Home on the Main Range

 It seems that the prospect of a blank page, day or life creates ... stress.  Maybe. I never seem to have a "OMG-what-do-I-write-draw-design-think" moment. Getting settled in a cafe or restaurant ( mindful that peak service times are not the place to start your drawing and sketching career - always ask if it's OK and always purchase something sufficient to "rent" the table for an hour or so ) is the most awkward 10 minutes of anything. For me. I am instantly clumsy in a new environment, overwhelmed by sights, smells, aware of all the cool people settled at their tables who didn't drop or clang anything as they became seated. I've never achieved such a feat. Then there's the sensory overload of being in a new space. I can't move or breathe. So the first 10 minutes of so is simply getting out my writing pad and a pencil or pen. And breathing.  Smelling the place. The timber, the polish, the plastic, adjusting to the lights, or lack of them, takin...

Beautiful in every sense, the Bay of Aarhus accommodates both the built and natural environment. The coastline is nothing short of spectacular. Capturing its rugged and imprecise nature required a bottle of masking fluid (latex) and watercolours. Using a circle of sponge, the liquid latex was dipped then " printed " onto journal paper, flooded with wash and allowed to dry. When dry, the latex was removed. Using masking fluid on paper is neither new nor innovative. However, new for me was that the latex also set in the sponge, picking up all the wonderful textures. The sponge was destroyed while separating from the new latex shape which lives on in my journal. Aarhus waterfront, from the Latin Quarter looking across to the fish factories.

These largely linen scraps arrived via little sister, under a little sister's obligation during a recent trip to Korea. Some 15 kilos of fabric were sourced, carried then gifted. A woman in a Seoul market,  a big sister seeking Korean textiles and little sister who connected both. The fabric pieces are as exquisite as the act of gifting. The bag was sorted, by size and type of fabric. Smaller pieces stitched together, hopefully in a spontaneous yet thoughtful way. Checking for length, width, colour, compatibility of shape. Being present in the process yet lost in the activity. The  fabrics speak for themselves. Reconstruction in linen Strips and larger pieces of fabric emerged. Eventually a quilt top. Complex. Intricate. Calm. Peace-filled.  Finding ways to honour the gift, the Korean practice of not wasting, and mine of making art. Thinking about the linens and cottons the woman uses, their superior and understated quality, feel and weight. Being ...

I walked Bernhard Jensens Blvd, part of the Aarhus waterfront, just up from the Latin Quarter and beyond the Domen. The apartments look across the Bay of Aarhus towards Skødshoved. The naked trees soften the improvised look of the apartments. They make a stark contrast to the clever, interesting but purely horizontal or vertical lines of the constructed habitat. Hard and sharp lines, sealed off from the weather. Warmed from within. Covered with in-your-face solar panels, disguised as decks, towers of patterned concrete that give the impression of some long established plant seeking freedom. Boxes within boxes. Clean and clear lines. Nothing repetitive or tenement like about these. Patient trees and restless twigs, scratching at the wind as it passes, hoping to snag its progress alaong the waterfront. Design element s: Rectangles, squares, squares within squares, three encased rectangles - horizontal, two non-identical rectangles in portrait orientation, enclosed in larger square...