Di

29 Feb 2012 - Leapling’s Day

2012-02-28T21:57:00.001+02:00

I am born on the29th of February 19……

let’s just say I am still a teenager;)

2012 is a Leap Year

It is called an intercalary day or a leap day.

We are called Leaplings or leapers….Iprefer Leapling! Hmm… a Leaper ...... I don’t think so!

Leap years are added to the calendar tokeep it working properly. The 365 days of the annual calendar are meant tomatch up with the solar year. A solar year is the time it takes the Earth tocomplete its orbit around the Sun — about one year. But the actual time ittakes for the Earth to travel around the Sun is in fact a little longer thanthat—about 365 ¼ days (365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, to beprecise). So the calendar and the solar year don't completely match—thecalendar year is a touch shorter than the solar year.

It may not seem like much of a difference,but after a few years those extra quarter days in the solar year begin to addup. After four years, for example, the four extra quarter days would make thecalendar fall behind the solar year by about a day. Over the course of acentury, the difference between the solar year and the calendar year wouldbecome 25 days!

The Egyptians were the first to come upwith the idea of adding a leap day once every four years to keep the calendarin sync with the solar year. Later, the Romans adopted this solution for theircalendar, and they became the first to designate February 29 as the leap day.

Some non scientificfacts about people born on 29th February:

We usually look younger than we are, are forever young and blessed with good health. Thank goodness!
Our apprehension of the world often seems at odds with the consensus!
Between us we cannot decide whether to celebrate non leap years on the 28^th or 1^st March. I am in the February group. As a Pisces I am already confused , so don’t ask me to have to deal with a birthday in 2 different months!
My birthday on a non leap year lasts about 11 minutes 14 seconds at midnight on 28^th and then it is all over! I usually miss it!
The statistical chances of a child being born on leap day are about 1 in 1500, as opposed to 1 in 365 for all other days of the year.
There are about 4 million Leaplings in the world.
Most people know leap year is any year divided by 4, that’s correct.
Unless it is a turn of the century. There is an extra twist to the leap year rules, as if the whole thing wasn’t already complicated enough: Centuries need to be divisible by 400. Thus, 1900 was NOT a leap year, nor were 1800 or 1700. I can barely imagine how people felt when, after 29th February 1896, they found out that their next birthday would not be until 8 years later!

But the 29thFebruary is not ours alone. As it is such a rare date, other people andorganisations are claiming it too. This year, 29.02.2012 has been announced as "International Rare Disease Day,(which might feel to some of us like adding insult to injury;) But I support itand am grateful - daily, for my health and well being.

There is a lovely Latin term to describe things relatedto the leap year: Bissextile

So we can impress/disturb our friends, horrify our off spring and parentsand colleagues, eventually after 1460days, shout out loudly in the streets:

“I AM BISSEXTILE!”

Have an extra special day on this special day X

Thoughts inside my head

2012-02-14T15:57:00.002+02:00

Using photos and abstract images, together with collage techniques, and photo shop I have been altering them to represent certain of my thoughts....

This first one represents xenophobia, and how people of Africa are forever on the move. Once they were nomadic and now they are forced to move, by greed and prejudice.

Leaving again

These next 2 represent the state of the world, in mostly financial terms. Do we have the world at our feet or has it slipped ? The "men" look like they are in mourning for a world that once was.

The second shows hot spots in the world financially .

The images are of peeling paint, mould, and cracked walls, decay and neglect.

The world at our feet?

The cracks are showing....can we fix it?

Peace somewhere!

Fly with me away from all the noise of words

There is always beauty in nature that restores our souls and make us feel renewed like the full and promising moon.

Beauty in nature

And then of course there are many paths to choose and the natural optimism of life just to keep on walking, hopefully with someone by your side!

Keep walking- life goes on!

Time flies

2012-02-03T14:53:00.000+02:00

It seems forever ago that I posted! It has been a busy summer season in Cape Town.

Belated wishes for a creative and successful 2012. I will be back in action soon.

These two photo's were taken with my new camera - Canon G12, I love it!

Signal Hill Sunset. Reflection of the roof of my car

Lion's Head from Signal Hill

Art and about

2011-12-16T15:54:00.002+02:00

Christmas time around the corner there are lots of arts and crafts fairs around the Cape. Today, on a perfect summer day, I visited the Free World Design Centre Christmas Market, in the heart of the city, with a variety of local designers, artists and crafters exhibiting.

Christmas Market

Proteas and Ceramics

Ribbon and lace brooches

Ceramics

Hand printed fabric

Ceramics

Imprinted ceramic

Home Made soap

Hand printed cushions

Recycled plastic

Angel key rings

Ceramic brooches

Beads

Knitted Soft toys

Pop up books

Bling ceramics and laser cut earings

Hand crafted soft toys

Di's day out - to Franschhoek

2011-11-29T15:45:00.001+02:00

On Sunday I took a trip out to Franschhoek, I don't ever need an excuse to do this trip, but this time was specifically to visit the Unisa Graduate Exhibition that is being held at Grande Provence Gallery. There was some very good work, some mediocre and some controversial.
Celeste Coetzee's work was withdrawn after the opening following complaints about her installation piece in which she posed partially naked tearing pages out of a bible.....the news story here Gallery cancels shocking exhibit

I guess if you are going to push boundaries then you have to expect someone on the other side to push back!! In my opinion her concept was good just the delivery was skewered and trashy.

This link will take you to Art Times who are featuring highlights of all the exhibitions Graduate Exhibitions. I look forward to attending the Michaelis Exhibit next week.

South Africa is a land of haves and havenots, for many reasons - current and historic - none of which I will go into it here!

I took a different route to Franschhoek, this time, through one of the largest "townships" in Cape Town called Khayelitsha, the havenots!

Khayelitsha

Typical shack dwellings

Miles and miles of shacks!

A sunny day for washing...but the wind was 45kmph!

The Apostolic faith practice their religion in open areas. This group was just on the edge of the main road.

Beautiful, but I wonder if it is roadworthy?

Abandoned petrol station in Pniel

Sculpture in Franschhoek

An exhibition of work by Sam Nhlengethwa at IS Art

Sam Nhlengethwa at IS Art I love this artist work, he has done incedibly well and most of his work is a combination of paper cutouts and painting.

Other favourites at IS art

The Huguenot Monument

Franschhoek, directly translated means "French Corner" It is one of the largest and most sucessful wine growing areas in the Cape. The wine history in South Africa was greatly influenced by the Huguenots, many of whom had vineyards in France and many estates in the area have French names, La Motte, La Cotte, Cabriere, Provence, Chamonix, Dieu Donne and La Dauphine, most of which still retain their original farm houses today.

I descend from one of the original groups of Huguenot's who arrived in this country between 1685 and 1689 - de Villiers, who in 1715 bought the Estate called Boschendal.

My middle name Elise, is after my late paternal grandmother Elise Evans de Villiers. perhaps this is why I have this affinity with Franschhoek? Always good to know where you come from!

Collography

2011-11-21T06:15:00.001+02:00

On Friday I did not know what collography was! Perhaps I had heard the name, but I certianly had not seen it. As defined, it is is a printmaking process in which materials are applied to a rigid material such as paperboard or wood. Substances such as sandpapers, string, tetured material, cut card, leaves and grasses can all be used in creating the collograph plate. Ink, pigments or acrylic paints can be used for the printmaking process.

So having a quiet Saturday in the Gallery - I cut up a cardboard box into 100mm squares and proceeded to glue on bits of cardboard, string, cotton, gauze bandage, cling wrap and material etc.

Cardboard covered with cling wrap

Cardboard with thread and gauze

When I returned home I found some Fabriano paper strips and proceeded to paint the plates and print onto the paper, just by hand. No press required.

1st print using gauze on the cardboard

Coloured print

Coloured print with wire

Print with red threads and twigs

I did a 3 in 1 which, I am pleased with and I just know I will enjoy experimenting with this print technique.

My week in photos

2011-11-12T12:36:00.001+02:00

Beads at Greenmartket Square - City Centre

Greenmarket Square

Homeless man outside Rose corner Cafe - Bokaap

Bokaap


View of Devil's peak from Lion's Head

Table Mountain just voted as one of the "New 7 Wonders of Nature" :)

New 7 Wonders

Cap Stand - Milnerton Market

Milnerton Market

Amazing image of a Terrier seen in peeling paint - Bokaap

Speech by Richard Long at the opening of his 1st Cape Town Exhibition

Richard Long

Richard Long at the National Gallery Cape Town


A life size sculpture I just could not get right, tossed in the wheelie bin - I hope the refuse collection person did not have a heart attack!

Food for thought

2011-11-08T14:59:00.000+02:00

Fragments

2011-11-04T16:16:00.000+02:00

The following "fragments" are taken from some of the artwork available at my Gallery, G2 Art. The tourist season in Cape Town is just beginning and I have been busy choosing and filling the space with great work. I am luck enough to have the support of some great artists and can't wait for the action to begin!

G2 Art

Change starts in my Head

2011-10-22T18:55:00.000+02:00

Are we our heads or our bodies?

Is it in our heads that everything happens? Do our heads govern everything - besides our heart, or is our heart also in our head? All our creativity - is it derived from our senses or calculated in our heads from those senses? Voices in our heads? Thoughts? Awareness? Intuition? Memories? Fears? Dreams? Pretence? Awareness? Truth? Conscious? Emotions? Reality? Belief systems?

All I am, all I have been and all I will be - is in my head!

I believe this realisation, therefore I must also believe I can change anything in my life, just by changing my thoughts! And I must not just believe it and know it, I must do it!

With these thoughts in mind I have been focused on human heads and of course my love of sculpture!

The answer that ended creation E

This beautiful work above is by Rose B Simpson a multi talented ceramic artist and singer. More work by Rose

Metalmorphosis Mirror Fountain

A larger than life head fountain sculpture is by David Cerny
Made of stainless steel, with motors, a computer driven control centre, water etc
It is installed at 3700 Arco Corporate Drive, Charlotte, North Carolina
Height : 30 feet, weight 14 tons . There is a live web cam to show it moving Live cam

Gandhi

A paper cut out Gandhi. " You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
And in my opinion it is creative people who change the world.

Untitled

I came across this sculpture by Fatin Mahmoud Hilal, who has a bachelor degree in Islamic art and a Doctorate in technical design, on a Saudi University website. What interested me here was from my knowledge - faces and especially eyes are not permitted in the Islamic faith. This head is unmistakable and has the illusion of being covered, with a Hijab. Directly translated from Arabic it means curtain or cover.

Mesh bust from street maps

This intricate sculpture is from Nikki Rosato and made entirely from cut out street maps!

Yeong- Deok Seo

Amazing tightly knit chains welded together by Korean asrtist Yeong-Deok Seo. Colossal has more images for this artist. So presice and detailed.

Toilet roll sculpture

There is no information for these toilet roll sculptures, but I had to include them, they are just delightful!

Blue Buck Jack

Ghost

Carl Roberts is another of my favourite local Sculptors. ( Angus Taylor the other) I dream to own a piece of his work! He takes sculpting found objects to a whole new level. I hope you enjoy his website and works as much as I do.

Polly Verity is another multi talented artist. I like the 2 dimensional wire work as sculpture because it still works as sculpture. And it makes me think! which of course is what this is all about:)

Buddha: "What we think we become"

Guest Post - David Haas

2011-10-18T15:36:00.002+02:00

Following my last post in which I mentioned exercise, David Haas mailed me and asked if he may post an article in a guest capacity. David is an "advocate for cancer patients and wants to make a difference in their lives because cancer has devastated so many people in this world."

Two of my dearest friends are cancer survivors, so this one for you Andree and Leli.

All valuable information should be shared, so here are David's words

Using Physical Activity toCombat Cancer

While being diagnosed withcancer is one of the most devastating things a person can experience, a healthylifestyle is something that can change a persons outlook on their situation.Hundreds of research papers have shown that healthy living can increase qualityof life and in many situations aid in the goal of being cancer free. One aspectof a healthy lifestyle is physical activity.

Physical activity is defined as any movement produced by skeletal muscles that requireenergy consumption. Studies have shown that regular physical activity controlsweight, maintains healthy bones, joints, and muscles, reduces risk of chronicdisease, increases energy level, and promotes an overall sense of well-being.Physical activity also shows links to reducing cancer. From breast cancer to mesothelioma, physical activity hasbeen shown to decrease risk of cancer.

Physical activity uses an array of mechanisms to decrease risk in certaincancers. Researchers believe breast cancer is reduced with physical activitydue to the reduction of hormone levels and increase in the immune response.Physical activity in colorectalcancer patients has been shown to balance energy levels and insulinregulation. Some people, such as someone going through mesothelioma treatment havesome restrictions on their physical activity. This cancer, and others like itthat affect the lung make physical activity a bit harder for people sufferingfrom these cancers. Easy bike rides, walking, and lightweight workouts are someof the ways these people can stay active without straining too much.

Physicalactivity research has shown that it is important to stay active whether thecancer has just been diagnosed, during treatment, or in remission. During thesetimes it is important for someone to remember that while they may have beenable to do more strenuous activity before diagnosis and treatment the essentialpart is doing as much physical activity as they can. Because physical activityis so powerful in situations without cancer present, it is imperative thatsomeone in remission stays active.

Physical activity is not a cure for cancer, but can greatly reduce the physicalburden cancer takes on the body. Although it may be hard at first, it isimportant to remember how physical activity could improve quality of life.

By: David Haas

David's blog here Haas Blog.

Lance Armstrong'site Livestrong here

Back to Art....

2011-09-24T13:39:00.001+02:00

Lion's Head

It has been a while since I actually wrote about art! During winter my business is quiet and I find myself being busy with art projects. I always have many things on the go at the same time! So winter gives me time, often in the Gallery, to finish off paintings and sculptures.
Now that summer is approaching it is time for me to get out and do some more collecting.
This is what I have to start, Silent Parrot Press calls them " Studio Orphans" I love this expression and love to know that I will use them in my work and that they will never be alone;)

Mostly Stones

Anything and everything!

Mostly bones

I also used winter to review my fitness, I am fit and well and hope to continue to be so, but I got stagnant, so signed up with a personal trainer- for the very first time, for 4 sessions to get me motivated. I did and I am. I continued with my trail running and increased my gym sessions, intense enough to gym only twice a week and other days outdoors! Mostly Table Mountain and Lion's Head.

Trail running/walking during the cooler winter months has been a pleasure. On my Lion's Head walk/run to the summit, which I do 2 to 3 times a week, I took a photo at the same place each day I went up and have ended up with a A Tree for all Seasons I will continue to take them for year.

That I do the same route so often it could be deemed boring, on the contrary, because I do the same thing over and over I have the opportunity to notice differences and look for the new. What I see is also dependent on me, my mood, my day, my state of mind.

Leaves, flowers, rain riverlets, nests, rocks, erosion, birds, wind, clouds and scents.

Much the same in art. Doing the same thing over and over, but seeing it as new each time, appreciating different aspects of the same and expanding and developing the creation- is art.
And if you get stagnant get some help and move forward:) Creative Coaching?

Finding newness in sameness, is joy. It inspires and lifts
For me it also helps to serve my belief - that of gratitude.

Revisiting again.......

2011-08-29T11:07:00.003+02:00

Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation – the Macintosh – a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.
This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960′s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Steve Jobs, CEO Apple Computer

Some things are worth remembering ......

2011-08-14T20:32:00.000+02:00

I love this article and I like many have always thought it was attributed to Kurt Vonnegut. It was in fact written by

Mary Schmich in the Summer of 1997 in an article posted in the Herald Tribune. A short while after the publication some unknown person circulated it and atttibuted it to Kurt Vonnegut as his Graduation Speech to MIT in 1997......

So somethings we need to remember because they are good and sometimes we need to remember that not everything is good, just becasue it is on the Internet!!

"Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97:

Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75^th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.
Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen."
Author: Mary Schmich (USA)
First published: July 1, 1997
Copyright: Herald Tribune

2011-08-03T10:55:00.002+02:00

THE SITUATION - In Washington , DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.

About 4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

At 6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

At 10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception - forced their children to move on quickly.

At 45 minutes: The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while.
About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

After 1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.

This experiment raised several questions:
*In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
*If so, do we stop to appreciate it?
*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made …
How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?

Joshua Bell In the DC Subway

All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

2011-06-29T13:48:00.001+02:00

Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten.
Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.
These are the things I learned:
Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work some every day.
Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup - they all die.
So do we.
And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all:
LOOK . Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation, ecology and politics and sane living.
Think of what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about 3 o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap.
Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and clean up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

- by Robert Fulghum

Bits 'n Pieces and interesting places

2011-06-15T15:38:00.005+02:00

Its been a while since I posted, not least of all because my day job gets in the way:) I have been busy with an exhibition at the Gallery. Uwe Pfaff's new body of work - Navigating Time. I have worked with Uwe for the last, at least 6 years and was delighted when he chose G2 Art to be the venue for the launch of his new work. All metal work, each one has a different paint/patina finish. The exhibition was successful and it is good to see an established artist daring to be different to his accepted style and moving in a new direction.


Peter and Keith


Navigating Time

Uwe in the Gallery

Some of my free time was spent as usual in the outdoors. I am the happy owner of an android phone Nexus S so just love having a good camera with me at all times. These images taken around and about my beautiful Cape.

Morning rays while doing Land Art in the Glen

Sunset from atop Lions Head

Sun in the mist at the top of Lions Head

Shadow of Lions Head on Table Mountain

I exercise on Lions Head 2-3 times a week which, in case you were wondering, is why I am always there:)

I have also been visiting some amazing sites and artwork This beautiful sculptural ceramic work by Fenella Elms

"Clay transforms in the kiln: an irreversible process from mud to sharp edges, vibrant colour and translucency. I am drawn to develop this transforming quality in the work itself; making pieces that alter in pattern or give an allusion of movement and depth by using clay’s potential for creating surface texture and building sculptural dimension."

Patricia Volk is known for her ceramic head work.

"For the last fifteen years I have been more or less immersed in creating heads; flawed heroes, empowered virgins, or pensive deities, icon like but with iconoclastic human frailties. I felt they were the ideal vessels for conveying humanity through the material, but they were also my comfort zone. Now I've made a complete departure.

Closer to home I have long been an admirer of David Liknaitzky's sculpture. I was lucky enough to spend the afternoon with him a few Saturdays ago. David is a retired Doctor now in his 70's and is passionate about his work. Each work is precise and beautifully mounted on small imbuia blocks. I left there inspired and in awe and am now looking forward to displaying his work in my gallery. When I do I will be sure to post some images.

Sculpture by David Liknaitzky

Strijdom van der Merwe - Land Art & Grande Provence

2011-05-08T21:02:00.002+02:00

Today I spent the best part of Mother's Day, doing what I love doing best - looking at art:). I took a short trip to Franschhoek with friends to attend the opening of Strijdom van der Merwe's latest Exhibition - " New Works" opening at IS Art . The drive from Cape Town takes about an hour, through what must be some of the most beautiful countryside in the penninsula. May in the Cape. Oaks, maples and hectares of vines turning into amazing shades of autum. These photo's taken in the Sculpture Garden of IS Art.

I did not take take photos of the current exhibition, but these are some of Strijdom's works

A self described "land artist", Strijdom van der Merwe uses materials he finds on site. Based in South Africa, his sculptural forms take shape in relation to the landscape. It is a process of working with the natural world, using sand, water, wood and rocks. He shapes these elements into geometrical forms that participate with their environment, continually changing until their final inevitable destruction.
"He observes the fragility of beauty, while not lamenting its passing, he acknowledges the poignancy and pathos in its transience. What remains is a photographic image, a fragment of the imagination."
"While a visual record is materially all that is left, he also leaves us a reminder of the capacity, however feeble, of an individual to alter the universe by embracing the ceaseless changing of nature, actively contributing to it and, in so doing, modulating and beautifying the outcome."

We then went onto Grande Provence a beautiful Estate in the heart of Franschhoek and my favourite gallery! It too has a wonderful sculpture Garden.

I hope you too had a wonderful day and if you are a Mother, here's to us!

2011-04-26T20:30:00.000+02:00

Yasuhiro Sakurai

Tokyo-based sculptor Yasuhiro Sakurai carves these stunning wall-mounted sculptures of mysterious women and their luscious hairstyles from cypress wood, giving them an almost golden appearance. He is represented by Galleria Grafica . He attended the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music and will have work at the upcoming “One Moment” show at Chiba Citizens’ Gallery. This post with thanks and via This is Collosal

Google's Art Project

2011-04-22T21:21:00.000+02:00

Google have been busy :)so not only is there Street view, there is an awesome site called Googleartproject that allows one to explore museums from around the world, discover and view hundreds of artworks at incredible zoom levels, and even create and share your own collection of masterpieces.
There is an info tag for each artwork and the facility to save favourites. It is an ongoing project and I just love cruising , still practicing driving! but loving Galleries and artworks I will never get to see!

Human Earth Exhibitions

2011-03-28T14:12:00.002+02:00

With thanks for this post from ecojunki

is a series of exhibitions centered around the theme of human interaction with nature, to raise awareness for the ways in which we harm the planet and also the ways that we are living in harmony with it.
#2 HumanEarth.2: Re(-)presentations
The second exhibition is hosted and presented by the NWU (North West Universtiy) Botanical Gardens Gallery in Potchefstroom.
"Human Beings describe experiences with their surroundings on a daily basis; we regularly describe our experiences with nature. Our descriptions take the form of words, conversations, poetry, songs, photographs, drawings, and paintings, etc. These are our interpretations of what we have experienced. We therefore act as representatives for the world we occupy.
Re(-)presentations (the exhibition) wishes to function as a platform for these understandings to be exhibited. It intends to make artists, as well as the public, aware of the active process of interpretation - of our surroundings. In so doing, Human Beings are made more aware of its interaction with Nature."

Land Art

2011-03-01T15:26:00.003+02:00

Shortly after my last post, and totally coincidentally, I was invited to take part in a Land Art project in Deer Park.( A beautiful park at the base of Table Mountain Cape Town - almost in the heart of the city)
There are 4 of us intrepid souls, all passionate about the out doors and art, we have to be -
as can be seen in this gentle black South Easter:) This gentle rain was coming from the table cloth on Table Mountain, the rest of Cape Town was sunny but windy and hot!

Left to right Andree, Janet and Leli. 3 experienced land artists.

So needless to say we meet regularly in between work and are creating beautiful things. This art form is quite new to me and I am happiest doing miniature land art...I need to expand my ideas and become bigger, bolder and braver. The idea being that we will each produce 3 good photographs worthy of being submitted to the Human Earth Project to be held in April 2011. This is some of what we have produced so far....

Water Balance

Water Reflections

Gum bark and leaves in the stream

Gum bark on stone pine

Snake in the water

Gum bark in between stone pine bark

Stacks in the stream

Wood Balance

Stack in the stream

Wrapped healing trees

Sunday afternoon in Deer Park

2011-02-09T22:10:00.022+02:00

Sunday, it was a perfect afternoon for a walk on the Mountain. I started in Deer Park at a small perennial waterfall with a view over the harbour. I am always surprised that no one knows about these places and there is no one there!

Besides the exercise and the beauty of the day I started seeing textures,shapes, colours and shadows! I can see why Leslie uses Textures Shapes and Colour for her blog title:)

Not an optical illusion - photoshop!

Things I learned this week

2011-02-05T10:36:00.000+02:00

There are 38 New Years celebrated by different religions and cultures around the world every year....amazing!
Chimera is a very rare condition, only about 40 people in the world have it, it is a condition where someone has 2 sets of DNA!
The world's weather has changed
The raised ridges on the side of a coin are called reeds
Roadworks take even longer than the longest estimate!

Harare Zimbabwe revisited

2011-01-19T10:53:00.002+02:00

I had a great trip to Zimbabwe over New Year 2010 /2011

These are some of my observations -

Don’t ask me what I think will happen to that country, I still don’t know, it cannot keep spirally downward although people there are optimistic for change and say things are improving after 2008 and 2009. It's all relative!

At least there is food and fuel, albeit at high prices in US$. Food is the biggest growth industry, with the only new building development I saw being huge supermarkets.

Beautiful beautiful countryside!

There is nothing driving the economy so who knows when it will implode? A friend of mine who lives there, said " don’t scratch the surface, in fact don’t even blow on it, who knows what you will uncover" – but she like all my other friends there have no intention of leaving and do not see much wrong, all telling me that things are improving.

There is still +/-80% unemployment. Everyone is selling something imported, there does not seem to be any manufacturing and there is limited agriculture. Flying over this beautiful country is acre after acre of subsistence farming, almost no big scale production, at least it is raining so the small guys will have a good harvest and will be able to survive another year.

About to land - all green and rainy below

In Harare, there are daily power outages, sometime for minutes mostly for hours sometimes 12 hours; with no power there is no water. Every upper class (my take on upper class is anyone who earns over US$1500pm) household has a generator or 2 (one for diesel and one for petrol, in case I is in short supply) and inverters for DSTV and computers!

No traffic lights due to power outages!

The traffic lights do not work most of the time, ( it’s a free for all, nothing like a 4 way stop, scary stuff! ) road markings and street lights are almost nonexistent, driving at night proved difficult if not suicidal, thank goodness there is not much traffic.

This is pretty indicative of some of the secondary roads

Rubbish is piled high throughout the town and the flies and smells are a problem. The roads are in some places more potholes than tar and remarkably good in other places. (Perhaps an indication of who build the roads and when, by my reckoning the state of the roads could be related to which administration was in power at the time!) Corruption is present. Police authority is present, this I experienced firsthand at a roadblock, and it reminded me who was in charge – the man with an FN automatic rifle in his hand!

Having coffee on an artist friend's verhanda.The art in the photo is all hers & the fish!

No one drinks tap water. Most people walk. Those who drive are either in mini bus taxis or 4x4’s …never have I seen so many unknown luxury brands of 4 x 4, many brand new, but most second hand imports from Japan! BMW, Mercs and top of the range pickups…..what a land of contradictions!

Roadside craft market in the city

Doon Estate - Arts and Crafts Village

Woman carrying wood out of the city

I caught up with old friends and was amazed by the pockets of optimism, hope and beauty and equally amazed by the decay and deterioration, Cuba comes to mind. Mostly everything is dirty and/or broken. On the other hand I visited some stylish décor shops/ galleries, privately owned, in the suburbs, with beautiful offerings and looking as colonial as the good old days!

An upmarket decor shop/art gallery, out to the north of the city in beautiful surrounds

Everyone who is “upper class” has a domestic worker or two, to wash cars, polish shoes, do laundry, cook, clean, walk the dog, clean the pool, wash the bath etc. Amongst the people I mixed with there seemed to be money available for entertainment, like meeting at the pub for a drink, there are many pubs and eating places for those who can afford it.

The people are remarkably friendly and calm, in the face of such repression, I wonder what the 2011 elections will bring?

A young girl , in the city selling homegrown fruit and veggies

I had lunch with a friend at a small restaurant that could on any given day compete with the veranda tea at the Mount Nelson, linen serviettes and good china crockery et al and then as you leave just round the corner a man is cooking mealies on a makeshift braai on the side of the road to sell to passersby for whom it may be the only meal of the day! What a land of contrasts!

Colours of Africa, storm approaching

Most shops are cheap Chinese import outlets and some are well maintained service friendly organisations, those restricted to banks and financial institutions.

There are a huge number of talented artists, sculptors and craftsman, with beautiful, sometimes world class offerings and no customers, trade from tourism is negligible.

Collins Zata - Sculptor

Stone carvings at Chapungu Village

Found object sculpture in a local gallery

Carved Fish - Wayne Stutchbury

It amazes me how Zimbabwe /Africa works, an example of this is the way airtime is sold, and trust me when I say the population may not have much, ( the average govt. employee salary amounts to about US$10 per day, most people earn less) but, EVERYONE has a cell phone! On almost every street corner stands a man with airtime vouchers, about the size of credit card neatly arranged on a metre long stick that has been split, in order to hold them in position. They are everywhere and customers just stick their heads out of taxi windows or cars to buy, no mess no fuss no queuing, no change - there cannot be a more efficient system

Waiting out the storm:)

The other efficient African system ( common in South Africa too) is the mini bus taxi, ( a 10 seater, that regularly carries 20) they pick you up and drop you off exactly wherever you want to be and run a few minutes apart to almost any destination. They drive badly, are in dodgy mechanical condition, overloaded and environmentally damaging, but they work!

I was also surprised at how efficient the speeding fines system in Zim worked too ( no, I did not get caught, but I saw him, and my friend got caught just before we met for lunch ) A lone policeman sitting on a culvert cover, under a tree, on the main ring road called Harare Drive holds a hand held radar gun ( battery operated?) , if you are speeding he leaps out, waves you down collect US$20 and lets you go…nothing written, no court order, no objections, no recourse (remember he is the one with the gun) All over in about 2minutes. Painless and efficient, but where does the money go?

So you may wonder why I said “great time”?

It is the place of my birth, the home of my heart, the cultivation bed of my development; it is a place that has formed, for the most part, who I am.

Great, because I can still go back there and feel that.

Great to embrace old friends and nostalgic memories.

Great to take in the scenery, fall asleep to the night sounds of Africa and awake to the chorus of 100 birds in tall trees.

Great to get a sense of who I am and how far I have come.

Flame Lily-Zimbabwe's national flower

My soul was restored sitting on a granite outcrop under those Msasa trees!

So all good with me. I am glad I don’t live there, satisfied that I made the right decisions 10 years ago and I am glad to be home and feeling more settled and grateful for my lot in life

Baardskeerdersbos Art Route

2011-01-12T11:26:00.003+02:00

I spent last Sunday travelling to this remote area in the Overberg, the Baardskeerdersbos Art Route in search of art, but also to extend my 10 day break from the city to the max! I had just returned the day before from a trip to Zimbabwe, the place of my birth and home of my heart....I'll tell you about that later.
It is a lovely drive (400kms round trip) and was well worth it. If not just for the art, but for the conversations, interesting people, the scenery, good food and wine and hospitality. The Art Route is hosted 3 times a years to coincide with the different seasons. This one was for summer, and thank goodness it was a mild overcast day, just after last weeks heatwave!
There are over a dozen solo shows in the artist's homes. Some well known and some lesser known.

I came across one that was on a hillside,nestled in nature. Philip John, is a sculptor, who makes "things" from dung and local clay, mixed, formed and sun dried, you cannot get more authentic than that. This is him sitting in his room for the day, with some of his "Crowns" on the shelf.

This is a mask also fashioned from dung.

I had been introduced to the Art Route by artist and friend Andree Bonthuys. She is a recognised ceramicist from some years ago, took a long break and has now returned to creative practice, turning to land art as her preferred medium.

This is "The Goose" watching over the view from her front stoep. He is made from a giraffe's pelvis, driftwood and elephant metatarsals. The giraffe was electrocuted by power lines and the elephant was a victim of poaching.
Also an authentic art form, Andree's way of giving new life and respect to nature destroyed by man's insensitivity

On the way back to Cape Town the sun peeked out and the harvested winter wheat fields begged to be noticed in this vast open landscape. It was a good day!