A 15-year old project in progress

I was amused to find an old project in a stack of papers this weekend. I started this collage triptych at a time when I was working full-time, studying towards another degree, and raising three boys. None of which I did with great distinction, I have to add.

I can only guess at my mood at the time of making this. It was probably laundry day (Saturday), as triangles of lint from the tumble dryer feature boldly. I also notice that I burnt holes in the paper, and in places entire edges have been destroyed. Hahahaha! Well, I survived, in fact, we all did, so that's great. A success story, so to speak.

I added a bit of paint and some embellishment yesterday. The sign language letters are symbolic. Geddit? Anyway, I am not quite finished yet. The painted areas must be reworked, and I want to add a spot of embroidery.

( Embellishments kindly donated by Mrs LSH of Hamstertown; background paintings by Bertha Everard and Tinus de Jongh, from an old calendar; lint from my old tumble dryer, long departed; Wonder Woman images copyrighted by DC Comics blah, blah blah ...)

The blues, the greys, the blacks ...

Forgive me if I confess that the title of my post kind of describes how I feel. Having the blues. Feeling grey. In a black hole. Under the weather. Snowed under. Not real snow, which I would love to see one day, as most of you know, but the kind of snow that consists of hundreds and hundreds of white pages. Filled with words, obviously. Which means they are not really white. But I digress.

Half of the second of the two books I am editing  is being rewritten by the author after the Department of Education changed the curriculum at the last minute. It means that I edited half a book for nothing. The deadline remains the same. The payment remains the same. Such is life.

In addition I have taken on another project - content development for a CBT (Computer Based Training) mathematics course. The deadline is in two months. (I am thinking of changing the previous paragraph into a word sum for this course. One has to have one's fun.)

The next few months up to May will be hectic, if not worse. I was sitting this morning wondering to myself (and to Snous, who is the only one who will listen to me): "Why, oh, why do I do this to myself?"  But then the dentist's bill arrived in the post and I remembered why.

Anyway, to get to the point, the picture is of a "lap" (Afrikaans for fabric or cloth) I am busy working on. I just happened to have the different bits of fabric from different car boot sales and junk shop finds. They are actually all quite ugly, but together they make quite a statement, I think ...

Her (k)night in shining armour.

This journal page was created in response to an excellent series of interviews that Willemien Brümmer had with HIV-positive patients - published in Die Burger.

In many cases HIV-positive women are left by their husbands or partners after contracting "The Sickness". Accused of "bringing The Sickness into the house", these single mothers have to fend for themselves and their children.
(Journal page with magazine cutouts, ink, paint, condom, brass staples, plastic mesh)