It’s quite architectural I think, but its got to stop (hasn’t it?). The printer error is close to obscuring the address so we had better clean up its act!
I put a little note on for the postie who is doing the round for our fan while he is away. I hope it cheers them up.
And no I haven’t photographed the reverse side of the envelope upside down – the annotation explains it.
Another miraculous silk purse from a sow’s ear – no that is not the right metaphor. There must be a saying that sums up finding a sapphire ring in a pig pen. Another fine sapphire from a pig pen! This morning, for the first time, I was wishing I had never started this project. I was down in the dumps with no confidence and an idea for today’s piece that I really didn’t have any faith in when I had a little idea just pop in and immediately I jumped up and created something pretty special and something which caused me to do some prep for some other things as well as deciding to develop some other work from it. I have no idea where it came from and it was sort of a cheating way to make the idea that wasn’t going to work (and which I would have spent a lot of time on before accepting that it wasn’t any good) have a speedier and easier resolution. Then it just took off and I knew immediately it was going to work and was worth the effort. All that was said in one excited breathless breath!
Anyway the postman who is supposed to be a fan is on holiday: thus the exchange above!
I popped into Bridport Arts Centre today to buy some tickets and was told that the postman had said I would have to reduce the amount of writing on the outside of the envelope – it is holding him up on his round reading it! So today I put a little hello to the post people to thank them for the good work they do. Just like I used “gotten” the other day to better fill the space, today I have used “postperson” instead of “postie”, the non-gender-specific term I decided on some time back, because it looked better visually.
As you can see the printer problem has returned with a bang and we have Violet Lines appearing again. I’m going to play with some photos before I make it go away.
I really have little to say about posting No112. The printer didn’t play up as much as I feared and There could have been a disaster with the sealing wax which I have written about on the back:
Oh dear, the print problem is back with a vengeance. The bright side is that I can see what random effects it may cause on some photographic images – it’s worth the risk of a little wasted paper (or collage material as I prefer to call it!) However, I feel it may have gone far enough on the envelopes of this project!
Well the number 111 should be important. Why don’t we celebrate the 111th anniversary of things with equal vigour to the 50th say? I seem to remember (or guess?) that there is something in the Kabbalah and it is the NHS number. (The word count after I typed NHS popped up as 111! How spooky is that? Well it’s not really spooky is it? I don’t usually notice the word count when it refreshes but as I was on the subject I, naturally, was alert to it.) It is the birthday upon which Bilbo Baggins set off on his travels so Tolkien fans might celebrate the eleventy-first of things, It is of course most powerful in cricket, where a score of 111 is known as a Nelson (erroneously after Admiral Lord Nelson who had only one eye, one arm but two legs) and is thought to be unlucky. It is remarkable (spooky) how often a wicket falls at 111 (or a multiple) – probably the same number of times as one does at 109 or any other nearby less-memorable number
And there are jottings on the back of this one about the printer problem and how much I like the work inside:
I’m not referring to the shadow rabbits that have appeared here but the fact that somehow I have managed to magic up a good piece of work even though I have been really down today and barely able to do anything. It took a while to do and longer to find a way in to it and I wasn’t confident I would pull it off but it’s come out well in the end, very well.
I am quite tempted to let the printer problem develop further. I like the way this little wave of chaos is reasserting itself, just like a shipwreck or a cliff fall will alter the formation of a beach until the sea slowly sorts it out and gets it back neat like it wants. I also wished i had done some more experiments with printing things with the blocked nozzle last time. So we will see how it is tomorrow.
Then there is the back of the envelope and that is going in dangerously silly ways. I have always loved names (it is probably something to do with the rather pedestrian name I was graced with) and have” collected” place names at various times for their history, their humour, their story and so on. I have also made up place names, especially descriptive names for places along the route of my local walks. So many place names have been lost because of the breakdown of communities and the increase in roads as the main byways and highways. I like to redress the balance a little. I also like to make up people’s names. Had i chosen to be a writer I would never have been short of good names. So who knows where the back of today’s envelope will lead? Perhaps I will have to get a person’s name on the back? I am reminded of Joseph Heller’s “Is there anybody in the john, Milton?” (There is something willing me to go and fins the quote to see if I have the punctuation – well any of it – correct!!!)
That’s not true actually: it’s not the words that have failed me but my will. I have the words and I have the ability to string them together quite well but I just can’t be bothered. It is warm and sticky and I am tired and my enthusiasm for writing has wilted away. Luckily I did the art part earlier on else this would have had to carry an advisory on quality!
Today’s piece was created and posted in Birmingham (although the printed elements of the envelope were prepared yesterday in advance) and the picture above was taken in Victoria Square on the wall of the pool where some words from Burnt Norton, one of the Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot are carved:
And the pool was filled with water out of sunlight,
And the lotos rose, quietly, quietly,
The surface glittered out of heart of light,
And they were behind us, reflected in the pool.
Then a cloud passed, and the pool was empty.
But at present the cloud has permanently passed as the pool is drained and the fountains stilled presumably for maintenance:
To look down into the drained pool.
Dry the pool, dry concrete
So there is a little touch of inspiration from Eliot and the light-hearted Brummie love of its public art. My picture of the Floozie says it all:
And of course behind and below the Floozie is Gormley’s Iron Man, a little of its magic rubbed off on me I hope, and round the corner is the Museum & Art Gallery with its great collection of Pre-Raphaelites amongst much else, though sadly I don’t think there are any Rauschenbergs there. And, of course, the stunning new library is not far away. I have been reading about Rauschenberg and looking at his work a lot recently. I think if I had become familiar with his work in the late 60s I might have studied painting rather than sculpture or perhaps I might have had the courage to be bolder in my sculpture. It is only today that I am really beginning to understand the very radical nature of his work and the interesting questions he has been asking through his career. His Erased de Kooning Drawing for example is intriguingly complex. Rubbing out Iron Man or TS Eliot is a little more difficult!
When I came to post No107 I was surprised to find the letter boxes at the Post Office had been painted white with no helpful patterns to educate you in how to post a letter.
And someone (is there anybody out there?) is bound to want to see the back of the envelope:
I’m off to Birmingham now so No106 will get posted somewhere far away today. I may not be able to post the actual posting tonight but will record it as usual.