Category: Serendipity

#491 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art, SerendipityLeave a comment

Lovely winter daylight in the studio has given me some time to try a landscape that mingles the visual experience of checking out our swimming zone with the physical experience of checking out our zone. In truth we all predict how the swim is going to be in various ways. The Bobbers who cross the Tamar river have an observation that if the river is rough then the sea to the east will be calm. Bobbers from the North of the city travel together but many of them have already met in a park earlier for dog walking when various predictions for the upcoming bob are discussed. Those of us who live closer shiver in our thick winter coats while walking our dogs only an hour before we slip into something briefer to slip effortlessly, we imagine, into the chilly sea. What is the point of this predictive group Pondering, nothing really ever stops a well planned bob. On only one occasion have we taken the easier option of swimming in the tidal pool, and in over two years only a couple of bobs have been cancelled for safety reasons. We actually bob just a minute or two further east from this location but for every bob, we stand looking at this view and try to predict how much pleasure, or not, will be extracted from the days dip. We are rarely disappointed. If I were to paint an ‘after’ painting it would feature non-stop nonsense talking, flasks and many layers of clothing, not necessarily in the correct order.

#486 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn dog walks, SerendipityLeave a comment

This is the little beige dog that is the constant companion to the lighter, brighter, whiter Hugo. Lola was once a dark chocolate dog with milk chocolate brown eyes. The poodle fading gene has caused her to be a completely milk chocolate dog now, so pale we can barely distinguish her white markings. In every way she has been a fabulous companion to both us and Hugo but the determined little face of that dark brown puppy reflects her true character. Today she was determined to share my chocolate croissant. Her poodle nose poking at the brown carrier bag that held it.

Regular croissants are not her thing at all. She can easily sleep through the eating of one of those.

She firmly believes that the beautifully laminated slightly crispy doughy part of a chocolate croissant is hers and I am left with the awkward-to-eat bit that contains the chocolate.

Eating this in the car was a rare treat because we were off to have the car valeted. So the mess that is the consequence of her croissant enthusiasm was all vacuumed away while we did a long dog walk.

While we loved having a clean car inside and out, this is the face of a very disappointed dog who couldn’t find a single crumb to sustain her after her morning walk. We have not yet been forgiven. Hugo has not been forgotten today, but he prefers a plain croissant. They are, after all individuals with their own particular preferences.

#483 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Box, SerendipityLeave a comment

It is not everyday that I turn up to work looking a little like a queen. One of the 3 Armada portraits of Elizabeth I has arrived at the Museum and Gallery where I work. A painting that has stared out of a million history books. The iconic image of a Tudor Queen that is both familiar and yet never actually seen before. Sartorial comparisons may take a stretch of the imagination but to aid the process I took up a queenly pose while working.

While the Queen holds a globe to show how well Colonising was going, I am close a Barbara Hepworth sculpture because it was the only round thing available. In the Armada Portrait we do not see Elizabeth’s shoes but in a painting from a similar time I found her feet.

Tiny Elizabeth feet in flat shoes.
Bigger feet in flat shoes of a simple design not too dissimilar from Tudor shoes.

Elizabeth and I were both wearing predominantly black garments but with peach ribbons and statement necklaces.

Hers were statements of wealth, mine are the opposite. The Lanyard is a modern emblem of employment. My necklace is home made from recycled beads. The thing they have in common is that both my lanyard and plastic beads and Elizabeth’s pearls and silk ribbons are made from traded goods, mine possibly more ethically traded than hers. Which brings us to the backgrounds of both our pictures. In Elizabeth’s picture there are painted scenes of Francis Drakes victory over the Spanish. In my picture the background is filled with objects from the permanent collection of The Box, Plymouth. Without the British victory the world and this wall of acquisitions would look very different today. Below is a link to an explanation of the Armada events

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/spanish-armada-history-causes-timeline

Strange how far Pondering over peach ribbons and beads can take me. Coincidences can be a wonderful thing.

#481 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art, SerendipityLeave a comment

A year ago I was learning some lovely colour exercises while on an on-line course with Tansy Hargan.

http://tansyhargan.bigcartel.com/category/online-courses

On the same day I collected some Mussel shells.

It is only when the both popped up in the same photo file that I thought about putting them together.

Neither photograph was taken with overlaying in mind but this rough little experiment has given me inspiration. I have spent a whole year doing these little colour doodles and wondering how to incorporate them into my work. With the right photographs the doodles will have a new way of being used.

Imaginary backgrounds
Imaginary sketching

I just need to remember where I put the mussel shells a year ago. That may take some time!

#480 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Beach Life, SerendipityLeave a comment

This was the early morning dog walk. Cold, crisp and with a wind blowing in from the east. I had a lot of warm clothes on and a hot black coffee in my hands.

My coffee of choice was the India Kirshnagiri and I was fully enjoying the Dark Berry, Cherry Liquor and Pomegranate flavours which were taking my mind off the fact that just one short hour later, the Bobbers and I would be plunging into those very same waters for pleasure. There really is no accounting for the ways some people get their kicks. The rewards are hot drinks, biscuits and for some of us a hottie.

But back to the coffee, Cherry Liquor is one of the flavours I can still identify after Covid has wrecked my sense of taste and smell. The coffee had all the pleasures of an actual Cherry Liquor without any of the calories. It kept my mind off the water temperature.

#477 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn abstract photography, SerendipityLeave a comment

This morning was a bobbing morning and a small grandchild morning but not a blogging morning. The swim was sharp and crisp in a bright winter sunshine. Everything felt clean and fresh. We were not at an equilibrium, the outside air was 2 degrees cooler than the water temperature. I am still swimming in skin rather than a wetsuit so there is no faffing about really. Just in, then out to get colder and then in and the water feels warmer, not tropical exactly but just a little less cold.

In other news Drawn to the Valley had a Creative Table event at Ocean Studios yesterday.

Extra excitement was caused by the delivery of two old print machines. One was not quite unpacked but here is the badge of the one already installed.

#476 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Peninsular Life, Serendipity1 Comment
Fish Sale on a Cornish Beach- W. Stanhope-Fores 1885. The Box, Plymouth

The Museum where I work has had a spring refresh, lovely new exhibitions for people to enjoy in early 2023. I have loved this painting since I was a young and not because I lived anywhere near the West Country. I must have seen it when a Newlyn School Exhibition came to London in the seventies. This painting is part of the Plymouth Permanent Collection. Obviously it goes off on its travels around the world, but for now it is hanging on the wall of its home gallery. Home is the link to the other picture in this blog. Unlike Fish Sale this one is completely unknown to me and the artist who painted it is not credited. The painting is of the Sir John Hawkins Boatyard in about 1830 The boatyard was demolished in 1962 and I walk on the same location most days. The boats are much smaller and somewhere in the background is the plot of land our house would be built on later in the same century.

The church in the picture was damaged and later demolished in the second world war but the grey building on the horizon still exists. I don’t think I have ever lived in the background of an oil painting before. I buy coffee and bread from behind the boat with the flags. The boats I look out while enjoying my coffee are not quite so fancy. The built environment is hugely changed, but the winter sunsets for all who worked in those dockyards would have been a lot like this.

#470 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment

Today’s late blog is late because the planned blog did not go to plan. I had an early start this morning and a lazy evening last night so there was no back up plan. The 3rd of February is an insignificant date @theoldmortuary but a trawl through past photos taken on the 3rd of February have a strange coincidence. In recent years the footpaths and fields of our Cornish lives had become quite difficult to navigate as winter rains make the ground underfoot muddy and slippery. By February I was pretty intolerant of me and the dogs being grubby after every walk. Sometimes I would seek a more urban environment with tarmac paths in parkland. Devils Point in Plymouth was often my choice because there was also good coffee at Hutong.

Hutong 2018

And fabulous views.

Devils Point 2021

Of course between these two photos Covid struck and that changed everyone’s lives. By February 2021 we had evolved into the sort of people who loved to swim, year round in the sea. Not something we could achieve safely near to our home in Cornwall. By late 2021 we were living in Stonehouse, a quick walk to the coffee shop, the swimming area and the beautiful views. The beautiful flowers, Cafe Au Lait dahlias, were left in Cornwall.

#468 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Food ( but this is not a food blog), Serendipity1 Comment

Good morning February, two pretty pictures from the last day of January a couple of years ago at Watergate Bay in North Cornwall.

I’m improvising with illustration because the actual ponder is brief and not a pretty sight.

I use a grater fairly often, almost always without injury. But twice now when creating a Vegetarian meal I have grated off a tiny sliver of index finger skin. Honestly you couldn’t make this up, the last meal of Veganuary and I add some inadvertent flesh. Is it cheating if I eat my own flesh?

Thank goodness for dogs on beaches.

#466 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity1 Comment

I was struggling a little bit to ponder on this Monday morning. Caused, in part by failing to drink the first cup of tea of the morning in a timely manner. The chill in the air had caused it to cool quickly and I had missed the perfection point. The first cup of the day is important and today I have missed that moment. Thankfully the first coffee has no such temperature requirements.

I missed the moment because I was trying to get my head round the privelidged shenanigans of our current government.For those not in this particular loop a minister who was once responsible for the countries tax affairs has been found to have been avoiding tax paying himself.

I would have been better off concentrating on my tea. After my early morning disappointment I took a little look at 30th of January photos of the past and found to my delight one of my favourite pictures. Sunflowers simply wrapped in newspaper, placed as a memorial in a church in Havana..

This is very fortutuitous as my only photo of yesterday was very loosely also a newspaper story. On my Sunday wanderings, the dogs took a pee on a copper noticeboard. The sort of place that must be sniffed and investigated before being anointed with another small squirt of Hugo pee. Lola prefers to leave her news at the base.

The angle of sunlight perfectly illuminated dog news. Rarely visible to humans this is a chance encounter with canine communication. I had no idea how to weave this image into a blog, but as is often the case, serendipity did my work very conveniently.

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