24 August 2014
I heard a quote today (and I am usually fastidious about referencing all quotes- a habit from University days), but tonight I am content to paraphrase;
It is what people make, not what they say or do, that tells you about humanity. Study what they make.
I have made a study of what people make and never had much patience for what people say and a terrible memory of what they do. It was an extremely gratifying TV bite and was one ingredient of today that got me back to the canvas. The others were rain, the prospect of the working week and that indescribable sense of anticipation, which sometimes masks its self as anxiety that come when an artist has spent little time expressing herself and too much time avoiding.
This week has come to an end with a great deal of reflection. Having lost a dear friend.
She made something of her life and it was a privilege to have been a small part of it. As in the last still life (Self Portrait), this piece features objects
of significance to my past; my grandfathers camera I inherited, a tin can – the same my grandmother would put on the stove to boil an egg and limes from the garden where I last lived. Peg, my friend who passed away last week, was my next door neighbour. I gardened for her and she nick-named me Green Boots, for the bright green Crocs I would wear when I spent time in her garden. We treasured every minute and didn’t waste a crumb or sip of cuppa tea together. She was everything a woman of her generation was meant to be.
Soil to Stars 