Catherine Stock's Blog, page 14

I believe the expression is...

TOO STUPID TO LIVE!

I went to St Céré to buy a couple of pairs of winter corduroy pants in the market. Then I took the mushrooms that I had collected the previous day to a pharmacy to see if they were edible. The pharmacist said that they wouldn't kill me, but that they weren't particularly good to eat, so dropped them in the rubbish bin on my way to lunch at the Lieu Commun.

When I arrived, my packet of mushrooms were still in my basket. I had thrown my new pairs of pants into the locked trash can. After lunch, with blushing cheeks, I explained to the women at the Mairie that I had mixed up my packages and asked if I could somehow retrieve my bag of pants. But the bin is a pretty sophisticated contraption that looks a bit like US Mailbox: everything drops down into a three meter deep waste container underground. Nevertheless two big strapping men came to see if we could fish out my plastic bag. Suddenly we were surrounded by twenty town inspectors showing off their new disposal system and wanting to know what we were doing. And I had to explain to them all what I had done...

Next time, and unfortunately there will probably be a next time, I will be content to just lose the pants, and save some face. (The flowers are just to make me feel better.)

Evening Walk

My dizziness is finally dissipating and I have been going for long afternoon walks with Thabo using my two walking sticks to stabilise me. I am not quite ready to return to Gym Tonique. The poles come in handy when tramping across uneven slushy fields. Temperature is in the 60's, which is great, except we have suddenly been inundated with flies as all their natural predators like lizards and bats have gone to sleep for the winter.

Found this circle of large mushrooms which I carefully picked and brought home. Will take them to the pharmacy tomorrow to see if they are edible.

Vertigo

A few evenings ago, I got up from my bed and the room swirled around me so violently that I had to grab a chair to prevent myself from falling over. The next morning and following few days showed no improvement, so I asked a friend to drive me to the doctor.

After taking my blood pressure, the doctor held my head in his hands and performed a few brusque manoevres, pushing me onto the bed on the right, lifting me upright, then throwing me to the left, pausing to peer intently into my eyes between moves. He then sent me home and said that I was OK, but that if the effects continued another few days that he would send me to an ear/nose/throat specialist.

Mystified I came home and did some research on the Internet. I had Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV), an inner ear disorder caused by calcium crystals, or ear rocks, floating into areas that interfere with one's sense of equilibrium. YouTube had some short videos on the Epley Manoevre, which should set me right after a few days. Whew.

Keep this mind if you have this experience. It's not necessarily the dreaded brain t–––r.

Instinct vs fiddling

My pictures are pegged on washing lines in my studio. Two of these pictures were reworked and four are untouched. When I enter the room, the fresh ones are striking, the reworked ones have turned into sentimental mush. Sometimes one needs to overwork and destroy to learn.

" The artist need not know very much; best of all let him work instinctively and paint as naturally as he breathes or walks. " – Emil Nolde

(The fourth and sixth ones are the fiddly effete ones, in case it isn't obvious.)

Line by Line

I have just discovered this wonderful drawing series on The New York Times website. Do check it out. LINE BY LINE

A series on learning the basics of drawing, presented by the artist and author James McMullan. Line By Line begins with installments on line, perspective, proportion and structure, and continues from there, using examples from art history to illuminate specific issues. Pencil and paper recommended.

Mirror Man

This is not a sculpture.

It's the artist Gustav Troger, who seems to wander around the world inside his glass suit.

The Big Draw

While in London last week, I discovered that October is the month of The Big Draw, promoted by the Campaign for Drawing. All the museums were taking part with cool workshops. My friend Adrian and I attended one at the National Gallery on chiaroscuro. Paintings of Caravaggio, like the one at left, were projected onto a screen as the moderator explained the term: dramatic strong contrast between light and shade. Then two models appeared, appropriately dressed, and took up positions at a table with a glass of wine and grapes, imitating the painting projected behind them, and posed for 45 minutes, lighted by a bright spot, while we sketched them in pencil or charcoal. My sketch is below.
Later that day I went to two more workshops at the National Portrait Gallery and spent Saturday with my friend Jude at the British Museum. One of the workshops there involved drawing real artifacts that we could handle and examine, in the way that archeologists document them. We also attended an interview by Alaisdair Sooke with of one of Picasso's models, Sylvette David.
Have a look at the Big Draw website. I have registered La Sirène du Causse's Monday night life drawing group and yesterday received a package about how to set up an event. Will have to do that next October.

First the Chilean mineworkers...

and now the Pipster!

Journalist and neighbour Ron always leaves his tubby and ancient little mutt Pipi with me when he goes off on a shoot, this time in Ghana. She's the light of his life.

On Wednesday evening, she disappeared without trace. I searched the village, put up posters, and notified the gendarmerie.

This morning my marvelous beast Thabo started barking at 5am and wouldn't stop. I finally went down to investigate the commotion and heard high pitched barking from a neighbouring field. At the bottom of a shallow well, shivering in the dark was one terrifed and very smelly little Pipster.

Hallelujah may the Lord be Praised!

Life drawing resumes

The Monday evening life drawing group has started up again after a summer break.

Often at the end of the evening, I am unhappy with everything I have done and toss it all into the fire, but I try to restrain myself because sometimes after a few days (and some distance from actually observing and trying to draw the model), a drawing or painting just takes on an independent life, and dare I say... charm...

Moulin de Cougnaguet

The weather was a bit iffy so I was worried about where the class could paint in case of a downpour, and then suddenly in the middle of the night I thought of the Moulin de Cougnaguet, a fortified mill on the l'Ouysse river, built in the fourteenth century by Cistercian monks. It milled flour commercially until 1959, and it is still fully functioning. You can see the interior here.

The weather cleared as the day passed, so we were able to enjoy a lovely picnic on the island, enhanced by gener...