Wonderful piece – lovely inclusion of a poem by Pasternak.
Oyster shells and looking for treasures in East Cork
I’m a magpie. I’m always looking for treasures. Sometimes it’s flowers, sometimes it’s sea glass but the real treasure is oyster shells. Last year I found some great ones – the top half of the shell all blues and pinks and creams. I returned to the same spot last weekend in the hope of finding more.
This year the shells were deposited further around the inlet and high on the bank. Infact the shells were on the grass. I had almost given up and then – jackpot.
There they were. I guess to some this doesn’t look like much but believe me, when I cleaned these beauties I wasn’t disappointed. Pinks like an evening sun, pearls and opals.. pewter and lilac… they just make me so happy. Each one is unique and the inside of the shell is so smooth, so perfect. Even in a broken and flaked state there is something mysterious and miraculous about them. The area where I found these is covered in mussels and I’m imagining the sediment of blues gets included into the oysters. Apparently there had been an oyster farm further up the harbour some years ago and now these are wild.
Everything about the day was special and relaxed – my better half was walking ahead throwing ball for the dog, who made lovely splashy sounds as she chased it enthusiastically into the icy water. I rambled behind, pecking at the shoreline and wobbling on seaweed covered rocks. I’m thinking the reason I get relaxed is because when looking for a needle in a haystack there’s no room in my head for anything else. I’m simply looking. I love this kind of task – the simple, the honest and the immediate. There are so many reasons to meditate, to include a discipline in one’s life. I do have a slight envy of anyone who can maintain the discipline – develop it. But I suppose the state is the most important thing, not how you get there. I’m wondering if ‘simply looking’ is my meditation. If that’s the case, then I need no longer search the web for the latest meditation cd, class or technique. That sounds nice. My only task then is to find a use for the shells. I have more than a few. But that’s another days post.
For now, simply breathe and look.
Larvae as Jewellers
Ornament from expensive gems and stones is fitting for jewellery? or do the jewels highlight the work of the larvae? Would the piece still be as special if it was made with found materials in the natural environment of the larvae?
Just a thought.
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‘Natural beauty’ is an elusive but much claimed concept. Claimed by tourism boards of the native landscape and makeup commercials about the latest product, it is seldom the case that beauty and nature are entirely in sync. Any yet in these images, we see it presented with startling intensity.
The contemporary French artist Hubert Duprat was aware that larvae built protective cases around themselves using materials from their natural environment. His curiosity about the potentialities of that lead him deprive the larvae of all resources except for gems, jewels, pearls and gold. The resultant images show that the insects not only adapted to these materials but created incredibly beautiful trinkets.
The insects can…
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Whitegate, East Cork in the sunshine
When the sun comes out I either want to be outside or take photos. Every colour seems more vibrant, clean and beautiful. These photos are of the old pier at Whitegate along the public walkway. The tide was way out so Riley dog and I climbed down the seaweedy steps onto the shoreline looking for treasures. What constitutes a treasure is a personal thing. To me it’s a beautiful colour be it on a rock, a shell or a piece of glass. To Riley dog, it’s seaweed – that simple. We usually get some good pieces of glass here and always the inky mussel shells I love. Below are some photos.
Discovering Decoupage
So, I’ve done some collage on tile coasters. Great fun but the gloss finish keeps making the coaster stick to a hot mug .. not sure how to overcome that… Anyhow.. onwards to decoupage.. I went to a demo in Midleton, Cork recently and this is the result
Below are the coasters that I started with ..
A favourite film that’s left an impression on me
I watched this film nearly ten years ago. It was beautiful, everything about it was new and fresh. All of this was set to a wonderful soundtrack sadly unavailable now. I’ll do my very best to keep looking for it though. Enchanting doesn’t quite cover it.
Why do we have Easter Bunnies?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Bunny
The hare was a popular motif in medieval church art. In ancient times it was widely believed (as by Pliny, Plutarch, Philostratus and Aelian) that the hare was a hermaphrodite.[3][4][5] The idea that a hare could reproduce without loss of virginity led to an association with the Virgin Mary, with hares sometimes occurring in illuminated manuscripts and Northern European paintings of the Virgin and Christ Child. It may also have been associated with the Holy Trinity, as in the three hares motif,[3][6] representing the “One in Three and Three in One” of which the triangle or three interlocking shapes such as rings are common symbols. In England, this motif usually appears in a prominent place in the church, such as the central rib of the chancel roof, or on a central rib of the nave. This suggests that the symbol held significance to the church, and casts doubt on the theory that they may have been masons’ or carpenters’ signature marks.[7]
Marshmallow bunnies and candy eggs in an Easter basket
Eggs, like rabbits and hares, are fertility symbols of antiquity. Since birds lay eggs and rabbits and hares give birth to large litters in the early spring, these became symbols of the rising fertility of the earth at the March Equinox
Are you happy to stand out in a crowd, to do your own thing even if it appears to others that you are not on a bike but a log?
‘you talkin’ to me?’
Is social media writing or speech? It’s an interesting question. Infact it might be a new type of communication altogether. What do you think?
Sam McCauley Chemists use Pinterest
quick off the batt, Sam McCauley Chemists are using Pinterest. Has your company explored its potential?
girlwhowinks 