Reading

Swallow-tail butterfly in Norfolk, May 2014 by Adam Tuttle

Recently when I was visiting England I was determined to get a few of my unread-books read. I was pleased when I managed two as usually I spend my days in the garden helping my Dad and my evenings with him watching the television or chatting about old times, then I collapsed into my bed and sleep.

On my most recent visit home I was surprised on my arrival by a newly decorated bedroom. It was so lovely that I was determined to spend at least part of the evenings using it, doing some reading. It was the room that had been my childhood bedroom, shared for a few years with my sister before she moved out to be alone in her own room, the room that over the past twenty-five years I have used when visiting. During of those twenty-five years own room became the lumber-room, a dumping ground for wanted, yet unwanted objects, until I cleared it out two summers ago, but still it remained a dusty, empty space.

Six months ago my Dad decided that it was time to replace the draughty windows in our three-hundred-years old house and when they were completed and the decorating and cleaning in the rest of the house all done, my sister, her husband and my Dad decided to surprise me with a ‘new’ room – something I have dreamed of for many years. It is not only the room that I have missed but also the view over the garden and the brightness streaming in through the huge windows each morning. I have missed painting there, using the space to be creative in and just sitting there to read and write.

So for a few weeks, after the gardening, cooking, chatting and visiting family, I did some reading. I read the catalogue to a recent Grayson Perry exhibition, I read my favourite magazines including Best of British, New Scientist, The Oldie and Big Issue, and I read a couple of books. The first was A day in the life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn which I was determined to get to the end of but I cannot say it was one of my best reads, and I read Do no Harm, Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh, which definitely was one of my best reads.

I am a great fan of Oliver Sacks’ books that are filled with his amazingly detailed case studies and Henry Marsh’s book is in the same genre. It is not a book for the faint-hearted though, as he goes into quite a lot of detail in his descriptions of his work as a brain surgeon, but I highly recommend it for those who are less squeamish.

"Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery", a 2014 book by Henry Marsh, ISBN 978-0297869870

Notes

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/19/do-no-harm-brain-surgery-henry-marsh-review

The swallow-tail butterfly can still be seen in Norfolk. I have never seen one but I remember well how late in her life my mother was so joyful when she at last spotted one. My nephew was out and about with his family at Strumpshaw Fen last week and was thrilled to have had his new camera at the ready when he spotted the butterfly in the picture above.  

 

Learning

'A place to draw'

Thinking about when the process of learning to draw began

After my sister had scrubbed down the bookcase in my newly decorated room I sorted through the books with the aim to take some to the charity shop, I think I took about 3 in the end). The books included those that I had been given from birth through my childhood many with inscriptions in the inside cover, and those, mostly non-fiction that I had bought at art school and during teacher training, all of them dated when bought. There were some school exercise and project books amongst them and also lots of packets with old photographs. 

It took me a long time to sort through the shelves as there were my illustrated poems to read (from the 1960s), my artistic descriptions of geographical features seen on field trips to be looked at ( from the 1970s) and many memories to be recalled and stories to be retold from photographs dating back to the 1800s.

Amongst these photographs I found some oversize slides. These slides were of my A Level Art pieces, A1 size works that where sent away to the Cambridge Examining Board be marked never to be seen again, yes, it was all burnt! Thousands of pieces of art work from budding artist destroyed because it was too expensive to send it back.

'Tree stump' by Susie Mallett 1974

Those were the days before digital cameras, there was still a year to go before I was surprised to find a slim-line, Boots instamatic camera in my Christmas stocking. So what were we to do? A fellow sixth-former and I were determined to have a record of our, to us very valuable, works of art so we persuaded my friend’s brother to do this. He hung them on the shed wall and snapped away. I think this is why there are shadows across the pictures although it could be deterioration of the quality of the slides, they are 40 years old!

We were determined to keep our pictures for prosperity, but my slides got put on the shelf were promptly forgotten and left there on the shelf for 40 years! Last week I took them to the photographer around the corner and this is what was printed.

I was overwhelmed by the prints when I first saw them. When I realised that I had prodused these drawings before I went to art school for four years so I had obviously learnt quite a lot at school, although I have always believed I learnt to draw at art school. I have more pictures at home from school days that I shall have to dig out, in another cupboard at the top of the house I discovered rolls of drawings from first-form through till fifth-form at grammar school that my Mum had saved for me to find one day.

  'Reflections' by Susie Mallett, 1974

While I was still in the photographers last week looking at the prints from the slides I suddenly remembered as if it was yesterday. Images filled my mind of sitting in the art room at school, for five hours at a time, to take the exams that produced these.

I loved my art lessons. I had four different art teachers during my A Level course all of whom were an inspiration to us all. There were only five pupils in my art group and each double lesson, of which there were several each week, we were taught by a different artist. Yes, all of our teachers were practicing artists who showed us their own work. There it certainly was not a case of those who can't, teach!

'Plate with cutlery' by Susie Mallett 1974

I loved the long exams even more than the lessons. We were given exam subjects before hand and were allowed to prepare sketches on the chosen theme, then on the given day we would sit in silence in the art room to draw or paint for a whole school day – what bliss. 

'Rubbish' by Susie Mallett, 1974

I remember the teacher who built the still-life with the dustbin and boxes. He asked us how we wanted them all placed. I remembered that as I drew I was almost tempted to add the tail of a mouse disappearing behind one of the boxes.

Prints of these pictures now hang in my hall and already one of my friends has asked for copies of two of them.

I think it is time to start drawing again.

An inspiration while transforming my kitchen

'Tree stump' by Susie Mallett, 1974

Wobbly

It was time for a rest from tidying up in the half-finished, nearly-new kitchen. So I sat down at the new oak table to listen to Clive Anderson and his guests on Loose Ends –

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b043w51j

One of those guests was Francesca Martinez – comedian, actress and campaigner. I remember her from Grange Hill days but have not been very aware of what she has been up to in recent years, until now.

I am looking forward to reading her book that will be published next month – What The **** Is Normal? – and, perhaps when she starts touring again now the book is completed, I will be able to catch one of her shows sometime soon when I am in England.

You can listen to her here talking about her life as a comedian and actress –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBe9gqCcahc

and here you can hear her talking with her campaigners hat on –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmDkL6iwhnk

She is an inspiration and deservedly has been named as one of Britain's most influential women in the BBC Woman's Hour power list 2014.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03zy4m5/profiles

I hope that you all enjoy listening to her as much as I have during my break from transforming my kitchen.  

Wishing for a Doctor Who police box!

A snap-dragon on my balcony

Rowland Emett

Sometimes I am almost tempted to nip home to England for the weekend just to see an exhibition, meet a friend or to attend a family party. It is not often possible, I have only done it twice, once for a Golden Wedding party and once to attend a family wedding. 

It would be impossible at the moment however tempting it is as I have only just got back to work having spent the last three weeks in England with my Dad, and of course with my family and friends.

I am a bit sad that I will not see what I think will turn out to be a brilliant exhibition of the wierd and wonderful creations of Rowland Emett. These are crazy objects that I have spent most of my life admiring, at least since I saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but I think I remember them from earlier days, from pictures in books and jigsaw puzzle images.

Perhaps someone out there in Birmingham will enjoy this once in a lifetime exhibition for me and have time to send me a postcard!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2620488/From-lunar-bicycles-aftershave-fuelled-car-The-marvellous-mechanical-visions-future-household-items.html

Cutting Images

Humming Bird paper-cut - finished all but a few leaves.

 

Last weekend I attended a second, more advanced Scheerenschnitt (paper-cutting) course where I spent five hours snipping away at a new work of art.

The course took place just a few hundred metres from my front door, which meant I could have a leisurely breakfast on the balcony before the ten o’clock start.

All of this was just a stone’s throw from the home and studio of the famous Nürnberg artist Albrecht Dürer.

I was not prepared myself for this course as had I wanted to. Having learnt the basics at the first course and now knowing how to prepare images for cutting I had wanted to at least have a motive sorted out for my next paper-art work and perhaps even have it traced on to the black paper, but I had not had the opportunity to get to the drawing board. To tell the truth it was not until the children at work were so excited by a recent flower image that I had snipped as a birthday card and they all wanted to colour in (http://www.susie-mallett.org/2014/04/sharing-enthusiasmteam-works-picture-ps.html) that I decided to do another, but bigger, flowery image.

I decide that I would take a few photographs on the way up the hill of the daffodils around the castle moat and then compose a drawing directly from these photographs on to the back of the black paper, but as I was going out of the door I caught a glimpse of the picture at the top of this posting. It is one that my Dad painted for me for my fiftieth birthday.

I grabbed it, removed it from the frame and popped it in my folder.

This was the perfect solution, using his image to cut a silhouette I could then print a few copies for him to use as greetings cards.

There were seven of us at the course this time, the two ladies whom I had met in the autumn and four others. There was not a lot of time to get to know each other as with our heads down we drew and snipped to our hearts content with little thought to conversation. This is why I enjoy these Saturday courses so much. My head is emptied of any thoughts from the previous busy week and of the one that follows too.

It was the first really warm spring day and in a way I was sorry to be sitting indoors, so during the break for lunch break I walked through the main market square that was swarming with tourists and eventually sat down in the sun for a coffee and a read of book published by the local paper-cutting group that I had purchased at the course.

I really had to get my nose down in the afternoon. I wanted to add some colour to my picture, something that I had not done before, and for this I needed the advice of our teacher. I had at least to get started on it before I went home.

I finished snipping my flowers and bird with about an hour left to use lovely Japanese rice paper to add colour to my image, although I had to finish off with my pastel shades of tissue paper at home on Sunday.

Our teacher and my co-students were interested in the fact that my original image had been painted by my ex- traindriver Dad and that I had now transformed it into an artwork of my own. This gave cause for some lively discussion and I look forward to telling my Dad all about it when we next meet.

I had hoped that I would get an image completed that I could use as an Easter card but I will have to do that on my own this weekend!

What I have managed to do is have some prints made of my completed paper-cut that I will give to my Dad to use as greeting cards.  

The next course will be in the autumn and I am already looking forward to it. I have plans to start a big picture! Big in paper-cutting terms will be about A4!

Notes

A video of the paper-cutting teacher in action and a peep in to her studio –

http://www.businessworld.de/web/main_channel.cfm/Scherenschnittstudio/Scherenschnitte_mit_Karin_Duetz53000994/:var:fkt:artikel:faID:132455:soID:548796:crypt:nein