Sketchbook

Pages from my sketchbook - The night shift

To see more in this series, visit my exhibition at patchworkbutterfly 

b's evening stories

the house that was

in the house that was there used to live a little girl with ponytails and a little yellow hairpin that her mum had found for her. she used to go out deep down into the woods, sit on red ant nests and come home running with a little black barking dog.  she liked to sing ancient songs that had been banned years before when men had gone to war. at night – or was it forever? – a black spider would come out and tickle her on the eyebrow. the little girl would jump out of bed and play dominoes with the spider on the bedroom floor where the tiles had been coated in yellow and cream glass paint, finished off with a  black netting that made it look like a beehive. in the house that was forget-me-knot would grow on top of the kitchen table, guarding white bowls full of egg yolks stirred in with sugar, and a little bread on the side. but the house that was is no more now. the earth that shook took it away, down into its womb. and so the little girl had to make a new one to carry with her, away from the mountains.

I am very excited to share my dear friend b's evening stories - "the stories i write come knocking on my door during the day but i only let them in in the evening, when the sunlight fades and i am willing to listen. sometimes they come as pictures first. the ones that stay always leave me with a sense of wonder. i don't believe in the word 'the end' 
You can find three of her wonderful stories and photos in my exhibition space. Have a peek , they are just heavenly . b's evening stories

School

This last 2 weeks I have been working on a couple of arts projects within schools and the children are always brilliant, work hard, laugh lots, and have fun. So why is it that schools leave me with a shiver? A prime example this week was an art teacher using some kind of crowd control techniques that wouldn't have been out of place in a riot situations. Blowing a whistle to crowd control. that whistle was blown 55 times in a 45 minute lesson. So what did those children learn and why were they so unhappy in that class?  I came away feeling very sad. So was it the content of lesson, teacher, the way the lesson was delivered, sterile environment, the hospital green or sick bay yellow paint the awful smell of classrooms. I don't know. Maybe one maybe all. It made me think of the classrooms in a very poor rural province in Cambodia where a school has been built with government  funding. They learn in mother nature's classrooms open rooms created outside to learn. I spent some lovely days there working, with some children who had never encountered paint, brushes, and glitter things, working with teachers who were as excited as the children to be learning about new things. The children were very happy to learn, well behaved and full of fun. So does the space in which children learn effect their want to learn? I know for me personally those classrooms in Cambodia were richer in learning  than a lesson delivered by a smartboard over here.

Never judge a box by its cover

Never judge a box by its cover ! This is an opportunity to win a box of handmade treasure from patchworkbutterfly. To see more of what you just might find, go to patchworkbutterfly
All you need to do become a friend of patchwork butterfly on my  Facebook page and leave a comment on this post saying who you would most like to jump out of a box and why? Closing date is Friday 24th November. Those already friends are very welcome, to take part. Please feel free to invite new ones !!!! Good luck !l