To arrive where we started
August 31st, 2009 § 3 Comments
We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started…
and know the place for the first time.
~ T.S. Elliott
The interesting thing about post-rationalisation is that whilst you’re explaining your choices, any weaknesses light up like neon. An ugly business! I’m starting to wonder if my last illustration, ‘Apron Strings’, hasn’t finished evolving. I’m asking myself more questions.
With that in mind, off I go exploring again…
Admiring all the cheery patterns and colour schemes found in vintage home linens; in tablecloths, sheets and aprons. Loving the worn warmth I see within them. Wondering which childhood memories are being stirred within me. Perhaps to me they symbolise all the nurturing of home itself; of daily grind but also of gentleness.
What is the true purpose of the bond between mother and child? And how do I capture that? Could it be about a basic human need to explore…? My littlest poppet is an explorer. She likes to know exactly where I am before she goes on another toddler expedition and makes many, many return journeys to check I’m still there. So I guess I am not only her guide, but her base camp. When base camp is warm and safe she can regroup and find enough courage to venture a little further. What an amazing role to play in a persons life! What a sweet discovery that maybe I wouldn’t have made unless, like my little girl, I’d gone back.
Images | Apron String, Various Brennemans | Vintage Tablecloth, Leslie Keating | OGBB Fabric Brown Green Squares by Craftapalooza | Mccall Apron 504, Carbonated | Please click on the titles for licence details.
A date with a Dervish
May 2nd, 2009 § 3 Comments
OK, so here’s my plan. I’m off, I’m running away. It’s been a very long week and I haven’t had a holiday in ages, possibly years. I have a fantastic place in mind, Constantinople. No, not Istanbul, Constantinople.
The first thing I’ll do when I get there is explore the bustling alleys of the city. I’ll stop to watch women making grape syrup just as their mothers have for two hundred years. I’ll haggle with passion in the bazaar, and catch my breath watching the deft strokes of the street barber’s blades.
I’ll gaze in wonder at the perfect symmetry of the Blue Mosque, witness the devotional spinning of the Whirling Dervishes and feel all my stresses float away in the restorative waters of the hammam.
And then on the balcony of an Ottoman house with minaret studded views of the city, I’ll feast. First Almond soup flavoured with grated coconut and pomegranate. Then a meze of Manyas cheese, breads, dates and apricots from the marketplace, and lemon cookies. Followed by Mutanjene: diced lamb with shallots, dried apricots, red raisins, vinegar, honey and almonds baked in an earthenware casserole. And to finish, fresh fruit and sherbets flavored with rosehips and tamarind.
And when the feast is over, I’ll sail on the silvery waters of the Bospherous and watch the moon rise.
I know it seems like a lot to do in one day, but time is very flexible in Constantinople.
And when it’s time to leave, my bag loaded with rose flavoured Locum, I’ll fly home… by magic carpet.
Images |The wonderful images of Constantinople in this post are from the Library of Congress Photochrom Print Collection which shows Europe and the Middle East as they appeared in the Early 1900s. The richly colored images look like photographs but are actually ink-based photolithographs.
