadows. 2-4 weeks after surgery the bubble should break up and disburse and vision should gradually return. I was told to hold my head upright, sleep sitting up and go home to rest.
I am allowed to use the computer and watch TV, providing I do it sitting up in an upright position. No lifting, no returning to work and absolutely NO GARDENING.
I’d rather not have eye surgery at all, but if it HAD to happen, and if using the computer HAS to be one of the few things I’m allowed to do, I suppose it couldn’t come at a better time.
I’ve missed the start of the new term which really doesn’t bother me at all, my daughters partner was working away which meant I could stay with her for a few days and once home I had lots to do on the computer. I stayed with her for 5 days. The countryside around her house is beautiful.
I took a short walk every after noon and, even though I couldn’t see exactly what I was looking at, I admired the beauty of the fields around her house. I understood, probably for the first time, how awful it must be for those who can’t see at all. I took photos, not that I could really see what I was taking but I know those fields, I’ve taken lots of photos there before.
I came back here Saturday and have spent the last 5 days catching up with every thing on the computer and saving all my work from Multiply before it disappears. I’ve now saved every thing except the art posts and in a very odd way, I’m even grateful for having the time to do this.  I’ve made a separate gardening blog, which is something I’ve wanted to do for ages and I’ve joined a couple of sites to keep in touch with people. I’m pleased I made the most of this time confined to the house.
Now of course all I want to do is go out in the garden. Most days I stay in PJ’s, and there’s a reason for that. If I get dressed I’ll end up going outside, and if I go outside, I’ll end up pulling weeds from the garden and worrying about my fruit that’s rotting on the canes.  I did quite well in the garden this year and when I came home, I couldn’t help noticing all the things that need doing out there. My next hospital appointment is next week, maybe after that I’ll be allowed out into the garden. I hope so, I’m missing my garden and can’t wait to get back out there.
I’m hoping to start seeing things again soon but until then, at least I have my computer and my hundreds of photos. These were all taken while I stayed with my daughter.

The thing I'm most pleased about is setting up my own gardening site, this is something I've wanted to do for ages and now at last I have. The site contains ALL of my gardening posts and this is the one blog I'm sure to keep going

http://trespasserswillbecomposted.blogspot.co.uk/

Nothing Changes, Nothing Changes, and then every thing changes.......

Ten or so years ago every thing changed. Some time during that period I happened upon a book. I don’t remember the book or the author as well as I remember the inscription on the front page. It said ‘’nothing changes, nothing changes, and then every thing changes’’. That stuck with me, it was a very apt description of my life at that time. Kids grown, marriage dying and me needing something; so off I went to University as an almost 50 year old student to embark on study for a Degree in History and Philosophy.  One year later the dying marriage exploded violently, I was single for the first time in 25 years; I was homeless, in debt, no means of support, and studying for my first year exams. Looking back I’ve no idea how I managed, but I did. Regardless of the fact my life was a mess, I stuck at it for three years and gained my degree. Half way through fourth year, my honours year, arthritis struck with a vengeance, I was in pain, unable to walk and unable to get to University. By the time I was well enough to go back to University I had no chance of catching up and I had used up my funding for my honours year. This meant I graduated with a good degree, but without honours.  I didn’t think I would survive those years, but I did, and now I’m actually grateful. If I hadn’t gone through such extreme change and upheaval, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I took the best of me  forward , left the worst of me behind (I hope) and added some bits I never imagined possible.
And now everything is changing again; and just as before, it’s not easy. It’s scary, disorientating and intimidating. I’m preparing for retirement, the government says I can have a state pension next Easter, I can’t wait. I’m taking evening classes in life drawing and painting; at every opportunity I’m out taking photographs, I’m redecorating my house, planning my garden and nibbling away at my debts, all in preparation for my longed for retirement.
Within the last month I’ve had several bits of bad news. My best friend, a lady of my own age who has multiple medical problems some of which I can’t even pronounce, was diagnosed with terminal liver disease. I’m not sure how long she has to live, but I’m guessing its months not years. That was a devastating bit of news that I’m still coming to terms with. Then a work colleague, who has not been seen since Christmas, passed away from cancer a few weeks ago.  She died shortly after her 40th birthday. She was a lovely lady and mother to a 9 year old son. Last week an ex-head girl from the school where I work was found dead by her parents, she was 18, a swimming instructor and about to start University to train as a teacher. She was a wonderful young person with her life ahead of her and she died from (we believe) a seizure while alone in the house. I’m left overwhelmed by the sadness of life. We can go for years and years drifting through life totally oblivious to every one and every thing else. We are encased in a small world bordered by our comfort zone, and then, like the book says, every thing changes. Things happen, they touch your life, they wake you up and they herald change.

The changes slammed into my life last week. I’m the person who looks forward to a retirement painting pictures and taking photographs. I’m very short sighted to start with, any decrease in vision could seriously affect the things I love to do. It all started a week back Thursday, I spent the whole day Thursday cleaning my glasses and trying to figure out what I kept seeing from the corner of my eye. I thought I could see  the bridge of my glasses, then I thought it was a couple of eye lashes sticking up, I thought the blurry bit in the middle of my eye was a smudge on my lenses. There were lots of little black specks wizzing around but I’ve had these before and in the past they’ve just gone away. When I woke up on the Friday morning and could still see those things, the penny dropped, it wasn’t any thing ‘external’; what ever it was, was actually part of my vision. I should have taken it more seriously at that point but I didn’t. I had already arranged to go out to Dundee for the day so off I went; I made a mental note to go to the opticians as soon as possible the following week. The next day, Saturday, I had arranged to go to Aberdeen to see a new exhibition and I thought, it’s nothing strenuous, just sitting in a car and wandering around a gallery that will be fine. I didn’t want to let my friend down and I wanted to see the exhibition. Half way through the afternoon I realised it wasn’t ‘fine’, that ‘thing’, that shadow in the corner of my eye was creeping across my eye and blocking more and more of my vision. We rushed back in an attempt to get to the opticians before they closed, we failed and I promised to phone NHS 24 as soon as my friend dropped me off. I did phone and someone took all the details, she said all the medical staff were busy and someone would phone back. Someone did eventually phone back but by then it was late and I’d thought it obviously wasn’t serious and I could sort it out in the morning. The voice on the other end took all the details AGAIN and asked me to go directly to A&E, not the local A&E because apparently they don’t ‘do’ eyes, but the central A&E 20+ miles away. It was Saturday night, it was late, no 1 daughter  had a couple of glasses of wine that evening and couldn’t take me, no 2 daughter was not drinking but in the process of taking her children back home 20 miles in the opposite direction. So I waited, she took kids home, found someone to sit with them, came back for me and drove me to A&E. Have you ever visited a major A&E dept at midnight on a Saturday?? It’s not a fun place to be, it’s full of abusive or unresponsive people under the influence of drink or drugs or an assorted cocktail of both. Eventually, after 4 hours I saw the Dr but he said to go home and go to the emergency eye clinic at 11 am later that day, Sunday morning. No 2 daughter drove me home, drove herself home, had about 4 hours sleep and then went to work. No 1 daughter, sufficiently recovered from the wine drove me to the emergency eye clinic later that day, only to be told to take me back home, pick up a bag and bring me straight back for admission ready for emergency surgery first thing Monday morning. Apparently this type of surgery is considered major eye surgery. Cause of the problem turned out to be a detached right retina which was torn in three separate places. Surgery first thing Monday morning went OK, not pleasant but infinitely better than going blind in one eye, which was the only alternative. Post eye surgery you have to ‘position’. The position you’re told to adopt depends on the individual and my ‘position’ was face down for 24 hours prior to discharge Tuesday afternoon. Following discharge I have to ‘position’ upright for at least two weeks which means sleeping sitting up and never bending down…….in fact it means doing nothing that doesn’t involve being ‘upright’. Tuesday, no 2 daughter collected me from the hospital and took me to no 1 daughters house where I stayed until this morning.

So now I’m home, no vision at all in the right eye, they said it would return gradually over the next 4 weeks. They also said it doesn’t always work. The operation involved; removing what they called ‘debris’ which is basically the stray bits of jelly stuff that should stay inside the eyeball but escape through the holes where the retina is torn, this stray ‘debris cause all those little black things that wiz around the inside of the eye. Then they use a laser to clean up the torn bits and pull the detached bit back to where it should be. Then they put a tiny bubble of gas behind the retina and this holds every thing in place while it all heals. The gas gradually disperses and then sight returns, or at least it should. I know my sight will not come back fully for a few weeks but I think I need to see just a tiny improvement to know that things are moving in the right direction. So…. Here I sit, up right and practising my one eyed typing while remembering to insert three different drops every 4 hours.
I don’t deal with change very well but I know I have to stay positive. The Dr said I should get my vision back. I’ve always been very short sighted and my vision may not return exactly as it was before, this  means I will need a new prescription for lenses but I need to wait for at least 2-3 months before doing that. I have to take at least 4 weeks off work, maybe more and he did say that as long as I stay upright, computer work will do no damage.
On reflection I guess I am very lucky, unlike my friend I don’t have a terminal illness, unlike other people I knew I’m not in imminent danger of dyeing and I have a good chance of recovering sight in my right eye.  AND;  if I can’t go to work but can stay on the computer here , guess I’ll have time to download all my stuff and find someplace to store it. The changes on Multiply have unsettled me, I’m very afraid of losing contact with people. I have loved my time here; this has been a big part of my life for a long time. Some of the friendships here mean as much to me as relationships with so called ‘real life’ friends, I should hate to lose any one of you even if it means joining more than one social network site. Of course on the plus side, once retired I’ll have more time to visit other sites.  Sometimes I feel more comfortable sitting here typing about my life than I do sitting with lots of people trying to join in conversations. Someone else here said that recently I really do relate to it. Change is never easy, but I have lived my life with change before and come through it, hopefully I can do the same again.

And thank you to every one who took the time to read all of this, I appreciate it.

Brave.................just what I needed, a little lighthearted entertainment

And on a lighter note, I saw a great film today, a happy, fun, lighthearted film for every one.



And the music is good too.

Blogger, wordpress and Weebly tutorials

Found these on YouTube and thought maybe they could be useful.

Setting up Weebly site;  tutorial



Setting up Blogger site; tutorial




Setting up a Wordpress site;   tutorial

The end of blogging as we know it.

So here it is, the end of blogging as we know it. What a shame, I really like it here and I don’t want to move. I’ve not received my notice yet but I’m sure it’s on its way and for now, I’ve read plenty of yours.
Giving up the whole blog thing just isn’t an option for me, I would miss my very good friends and I would really miss the interaction with every one. I think I’ve already said; I started a Blogger page quite a while ago and my posts from here get sent over there automatically, but I don’t find the site very user friendly. I still haven’t figured out a way to post directly there with pictures and videos without doing it here first. If every one decides that Blogger is the way to go then I’ll try harder to learn how to use it but, it would be really nice if we could find somewhere similar to this and easier to use.
I guess what I want to say is;
I want to stay in touch,
I want to keep my online friends,
I want to carry on blogging and interacting with my online friends. In order to do all of that,  I’ll go where ever majority of my friends decide to go, AND I’ll do my very best to learn the new skills needed to start again somewhere else.
 So; maybe we can all start thinking about where we are going and please, please if at all possible, lets go as a group.

Garden 2012 no 15

I’ve spent the day alternating between sitting here and playing in the garden, and then sitting here, and then playing in the garden, etc etc etc…..
And considering I haven’t spent the WHOLE day out there, I think I achieved quiet a lot. I had a space in the veg garden where the first of the broad beans were. I’ve dug it over and removed a bucket full of stones. I’ve no idea where all these stones keep coming from because I keep removing them and they keep coming back. In my garden stones are more prolific than weeds. I dug in some pellets and fed the earth because I know the soil must be pretty tired by now but I want to try to get a little bit more done this season. I’ve sown a whole row of carrots. I know it’s a bit late but all the books and all the packets say you can sow up until the end of July and we are only a few days into August so I figured it would be OK. Also, my sister left her late carrots in over the winter and they were fine when she lifted them in the spring so maybe I’ll do the same.
I took the last of the radishes from this box, fed the soil and then sowed a few more beetroot. Again the books say you can sow up until the end of July so I figured it would be OK. These are the lettuce, radishes and rocket I sowed a couple of weeks ago. I’ve still got plenty of lettuce to last until they are ready but I’ve run out of radish until these grow. And I decided to use up the last of the carrot seed in the potato barrels. The potatoes came up a couple of weeks ago and the compost has been fed so I’m hoping it will be OK. Even if I get nothing from the seeds I’ve put in today I’ve not really lost any thing because I didn’t want to keep the seeds for next year anyway. All the books say you shouldn’t keep seeds from one season to the next because they are not as good if used the year after purchase. That could just be a ploy to get us all to buy more seeds but it could be true, so I like to get fresh seeds every season.  And this is today’s harvest. From left to right, tonight’s harvest is; a little lettuce, nasturtium leaves, spring onion and radish for tonight’s salad, the first of the beetroot, the first garlic and the first clump of shallots, more broad beans and dill for the freezer. Looks like I’m off to buy pickling spices tomorrow. I’ve left the rest of the shallots, garlic and beetroot in the ground because I think they will benefit from a little more time. I had to take these few, they were pushing their way out of the ground.
Oh and also………..a little more fruit that’s heading straight for the freezer ready for my jam making weekend sometime soon.
This rather out of focus picture is lavender and tansy. I’ve picked about half of what is there to make these years sachets for the draws. The smell is so very, very good. Decided to leave the out of focus photo, I quite like the effect.And…………..did you know that Buddleia blooms smell like hyacinths,  well even if that’s not normal, mine do.

Weekend Music

Music to relax and enjoy.............reminiscent of blue skies, the sound of the sea and song birds.

Art Sunday; Samuel John Poploe

This is the guy whose exhibition I went to see at St Andrews on Friday. Normally still life is not my favourite subject matter, but his are truly amazing. He is what I would call a ‘painterly’ painter, more than anything else he is into ‘paint’.
When you see his work in the flesh it’s alive, vibrant and above all, he loves paint. The actual medium is as important as any thing else. I think he is a paint worshiper.

Samuel John Peploe

(27 January 1871 – 11 October 1935) was a Scottish Post-Impressionist painter, noted for his still life works and for being one of the group of four painters that became known as the Scottish Colourists. The other colourists were John Duncan Fergusson, Francis Cadell and Leslie Hunter.

More of this  here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Peploe

The Scottish Colourists

The artists, Samuel John Peploe (1871-1935); John Duncan Fergusson (1874-1961); George Leslie Hunter (1877-1931) and Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell (1883-1937) have achieved international acclaim in recent years following major retrospective exhibitions at the Royal Academy in London and the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Despite the diversity of their work and their relatively independent careers, they are now recognised as an identifiable movement within the history of art and their influence is still apparent in painting today.

The four painters became known as the Scottish Colourists because they grafted their knowledge of contemporary French Art – Monet, Matisse, and Cezanne - onto the painterly traditions of Scotland, redefining the qualities of light and colour in their still life, landscapes, figurative paintings and drawings into their own singular styles.

More of this here

http://www.exploreart.co.uk/artistic_styles_details.asp?artistid=62&artisticstyleid=4

A Biography

For those who want it, A more in depth biography:

Peploe was a passionate and serious artist who devoted himself to work but also had powerful influence on a surprisingly wide circle of people, including many artists of the next generation. Born in Edinburgh and educated at the Collegate School in Charlotte Square, he had good academic ability but no interest in the professions, preferring to walk, sail or sketch.
By 1893 he was enrolled for classes at the Trustees Academy (the forerunner to Edinburgh School of Art) and the following year was in Paris at the Académie Julian under the neo classicist, William Bourgereau and later at the Académie Colarossi. A long period of study nurtured his natural ability and helped him perfect an early style based on Dutch masters, particularly Franz Hals, and Edouard Manet. He began a lifelong habit of taking painting trips to northern France and the Western Isles, accompanied by J D Fergusson whom he had met in Paris. He was successful in exhibiting his work and regularly submitted paintings to the Royal Scottish Academy, Royal Glasgow Institute and the Society of Scottish Artists.
His first one-man show was held at the Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh in 1903. By 1906 his earlier still life and figure paintings, characterised by dark backgrounds, gave way to paler colours, greys and pinks. This was in part due to a move to a new lighter studio in the East end of Edinburgh at York Place, from his previous west-end base at Shandwick Place. His second exhibition in 1909 was successful but his eyes were turning to Paris and the next year, he moved there with his new wife, Margaret MacKay, whom he had met on a painting trip to the Isle of Barra in 1894. France liberated his palette and on his return to Edinburgh in 1912 with dozens of paintings and a young son, Willie, the new work proved to be much too advanced for the city’s audience and his original dealer. Unperturbed, Peploe put on his own show at the New Gallery in Shandwick Place, where the Society of Eight (including Cadell, John Lavery and James Paterson) had their inaugural exhibition in the same year.
For the next fifteen years Peploe retained a brilliant palette, evolving a mature style containing elements of Cezanne and Matisse. By the late 1920s he had reverted to a more sonorous tonal painting, still enlivened by brilliant colour chords, but weightier and cooler. In 1933 he taught two terms at Edinburgh College of Art making quite an impact. Best known for his still life paintings of roses or tulips, Peploe had a wide range of subjects including figure and landscape painting.
From 1914 he was a regular visitor to Dumfries and Galloway, particularly Kirkcudbright and also from 1919 onwards to the isles of Iona. On the recommendation of Cadell he visited Cassis in the South of France in 1924, and returned in 1928 and 1930. His landscapes have a conviction and a passion, which belie the rather diffident, shy public face of the artist. His family and closest friends knew a wickedly funny, compassionate and sincere man.
Text source: Samuel Peploe (Guy Peploe, S J Peploe’s grandson); the Dictionary of Scottish Painters, (Halsby & Harris) and The Scottish Colourists, (Philip Long).

The garden and other bits

My mouse broke during the week and I’ve not been able to get on the computer for a few days, it makes you realise what a big part of your life the computer is when its not there. Anyway……………..I have a new mouse now and every thing is back to normal.
We have had some fantastic weather here this week; in fact it’s probably the best weather we’ve had so far this year, which is not surprising because school holidays finish in other 10 days which means kids, teachers and I, will be cooped up indoors while the sun shines outside. At least I have the satisfaction of knowing this will be the last school holiday for me……..I shall be retired before the summer holidays start next year I will be free to enjoy the sunshine when ever it comes.

I’ve spent a few days in the garden enjoying the summer colours and continuing to harvest what I can.

As well as the fruit, salad and a little veg I’m working my way through the herb garden.
I freeze all my herbs now; I think they retain their taste better than dried herbs. This was one days harvest, more broad beans, rhubarb, spring onions and radish, plus a little fruit and some herbs.
From left to right the herbs are Fennel, Lovage and Chives.  I’m freezing the fruit as I collect it and eventually I will have a jam making weekend.
And some flowers, I like flowers indoors but prefer ones  a little on the wild side, especially if they were grown in my garden.

Friday was my big day out to St Andrews with a friend. The sun brought the sailing boats out and I just loved sitting watching, it was a riot of colour.

The little sailing boats were so many different colours and to add to the scene, the families of those sailing protected themselves from the wind on the beach by big, multi coloured, canvas wind breakers.
To finish off the perfect day, we went to the St Andrews Museum and saw the Samuel John Peploe art exhibition, what a great painter he was.

To round up the week there was a family BBQ at my daughters house to celebrate her birthday.
I just loved her chicken cake, it had little chicken candles and pictures of her chickens inside the chicken house. This is another cake made by my friend, her business is blooming now she is really busy and becoming quite well known around the town.
And when we came home, a perfect sunset through the trees.

St Andrews beach on a sunny day

It was a very sunny day, probably the sunniest and warmest day so far this year. Days like this are worth waiting for. :-))

St Andrews sailing boats

A visit to St Andrews on Friday, the weather was fantastic and the sailing club gave a memorable performance. Plenty of artistic inspiration here with so much colour every where.