Additions to the reading list

Wandering past a bookshop on a Sunday morning, I saw several books in the window display that might have come home with me if the shop had been open. (Narrow escape!)

So English!!

"exploring themes of Britishness, identity, craftsmanship and the art establishment"

How - and why - are women's self-portraits different
from men's?

"A spotter's guide to the British landscape"

The "medieval" book is wonderfully illustrated,
and I love reading essays

(Still re-reading His Dark Materials....)

Words by Robert MacFarlane (from his Landmarks), visuals by
Jackie Morris, who spent two years immersed in this "book
for all ages"

Dazzled

Some of the jewellery that caught my eye at the Dazzled exhibition, which is at the Oxo Gallery till 7 January. 

Sue Gregor's "fossilised plastic"

Paula Treimane

Caroline Finlay

Lindsey Mann

Kaz Robertson

There was plenty of silver and gold, but it was the colourful stuff that caught my eye.

Art I like - jewellery by Jane Sedgwick

(via)

Jane Sedgwick makes bold, playful wooden jewellery which she hand turns and hand paints in her studio near the North Norfolk Coast. Working with geometric forms, repetition, and colour, her inspiration comes from a variety of sources especially wooden toys and nautical imagery. Jane uses traditional woodworking techniques and manages a small woodland which supplies the timber for her work.

WEBSITE: www.janesedgwick.co.uk

Jane is part of the "Made London" design and craft fair this weekend. See other exhibitors here.

What's all this then?

"Then" is when it was made - at least 20 years ago, as one of those exercises that help us get clarity on our life goals, or put things in perspective, or remind ourselves of what we'd like to get out of life.

How you do it is - take half a dozen magazines of various titles, and look through them for photos that appeal to you and tear out those pages. (You may want to discard the rest of the magazine immediately, lest it haunt your life as clutter.) Then glue "your" photos onto a big sheet of paper.

I found the exercise very ... clarifying. It brought what was important to me at the time, and what remains important to me now, though some small details have changed - the comfortable shoes now need to be somewhat stylish (and accommodate bunions - totally incompatible aims perhaps, but the search goes on), and that little black dress ... 20 years later and 20 lbs lighter, I'd rather wear little black jeans!

The minimal, hospitable rooms speak to an ongoing aspiration, but at the time had a deeper meaning - I was living in a shabby shared house and not happy with the situation, yet felt I was stuck there and could never afford my own place. But sometimes circumstances change; I don't remember exactly what happened, but being mugged outside my own gate certainly had something to do with it, and after a bit of hard negotiation I was out of there, moving 5 minutes down the road and into a very different life.

The dream-spaces are two dining rooms, or maybe three, at least one with a french door into the garden; a bathroom (with art on the wall!); and an airy library-gallery. Not to overlook the summerhouse/shed/studio in the garden.

Ah, garden ... flowering plants, and trees ... there are many in my dream-life. On the left is a paved courtyard garden with luscious clusters in great variety planted among the stones - a model for my own paved area out front, which is almost ready to plant (some dreams come true, but probably not quite as you imagined them).

Art supplies; birds; a fireplace. Keeping busy; observing nature; being warm.

Scenery - the sun breaking through clouds over gentle hills and long-cultivated valleys, how very English. The gloomier road beside the sea, and a snow scene elsewhere - these are about living in a place with seasons, and enjoying those seasons in their changeableness.

There's a painting of a family scene, but nothing about the importance of friends - that was an interesting omission but would definitely be there now. Maybe the fireworks - an explosion of joy - represent friendships and relationships?

To go with the many dining rooms, there are cakes. Cakes aren't quite so important to me now, but remain an important link with the past and my mother's effortless master-baker shining example, and her generous hospitality.

Last but not least - coffee, and an elegant coffee maker.

Shoe storage

The downstairs hall, which is narrow enough already (80cm), is often littered with kicked-off shoes. Not a serious problem (not like having two bikes in the hall!) but disturbing to the tidy mind.

Also, my own shoe collection gathers dust in the bedroom -

An internet search for shoe storage solutions found some alarmingly huge shoe collections, with equally huge cupboards to keep them in, but also some suggestions for smaller spaces. First, the hallway -

A narrow hall, but tidy and bright

This type of shelving could be installed above the radiator (the door is sheer luxury)

Very 1970s, very flat-to-the-wall, very boring ... but hey, I can make it myself

Now this is FUN - could you make this out of wire coat hangers?

Aha, someone has used wire coat hangers - these could go on pegs on the wall

Now, the bedroom - those once-capacious cupboards are full of fabrics and papers in bags and boxes. One possibility is a rack on the back of the doors; another (which won't need the attention of the Resident Carpenter, who is often busy elsewhere) is to purchase a few of those see-through shoe boxes -

Hmm, which one....?

More for the wish lists

Different bookshop, and yet more almost-irresistible books -

 "Out of sheer rage," wrote DH Lawrence, "I have started my book on Thomas Hardy; it will be about anything but Thomas Hardy, I am afraid" - Geoff Dyer's book is supposed to be about DH Lawrence, but is about many other things, including procrastination. As for animals, I know very little indeed about them and their minds, and liked the look of Jenny Diski's book.

 The Imperfectionists seemed interesting when approached from the back - it's about "an improbably English-language newspaper in Rome", but on seeing it's "The International Bestseller" I went off it rather. Inside Foer's book are variations of book format, including a chapter with certain words circled in red - many words on each page....

Hiaasen [interesting spelling] is a crime-writer favourite - the subtext is usually ecological, and the stories are good. As for Mankell, not sure which ones I've read....

Wish list

It doesn't do to spend too much time browsing in bookstores. You start wanting to take everything home, and have fantasies of sitting and reading for hours...

The poetry book has little pics (yellow and black; in the style of the cover) scattered thoughout the pages. Grimm's tales - I'm fascinated by the Brothers Grimm and their philological and folkloric work, and the stories are part of my childhood; also Philip Pullman's writing is worth reading - and don't you love the cover?

 Blake's projects since 2000 - I'm hoping for insight into a working life. Read more about it here.

Some detective fiction in translation (not Nordic, and not something I've watched on tv); good old Mark Twain and Saki, a couple of classic authors. Nora Ephron (American journalist, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, novelist, producer, director, and blogger) died this year; Tove Jansson is author of the Moomin books (a favourite in my son's childhood) and much else.

Forests and fairytales, the perfect spooky-chilly combination. Nice pix in Mark Hearld's Workbook, but maybe this is one to borrow from the library, if a library copy can be found.

In My View combines artists-as-writers and artists-who've-produced-things-to-write-about. The "Remote Islands" have been on my wishlist before, but "I remember" is a surprise find - first published in 1975.