Pavement Exhibition

This is another one of Keri Smith's 100 ideas-number 1 in fact, and the one that grabbed my attention the other day on Anairam's blog. The idea is -'Go for a walk. Draw or list the things you find on the sidewalk.' Well I cheated and took photos-captions will be my list. The items are in the order I saw them so it will be as if you are stumbling along with me, staring at the ground. (I do that quite a lot anyway if only to avoid the more unpleasant aspects of a dog's day.) A tiny and worn piece of gold foil which looks to me like a tiny skull. This was my favourite find.

A spray cleaner bottle.

A broken red elastic band.

A block of laminated chipboard.

A quite unpleasant looking rubber glove.

A dried up leaf of 'fatsia japonica'-castor oil plant.

A Ribena carton lurking under a bush.

This fits in that it is on the pavement so I included it!

A temporary traffic light warning sign.

A Wild Bean Cafe coffee cup-squashed.

Something blue and a ringpull.

An unidentifiable aluminium drinks can-flattened.

A tiny green flower-not sure what from.

A small picture of a blue creature.

A section of a Doritos packet.

One page from local newspaper 'The Mercury'

Bright yellow ticket.

Battered cardboard fruit packaging-my second favourite item.

Ridged plastic cup-fawn coloured I think.

Red and white paper item.Abandoned school work.

Plastic carrier bag.

Some drawers, a chair, a bookshelf, quite artfully arranged, for rubbish.

Plastic drinks bottle.

Large sheet of MDF.

Mayfair cigarettes empty packet of ten. I saw four cigarette packets and they were all Mayfair-are people who smoke this brand more messy than other smokers I wondered.

I know this is integral to the pavement but I really like these-the letter, the pattern and the lightbulb shape.

Shandy can-not squashed.

Peace sign in the form of a twig.

Blackened banana skin.

Well, I am not sure how much I liked this exercise because it really made me focus on how much rubbish is on the street-including large items like the furniture. This is only a tiny sampling of what I saw too. I did like one aspect-the largely grey backgrounds to the items and the geometrical shapes of the paving. (two aspects!)

I wrote this yesterday after my walk. Tonight it is snowing-proper big flakes which are lying! I am quite excited and may go out for a quick walk just in case it is gone tomorrow.

Have a good week!

Museum 2

I already have lots of museums of very small things in various boxes. These are some of my favourites. Every so often I will open one and appreciate the little bits and pieces inside and the memories they bring back.

My Dad gave me the beautiful wooden box at the top of the photo and over the years I have filled it with tiny treasures. The two larger turned boxes were made by Dad. He is a wood turner amongst other things. The little duck box was one of the first presents Andy gave me and I love it.

Amongst the contents is Santa from our cakes at home when I was little, a tiny shrine given to me by my friend Louise years ago when I first knew her, a china clown's head which I bought from the bottle shop in Greenwich(one of my favourite shops) and some rattle snake earrings which I would not wear but which make a great sound. Apologies for the quality of the photo below but I wanted to show you what is in the tiny silver shrine. I don't know which saint it is.

Lovely worn Victorian pennies, pretend Roman coins and old 10ps.

There is a tiny fossil in this box, some grey/green moss from Scotland and lots of tiny shells from -I can't remember!

This box has my favourite contents. A Mickey Mouse ring I had when I was about 8. Two nibbled hazelnut shells which I researched and found to be the result of dormice. These are from Scotland also and bring back lovely memories.

The bus ticket is from 1999 but I have no idea why I kept it. The scrabble paper is a sweet wrapper from chocolate scrabble played one Christmas a few years ago.

What do you keep hidden around your house? I would love to have a virtual look!

Museum 1

I was visiting Anairam here. She always has something interesting and inspiring to show and say. A couple of days ago she talked about 100 ideas by Keri Smith, here. I had not heard of Keri and was happy to have found her-thanks Anairam!

Number 31 made me think of things I already have but have not looked at for quite some time. The first one is this board displaying various beach finds. I made a few of these-about ten years ago I think! They are not out anywhere but in a drawer. I still quite like them though. I think the little piece of pot looks Roman-you never know! The piece of beach we used to go to has long since been gated off-I don't know who owns it but whoever it is does not want people on it. It was quite a gloomy spot. It was down some slimy steps in the shadow of a big wall. It felt very Victorian. I did not ever go there on my own. Where we go now is much more open-near the sailing club.

I love this pottery-it reminds me of cake with delicious coffee icing.

The ancient and the modern!

As I went to put this away I looked at the back and the title I gave it 10 years ago was also 'Museum 1' the same as this post. The title is the same but given for a slightly different reason. 'Museum 2' coming tomorrow.

Painting for Milly

This painting is for Milly in Holland. It's her birthday next week. (It might be a bit late!) She is only two so I am going to get her something more fun too. I might call it 'Alphabet Snow'. For some unknown reason blogger is only uploading these photos on their sides. I tried to beat it by turning the originals back the other way but it beat me back. Oh-it's working now. I know they are machines but I swear computers choose whether or not to cooperate.

Lines

A while ago Laume suggested looking out for different kinds of line. I have been doing just that when out on walks. Here are a few I have found... The stark lines and dots of the plane tree contrasted with the chalky line of the aeroplane trail.

The tangled lines of the scaffolding.

The solid feel to the trunks of this line of trees compared to the soft and indistinct appearance of the upper branches.

The powerful and dramatic shape of a pollarded plane.

The geometric feel of the lamp posts as they march off down the street.

Go and visit Laume for some beautiful photos of tiny worlds on raindrops.