SINGING

Listen to Brian Eno on singing together.
and there's this
and this

Here's to
levity
empathy
connectedness

Bonne fin semaine.

The Hills Are Alive

In all this snow and cold i'm happy to think back a few years to a beautiful, rainy summer bikeride through these hills, a stay in a campground in Salzburg, reading novels in the lodge and eating pickles, good bread and cheese laid out on indvidual breadboards.

Excerpt from Letter to Eva Hesse from Sol Lewitt 1965

Just stop thinking, worrying, looking over your shoulder, wondering, doubting, fearing, hurting, hoping for some easy way out, struggling, gasping, confusing, itching, scratching, mumbling, bumbling, grumbling, humbling, stumbling, rumbling, rambling, gambling, tumbling, scumbling, scrambling, hitching, hatching, bitching, moaning, groaning, honing, boning...searching, perching, besmirching, grinding grinding grinding away at yourself. Stop it and just DO...trust and tickle something inside you, your "weird humor." you belong in the most secret part of you. Don't worry about cool, make your own uncool...if you fear, make it work for you — draw and paint your fear and anxiety. And stop worrying about big, deep things such as "to decide on a purpose and way of life..." you must practice being stupid, dumb, unthinking, empty. Then you will be able to DO! I have much confidence in you and even though you are tormenting yourself, the work you do is very good. Try and do some BAD work. The worst you can think of and see what happens but mainly relax and let everything go to hell.

thank you, Donna x 2.

les ombres et filer des marionnettes

Shadow Puppets Play - Funny home videos are a click away


The sun's making shadows on the wall today.
And -for you- (a la Helium), a delightful little advertisement.

A Delicious Non-Conformist Lady

still a puppy to us, but suddenly, yes, a lady at 6 months of age.

She jumped fences -all fences- with great gusto

...speaking of Margot Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith, born Alice Margaret Tennant on the 2nd of Feb. 1864 in Peeblesshire Tweeddale, Scotland. She and her sister Laura were inseparable companions, eventually becaming the central female figures of an aristocratic intellectual group called THE SOULS. Laura died when they were quite young, a loss Margot never fully recovered from.
Listen to a recording of a speech she delivered in 1918, in wake of the war. Her husband, Herbert Henry Asquith, was then Prime Minister of England.

Dear

Alice's best friend Lickee (Sgt. Lickee Butterfoot) writing to Mr. President of the World on Tuesday.
Photo: Donna Akrey

And I must say, how lovely this was.

Hooked & Braided, Braided and Hooked

A lovely turquoise hooked wool chair pad, two pinky yellow circular cotton hooked rugs in the English tradition, a rectangular rug of hooked wool in a "lemon peel" design c. 1895 (very Gee's Bend-y), and a mid-century cotton braided rag rug made in Québec (this one lays on my living room floor).

If you're interested in making a braided rug or mat for yourself or as a commission that'll bring you "a little bread and yogurt money" as Nancy Bubel wrote in 1971, her instructions are available here. Other good instructions with simple diagrams can be found here.

The 20th

Good Morning ! It's a beautiful one.

For one day let's not pour cold water on our heads and just let ourselves believe something can happen.

Another Miracle

Breakfast this morning.
And flurries outside. Big, beautiful clumps of flakes. January is so beautiful and cold this year.

Spin and Yo-Yo

Paintings by Hermann Sondermann & Laurits Andersen Ring from the late 1800's and early 1900's.

Rather than a wheel, i'm spinning yarn with a drop spindle. You can purchase one or make one yourself. Good demo videos can be found here to get the hang of the spinning. I find the rhythm and technique are similar to skipping or playing with a yo-yo (...speaking of, there are some nice yo-yos available these days. I bought one for my nephew Finn for christmas).

You can spin dog fur if the fibres are long enough. These beautiful pink dog fur mittens were made in the Yukon by Mary Armstrong - dogfibres@hotmail.com. They puff and fuzz up beautifully in the cold air. You can email Mary with outlines of your hands and wishes for colour/s and she'll custom make you the warmest mittens you'll ever wear.

Teckel / Dachshund / Chien Saucisse

Giacomo Balla (w/ thanks to Donna), David Hockney, Andy Warhol, Mihály Munkácsy, Anonymous, Anonymous.


The Dachshund's affectionate,
He wants to wed with you:
Lie down to sleep,
And he's in bed with you.
Sit in a chair,
He's there.
Depart,
You break his heart.

- E.B. White

Janyouwary

A beautiful card from Sonja yesterday. Thank You, Saan. It set the tone for my day, which couldn't have been better.

Getting the kitchen, studio and bedroom organized. I made little white shelves out of 1/4 inch mdf for glassware, spices and little objects above my desk. It's good to get things up, make space for working. Window sills help too.

A stack of shallow paper cups taken from the tops of hotel drinking glasses. The paper is beautifully strong and smooth - fit for little paintings inside/outside. For now they fit a jade bracelet perfectly.


The brushes are a tiny collection housed for now on the bedroom window sill (bad). They'll make their way into proper casing one day soon. See the snow accumulated in the window? We got 25 cm yesterday. Gigantic heaps all over the city.

Some artists' projects that have been occupying me lately: Jason de Haan's Where the Ocean Meets This Guy and the wonderful Hope Love Peace Generosity Purpose Harmony, Lyndal Osborne's Archipelago and Endless Forms Most Beautiful, Donna Akrey's blog Mobiusstripmall (creampuffs! they're suddenly everywhere), Thomas Demand's new work on the presidency, Leanne Shapton's textile designs and James Carl's takeouts and things end (the latter pictured below: rubeer bands made of polymer clay).



* - * - * It's the end of the first week of the new year * - * - *

Merry Happy

I hope you all had a nice christmas and that the old year turned into the new year with loved ones and lots of laughing.
Alice and I are happy to be back in our little home after a few nice weeks spent away. Coffee out this morning, a skate at parc lafontaine this afternoon, and this evening celebrating one year of The Sea of Tea blogging listening to Carla Bruni.
(with thanks and love to S & K)

H A P P Y 2 0 0 9 !