T-A-D #12 Found Love

I love picking up bits and pieces when I go for walks - I am especially attracted to man-made debris - old screws, bolts, bits of glass and porcelain, wire, and so forth. I have a box full of this stuff (I haven't yet decluttered my study/studio...)
I was going through my box for inspiration for T-A-D, and what did I find?
I found LOVE.

Twice.

T-A-D #11 Heart of Weirdness (with apologies to JC)

What in god's name is this??

The contents of my wastepaper basket? The aftermath of a sweetie-gobbling competition? A toilet seat cover?

No. This is the result of one of my brilliant ideas for a conceptual artwork. The initial idea was this: a HUGE heart, at least one metre wide and one and a half metres tall, hanging on the wall behind our bed. It would be covered with smallish white squares of paper, semi-folded, like little buds waiting to open, upon which little notes and quotes would be printed in black. Each square would be attached by hand with red embroidery yarn to the base of the heart. What a fantastic idea! I congratulated myself, and prepared to enter it for the next Venice Biennale, say ...

Luckily I decided to make a smaller one first, just to get an idea of what was involved. I cut the base out of a laminated paper carrier bag, and then proceeded to cut up part of the old i-D fashion magazine which has already yielded much paper goodness. I folded each square. Then I attached each square by hand with the red yarn. It took me half a day. And it looks weird. Lying flat or hanging against the wall (in my study). Maybe it is because I didn't do it in black and white? Or because it is smaller? Would that really have made a difference?

Have you ever had that? A brilliant concept in your head turning into a major disappointment upon execution? Oh dear friends, let me hear your confessions. Let our failures bind us together for a while ...

T-A-D #10 The 21-Year Request

Rehash of an old one - albeit with new hearts & new embroidery. (I am running out of ideas.) Maybe I can hang this on the wall opposite our bed so that it is the first thing L'Usband sees when he wakes up tomorrow. (Tomorrow is the anniversary of our first ever date, 21 years ago. 21 years!!)

...fabulous ...

I got this lovely award from Khaled over at Khaled KEM - he writes moving and clever poetry that always makes me think ... Thank you so much, Khaled! (Plus now I have a little puppy, even if it is only in the picture!) I am going to change the rules a little and allow myself some time to think about my list of 10 nominees ... but I will be posting them by the weekend, I hope!

T-A-D #9 My Bleeding Heart

Another serendipitous decluttering T-A-D happening. My decluttering task for today was the fridge and food cupboards. As I decluttered away , I noticed this and took photographs ...

Performance Painting Series #1

Expired rose-infused syrup and warm water on kitchen sink bottom.

Performance Painting Series #2

Expired rose-infused syrup and cold water on kitchen sink bottom.

On Being Connected / Disconnected ...

Dear friends! The building that has been going on next door has turned into a bit of a disaster when the grader ripped our telephone cable and ADSL line to pieces earlier today. Let's just say that new and rather interesting swear words have seen the light of day!

Our neighbour (who is building) has now temporarily reconnected it with an old piece of telephone wire he found in his garage, so my words to you are winging their way along a scrappy piece of wire lying out in the open amongst builders' rubble! I am very grateful to him, as Telkom (our phone and internet service) will probably take several days to respond. Maybe he got tired of the dirty looks I was casting in his direction through our window!

The solution is not ideal (and I am already looking worriedly at the clouds gathering in the sky - can a piece of scrappy wire survive rain?), so if my posts disappear for the next couple of days, you will know why...

Strange how I've come to rely on this blogworld contact - I really felt quite suicidal at the thought of not being able to post for a few days! A bit obsessive I know ... Also, I have to finish that T-A-D challenge! I HAVE to!

T-A-D #8 As Time Goes By

Well, I obviously didn't make the entire thing myself, but I think this still qualifies. A few years ago a friend gave me a little music organ. (I don't know if that is its proper name, but you know what I mean, you crank the little handle and a tune comes out.) The outside surface always bothered me - it was a picture of a shiny purple and green clown - but the tune it plays is As Time Goes By! So my project for today was to cover it in strips of leftover book pages (from all those paper projects I did ages ago) and a nice picture of Humphrey and Ingrid. And of course, some red hearts. I even made a recording for you here. (Handle cranker: Anairam Traws; Technical Consultant: L'Usband)

I also give you this rather more beautiful recording by Stephane Grapelli - on youtube.