Speaking in Riddles

There was a debate around the supper table last night. I have to say that I dislike debates. They always seem to me to be about defending one's own viewpoint, or picking holes in those of one's 'opponents'. No openness to the possibility of changing one's view. Hmmmm. I really prefer dialogue, I think.

I made this page about a month ago, apropos of nothing, really. (Drawing, magazine cutout, page from 50's Pitman shorthand exercise book.)

Sort of Weekword

Oh, I have SO missed blogging and visiting all you blog-people, I truly feel a bit deprived! It is great to have family around, but it does alter the normal flow of one's life. Some of it of course I am very happy to skip (i.e. working) but others (socialising in blogworld) I do really miss.

I did not formally join Leenie's weekword (feast) - no time to produce something - but I do want to show off the feast of goodies that arrived in the post this week. Alexandra's beautiful superhero t-shirt was accompanied by a glorious array of goodies - a beautiful print, a selection of cards, leaves, and even the paper that was used to wrap the shirt features an amazing print!









I also ordered the lovely Sarah's beautiful face bird and gold-leaf paper doll - they have both brought a feeling of playful whimsy to my home ...





They were accompanied by a delightful felt brooch (wearing it now!), a watercolour bird and some bird ephemera.

A feast of creative arty bits have invaded my home - and I feel ready to ... MAKE STUFF!

Visit(s)

My son and his girlfriend are visiting for two weeks - the first time we have seen him in four years! So understandably postings as well as my own visits to all your beautiful blogs will be fewer for a while ... Am still going to try and fit weekwords in though!

xxx Anairam

Weekword: Lesson

Bear School, where ....

... the Three Bears have to learn ...

... their lesson ...

What do you think point 3 should be?

Figure 24: The Three Bears' Lesson

For more Lessons in Life, see Alexandra's blog !

Zines on my Mind

Zines are still very much on my mind. (I am contemplating mine ... and planning to execute it before February 2010). In the meantime I ordered Anthony Zinonos's Le Dot zine - it arrived on Monday. It is perfect.





How cool is that? See more of Anthony's work here.

Some more Stuff

This Saturday was ... car boot sale! Yayyyyy!! This is what I bought:

A half-used starter felting kit. It included some coloured woolly bits, a felting needle and a rectangular sponge. I am not quite sure how to use it, but I have already made a wonky heart. Stab, stab, stab. Quite good for working off aggression, I can imagine ...

A set of pastel-coloured plastic mugs. Interestingly, not made in China as I imagined, but in Thailand.

These lettering manuals. Who cares that I don't own a Speedball pen? I just love letters!

And an old set of metal signwriter stencils - I used them this weekend to make a colourful garland for a lovely, sweet friend who celebrated her birthday on Sunday - we had the most divine lunch at La Colombe to celebrate!

More Snous

A Room with a View

Walk the Line

Sleeper

(Photos by L'Usband)

Weekword: Hole

Fig. 23a This is not Whole

After I made my weekword drawing above, I googled the two words (whole and hole), hoping to find a poem that cleverly combined the two (like I had) to flesh out my 2-minute effort. But what I found was even better - an interview with a very interesting man - Arthur M. Young (1905-1995), mathematician, engineer (he invented the Bell helicopter) and philosopher. Read more about him here.


Fig. 23b Arthur M. Young's Torus Whole (with an infinitely small Hole)

From an interview with Arthur M. Young:
MISHLOVE: It (the torus) looks like a donut, for people who may not know.
YOUNG: A donut, right. Now, suppose you had a sphere, and there was a cow on the sphere and you put a fence around him. He can't escape. It's the same as a field. If you put a fence around the cow, he couldn't escape. But if you did this on the donut, provided the fence included the hole in the donut, the cow could escape through the hole. In other words, he wouldn't have to climb over the fence, he just goes into the middle and through.
MISHLOVE: And comes around out the other side. Because the inside and the outside are the same.
YOUNG: Right. This is an image for our separation from the universe. I'm separated from you and you're separated from me, but if we were to go into our inner life, we would join up in the divine spark. That's the center of this whole thing.
MISHLOVE: That's very profound.

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So there you have it. For more interpretations of the weekword "hole" see Linda Sue's blog here.

Tiny Portraits

A while ago Sarah (clever creator of dolls and beautiful drawings) of Circles of Rain sent me a little journal. A teeny journal - the pages measure 1 cm x 1.8 cm. I decided to fill it with portraits - some of people I know, others imaginary.


The first journal I've finished! So that is the secret - keep it small.

New family member!!

Meet Snous.

Dia de los muertos

For the past 6 years I have made an offrenda on the 1st of November.

Offrenda - 2009.