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The colour of desire…
Despite the cold weather, the chill wind and the heavy shower of rain with ice mixed in, my daughter and I went to a lovely wee yarn shop on the other side of town this morning. A shop literally brimming with colour and texture and creative possibilities. So lush! We were in the shop only a couple of seconds before I reached out to a yarn coloured the most exquisite shade of golden green. Instinctive. Like the colour called to me before I could even decide to reach out and touch. My body responded to the desire spontaneously – as if that colour were a magnet. I looked around at…
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Do not touch a wild thing…
Do not touch a wild thing. As tempted as you may be to reach out your hand and stroke the soft white feathers, do not fucking do it. Keep your hand in your pocket. Keep your distance. Show respect. Show love. For this wild thing? It does not belong to you. It is not here for you. It does not exist for you. It lives solely for itself. And you do it no favours – no favours at all – to accustom it to your touch. It is not your pet. And it is not for you to try and tame it. Do not teach it that this civilising hand…
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And so the sun sets…
Today is day 7 of my 365 challenge to write a post every day. And so far this is the 7th post I’ve published. 7 for 7!! As the sun sets on this first week, I’ve been struck by a few things… The first is that I’m taking more photographs with the specific purpose of sharing them alongside my words on my blog. Which reminds me of when I first started blogging all those years ago, and began snapping shots to illustrate my thoughts and stories. Something about personal blogging and photography marry together so beautifully – drawing forth both words and images. I am as surprised and delighted by…
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With a swan wing…
I miss the sound of swan wings beating against the cold grey sky, long necks out-stretched and the rhythmic whoop-whoop-whoop as they each pass by, each following the one that flies before it, each one heading out into the mystery – beak-first. As I knit the sleeves of this large jumper with the slightly scratchy wool, I’ve been thinking a lot about swan wings. Most specifically about the 12th brother from the Wild Swans who drew the short straw and donned the unfinished nettle jacket with the one sleeve, his misfortune worn ever after as a solitary swan wing hinged at the shoulder. Part human, domestic, tame, civilised, socially-aware, and…
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Through the lens…
One of the things that most fascinates me about both photography and writing is that in choosing what to include and what to ignore, what to turn your camera towards and away from, what story to tell and what to keep untold, we create a frame for seeing the world that is both honest and false at the same time. And this is because we communicate our perspective subjectively – we see what is true for us, and then we share that “truth” in our art the way we best know how – through the creation of story, of image, of movement, of structure and form. Being able to appreciate…
