In this issue

1. Apologies and an Update

2. Image of the Week

3. Front End

4. A New Journey begins

5. Mono no aware (the bittersweet poignancy of transient things)-a poem

6. Fevered Mind Links (to make your Sunday morning coffee go cold)

7. Backend

Image of the week

Front end

Apologies and an update

Atamaarie e te whaanau:

They say that the two most stressful events in a person's life are divorce and moving house.

I know about both.

Many of you have reached out to me, asking if they had somehow dropped off my subscriber list because they hadn't received a newsletter for a couple of weeks.

Well, there is a reason.

I haven't written one for a couple of weeks.

Despite my best attempts to plan and be organised (no easy feat for me, as some of you know), I haven't had the time or energy to put one out. It was enough to pack up and clean, then do the opposite in reverse.

Getting unpacked has been a challenge in and of itself. Now I am having a lot of where-the-hell-did-I-put-X moments.

But now I am in and generally getting organised.

Finally, I am beginning to adjust to the mauri (essence) and feel of a new place and its surroundings.

My new home is tucked away in the middle of my block, on a back section off a cul-de-sac off a side street. It is peaceful and quiet and a perfect place to be able to get back to work. I am currently setting up my workspace as an online teaching space, so I am living on YouTube and getting ideas on setting one up.

If you look down to the bottom of this email, you will see my new address. If you get down this way (Covid permitting), feel free to pop by for coffee. I would love to see you.

Fujifilm Masterclass

Some of you know that, in a previous life, I used to be an Art teacher.

Last Sunday, I taught a Zoom masterclass sponsored by Fujifilm (I think most of you know I am an ambassador for the brand).

For 90 minutes, I taught about photography as a fine art medium and how to develop a body of work using art practice. It is a significantly different way of doing things rather than going out and hoping for an iconic competition-winning image.

And it was great fun. Forty-two people turned up for the event and, judging by the feedback, it was a success. I had forgotten how much I love teaching and helping people with their (photographic) journey. It was lovely to see people there whom I hadn't seen in years. Thank you soo much for coming.

I intend to do many more of these. If you have any ideas on what you would like me to offer, please drop me a line. I love hearing all your thoughts and ideas, and I would love to hear from you.

O, and a big welcome to people who signed up for this newsletter on the back of this workshop. It is lovely to have you here.

A New Journey begins

Mono no aware (the bittersweet poignancy of transient things)

Some time ago, I realised my work travels in three-year cycles.

Suddenly I find that the problem which has entranced me for the previous three years no longer does, and I have a sense that I have little left to say because I am done. So, rather than stay addicted to what has been, I know it is time to move on. Because I have moved on. I am no longer the person who began that journey, so I must begin again, must take another turn around the spiral. It seems to happen naturally and organically.

My new home has something I haven't had for at least 10 years- a garden, full of plants whose names I do not know. But that will change. I am fascinated by the way in which simple plants have much to share and much to teach (me/us).

How can I show the inner life of a garden plant?

How can I show the truth of its existence?

So, a fortnight ago, began the research process.

I did something I haven't done for many years:

1. I went to our local library and

2. I took out several books on gardening and growing vegetables

(you can stop laughing now).

What does this have to do with the art-making process?

More about that next week.

Mono no aware (the bittersweet poignancy of transient things)

I have been watching Spring beginning her journey towards marriage with Summer, marked by the shift in the cherry blossom at the front of my garden. And words have started to rise and to merge into form. So, for today, a picture and a poem.

I offer it to you all with Love.

Mono No Aware (the bittersweet poignancy of transient things)

Spring has been coming for weeks now

Picking apart the withered grimgristle metal threads of winter

And casting them down and to one side

To dissolve away in the dark, dank sunless corners of my garden.

For Spring has arrived to marry Summer.

She flounces proudly up the isle,

flourishing her fully-formed floral festiveness.

She reaches up to the passing wind

and gathers a handful of murmuring air,

sweeps it into one luminous, moongloved hand

and breathes it gently out and away

into the gnarlbarked cherry blossom tree

guarding the nectared nape of my garden.

With each passing breath

she softly rains flamingo pink blossom like coveted confetti

into the cracks and crevices between sungreedy shimmering fingers of grass

to watch them softly sink and sigh and fade.

And all the while,

bluebottle blowfly tūī hang upside down from quaking branches

and feed,

drinking at the altar of the season’s turn.

Fevered Mind Links (to make your Sunday morning coffee go cold)

Who scams the scammers? Meet the scambaiters

Three to four days a week, for one or two hours at a time, Rosie Okumura, 35, telephones thieves and messes with their minds.

Would Plato tweet? The Ancient Greek guide to social media — www.bbc.com

When I'm on my social media, I sometimes feel like I'm in a modern, virtual version of the agora of ancient Greek city-states. This was the centre of town, physically, but also economically and socially – the place where business was conducted, goods were bought and sold, and ideas were exchanged.

The Moon Is Leaving Us

And we can’t stop it. The moon is drifting away from us.

Study finds that moth wingtips serve as bat-foiling "acoustic decoys" — newatlas.com

Because both bats and moths are nocturnal, bats use echolocation to zero in on the insects when hunting them in the dark. A new study, however, suggests that some moths have evolved special wingtips to avoid becoming a meal.

Tuscan Butter Mushrooms Recipe — getpocket.com

Rich and creamy with pops of brightness from the cherry tomatoes

Laurie Anderson Has a Message for Us Humans — www.nytimes.com

When the Hirshhorn Museum told Laurie Anderson that it wanted to put on a big, lavish retrospective of her work, she said no. For one thing, she was busy.

Backend

There we have it for this week.

I hope you enjoyed this issue.

As always, please share it with anyone you think might enjoy it.

In these troubled times, it is so easy to get sucked into the vortex of fear and anger circulating in our world.

However, we shouldn't.

 Realise and reflect on this:

There has never been someone like you, and there never will be again.

You are a one-off.

And, instead of beating yourself up and putting yourself down, realise that if just one of those things had happened differently, you wouldn't be standing where you are today.

Why?

 Because YOU are the result of thousands of Loves.

He mihi nunui arohaa ki a koe

Much love to you