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.

#845 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment

Hitting a deadline early.

There was a clear plan this morning, get up, always a great start to the day, walk the dogs, decide which prints would be framed for next week’s exhibition. Then submit them before today’s 5 pm deadline. Write the blog then  set about  choosing, framing and mounting the other prints that I am exhibiting. This time next week will be a frantic two days of receiving all the work to be exhibited, building, curating and hanging the works that  the printers have submitted for exhibition.

The fact that I am at the blog stage of the day before 10 am is both a miracle and rather satisfying.

Focussing the mind was achieved quite unexpectedly at a Gelliprinting workshop yesterday. I had forgotten the pleasure of sitting in a space with other artists all trying to harness the techniques of a particular process.

Covid made online teaching improve exponentially and I have loved being in classes with people from all over the world in a virtual art space. I had also forgotten the value of being in the same space with other artists

I have struggled with Gelli printing at home, everyone online seems slick but my attempts were nowhere near slick. I have been a bit disheartened to be honest. Irritated with the flicky hand dexterity of Youtube demonstrators who produce joyous images, seemingly effortlessly. 

Then a friend arranged an informal workshop in a light-filled village hall. 13 of us all failing to completely tame the beast of a gelliplate, but failing together and then lifting each other with tips and advice. A Gelligang, all of us failing a little bit because failure is part of the creative process. The value of failure is harder accept  in the echo chamber of our own workspaces at home. But doing it together makes it easier to learn from.

Tea and cake helps too, as does arty natter, especially when it carries on through the cubicle doors of the toilets. Pearls of wisdom from anonymous women as they pee.

Big thanks to Anne Crozier for organising.

@theoldmortuary

#844 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Words2 Comments

I can be a bit grumpy when a word gets misused, literally is one such word which is both over used and inappropriately used at times. It was a surprise to me to find a whole new word this week that sounds the same.

Littoral…

But before I get onto my new word an anecdote about being taken literally.

I had talked to a patient for a little while who was about to have a breast examination. To conclude the chatting part of the appointment I said, while gesticulating to a stool in the corner of the room.

” O.K that’s lovely, if you could just pop your top on there, we can get on”

I gave her a moment while I finished writing my note. When I looked up she was nowhere to be seen.  When I stood up there was an awkward sight.

She had knelt on the floor and arranged her two naked breasts on top of the stool.

Which is a huge amount more interesting than my littoral story.

Which involves a large bug . You can’t possibly know that he was a large bug because I failed to put another object in the photo for scale. He was probably as long as a finger. Google lens tells me he is a Bilge Bug or Sea Slater and he lives in the littoral zone. Bilge bugs live for three years. Every day is literally a school day.

#843 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Interior Design2 Comments

Yesterday the last piece of our accidental style of interior design arrived. We have lived in this house for nearly 3 years. Having designed every inch of the actual Old Mortuary ourselves, it has been a challenge living in a house designed by someone else with the express purpose of selling the house. Obviously their strategy worked, as we bought it . Most of the house was refurbished very sympathetically to its 150 year old bones. The family bathroom, not so much. The bathroom was an industrial fantasy of communal bathing. A grey homage to the interior design of the Starship Enterprise. If the bridge of the Enterprise had a crew bathroom where the crew could go for off duty fun that was exactly our bathroom. The shower and the bath can comfortably hold 4 people.

It has been a head-scratcher of a project, made all the more complex by every house plant we own choosing to live in the bathroom as a reference to death. The plants obviously softened the look but without ripping out everything and starting again we have been a bit lost.

Reading this book was our lightbulb moment.

Beata says that the secret to living in an old house is to represent every era that the house has lived through when you redecorate and redesign.

We replaced the industrial grey flooring with soft green Victorian Tiles. Bought an Art Deco mirror on Facebook Marketplace.

And yesterday took delivery of a Nathan mid-century modern turntable unit , with a drop-down door and sliding-out shelves. Which makes a perfect bathroom cabinet and plant holder. Thanks to ebay and HookeandTaylor.

https://www.instagram.com/stories/hookeandtaylor/3320946114200509313?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igsh=YXF0ZzU4bWI2OTEx

I’m not certain which of these two retro pieces is the game changer for the room but the turntable cabinet warms my heart more than I imagined. My parents were mid-century modern sort of people and owned a whole room of this Nathan furniture. When they died I was not able to house any of it and gave it all to a distant relation. But their love of this furniture and my Dad’s obsession with his record collection and Hi-fi equipment made me know exactly what was needed as a quirky and safe bathroom cabinet. ( We have three grand-daughters for whom the bathroom is their happy place) Nobody under 10 will work out that the door is a drop-down rather than the usual side opening.

No more head scratching for us. The bathroom has a new personality and the plants are very happy.

#842 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Family, Serendipity4 Comments

My random blogging suits the way I ponder life. Back in January, I followed a challenge to accept a prompt every day and incorporate the prompt into ponderings. Initially, I dreaded the prompts but 31 days of a very dull month, with prompts, taught me a little bit. By using the prompts WordPress shares my blog a little wider than my usual small group of followers. I have since gained a few more.  There are prompts available year-round and I suppose I use about 1 a week in ordinary circumstances. So it is unusual for me to use two in a weekend. I was about to ignore this morning’s prompt but it could work on Mother’s Day.

Write a letter to your 100-year-old self.

Congratulations old thing, you made it to 100. 100 years of being an imperfect human, mother, grandmother and friend. Following a delightful female inheritance of not being a stereotypical perfect woman. Sometimes barely even making the grade of ‘ good enough’ which was exactly the standard you set yourself.

Enjoy 100 and beyond, Perfection is over-rated.

Xx

I have two children and three grandchildren. I have been the oldest woman in their maternal line for nearly 30 years. So not just their mum but the oldest woman in their Matriarchy.

Just like beautiful weeds they did just fine, better than fine as we muddled along with no elder wisdom.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers who just make it up as they go.

#841 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Colour4 Comments

In the nineties, I had a colour assessment. It was a nineties thing. The whole experience was really interesting and very positive Fabric swatches of myriads of colour shades were placed on my shoulders along with metallics from the whitest silver to the warmest bronze.

I was assessed to be a Soft Summer person. The experience pushed me to think about the colours I choose to wear. At the time and until fairly recently I wore a uniform for my work so not so many hours in the week to exercise free will.

There was one problem with my assessment. I didn’t feel like a soft summer person. I felt more vivid than that. I don’t remember the other categories but in my own mind I am High Summer with a splash of black. The other problem is that row of blues. Beyond denim and navy I cannot ‘get’ blue and blue does not ‘get’ me. The nineties moved on and the colour swatches slipped to the back of the draw. Out of sight but not out of mind. Until the menopause when my hormones ebbed away and  being vivid faded to black. Which coincidentally was the unofficial uniform of the academic art world I had slipped into.

The nineties are a while ago. Colour assesments are back, in the hands of brilliant young women, and some men who  want to help women and men feel confident in the clothes they wear. Instagram is the place to go for their wisdom and inspiration.

30 years on and the fashion world and me are in a very different place. I always dabbled in the joy of a charity shop find but now second-hand or pre-loved is the way I go for the good of our planet and because it suits my creativity. Less is more.

Which takes me to the question of the day.

Where would you go on a shopping spree?

After 6 years of being hugely more mindful of the planet when buying clothes or decorating my home. I would almost certainly decline the offer of a shopping spree in traditional box-fresh or brand-new environments. A second-hand furniture warehouse or house clearance depot would be my thing or a different town with the best second-hand  shops. An eBay scroll is as close to a giddy shopper as I get Not so much a spree, more of a meander.

No longer in my early thirties, I have embraced Soft Summer. Apart from the blues. I still can’t get on with the blues. Flashed of vivid and black replace the blue line. Soft Summer in the tropics, perhaps. Funny how something I did on a whim 30 years ago has sat in the back of a drawer and the back of my mind, never really a guiding thought,but always right all along. My many fashion faux pas were always off the chart!

Sprees, they are not for me. But a meander, looking for a preloved gem of gorgeousness. That would do very nicely thank you.

#840 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Bobbing, Stonehouse1 Comment

Yesterday was for the greatest part both busy and effective but my painting and printing were off -the- scale awful. Nature showed me how to be creative with beauty and subtlety. For about ten minutes I was treated to an ever changing milky sunset.

Meanwhile one of our occasional bobbers, and other Plymouth singers were in London making a noise

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/07/no-drilling-climate-choir-sings-truth-power-parliament?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

It must have been a fabulous time experience to sing in that massive, Gothic space even for just ten minutes. If you read the article the intent is massively important but was achieved in a very eccentrically English way, with Architecture as the code word.

A quirky achievement  to  preserve evenings like this, when life is better than art.

#839 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Art for sale, Serendipity1 Comment

Playing the parking lotto got me a big win yesterday. But I have to play against my better judgement. Normally I am an early bird shopper, but if I need to park in the old part of the city the parking charges work against me. Arrival before 9 pm and the meters are still on the overnight tariff. Rather expensive. Arrive soon after 9, and everyone is in a parking mood. The best plan is to arrive mid-morning after the first wave of early birds is done. I am an early bird, leaving things until mid-morning is not my thing.

Yesterday at 11 am I got a two hour, FREE, parking space next to the printers who were printing my C*****mas cards. Two hours free for a five minute job is a fabulous achievement. I was giddy with excitement. Even better I had done all the domestic admin prior to my arrival. What a gift.Time on my hands with no ticking meter. The sun was out and the dogs needed a walk.

Which took me to a Plymouth institution for lunch. Cap’n Jasper’s and their famous 1970’s smoked glass mugs.

The mugs disappeared for so long after Covid, I worried that they had been replaced forever by something less iconic. A twenty pence deposit is returned when you take the mug back. Albert gave me a look and the 20 pence was not returned to my pocket.

Tea finished.

And it was time for the main event. A bacon butty with fried onions.

An unexpected lunch out and still an hour of free parking left. I figured I could walk to my next planned destination, an art materials shop and the library. The sun was out, it was a bit of a walk, but both of the destination tasks were quick.

Back to the car with five minutes to spare…

The parking spot was only actually free for an hour. Who’s the idiot now.

But I had not been caught.

Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! * I chortled in my joy.

I had saved £3.60 and spent £20, 2 hours of unexpected pleasure in the sun. A lovely bit of old boat on the way.

And still some afternoon printing achieved.

* words of celebration from Jabberwocky by Lewis Carol.

#838 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Beach Life, Bobbing, Serendipity1 Comment
Firestone Bay in the sun at 5 pm.

No late blogging today. Obviously for regular readers there is a clue to the repetitive nature of today’s blog. But as so often happens a ponder has emerged from the repetition that takes me off in an unexpected direction. There was a small pod of dolphins sleeping in the bay, roughly where the sea changes colour. Every now and then a dolphin broke the surface of the water. Sunshine and water, why wouldn’t I share the news with all my swimming friends. I put this image on our Bobbers Whatsapp group. A bobber then replied with this image, of where she is currently dipping her toes.

© Angela Bobber

What an uplifting pair of pictures. A visual call and response.

The minute I typed, call and response I thought I should check my thinking.

This kind of visual call and response happens a lot on the Bobbers WhatsApp group. Tranquility Bay is our ‘home’ but if a bobber dips into other waters and gets a great photo then a picture pops up for everyone to enjoy. Nearly always with a comment that a swim at Tranquillity Bay will be much appreciated when the bobber returns from their glossy holiday bobbing.

Funny that I would use a shanty term to describe photographs of the sea. It must be the ebb and flow, the rhythm of  flisvos*

Meanwhile the sun is rising and I must be up and about and printing.

*

#837 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Art for sale, SerendipityLeave a comment

How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success?

I failed to write an early blog today, hopefully this apparent failure will set me up for later success, now, as I gather my words. Blogging at a snails pace I believe. There are many reasons I should have got my printing on the go more than a month before the exhibition opens. Today is a case in point. Real life still goes on, cars and vans need servicing and M.O.T’s. Life admin needs attending to and dogs need walking. Then the sun popped up in the studio and printing embellishment needed to be embellished.

Some embellishment is just a bit of type writing and a little bit of twinkle.

My mother would be ashamed,  she was a very accomplished typist. Speed and accuracy. I am slow and inaccurate. Good enough in the digital world of a laptop but truly I have sausage fingers on my old typewriter. Sometimes I forget the gap between words. Either a whole mistress piece goes in the bin or I have to hope that people are charmed by my typos.

#836 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity3 Comments

You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence?

The sun was shining.

Just about everything in life feels more tolerable if the sun is shining. I was born in mid-November in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, so my first three months were spent being sun-deprived. Since that dreary start in life, I have been a gatherer or snatcher of sunshine moments. Two days ago sunshine at 5 pm was such a huge treat, I celebrated with an ice cream despite an outdoor temperature of 5 degrees. My dad was an enthusiastic gatherer of good weather. On mixed weather days, he was jubilant if he had achieved something in the sunny bits.

” Well” he would say, in a happy way. ” I think we have had the best of the day”

Subconsciously I must have adopted his way of thinking. Using sunshine moments wisely is a bit of an imperative, especially in the Winter months when they are in short supply. My early morning dog walk yesterday featured sunshine and a lifeboat.

The best of the day achieved early.