Some impressions from our garden as summer is coming to an end… it was raining a lot as of late and temperatures have been dropping below 10°C at night. I am busy almost every day, collecting herbs, seeds and flowers for different purposes. My room is thus looking like an extension of our garden… full of herbs hung up or laid out for drying.
I will be attending and participating in the London MAGICAL ART/E, a circular tower of an event this weekend. The happening takes place at St. Augustine’s tower, Hackney, London, providing a unique location for performances and exhibitions. Coming with me are 20 photo prints from the Listen to the Silence series as well as prints of my drawings and abstract sigil art. Below is a photo of the tower.
In a moment of clarity I snapped my camera and went down to the park, photographing the ivy and barren trees until the sun was setting, which was 233 images later and that was also when I ran out of battery. My fingers and feet had actually been freezing way earlier but that was secondary as my focus was on different things: the more you look the more you see and the more I was photographing the more I was discovering… It has not been like that for a while that I could be with the trees and vine and see them and listen to them. Respective there has been music on my mind all day, whereas the trees stood silently, but hearing is not always about hearing as much as seeing doesn’t always have to do with the eye… so what what did the senses sense or what did -I- sense? Usually it’s an overload. Nature’s silence can be very loud and powerful at times… That’s what is worked through and recapitulated later, when examining, picking out and enhancing the photos, finding forms and structures, whereby listening to the music that had been on my mind all day… Each photo in this post is representative of a row of similar photos, but for convenience I chose 20 of them to share here. And I leave them untitled this time around…
Before I was listening to old and new stuff by Hole. I could never get into this band, but since New Year’s Eve it caught my attention and now bought a record this evening.
Stay hungry. It worked for Michelangelo, it worked for Picasso, and it works for a hundred thousand artists who do it not for love (although that may play a part) but in order to put food on the table. If you want to translate the world, you need to use your appetites. Does this surprise you? It shouldn’t. There’s nothing as human hunger. There’s no creation without talent, I give you that, but talent is cheap. Talent goes begging. Hunger is the piston of art. That little girl I was telling you about? She found hers and used it. – Stephen King, Duma Key
Reading on the train. Arriving at the hotel I suddenly feel sick and have to vomit. Can’t eat for 3 days. Slowly the hunger is back. Temperance comes after the death card. Happy New Year everyone.
Reflecting upon this year, taking a few notes and posting them here on my blog. I’ll focus on the positive stuff. I wave goodbye to the leeches and say Hello to those that approach me for serious business. I swallow the bitter stuff and make something sweet of it…
There is a tree of new beginnings, a tree that is much connected to the state that occures after severe clearcuts and profound desolation: the Birch.
It has been there for the past three years, or perhaps even longer, always when it was about time to make some long-needed changes, both on a personal as well as outward level. It is a tree that grows in places and under conditions, where others seldom dare to exist and which provides the foundation for others to thrive on, who does not only give but also facilitates new birth. A pioneer, which has its darker edges too. It is one tree I had to witness being cut down and mutilated by humans, when it would “take away too much of the sun”. A tree I share one or two scars with and that reminds me of my own limitations and weaknesses, delusions and misconceptions. But it is also a tree that teaches swiftness when you carry too heavy, advices you to be in control of your own destiny and reminds you to clean up and cast overboard all the unneeded stuff and hindrances. I am calling and listening to the Birch, seeking counsel and advice on changes that may need to be done in 2014.
Meanwhile new seeds are being sown and new growth it shall bring. Likewise other plants, the perennial ones, now barren yet not dead, keep growing and developing, whilst I continue working on new and old art pieces. Time flies. Fast. The work I do now provides the fundament for what I will do in the future.
So long, here’s wishing you a blessed longest night of the year. Whatever you do, be it a huge fire or just using this time for personal regeneration and meditation. Be well. And do what you can to help others be well to.
Some weeks ago I met Eddie and his owner for taking portrait photos. I like the idea of portraying animals, who are loved and taken good care of. Eddie turns out a very lovely and handsome creature, however quite determined when seeing any food and immovable when he prefers to take a nap in the sun. It was a joy watching him roll between leaves and finally trotting home – on his own. Eddie is a Bergsträßer Zwerg (a German breed of minipigs), six years old and currently has a little overweight, which however is probably not unusual before the winter. He is used to taking walks in the park, loves to eat turkish hazel, peanuts, apples and cherries amongst others. Above are a few snapshots from our photoshoot.
If you wish to have photos taken of yourself or your pet you can get in touch via contact@wr-photography.com
Note:You may not alter or repost these photos without my written permission. Thanks for looking!
Today I hade a little rendezvous with Eddie. You wonder who Eddie is? Well, Eddie is a little pig. 🙂 And today I met him for a photoshoot in the park. But before these pictures go online here a few snapshots of this beautiful autumn day, which was probably the last for this year. Enjoy the colors!
Wiebke Rost 