Creative Journal: Imagination in Motion
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(Another
Day, Another Blessing...) 27th JUNE 2005
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Yes, I am truly blessed and all those that have the ability to be aware of this statement is also blessed. We are alive! We have Life! We don't own it mind you, but for the moment we are Its guardians and can share in its bounty. Only we can make the choice of how these blessings are utilised... Choice is the only thing that really 'belongs' to us... Yes many things can influence it, even alter it, but at the end of the day that choice is still owned by the chooser. A few days ago quite a large piece of the stone fell off, it wasn't my explicit intention, but the stone had a greater desire for it to happen. Now I am faced with a new decision... Where will it take 'us'? Time will clarify everything. Tomorrow, Life spare and Creator willing, I choose to continue joyfully on this journey of discovery, because it is another chance to live, express and create. I choose to be Thankful... |
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(In
Between This & That...) 26th JUNE 2005
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It was in about 1998 that I rescued this walnut tree from a dishonorable death. In her glorious days she was a stout tree, proud in stature with an afro of deep green leaves. Morning chorus was her gift to all those that passed by. She had been murdered by a neighbour to make way for a drive-in... The sweet smelling rose bushes that flanked her sides also suffered the same fate, their lives ripped out of the soil they had called home for so long and tossed unceremoniously in a skip. I could not let her die that way, she had probably seen more years than I had already known, left well alone she may have outlived most of us humans. My Mum's backyard has been her home since then, but will not be her final resting place. Patiently she has awaited the moment of resurrection. Waiting for a new breath, for more Life, for a purpose of deeper meaning... and there in the corner of my eye her twisted and weathered body, full of stories called me to help her begin to tell them and in that telling, my own will also be orated for all those who wish to listen. She will sing again in time... |
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(Up
Close and Personal...) 24th June 2005
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(The
Awakening...) 22nd JUNE 2005
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(A
Confined Wilderness...) 14th JUNE 2005
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Sometimes it's difficult to share when your not sure who exactly is sharing with you. So, lately I've been quiet... I just want to take it all in, feast on the nutritious delights of my visual world, digesting them to strengthen and invigorate mySelf... Here, in the confines of my Mum's wilderness where all creatures great and small have a good chance of survival; (all that is, except the snails and slugs that bypass the lush greenery to devour her crops) there's so much to take in, but most especially on days like this when nature is busy and the sun deeply penetrates my skin whilst the mild breeze speaks of yesterdays. I remember when I first started out carving in Jamaica. One of my favourite places was under an Ackee tree. There was a small grove of them, punctuated by other fruit trees and one fallen one, which was both my seat and work bench. This was more than just a studio, a large green Iguana also lived there and at lunch time he'd make an appearance for some boiled dumplings and yam. Although I have no photographs of that time, the images are still vivid in my mind. Jamaica is relatively small in comparison to England, but in Xaymaca (the Arawak name for the island meaning 'Land of Wood and Water') there is a definite sense of inter-connected space, wild and tame at the same time. There you not only witness the landscape, but become an integral part of it. In
the confined wilderness of my mind, I am free... |
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(Simple
Complexities...) 7th JUNE 2005
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On the surface, this is just a stone, an inanimate object devoid of Soul or feeling. Nevertheless, whatever you look for you will most definitely find. When I make art, I am in search of the true essence of myself as a reflection of Our world and time. Contemplation whilst working, aided by the rhythmic pounding of tungsten steel against stone sends my thoughts to parallel dimensions. The resonance soothes my mind and as such, releases creative energy. Within this piece of Springstone there are a multitude of textures and densities. There are veins that are hard like iron, that when the mallet strikes the chisel and the chisel the stone, the sounds that reverberate are sharp high pitched. Those areas require focus, strength and determination. Parts seem to be like toughened glass, they will shatter if approached in the wrong way. The brown areas are 'soft' and smooth, almost like compressed talc. Those areas offer little resistance and need a sensitive and tender touch to work them since they 'give' quite easily. Whilst working I must find a balance and work accordingly to the needs of the stone. In this simple complexity, I find a metaphor for Life and living... |
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(Into
the Night...) 5th JUNE 2005
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The relationship is continually developing and the main elements within the carving have already revealed themselves. Focus is now centred on working the forms even more into each other, blending contours into lines so that they will catch and refract the light as well as create shadows that will exaggerate and enhance the neighbouring facets. I move all over, intermittently rotating the stone, constantly changing my standpoint and body position. I use my hands to 'read' the surface, closing my eyes to feel the shapes, depth and fluency; deciphering how and where to edit next; adding more 'descriptions' and removing those unnecessary 'punctuations' that inadvertently break flow of the overall 'text'... Although I work into the darkness, the vision becomes illuminated. Click thumbnails to see larger images, they will appear in a pop-up window. |
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(Life
Grows On...) 3rd JUNE 2005
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New beginnings and never-ever-endings... Individual steps on Life's road have already been taken, but one tree can not make a forest. Our paths constantly intersect, merge, synchronise and sometimes counter the journey of others. A multitude of routes woven into one, each warp and weft co-dependent on the next, a part of the whole. Life is about choices. No action is without consequence; the flutter of a butterfly's wings could germinate into a powerful storm or a tender breeze if the preceding circumstances were right for it... Every present moment is only possible because of all those which have gone before and will, without a doubt, shape what is to come. No-thing is without reason; every-thing has a cause and each cause has its own definite effect; whether we feel it, know it, remember it or not... Life will grow on, regardless of which choices have been made. |
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