Change

I think this blog and my life are ready for a monumental paradigm shift and I am quite excited about that.

For the last couple of years I have experienced a number of life shattering events : being bullied and put down, redundancy, dad’s death which have kept me down and behaving like a victim. While I have collected advice from many sources, especially blogs, I have not absorbed it, although collecting it has given me some comfort it has been the equivalent to me of comfort eating, something else I have been doing a lot of lately.

I have also loved the idea of blogging too. I like blogs and I love writing and designing why not do my own? But yet again it was another thing that I set up but not put  to good use.

The second half of 2011 was when I got some peace and reflection time in my life. I began to go to church and I met some amazing people who supported me in my desire to change – to become a better version of myself. I am now in a happy place, a lot better than I have been in a long time. I feel ready to take on some life changing challenges and I would like to use this blog to document the journey. After all, the one thing that I don’t do is put the project out there, just in case I fail, then I have no comeback.

Recording 2012 will help me to understand the journey and the change process.

I feel ready now to make some bold changes and I know it is going to better for me of I documented them in this blog. It will be the story about a girl who becomes braver, fitter and stronger. She will have more confidence, look fantastic and will be ecstatically happier .

How do I do this? - this is a plan I am mapping in my journal and I will present it to you by the end of the week.

Love for now Gill xxxx

From my sketchbook

Cy Twombly, 1928 - 2011

Cy was a great inspration to me as an artist. Not only did he break free from the medium of paint, he created a language and a poetry that was rich and breathtaking. The spaces he created sweep you in and immerse you. This quote from NYT sums it up:

“The work is hard to grasp and impossible to understand. But if you are lucky enough to be in a room filled with Twombly's and they grab hold of you, well then you are very fortunate indeed.” 


Cy's work clicked with me because he used pencil and mark making on a large scale he worked on paper and he used text. I knew paint was not my medium and I dared to break from this tradition, a art teacher of mine suggested I looked at the work of Cy Twombly and I can say I was blown away that someone had dared to work like this already. It was an epiphany and I studied him intensely and as a result I entered art school with a portfolio of pencil drawings - large scale sketches incorporating quotes and streams of consciousness, collectively creating a rhythmical composition that could be consumed as a whole or zoomed in to be absorbed into the minutiae. Not pastiches of Cy's work ,that could not happen, but mine.
As many people are scathing of his work as are enraptured. It was love at first sight for me and made a connection that has stayed with me for a long time and always will.
Thank you Cy - you are my one true inspiration and always will be. See you in heaven xxx

p.s My favourite piece of work? 

Aristaeus Mourning the Loss of his Bees (1973)

Wilder shores of Love 

The Second Part of the Return from Parnassus, 1961

Hero and Leander

Herodiade

Apollo and the Artist

I could go on and on ......

Lemons

I am loving lemons at the moment. I can't get enough of  them. I love their yellowy smilieness in the bowl on my kitchen table. I love them sliced up in a cold glass of fizzy mineral water, I love them squeezed over a fresh salad with sea salt and some extra virgin olive oil (Italian). I love them in tea and best of all I love the smell of them in a fresh cologne.

I have been loyal to Eau Dynamisante for years and years. It was the first grown up scent I bought for myself and I still use it to this day. It is the scent of Summer for me, I remember one beauty critic called it "a shower in a bottle", perfect for hot sticky summer days. Another lemon scent I am currently loving is Bronnley's Lemon and Neroli Eau Fraiche   I had a quick sniff while I was in an old style chemist shop in Aberdovey, and I loved it but never bought it and I regret it now as I am having a hard time finding a stockist.

Quote of the day.

seven henrietta street, a film by kinga burza for kate spade new york

A lovely video via a great designer - but I am blown away by the new music find - Soko. I am off to investigate!