Blogroll

The Personal Notebook

| Mairead

15 10e

(Ira Glass quote stuck on inside front cover of personal notebook)

It’s very early and the temperature has been dropping in the last few days so I’m cold and tired. The perfect scenario for returning to a nice warm bed… but that’s not going to happen. I’m going to type for an hour, get breakfast, a shower and go to my classes. But there’s something on my mind…. my personal notebook. I’d explain here what a personal notebook is but I’m not exactly sure yet myself and I wouldn’t like to steer you wrong.

15 10b

(Printing practice)

The personal notebook has been mentioned at various times since my course began. Initially I thought it was about the things I loved and I started to stick pictures of Monet paintings and patchwork quilts into an A5 notebook. Soon I realised I needed to add my daily drawing practice… and my notes and photographic examples of my notes and the mixed paint cards done in class. Then there was the dark day I realised the personal notebook would be part of my coursework…… It would be marked…. it’s been difficult to add anything to it since then. To be honest it’s always been difficult to mess up a new notebook, especially a nice one. I think that was because I usually judge my efforts and find them lacking. Is it possible someone else judging my efforts will be easier? Unlikely.

15 10c

(Perspective practice)

This weekend I made another stab at messing up my personal notebook (It’s now an A4 hardback notebook) and with the aid of this Ira Glass quote I’m learning to stop judging my efforts and keep up my practice.

15 10f

(Writing and spelling practice)

On a completely different topic, I have learned that the page size numbering system – A2, A3, A4, A5, etc. is all about how many times a sheet that size fits into an A1 (huge) sheet. For example, four A4 sheets fit into an A1 or five A5 sheets fit. That’s why an A5 sheet is smaller than an A4!

Practice, practice, practice, Mairead.

Practice makes perfect…. bit by tiny bit.

| Mairead

08 10a

(Printing practice)

It’s before dawn on an autumnal wet kind of day here in County Wicklow. I’m up early because there’s a lot to do before I leave for my classes. Today it’s drawing… not my favourite but I want to improve so I continue to practice. Last week on my day off I found myself near the National Art Gallery on Merrion Square. Although I do love to visit, usually I go there only if I have time to kill while waiting for an appointment or a meeting. When I realised how close I was I went there purposefully… to practice my drawing.

08 10b

(Printing practice… possible wallpaper design?)

Practicing my drawing might seem straightforward, all I need is a pencil, paper and a subject, right? No. Well, yes I do need the pencil and paper, but I carry those with me all the time now and non-moving subjects are readily available. There are other requirements… 1.Making a choice – it is sometimes tempting to wander from potential subject to even better potential subject  and the available time is gone before I have even started. 2.Opening the notebook – it is also tempting to wait until the coast is clear and there is none nearby before I open the notebook and take the pencil in my hand…. (“Oh look, someone drawing”). It’s scary but I must be brave.

08 10c

(Printing practice…. using a net the oranges come in)

3.Making a start – possibly the most important requirement, the potential for disaster is huge. Well… disaster might be too dramatic a word but if I don’t start there’s no drawing. 4.Perseverance, defined as, the steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement. Very useful because at this point there are many thoughts going through my head…. You don’t have enough time. On consideration, this is not a good subject. You need more practice to attempt this one. There’s someone coming, quick put your notebook away! What about a nice green tea and a scone instead? Time’s up!

08 10d

(Then we went for lunch)

So much of what I’m learning on this course of drawing, painting, printing and ceramics can be applied to any area of life. 1. Make a choice. 2. Open the notebook – be willing to be different. 3. Make a start. 4. Persevere in spite of difficulties. Last week in the art gallery I found a statue, sat down and practiced drawing and my drawing skills are improving… a bit…. very slowly, so I’m learning patience too.

Go Practice, Mairead.

PS not ready to share the drawing practice…. yet.

Friday Quote – Is it you?

| Mairead

5 10a

“There are thousands and thousands of people out there leading lives of quiet, screaming desperation, where they work long, hard hours at jobs they hate to enable them to buy things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like.” — Nigel Marsh

Find what you love, Mairead.

The Botanic Gardens in the rain.

| Mairead

27 9a

(The Botanic Gardens in Dublin)

I went to visit the Botanic Gardens in Dublin last Monday. Although it’s less than an hour away I’d never been before. Not for the first time I’ve contemplated going on holidays to my own house and discovering what the area holds…. but that’s for another time. Monday’s visit was in connection with a course I’m attending.

27 9f

(Beautiful shapes in the glasshouses)

It was a cold, wet day but because of the huge glasshouses there’s plenty of inside space. Also, I had my umbrella for the sprints between glasshouses. Unlike my usual tours this one wasn’t about the place. I don’t know who created this beautiful place. I don’t know how old it is. I don’t know how many acres it spans. This tour was about noticing what’s here…. now.

27 9g

(More beautiful shapes)

There was an art exhibition in a big room over the restaurant (there was lovely sweet potato soup in the restaurant). There were huge plants in the Palm house. There were fly-catching plants in another glasshouse… and there was lots of soft rain.

27 9c

(Unusual plant attached to tree bark hanging from a post)

My assignment for my coursework was to take pictures of, and to sketch…. the things that attracted me. Taking pictures was easy, sketching not so… but half the work is taking out the pen and paper and starting…. and quarter of the work is getting over the shame when your sketch looks nothing like the object you’re sketching……

Start… now, Mairead.

The rainy season has arrived…. time for a story change!

| Mairead

25 9a

(Lovely day in Cashel, Co. Tipperary on Saturday)

It rained all day yesterday and it looks like it’s ready to do the same today. As always it’s funny how I get used to the weather and think it’ll never be any other way…. then it changes. At the weekend it was dry a little cold and sunny, I thought that was going to last, in fact I can’t remember where I put my rain coat and I don’t remember when I last needed it. It’s like the story of our lives…..

25 9b

(Livestock in the grounds of Cashel Palace enjoying the sunshine)

When we’ve got past childhood and we’re making our way in the world we take with us lots of goodies. We’ve got skills like cooking, organising, speaking French, etc. We’ve got lots of baddies too, like nail-biting, eating with our mouth open, etc. And we’ve got our story. The story that defines us, tells us and the world who we are. Trouble is we are not completely aware of our own story. We’re not completely aware of the story of others either but at least we see their behaviours.

25 9c

(Evening walk beside the Rock of Cashel)

When someone’s behaviour includes repeatedly putting themselves down, you can be sure their story includes a reason to be put down. When someone repeatedly allows others to bully them you can be sure their story includes them as the victim. When someone repeatedly makes fun of themselves, you can be sure their story includes the fool. But there’s good news, we can rewrite the parts of the story we don’t like, the parts that we notice when we notice our behaviour.

25 9d

(Fence post perspective)

We don’t change it by putting ourselves down – that’s just more of the old story. We change the story when we are inspired. When something lights you up, lifts your heart, or just plain interests you – wallow in it!  Play with it. Allow it to inspire a different story.

What lights you up? Mairead.

The Swiss Cottage in Cahir.

| Mairead

24 9a

(Pretty Swiss Cottage)

My mother and I went to visit the Swiss Cottage near Cahir on Saturday. It was built in 1810 for Lord and Lady Cahir and is a Cottage Orne. A playhouse for the rich. It was built for tea parties and to look pretty. It looks very pretty. It fell into disrepair but was restored in the 1980’s. Not much of the original survived, some wallpaper and one small window, so the restoration recreated the original and did a beautiful job.

24 9b

(Veranda going around the cottage)

You get to it via a walk along the very picturesque river Suir (pronounced sure), over a bridge and through an underground tunnel into the basement servant’s quarters (now a reception area.) When you’ve bought your ticket you walk up the servants stairs and through a hidden door to the hallway of the cottage. Here there’s an oak staircase painted a dull brown – the idea was everything had to look rustic, peasant-like, not expensive. So the oak was disguised.

24 9c

(Cute flower covered balcony)

I forgot my camera… again, but the cottage can’t take an ugly picture. Although it’s very pretty it’s not real. Come to think of it sometimes real is not pretty.

24 9d

(No photography allowed inside the cottage, this is a weird shot looking in one of the windows)

24 9e

(The one original pane of decorated glass)

From a rainy Greystones, Mairead.