watch this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_HXUhShhmY

its nice to be stranded sometimes...

at the moment i am thesis writing and stranded in mayo...lovely dry-ish mayo...hopefully i will be back to galway tomorro...fingers crossed!

some things ive found and must not forget

Rachel Denny

maria kjoo
julien pacaud
julien pacaud

Josh Keyes

Now...how lovely are these? I'm including Josh Keyes in my thesis this year, and I still cant get over his paintings...not that I have to or should get over them. I look at them and instantly feel happy...its been a while since any art has made me feel so... nice .

It is imporatant for art to make us feel something...isnt it? And for art to mean something to the artist, and the viewer, and the casual viewer, and the occasional viewer, and the viewer who thinks that art is rubbish and pointless. Its hard not to lose site of that when your immersed in it all the time..it becomes more of a job then a passion.

So when I stumbled onto these on http://www.inhabitat.com/ can you imagine how happy I was?

Completely thrilled. And I can face painting again. I actually look forward to it!

Josh Keyes....mmm...lovely

alex at the spanish arch one night a few weeks ago...i like the light on her jeans and elbow

keelin with her handwriting overlain, sitting outside the college on one of those lovely days we very rarely have...





oh that felt wonderful!!!!im so happy those are finally up.
just had assessments there on thursday, which im so happy are over. thesis presentation on monday, not looking so forward to that, but i think itl go ok. and my graduation is tuesday, cant wait!!!
i got a wonderful dress thursday after my assessment for the graduation, its the nicest dress ive ever had, i cant wait to get all dolled up and boogie, its so desperately needed!

The Girls at Renmore Beach...3weekends ago I think...at this stage.
I realise I have been neglecting this space but hopefully, not for long!
Nothing happened this summer really anyway, Ill fill in all the blanks later, right now, i have to run home and do work for college...
It never stops!!!

(There are plenty of things i want to say but dont
things you dont know, and wont.
I feel it is a safer place for me to be
instead of you knowing me, internally.
I am being stong, but not too hard,
Im going to keep a happy face.
This time deap breaths will calm me down,
Ill escape and vanish into this familiar place.)



I made a checklist last night, which amused me, because i figured the amount of time it took me to compile the thing, i could have completed most of what was on the list...
I am quite nervous about today, tomorro and sunday.
i dont really know what to expect, and that is what is troubling.
the last time i was there, alex brought me, we sat in the car in the parking lot for a few minutes, didnt even get out...and i just cried.
i dont know why, maybe because it is so beautiful, and so loaded with a mixture of sad and happy memories.
but the time before that, i felt absolutely nothing for the place,no emotion.
it was like it had changed, a very strange feeling had decended on the place, and took me by surprise.
so now, i dont know. i dont know how i am going to react with actually walking where i walked before, going through the halls and dorms and classrooms (if they let us into the school that is)
im expecting flashbacks, as im suffering from them already...and tears, probably.

i have a heavyness in my chest, and my throat feels full of tears already
i was so emotional in that place, that i feel it did drain me of most of them...so going back, will i find them there? are they waiting for me.

it is amazing, these chapters in our lives, that are always so distant, until you read them, walk through their paths again...

i know i will be a little unsteady for the next few days, so i apologise in advance.
it is often unsettling, when you dine and walk with ghosts.

a little bit anxious

i am feeling a little bit sick at the moment because, well...im scared
and being scared is a good thing
if your not scared, then your not paying attention to what is happening around you

the kylemore reunion is this friday, saturday and sunday...and yes, im brickin it at the moment.
i will be thrown together with, quite a few people i havent seen, or talked to, for 4 years.
im sort of hoping no one will recognise me, so i wont have to talk...
aahh
why do i do this to myself?!
i know il be fine, once i get there. i will be fine

social interaction is not my forte, and im also pretty crap at spelling too...
but i would regret not going,so, i have to.
i cant back out and it so close to it.

on the plus side, were going to london in a month, and the boy is so excited, hes in a good mood all the time...i cant get over it :)

i have also realised that i cant update my blog with images from home, ill have to do it from alex's house...damn this stoneage internet connection...

:rolls eyes and sighs:

dancing trees, dodging bees

musli with lots and lots of fruit

the little trees were dancing with such glee and vigor yesterday, that there stillness startled me this morning. i sensed them moving within themselves, in the broken sun, their presence streathened my heartstrings. i turned away from them, throwing the rest of my tea in the grass, filled with air and energy for the day.

i was told sternly over breakfast this morning that i need to learn how to say no, that if im working, i should just make them aware, so that they wont disturb me...
i this its sweet that my parents consider what i do 'work'
they dont experience me working during the year, as im in college, so i would understand, if they werent so accomodating of my long hours in my room, with periodic tea breaks and stroles around the garden, and walks with the dogs...i would forgive them if they just assumed that i was doing nothing...
but they dont. they somehow understand that i actually work, quite hard, and that i take myself very seriously...
they are so good!

she has an artistic temperment, and dad...well, he just aims to please i think
but art for arts sake
they should change it to
'art for the artists sake'
because, really that is what it boils down for most of the time.

some treasures

today, i decided to wear something pretty, which always brightens my mood, sit at my desk, paint and day dream about laburnum trees and lilac trees...hopefully dad will plant some soon.


daddy's lupins

ive been painting a lovely white horse all day, and im very happy with him...
tomorro, im moving on to eisirt, which will be interesting!

closing colours

i will put the finished painting up as soon as they are finished, but it is going smoothly, very smoothly

home

This is the boy dress up as a fairy, one of the last days we were in galway... one of the rare occasions my camera didnt break when he was infront of it...or he didnt run away screaming when i produced it...

Being at home is fab-u-lo-so...im really liking the quiet, and the green, and the animals, and the certain amount of independence i have, eventho im pretty much house bound.
but i refuse to get a car...
so thats that.

Im working on something at the minute which i feel really good about and im really excited about it. its getting me up in the morning, so that has to be a major plus.
ive been searching the net for summer camps, or kids arts groups, but there doesnt seem to be anything local, and even if there was, theyve prolie cut back on all of those things now. So ill have to be enterprising this summer!

I have a piece in the ballybane library at the moment, when i get pics of that i will most definately put them up :)

The 4th year GMIT exhibition is on at the moment, so i must call down to see that before its over.

Im feeling positive about the summer, full moon tonight, also excited about that! im all set up at home and settled, and feeling positive about the next couple of months. im also feeling alot more energised, i think i was running on empty for awhile.

now i think its time for some tea?!

im just going to bang some stuff up here...

This is of course susie, the most adorable, if slightly bulimic cat that ever lived...she eats and eats, but seems to be losing weight. Id love to know her secret...

She has been silently creeping around the house the last few days; yesterday she let herself into my room and made my bed her very cozy corner for the remainder if the daylight hours...i didnt mind tho, i was glad for the company



















And eventho she has her own basket in the laundry room, which mother reluctantly got for her, she still sneeks up to the spare room and hides out there for entire warm afternoons...

I dont know where shes getting the guts all of a sudden, she used to be quite happy to be confined to the kitchen, and the great outdoors...








I am missing my threads and needles and general finikityness of sewing...
Im working on something at the moment which is pretty much paint based, so ive hidden my sewing materials for the moment...

They do look extra delish when their in their groups :)





















Two images of Karen ka ying wong...i love these.

Little kitty...hand and machine stitching onto calico...first stages

Little kitty, finished. Hand and machine embroidery

Little kitty in his new home...unfinished...found dream landscape...im still working on this

im finished...nearly!!!

These are images of my space as it was last week, before i set up for my presentation on thursday. I have trouble working in order, or on something pristine. I am so much more inspired by chaos and mess, then sterile organisation.
The first images shows brainstorming sheets, card embroidery on the window ledge and some books that have been making me happy!

This next one is from further back, i dont have much wall space, but i dont mind at all, i have to be facing a window, or i would go insane! So more of the same...where is my table?!

These are my wall cats, they are painted directly onto the wall with ink, arcylic, pen, crayon and anything else i could find in my bag. I did them in January when i got back to college...i hadnt done anything art related for ages cuz i was so tied up with my thesis, that everything else was forgotten...one side of the brain at a time. i love them, they really take over the space, and make me feel taken care of... <3

Card cats, newsprint cats and books... :)

this is amazing!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG71klJSPPI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JynBEX_kg8&feature=related

im just going to have a little rant now because if i dont, there will be a human super nova...and ill destroy us all

money was quite possibly the WORST invention...

i cannot print anything at college because i actually own the printer money
and surprise surprise
ive got none.

ive spent the last four days MOUNTING which cost me about 40 euro in the cheapest card i could get my little mits on, hence the reason i have no dosh now. so instead of finishing off my finished pieces, ive been measuring, and cutting, and breaking my spine in the process...

i am so so so tired. but im not sleeping tonight. sleep is for the weak and the wicked, i cannot afford to spend any time sleeping...i can sleep on tuesday.

attitudes and nerves are running thin and cranky here at college. im starting to wonder about the true nature of people, and if i even should be let come back.
this place is soul crushing...

:sigh:

i feel better now

me and squeek this time two years ago.
its amazing to see how far the two of us have come along

we have grown so much together, adopted eachothers personalities even...


i have had such a rough two weeks
just had my interview for next year
and had my seminar yesterday.

bring on the summer!!!

Cats are suddenly EVERYWHERE!

Suddenly cats are everywhere!
I'm finding them all over the place...in books, on the net, outside my house.
lovely people are giving me cat things...like books and toys and stickers...i suddenly have cat earrings...and girls are looking more and more like cats everyday...
a really good friend of mine let me borrow her Taschen illustration now book...and i found a treasure trove of lovely things...most of which had cats in them somewhere... :)




















carine abraham

I absolutely adore this, and its definately where i want to be next year! I love the real and the drawn intermingleing...outlines and drips and collage...its wonderful!




















i really like this dude, his name is hugh d'andrade...and he does creepy things with cats...
i think this is a portrait of me... :)

It WAS beginnig to look alot like...WINTER

Yesterday was a pure excuse of a day in my opinion. It wasnt raining, but it looked threatening. It was mild, but very windy. There were no clouds, just a bland blanket of gray without shape or varying tones...
Today, you would forgive Ireland all its shortcomeings, because today was truely glorious! The sky is a dusty blue, the sun is beating down. The choir of birds is deafening, almost to the point of annoyance...but not quite.
Im just taking a break from my sewing, which is coming on lovely. I dragged on of our old yellow velvet armchairs outside. Its high back makes it ideal for long laborious periods of sitting in a ball being tortured with the intriquices of my embroidery......!

Redbush (Rooibos) tea is keeping me sane these last two weeks, and for Jane's introduction to the red/ambre liquid, i am truely endebted! it is a drink that must be escaped into..no matter the circumstance...and i have been drinking it with all things sweet and savoury...but of course there are no biscuits in this house...not even Rich Tea, for our sins...just an avalanche of Cadbury's easter eggs, or 'the devil wrapped in purple foil'...
oh i just break off another piece... :crack: and half the egg lands in your palm!

So i have been sitting outside in the yellow chair, with my purple sewing bag-Penny's finest-enjoying the sun and company of Suzie, who keeps thinking that my lap, with my embroidery on top, truely is her throne, and i cannot convince her otherwise.
Daddy is at the top of the road in the Hitachi digger manuvering stones, or diggin a moate around our vast kingdom...or at least that is what i imagine he is doing...

there was also a spider attached to my sewing, who just would not get the hint that i wanted rid of her, so after much mediation, i waited for her to crawl onto a loose thread, the cut her free...
eventho she only drifted a few feet away, i feel safer.

and now i can hear the muffeled tunes of the boy's 'early morning' routine...which i would much rather listen to then 2fm, or lyric for that matter...
because it means that he is home
and in a way
he is happy

Good Bye Mister Fox

Last Sunday, before mass at half five...because we are such good catholic children, the parents went to the match in castlebar to sell easter lilies.

I stayed at home, working away...stitching and stuffing and being a home bird. On their arrival, they told me that a fox had seemingly just been killed between the Stewert's and the Carney's new house. But there was no time...

After a discussion insued, the boy was trying to remember if the fox had been there when he landed home early that morning...

I was whisked off to mass...which the boy managed to dodge somehow...

but i could not help think of the poor fox the whole way through...his poor little head

When we got home i instructed the dogs and cats not to follow me, as i briskly made my way for him. I was compelled to see him, to rescue him, to see if he was alive and just sleeping...or very old and dieing...

when i thought i had gone too far, my eyes strained, and there he was...

the poor old thing...i walked closer and more of him appeared, he was nestled into the bank as if he just curled up for a nap in the sun.

he was perfect, his velvet ears, bushy red tail tipped with frothy white, and gently closed eyes...his dainty little legs, and tender paws...

i wanted so to scoup him up in my arms and instill life back into his already rigid body...

but the energy of him had changed...he was no longer a living, breathing creature...and the energy of the place where he was wasnt the same either, it was dull, and still and quiet...as if the ground was mourning...

he happened to be nestled beneath what i have always called a 'singing tree'...im not sure what their really called...but it squeeked and groaned with the death...

i rested a dandalion on his neck, but wished i could somehow cover him over, to protect his broken body...

people who think that animals dont have spirits...well...i dont understand.

Reflecting on the loss of mister fox, i cant help but wonder if he is the same beautiful fox i met over christmas holidays.

sitting in the kitchen, just after lunch, dad sprang up from his chair and looking out the front window, whispered in a low gasp-is that Jackson?

Jackson is a golden retriever from down by the river and he often crosses our fields without us, or him passing any remarks.

but this was not Jackson, and daddy quickly retrieved his statement

its a fox- !

in broad daylight-mother was confused

he's coming up the side now

So i stood at the sliding door, and as i cast my eye looking for a pale orange, scrawny creature- to my surprise- i watched a large, healthy, RED canine leap up and perch daintily on the uneven wall boarding our land and the next.

And he looked back

and looked straight at me

it was magic

so as i walked away from the fox, passed, i felt a sorror and an unbalance. as of o was walking at a slant, or i was suffering from sleep deprivation

another tragedy

between the twin towers and the titanic.

break

Chloe Early- because Im obsessed with the circus at the moment

Beautiful Whins at Grace's sisters' house

Lori Field

I am having such a wonderful easter...and I half didn't expect I would.

The weather has been fine nearly every day, and my room has been lending itself to me...

My work is the best, I think that I have possibly ever done...

Life is good.

I have been finding things that keep me pressing on, and proving that this is the right direction...

new work

these are ideas/plans...if i have to use such limiting language...


maybe its better to say that im 'drawing out'...the poison???

these last two are my favorite. this is where my work is headed now. theres just something about the leaping cats that makes me really...happy :)

hair

for those of you who have not seen my hair lately... your in for a treat!

things which have been keeping me going

tegan and sara...my heros!
and yes...im still listening to them on repeat...
i may have a problem...




















tara mcpherson




















Mary Coble Note to Self

















alice and wonderland



















oil and water on sidewalks


















The Mighty Boosh: God Bless Them






















top shop window just before christmas













waltz with bashir...the dogs at the beginning
magic