contemplative

FREDERIQUE K

ideas born

It's happening isn't it?

Unborn Ideas - Catrin Welz-Stein

I'm slowly - but quite surely, beginning to abandon my blog.

I've had my needs met -

Used her for all she's worth....

I grasped for her in the beginning - begging for space and a voice and 5 moments every other day that would allow my other voice to sing out - the one that doesn't have dishwater hands or stoop to scrub the glue-like substance of weatbix from the floor - 

the space that encouraged me to express my love for motherhood and the bits that challenged me -

a space that reminded me that I see things in feeling - 

and feel in colour - 

a space to record thoughts and moments, not let them float up - away.

Now there is a reversal -

and expressing ideas are a weekly requirement. Now they flow out in rapid succession to be analysed and evaluated, challenged and questioned. Now expression is being assessed. 

It's filling me up and spinning me with stimulation.

I have no time for her anymore, this blog of mine - though I love her still.

I wonder if she'll continue to bother with me.

shared senses and a deep love for MONA

I enjoy visiting bohemian twilight and wandering through Monica's shared senses -
I love how a very clear and full picture can be internally painted via a few thoughtful words and a tune.
Monica invites visitors to join in and share in the senses tour..

 mona

wim delvoye

see: MONA - Museum of Old and New Art - in Hobart, Tasmania. There will be many posts to come about my experiences within that brilliant and extraordinary place.

hear: 

- an old album on the new record player.

read: Indelible Ink - by Fiona McGregor. A slow start for me but the the writing drew me in eventually with its fine and sometimes cruel insight into the dynamics of family. First book for the newly formed book club.


taste: Coffee. Always Coffee


touch: Small hands. Soft skin.


think: On a big change


feel: Revived and renewed after experiencing a deeply thoughtful gift from my partner - 3 whole days away in Tasmania, to delve into the stunning gifts of mona.

{shared senses}

the music plays for you my friend

luli sanchez

Listening to Tori Amos is like being transported hard and fast back into my 17 year old self. 

There is the same heart-shape, tender skin, quiet raw ache.

I don't listen to Tori much these days - it can be exhausting - but I do value those moments when the portal presents itself.

Music is power.

Thank you Amanda for helping me overcome my fear of 'the html' so that I can creep down / and share, a few more portals of the past and present variety - this one's for you!

And thank you too - to those who left comments ensuring its ease - appreciated!

they live there

"I have drawn my children and painted them endlessly and I cannot distinguish them from my soul. 

They live there."

Mirka Mora

Wicked but Virtuous: My Life

Paintings: Mirka Mora

like a new friend

I found this beauty at the Sunday market. She's a limited addition print by artist Antonio Munatone - 1977 - edition 10 of 12. 

I've haven't been able to find anything on the artist - but the subject and I, well, we kinda feel like we know each other.

It's a wonderful thing - when you find a piece of art work that you know will always be with you - 

they feel like home and validation and relief - 

they are like a new friend that you have known for a long long time.

Do you have any particular pieces that you feel especially strongly about - hanging on your walls? Is there one special one that you daydream into on the days that you are feeling a little crappy - a little displaced - that helps you to revive?

Weekending :: the habit of being

play time

del kathryn barton

"The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives." Einstein

It's play time, rest time, re-arrange the furntiture time, a few vain attempts to work out tech-issues-with-blogger time (my posts aren't getting updated in readers/email - hmph!), a touch of drink-and-be-merry time and even a bit of sleep time in these parts!

What kind of time are you spending in these last few moments of 2011?

the countdown calendar and a creative community

The countdown calendar got done! Phew!

I am personally looking forward to the 5th day before Christmas - it reads:

"paint mama & papa's toenails any colour, everyone get Dress-Up-Box dressed for a pancake & popcorn dinner!"

If you're interested in the painting above the fireplace - it's by local artist Marcia King. We bought it from a wonderful shop called can't think straight - just around the corner from us.

When I saw it - it immediately left a very deep imprint. I couldn't let it go. Some people find it very dark and then they look at it a little longer - a little harder - and see that it is quite the opposite. 

To me it says... 'we're all just feeling our way'.

I live in a small town full of creativity. I am reminded of it in the corners of my home.

That beautiful bird painting was created for us by our friend and artist Josh as a gift for a bit-of-a-celebration we had back in February (i'll write about it soon... it was insanely fun!). 

She's special that bird, don't you think? She Knows things! 

You can read more on Josh here and here.

The mortar and pestle were also gifted to us In Celebration by a group of very thoughtful women who know that I am quite taken by the works of local ceramicist Bridget Bodenham. The majority of her work is exquisitely fine - smooth - personal somehow. If you follow the link and see her spoons, you'll see that they have no place in a home that is shared with a 21 month old.... no way!

And the plates on the lower shelf - again gifted - and again by another very talented local ceramic artisan who forms a part of  Clayspace - Daylesford Region Ceramics Co-operative. If you're ever in the area - please visit them. Their very inspiring, beautiful space sits looking over this lake:

via

Yep - not a bad place to live at all....
~
Visiting: Kootoyoo's creative spaces

as long as i live

I watched Small Town Murder Songs on dvd the other night.
The opening scene was thrown out at me with the power of this song.

It is a tremendous, stabbing, alluring opening sequence.

It's the music - definitely - and the slow movement of the camera panning across the shocked expression of a woman's reaction to something that has just happened, that drew me in.

Slow Motion. 

I Love slow motion - particularly when it's lifted and highlighted and intensified with the very direct and pounding gaze of the right Music!

That's how Jane Campion's The Piano got to me.
All the vessels from my heart got vacuumed into every detail of that film.

Small Town Murder Songs, for me, is a film lifted by the soundtrack.
The content lost me a little - but not in a bad way - in a way that a dream does when its focus keeps shifting. You know those dreams that leave you with a strong sense of colour and feeling, faces and moments but leave you unable to describe it.
That's how I experienced this film. I could tell you what it is about but my re-telling would be without conviction or certainty.
I could absolutely tell you how it feels....
And it smells - like this:

via

lies behind the text

'....she wraps parts of her photos with floral ornamentation and others with cited calligraphy taken from Biblical texts. They are almost abstract and enigmatic, arousing the viewer's curiosity to discover what are the photographed objects, what meanings lies behind the texts..'

ronit bigal

image and word via

Loie Fuller - Danse Serpentine by Lumière Brother

Today The Girl dances.

heart-space

“They sang the words in unison, yet somehow created a web of sounds with their voices. It was like hearing a piece of fabric woven with all the colors of a rainbow. I did not know that such beauty could be formed by the human mouth. I had never heard harmony before.” 
― Anita Diamant, The Red Tent

Images: here, here, here and here

why i adore the night

This week I have been so fortunate to have the opportunity to contribute to Hila's 'why i adore the night' project. Hila's blog le projet d'amour is a regular source of inspiration to me - her discussion and aesthetic is rich and beautiful.
If you get the opportunity please visit "why i adore the night' and experience how others have expressed their experience and relationship with Night!
Read more here about Hila's inspiration and idea to explore the subject - beginning from her reading of Jeanette Winterson's article of the same name in The Guardian in 2009.

image source: via

for lachy

Image source via

your weight in their hands...

“They encouraged you to put some of your weight in their hands and soon as you felt how light and lovely it was, they studied your scars and tribulations...” 

― Toni Morrison, Beloved

Image source: here and here

More on Toni Morrison here

Elsa Mora

Have you met Elsa Mora?

Her work is so layered, intricate, precious

diverse - adventurous

and so full with story!

Some of her paper works strike me with the force of their revelations - the emotion in them can knock me over like an icy breeze - lift me like a warm wind.

When writing about this image she added a few quotes. I liked this one:

The mind moves in the direction of our currently dominant thoughts.
Earl Nightingale

I enjoy reading about her journey from Cuba - her reflections on the evolution of her work.

Are there any courageous artists in your life right now?

Rock

Get INSPIRED - by the intricate and beautiful work of this Artist - then...

grab a rock

paint it

and put it in your garden.... or with some other rocks... or next to the letterbox for the posty to check out!

Visit some more spaces here.

Wednesday's words

whimsical adj 1 odd or quaint, fanciful, humorous. 2 capricious
whimsy
whimsy whimsy

A highly used word at the moment......

Via

Via

perhaps because it evokes images of intrigue - other worldliness - mysticism - lace.......

Via

and a touch of darkness.

Lunar para Lisa

Or perhaps it's the feeling in your mouth when spoken - like feathers and whispers and floating

Via

wHhhhimmmsical

I like it. It is soft and misty.
And powerful in it's ability to transport the speaker as fast as light -
straight down that rabbit hole.

Caprice n 1 a a whimsical change of mind or conduct b a tendency to do this. 2 a work of lively fancy in painting and drawing, or music; a capricco. (French)

Leah Tacha

Paint

My friend Jodes paints these beautiful oil paintings. 

The colours she uses move with vibrancy and strength around, and from within, the characters that are created by them.

I enjoy seeing how an artist's work evolves over time.

For a chance to win a commissioned painting, visit her here.

Visual

I am loving spending time at Pinterest at the moment.

Discovering the stunning works of some very talented people.

And remembering the power of the visual image.

La Chambre Rose - Xipan

Felix Vallotton, La Iiseuse, 1922