Michael Raedecker at Hauser & Waith

 

Just been to see Michael Raedecker at the Hauser & Waith gallery. His new work is a mixture of paint and embroidery with delicate silvery threads and carefully muted tones. The best pieces were the torn and then restitched canvases of suburban bungalows and if you looked carefully you could spot punctured holes from discarded threads and messily  haphazard stitching. This all served to unsettle the calm stillness and create a sense of disjointed other-worldliness, of fragments from dreams or stills from films long forgotten. Quite lovely...

Cat yoga

what a hard life...

Lush Design obsession

 

We were enjoying a lovely sunny day in Greenwich, when, lo and behold, what should we come across? One of my favourite design shops, Lush, coincidence or what? So much to Stevo's delight we popped in to see what was new and they had these lovely new snail and owl lampshades, perfect as our bedside table lamps. He pointed out we had quite enough Lush products (photographed inside number 74 are: Lush clocks, lampshades, mugs, biscuit tin, cushion and 4 x teatowels... see arrows) and he might be right. 

The Stuff That Matters - Textiles collected by Seth Siegelaub

This was the most beautifully displayed exhibition I have been to in a long while. There was room after room of carefully selected items and they trusted us not to riffle through the layered textiles hung on walls and folded on shelves. Perhaps it was that level of trust that turned the exhibition into a mediation on appreciating the smallness of everyday items. Or maybe it was the quietness of the 18th century building with the light falling through the windows...  Either way it was gorgeous, go and see. 

Introducing (drum roll please) All the Single Ladies!

Let me introduce you to Molly and Pumpkin. I used to refer to us ladies in the house as 'all the single ladies' in honour of Destiny's Child, but it's not quite so applicable now that I've been made an honest woman. Anyhow, we do love them despite their psychological 'quirks' (i.e. waking us up at 5.51am to complain about lack of food). They're rescue cats so that does excuse them, being from a broken family and all....

Quotes that make me happy

Just stop thinking, worrying, looking over your shoulder wondering, doubting, fearing, hurting, hoping for some easy way out, struggling, grasping,…Stop it and just DO!…

Don’t worry about cool, make your own uncool. Make your own, your own world. If you fear, make it work for you – draw & paint your fear and anxiety…

You must practice being stupid, dumb, unthinking, empty. Then you will be able to DO!…

Try to do some BAD work – the worst you can think of and see what happens but mainly relax and let everything go to hell – you are not responsible for the world – you are only responsible for your work – so DO IT. And don’t think that your work has to conform to any preconceived form, idea or flavor. It can be anything you want it to be…

I know that you (or anyone) can only work so much and the rest of the time you are left with your thoughts. But when you work or before your work you have to empty you [sic] mind and concentrate on what you are doing. After you do something it is done and that’s that. After a while you can see some are better than others but also you can see what direction you are going. I’m sure you know all that. You also must know that you don’t have to justify your work – not even to yourself.

Excerpted from a letter from Sol Lewitt to Eva Hesse

What we are is God's gift to us. what we become is our gift to God. Eleanor Powell