WEEK THIRTY-THREE (august 15-21)
Only one and a half more days to catch up with my Melbourne.
My priorities are to hit the shops to fill the suitcase with basic clothes. I should do this at home but I tend to be distracted. So off alone to walk our local shops in Albert Park and then catch a tram to the CBD for the total basics of socks, undies, and long-sleeved T’s:)
My orthotic-boosted feet fit beautifully into Camper shoes – so hitting the Camper store is always a success story. Big TICK.
In the last hours of the trip I wend my way back to the quilt exhibition to take detailed photos. I am still aiming to buy the book/catalogue but having viewed the exhibition already I know that it is the details of the quilts that are going to feed me.
It was a pleasure to visit these old gems again BUT I have a niggle that has been growing larger month by month, year by year……..these beauties do not excite me like they used to.
I’ll include some of my faves throughout this post. They are favorites for many diverse reasons including my new awareness of quilts as blackout curtains. How cool!
I do appreciate these quilts very much but they offer little inspiration – is it a case of been there done that???
This moving on process that seems to be seeping into so many aspects of my life is becoming very interesting.
I am finding that I consider this ‘moving on’ continually – whilst away, at home, and in the studio.
I know that I am, still or yet again, in the process of change/ reinvention BUT a lot of this process is now not at all deliberate….
Things that would have given me succour, that would have delighted me, or grounded me, or even scared me, are no longer having that effect….and I am quite perplexed.
The inspiration that I would garner by seeing works by others is not ‘working’.
On leaving the exhibition I set off to purchase the catalogue and two other books I have my eye on. I hesitate but decide to take a punt on Joshua Yeldham’s Surrender. I sort of like his beautifully inventive considered work but it is the his background that interests me. He has just been featured in the latest edition of Dumbo Feather but I need a little more…
The second book I want has gone – obviously not meant for me – and most importantly I choose not to buy the catalogue of the quilt exhibition. I was longing to see it, and I loved seeing it, and I would very highly recommend it, but it did not STIR me.
Hmmmmm…..
I also visited the new-to-me and absolutely wonderful bookstore in Albert Park with a trillion covetable books but I struggled to buy two novels to take on my imminent trip.
A visit to Melbourne always includes a visit to e.g.etal to buy another lustful pair of earrings made by their wonderfully inventive artists….I came out empty handed….
and although my time in Melbourne was very limited I still did not pop into every gallery I could have…in fact I popped into very few.
At home of late I have been looking at membership groups that I belong to…with most I just lurk and learn to see if I can find a fit.
Perhaps I’m really not sure where I fit and where I want to be?
Interestingly, I am not feeling jaded or cynical or depressed but something is happening.
Whilst I am not quite sure of what this is all about I have an inkling that it is the world telling me to look inside myself….that I do not need to seek outside….that I do not need to keep up with all that is happening around me….that I simply need to hunker down and look for succour inside myself and bring it forth – to no other ends than to enlighten me and/or light up me….hmmmmm.
More evolving coming my way.
On Wednesday morn I wake up in my own comfy bed.
Off to reclaim Riley dog and have a cuppa with Miff, Esther and a very grown up Flick.
Miff will be going back to work in a couple of months and I will be losing Esther day and gaining Flick day. Sad to lose my solo Esther time but at the moment a daycare day is what she needs for socialisation. Flick, on the other hand needs, to get to know Me!!!
I am really looking forward to it.
At the end of the week I have caught up on a load of ‘chores’ and YET AGAIN I have assessed the work-in-progress paint chip feathers – and there are many of them. Even those waiting in line for frames are re-assessed.
I take time to tweak, I add to the pile, and I sort out which selections to continue with and in which direction to take them.
On Friday night we set off for the weekend at our little house.
Miff and a girlfriend, and Esther and Flick, have been there for a few days.
The house is warm and cosy, Flick is having a splashing good time in the bath.
A glass of red to ease us in and when the house settles a plate of leftovers for we oldsters as the others have eaten at bambino time.
We love the ease and simplicity of being with family and friends here.
We also love being on our own when they leave.
I get to finished the wardrobe that I have been ignoring.
I size up frames for three antique quilts that will find homes on the three bedroom walls – when I can get the bloke and the saw working together!!!
I’m still waiting for that growing pile of paint chip feather frames to be constructed….
To be fair to the bloke though – what I give him to do are chores – he is in boy-heaven building his own boy/shed world down south so I can’t blame his time management…
I may just have to fire up the power tools myself:)
