Snapped this from my train window as I headed home from work tonight. It felt like Spring for a little bit there, but now the sky has clouded over and it looks like it will rain at any moment. But that’s okay! The taste of Spring for those few moments was enough to sustain me.
Oh my! We have made it to the end of the week and I think that this might have actually been the longest day ever! Tomorrow I’m going to a class at Somerset House, I am so excited. I am going to learn the art of Shibori, which is a series of Japanese dying methods, that involve manipulating the fabric before you dye it to create patterns. I am also going to see the Boro exhibition. See Somerset House’s write-up below:
This April Somerset House will host an exhibition on the Japanese textile tradition of boro. Translated to ‘rags’ in English, boro is the collective name for items – usually clothing and bed covers – made by the poor, rural population of Japan who could not afford to buy new when need required and had to literally make ends meet by piecing and patching discarded cotton onto existing sets, forming something slightly different each time they did so. Generations of Japanese families repaired and recycled fishermen’s jackets to futon covers, handing them down to the next and weaving their own sagas and stories through the threads.
Boros are seen to have significant sociohistorical status by providing an insight into the modest lives of those that made them and a snapshot of the country’s impoverished past. Boro will showcase 40 historic boro pieces in a new light within Somerset House’s East Wing Galleries from a collection never before displayed and compiled over six years by antiquarians Gordon Reece and Philippe Boudin.
In the cold climate of northern Japan, cotton could not be cultivated and for the largely poor population that lived in the rural landscape there, it was an expensive luxury to transport it to them. When boats arrived to the northern ports from south of Osaka, they were carrying discarded cotton from the central coastal cities where it was more affordable to commoners but only available in shades of blue, grey, black and brown – colours permitted to them under strict sumptuary laws of the period (more opulent colours were the reserve of the aristocracy). Here they could trade the pieces of cotton for fish or seaweed, taking them home to be patched onto worn-down workwear or frayed futon covers. As Japan’s society shifted towards industrialisation and urbanisation in the early twentieth century, the patchwork practice faded and many boros were simply thrown away, acting as a painful reminder of a poverty-stricken past.
Despite still being looked upon unfavourably in Japan today, boros have now become highly collectible in Western cultures. After almost a century of being boxed up or buried away, they are now being brought back into society but this time as a decorative rather than durable and practical piece.
I am thrilled to go on this course. I have been reading about Shibori techniques for a while now and this will be a wonderful opportunity to do it firsthand.
I hope that you have a wonderful weekend wherever you may be.
We ushered in April today and I can’t believe we are already 4 months in to this new year. This was a picture I snapped over the weekend. It is one of the many trees in full bloom in Regent’s Park. When the wind blew and the blossoms floated off, it looked like a miniature snowstorm.
I am a Radiohead fan. I have an old concert t-shirt of theirs I stole from Mr. Michie many many moons ago, it is perfectly soft. He is an even bigger Radiohead fan and so he smiled sweetly and closed his eyes when I played this for him this chilly Saturday morning, found via The Fox is Black.
I have a film to finish editing this weekend that will go on display along with 14 other films in St. John Smith’s Square Music Hall this week. It is an abstract film that will accompany the symphony. It has been an interesting process for me as I have never made a piece of abstract film before. I will post the film and share more on that soon.
Oh, the weekend! Those two words: THE WEEKEND, hark so gloriously to my ears. This week has been insanely busy, with more than a few late nights. It is funny to think that the place you call home, the place you spend time creating as an oasis is sometimes the place you spend your least amount of time in. I have spent more time outside of my house than in it this week. Hmm, I think this work/life balance thing needs some reconsideration.
We plan to do a lot of walking this weekend, a little coffee drinking, a bit of shopping as I am working on putting together some surprise packages and a lot of delicious eating and being in each other’s company. Being with Mr. Michie makes me happy.
Magnolia liliiflora, or as I have always called them Japanese or sometimes tulip magnolias practically line a particular street that I stroll down on my walk to school in the morning.
They are all in full bloom and every single one, is this blushing creamy, pinky, purpley hue. They are dazzling to see. The ground is strewn with their petals. I feel guilty walking across the delicate fallen who mark my path. They look almost sacred as if they line the pathway to a mountain temple where a little Buddha sits in waiting.
We took a stroll through Regent’s Park today and the trees were full of blossoms. When the wind blew, the blossoms fluttered away in a swarm all around us, like delicate pink snowflakes. We were in a snowstorm of Spring.
It was chilly this morning and a mist hung heavenly in the air, clinging to anything it touched and shrouding the world around me like a fine lace.
My train pulled into the platform and the driver hadn’t even turned on the lights yet. It made my ride very atmospheric, as we go through a number of tunnels. The darkness was calming, I could have just kept on riding, listening to my tunes and watching the world go by. I snapped a few photographs of the mist as we rode along, it was a magical morning.
This was my view tonight as I was heading home. I had one errand to run and then I dashed off to the train. We’re in the homestretch now, tomorrow is Friday, which heralds the ending of the week and the beginning of two whole days just to ourselves.
There was a bit of light this morning when I left for work. I could see the cows lazing in the pasture on the dew laden grass as the train scooted by. The air was chilly, you could see their breath hanging above their soft heads. The fields were covered in mist, that ribboned around the trees, giving the pasture a haunted appearance. All the signs of Spring coming to England.
After rain for much of the day, the skies cleared on my journey home and soft peach and pink and lemon yellow clouds filled the sky.
As the train whirred by I snapped these photos, all in a blur and haze, which is how I mostly see the world on my train travels.
This was my Good Morning.
This was my Good Night.
The first 4:45 wake-up in over a week! I don’t know what was worse, the fact that the alarm was going off or that I was lying there waiting for it to happen, watching the minutes slowly tick away.
It was cool here this morning and something happened in my week off, the sky has started to brighten earlier than before. One week ago it was still dark on my journey in, this morning the sky was ribboned with pale blues, blush pinks, violet purples, mangos and gold. Spring is coming!
It was a long day back, the first day always is. I stayed late, got caught in rush hour tube traffic. I was pushed, smushed and stomped on. I’m telling ya mean people are MEAN! I then had to walk home in the rain and got absolutely soaked through! Well it can only getter better from here, right? RIGHT!
P.S. This was my calendar page this morning, it made me smile! I hope it makes you smile too!