Just a bit of a blue sky ponder while we get on with chores in an industrial estate. Significantly the campervan needed its roof properly cleaned to remove the sap from being parked under trees. Coxside a 21st century industrial estate does not have the glamour or flawed history of the past.
But it does have an excellent Bikers Cafe where we can while away the hour it takes to remove sap. Serendipity gave me this absolute gift of an image. A biker taking a long drag on his very long pipe.
Men and women would have been smoking pipes like this in this area since the 16th century while taking a break from whatever trade they worked hard at. A bit of digital tweakery and the 21st Century Bikers’ gear becomes a little bit of history.
And he can conjure even more history from the smoke of his pipe.
An Easter weekend of socialising and doing yardening jobs meant that the jobs were all done, but the resulting need to visit the tip was put off until yesterday. Which turned out to be a gift from the Goddess of Serendipity.
Yesterday was the 250th anniversary of the birth of JMW Turner, the artist whose works are the inspiration for the next exhibition I am entering. On the drive to the tip I listened to the radio and two very interesting women were discussing both his work and the changes that he caused in the critical thinking of Landscape painting.
JMW Turner was a regular visitor to Saltram House in Plymouth, as well as the wider Tamar Valley area. His work is held in collections the world over. In London Tate Britain holds not only a collection of his works but his papers, sketches and other items
The Turner Bequest comprises the majority of Joseph Mallord William Turner’s works at Tate. It was established after the artist’s death in 1851 and includes nearly 300 oil paintings and around 30,000 sketches and watercolors. The collection is now housed in the Clore Gallery at Tate Britain.
One such item is the sketch below,
And where was I as I listened to this…
Chelson Meadows Recycling Centre (Tip). Definitely at Saltram
…at a tip, on the site of an old quarry. Definitely at Saltram. From famous English Romantic Painter to the distinctly unromantic dumping of a stinky, old, water butt.
I marked the serendipitous moment with two photographs, one an image I meddled with.
And the other an image of the most optimistic placement of a chair to sit and take in the view.
The chair is just under the red star. High tide visits only and only by using a small boat. 250 years on, what would Mr Turner make of his Quarry location?
An article in Saturday’s Guardian gave me a great name for my Hybrid photographs + watercolours. My images do not set out to fool anyone , they are just part of my creative process. But this article gave me a rather fabulous name.
Some will become Hybrid Printmaking, but meddled or indeed meddling suits my style rather well.
I deliberately meddled with a picture of Tinside Lido because I was late to the party and my plan to picture it in its winter grubbiness was foiled by it being cleaned earlier in the week. It is also still clad in the bric a brac of builders who are rebuilding and refurbishing the Art Deco Lido. My before shot is meddled with. The after image will be whatever it will be once the builders move out.
Meddling, not in a bad way and certainly not to fool anyone.
Not exactly four seasons in one day but almost. A very chilly start in Plymouth. Followed by a couple of hours of basking below The Hoe, in bright sunlight with too much caffeine, the right amount of nattering and laughter. Watching boats near the Lido.
Before returning to our yard to work off the caffeine in a yard that has declared Spring very much here with buds and blooms and sharp shadows.
Before rain chased us indoors. Then off to the Tennis Club to enjoy the views and rehearsals for Sri Lankan New Year. Coats were definately needed. But worse was to come…
Woolly hats were needed for the evening dog walk. April. What are you doing to us
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