Ailyex vs. Dogboyo

A proper January morning - frosty, crisp and rain-free. Speaking of trees, thanks to the inimitable swissmiss, I am now lusting after this - I want to sit in the middle and pretend I am in Brambly Hedge: *

or perhaps a Wookiee.

I wore my hair like this just about every day when I was 19. It makes me happy to do it like this again, which is very welcome when one has to miss yoga because of an increasing essential tremor. Damn the wobbles.

* copyright Jill Barklem

This is why I must grow my hair.

That is, not to cause incurable laughter, but so I can be all tousled. That’s why.

It currently does this:

I like my nail varnishes with finger monsters on top.

Louise Bourgeois‘ magnificent Maman steel spider outside Tate Modern

I first saw Maman in 2000 on a school trip to the Tate and it still strikes such a chord with me. Bourgeois states that the spider is both a protector and predator, threatening, trapping and mothering at the same time. In person, Maman is a truly jaw-dropping piece because of the way it invades space, looming over you yet supported on pointed feet just a few inches wide. I find it hard to walk away from it.

The rest of the exhibition included works spanning Bourgeois’ whole career and was at once unsettling and totally absorbing. There were pieces drawing on all aspects of Bourgeois’ life and she has such a way of spinning materials and subjects together to create awesome pieces. To me they speak of femininity as being scary, uncomfortable, welcoming,  wonderful and luminous all at once. Her ‘Cells’ in particular have such a mixture of the grotesque, gender issues, intelligence, sexuality, family, beauty and pain that makes them incredibly powerful.

There is also a wonderful textile aspect to her work, with pieces like Seven in a Bed, of working with fabric and textile sculptures that transcends ‘Art’ and ‘Craft’ in a very powerful way.

And then I helped my darling Hanbert move in, a very good and tiring day. x

Ten Ton Tabby triumphant and rather tipsy at The Fiddler’s Elbow, Chalk Farm supporting a proper rock-based treat: the inimitable All Schools Are Strange.

Sweet Gibson hardcases

Conclusive evidence that Aaron is a skinjob.

Jolliness before the ‘Fro got delightfully inappropriate and shouty on the drive home. Super.

Now, we all know that the new year doesn’t fix all your problems BUT, in the coming year I would really like to do the following:

complete at least one print per month : take my camera everywhere : post these photos here at least once a week : take one photo for every day that I am 24 : revamp my website :get Argeiphontes winged sandals tattooed upon my feet :draw out my flaming eye arm tattoo : grow my hair long : wear less make up : not use plastic bags : alter, dye, mend or give away my unwearable clothes : buy less stuff : keep on with my own strange style : make sweet things to eat : make cute presents for people : sell the books I no longer read : dig my bike out of Mum’s garden and go cycling : go to yoga every week : eat less rubbish : be a good friend : make soups : knit things I can actually wear : use this or make and frame a cross stitch sampler : go on lots of shisha picnics and bonfires : read in the park with Jan : not kill the cactus

Like I said, I’ll try!

New year, new stuff, new blog. Still me.