Author: theoldmortuary.design

theoldmortuary has been a blog for about five years. It has evolved into an almost daily event. Pondering on the things that are inspired by my daily life. Often mundane, sometimes repetitive I swerve from hyperlocal activity to big and small thoughts without blinking an eye. I am an artist and writer. My hometown is Plymouth in South West England, part of me will always be connected to London and another part loves to travel.

#1248 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Drawn to the Valley, Drawn To The Valley Artists, SerendipityLeave a comment

With a gallery roof that looks like this and a sunbeam catching my glass of Prosecco.

The only possible colour to chase is Aqua, hard to define. Is it blue or is it green. Does it have to have a watery element or can it feel substantial?

©Nuala Taylor

Estuary Blues by Nuala Taylor, links perfectly to the River Tamar and the Valley that gives our art group its name.

©Gill Manning-Cox

The northern reaches of the Tamar, nearer to Launceston is particularly known for having a thriving Otter population.

Otter © Shari Arnott

The abstract nature of Shari’s water eases us into the world of Jane Athron’s Abstract Number 3.

©Jane Athron

Jane’s pinks and aqua lead us colourfully to a Storm Brewing

© Caroline Green

And if a storm were brewing an umbrella might be required.

© Stuart Morrissey

Which leads us down the aqua path to somewhere with not a storm in sight.

Conversation ©Tony Parr

Which is quite a way to travel from the roof of a gallery.

And a glass of fizz.

#1247 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Anecdotes, blogging, SerendipityLeave a comment

It has been a really busy 3 days setting up and running an art exhibition. Hardly time to draw breath or write a regular blog that is not exhibition centric. But today we hit the halfway point. The Private View was held last night and now we have 3 days of welcoming our guests and taking some time to enjoy the experience that has been created. I have lost count of the fabulous and fascinating conversations that I have had, but one when the hanging team were exhausted has stuck with me. Almost as a mantra for life.

We were installing art within two huge spaces in a Grade 1 listed building. The obstacles and impediments of the hang were demanding and often required improvisation.

Two artists, up high ladders were nattering as they worked.

“We are just going to have to bodge first and finesse after”

Bodge and Finesse. My new favourite word pairing.

So much of life could be described in that way. I would argue that often, to finesse is bodging and that bodge is the epitome of finesse.

Normal, less arty blogging starts next Tuesday.

#1246 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment
©Steve Savage

Chasing neutrals and texture, starting with a controversial one. Fashion declares that leopard print is a new neutral, so here we are with Steve Savage’s beautiful Leopard. Instinct. Below is a different type of camouflage. The perfect location for Jillian Morris’s delicate woven piece. The walls and windowsill are a perfect spot for her weave.

©Jillian Morris

Similarly Nuala Taylor used the same neutrals for her seascape.

©Nuala Taylor

And Pippa Howes using the same neutral hues with Spring Light.

©Pippa Howes

The subtle orange of Spring Light is reflected in Anne Payne’s Citrine set in Silver.

Silver merged with sea glass is the inspiration behind Kathy Lovell’s bracelet.

©Kathy Lovell

Leaping effortlessly from Silver to gold. Perfect beads of gold on Alison Freshnay’s Cradled leaf.

©Alison Freshnay

Tiny blobs of gold take us to bold ceramic blobs on Judy Haringtons tactile Yin and Yang.

©Judy Harington

Never underestimate the value of a bold, pink coated, art lover when viewing neutrals.

Then a small black blob is the link to Celia Over’s peaceful print. Moorland Texture

© Celia Over

One last neutral. A detail from a Gill Manning Cox work. Full image later in the week.

The Plymouth Breakwater. Visible from the Royal William Yard the location of the Exhibition.

Two final neutral notes. The exhibition co-ordinator, co-ordinating with the neutral theme, while up a ladder.

The blogger/photographer fighting with sunshine, shadows and shiny surfaces.

#1245 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Drawn to the Valley, Serendipity1 Comment
©Ali Fife-Cook

Green is the Colour to Be by Ali Fife-Cook,our chairwoman, suggests the colour journey today at Drawn to the Valley, Spring Exhibition. Ocean Studios, Royal William Yard, Plymouth.

Followed swiftly on with Spy by Debra Parkinson the exhibition Co-ordinator.

©Debra Parkinson

The greens of Sally O’ Neill’s work brightly demonstrate the quirky nature of this gorgeous space. At different times of day the shadows are just a memory.

May on Links Tor. © Sally O’Neill

From moor to river with Anne Blackwell-Fox and Plymbridge.

©Anne Blackwell-Fox

And then the garden at Aberglasney with Sarah Grace. ( A small detour to Carmarthen but when I need green, I need green . It was almost certainly framed in the Tamar Valley)

©Sarah Grace

And where there are gardens there is a rabbit from Rosemary Wood.

©Rosemary Wood

Before we sweep down to the coast with Hannah Wisdom and her wonderful green seaweed.

©Hannah Wisdom

Before landing at the foot of Smeatons Tower with Jayne Ashenbury.

©Jayne Ashenbury

A green sweep of the Tamar Valley with the Artists of Drawn to the Valley. It took us a little longer to set up the exhibition than usual. 40 artists and the potential of 640 pieces of art arriving. Not everyone submitted their full quota, but it was close. A challenging two day hang completed by a diligent team. One of them wearing green.

#1244 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Drawn to the Valley, Serendipity1 Comment

In praise of red. @theoldmortuary is part of a team running an Art exhibition at Ocean Studios in The Royal William Yard, Plymouth.

Blogs for the next few days will take a peek at the artworks on offer following a colour theme.

First up a blood red, bullet shaped, paperweight from Yvonne Morrissey.

And what better to follow a bullet than a knife.

Strawberry with Knife ©Richard Barry

Followed by 20 shades, including red.

©Mary Toon

Geoff Dodd’s painting, Sunrise at Belliver shows both the glory and the challenges of hanging art in this beautiful,renovated, military warehouse.

Grade II listing makes gallery wires essential. The proportions and light of the spaces combine to create a unique gallery-visiting experience.

©Geoff Dodd

Next, the word red in Christine Smith’s mixed media work.

©Christine Smith

From one bird to another. A Pheasant, resplendently red.

©Kathy George

Not a brace of birds but a trio. Carole Cox created a splendid Electric Blue Cockerel who, as luck would have it has a splendid red wattle.

© Carole Cox

And finally, another Geoff Dodd image hanging with an @theoldmortuary original. Daffodils and Moonflowers.

#1243 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Art for sale, Serendipity1 Comment

Not much time to ponder today as it was set-up day for an exhibition I am involved with.

My last moments prep started at 6am with my own work and then there were the many last minute reshuffles of the stewarding rota. I have a watercolour I have always loved but the title always seemed just beyond my grasp.Until today, I cant imagine who inspired the title…

The Crumpled Crown of a Republican ©theoldmortuary

Finally the four mini pictures were all framed.

And another favourite watercolour was found, after some time being lost. All packed up and ready to be sold.

My Daffodils and Moonflowers found a fabulous wall on which to settle.

And just like them I am settling, right now. A sofa and mint tea, two dogs and a pair of throbbing feet . After a day of being arty farty on unforgiving stone floors, I may not move for some time.

#1242 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment
Bull Lane, Fowey

Which aspects do you think makes a person unique?

What a question! Every cell in our bodies and every experience in life makes us unique.

I am like an old rock. Created by the gift of genes donated by my parents and then shaped by my life experience. Every day I am shaped by the previous day and every day before it. My pleasures and harms altering the way I bend towards the next day. Every person on earth is affected in the same way making us both unique compared to each other and indeed unique compared to ourselves of the past. I would suggest we continue to evolve in unique ways until our last breath. When just like that our uniqueness is altered by the love and memories we left behind. Unique again depending how every person recalls us, both good and bad.

Unique for ever, all of us.

Bull Lane, another back street, explored.

#1241 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Family, Serendipity2 Comments

Mothers Day.

I went to a live music gig earlier in the week to hear Cara Dillon perform tracks from her new album.

It was an unexpected, last minute attendance with my daughter. I had no prior knowledge of what I might be hearing.

Link below to a review of the album.

https://klofmag.com/2024/03/cara-dillon-coming-home-album-review/

https://klofmag.com/2024/03/cara-dillon-coming-home-album-review/

Coming Home was an eloquent and beautiful homage to family and place. Something Irish people do with skill and sensitivity.

Not so, the good people of Essex which is where my heritage and sense of place are rooted.

I came away from the gig enlightened and entranced by the music and the words and very humbled that I have no such ability to show such gratitude and respect to my forbears and place of my upbringing.

Some of the footling about this week with my hybrid photography/printmaking was definitely inspired by the gig.

The green abstract shape in the Tulip picture could be absent forbears or future descendants. Just placing me, represented as quick-to-fade tulips. Frozen in time as just a piece of the family jigsaw. Which of course is exactly what I am. Just a grain of sand in one family’s story.

Sand Dunes

All of my forbears, both close and distant are in another realm, my only purpose on Mothers Day is to celebrate that I am a mother and grandmother to some fabulous humans and remember that there were a whole stack of family members before me. Nothing really regrettable about  that. It is the natural way of a family tree.

I just can’t write amazing words and music to celebrate them. I blame my genes.

©Ruby Light.

Ruby Light Portraits
07779 266914

https://g.co/kgs/U6Ct8ex

#1240 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Devon, dog walks, Hybrid Printmaking, Serendipity1 Comment
The Bents, Bantham ©theoldmortuary

Yesterday was the perfect Spring Day so we set off to a perfect beach for a long meandering dog walk. The beach and surrounding estate were sold over winter.

Sold for an undisclosed sum. The asking price was £30 million

It is alleged that the previous owner had wanted to turn the area into a millionaires play ground. If that is true,that would have been rather sad. Bantham is a spectacular place enjoyed inhabited and visited by regular humans since the Bronze Age.

What makes you laugh?

Now it has to be said that I laugh at most normal things, but the idea of a natural paradise being turned into an unnatural paradise also seems to be so laughable that I can quite see why local people protested with enough vigor to stop such a scheme. I hope the new owners don’t give them cause to protest again. For now all seems peaceful. We paid our £5 parking fee, had the beach mostly to ourselves and the dogs made themselves giddy and exhausted with play and paddling.

I took some deliberately bad photographs to reprocess into Hybrid images and was once again surprised and  puzzled by my results. Just two of my chosen images worked. Jenkins Boathouse turned out pleasingly vibrant.

Jenkins Boathouse ©theoldmortuary

And The Bents, or sand dunes worked out as peacefully mysterious as I planned, but I am unsure if the blue sky or the pink is better.

So I stuck them together and got an entirely different feel.I am learning to enjoy the serendipity of bad photography.

#1239 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Footling About, Procrastination1 Comment
Figs in Space.

There has been some footling about this week.

In my hierarchy of work needs there are 3 stages. Procrastination, diligent effort and footling about.

Procrastination delays essential diligence and footling fills the gaps when the diligence cannot be undertaken.

Figs in Space is the product of footling at the end of the day. I had had a really busy day of admin and meetings. I also need to get ready for an exhibition which starts next week. My diligence in framing and mounting artwork had come to a stop because,unusually for this modern era the mounting kits I had ordered had been delayed in the delivery chain.

I was footling about with many pictures of figs.

The title Figs in Space came to me because my three-year-old son used to shout or use those words constantly after watching the Muppets. Figs in Space was a war cry, the equivalent of adult swearing and sometimes just used as words of exasperation when his three-year-old world was not going in the direction he needed.

Pigs in Space https://g.co/kgs/wM6iY3x

In truth I was using the last of my creative energy on figs because the admin tasks of the day had drained me. Although the meeting was very positive and possibly the cause of my late spike of diligence which had finished me off.

The parcel of mounts arrived just as the sun set. It remains on the floor unopened. Figs in Space was my last work of the day. Even if it was just footling about.