lysh.kipili.com

My last post was written on May 15 - over a month ago. At that stage I had been unemployed for one week, acquired two beautiful cats as well as written and submited a resume. On May 20th I had my phone interview, on Tuesday 26th my first face to face interview and on Friday 29th my second face to face interview. Late that afternoon, I was offered the position. Big sigh of relief.

Losing my position, after I had worked there so many years, left me feeling disconnected from many things. I was no longer employed at a place which had been part of my life for 10 years. I was no longer part of a team. I was metaphorically homeless.

I purchased a second hand copy of Howard Schatz’s Homeless during the time I had off work. I bought it as I love collecting art books and photographic books of either portraits or prominently featuring people within the shot. It had not occurred to me at the time that I was buying a book depicting homelessness while at the same time applying for a position at an Organisation providing services to Australia’s homeless.

I started my job 4 days ago. My desk does not feel like it is mine. I have to stop and think to navigate my way around the building. I remember a dozen names at most, rather than the many dozen I knew at my old job. Instead of opening directories and flicking through folders; I try two or three pathways before I find the folder. It’s like when I first moved out of home and sometimes I would wake up disorientated because I thought I was in my old room and suddenly there was no window and the wall from the bed was on the other side. Instead of having a wealth of knowledge, I know so little I have to ask how to pick up voicemail.

Work had arranged some visits early in the week so I could gain an understanding of the services provided. Much like Howard Schatz’s book Homeless, I quickly discovered that there was indeed such variety among the homeless. I met someone who was intoxicated and filthy, someone who I believe had a severe mental illness, someone who had been on drugs, a lady living in temporary accommodation who could hardly walk but was very bright and cheerful and lastly a quiet, polite, obviously well educated man who - for whatever reason - now lives on the street. And much like in the introduction of Howard Schatz’s book I realised that homelessness is not necessarily those who sleep out on the street or in hostels at night. It includes those in temporary accommodation or those who move from place to place frequently, with nowhere to call home.

In the meantime Saffron and Licorice have been making themselves at home. Saffron likes to remind me that she is 3 years younger than Licorice and still is up for a little bit of play. The pom pom on the scratching post is ultra fun after it has been sprayed with catnip and chasing the measuring tape is rather enjoyable as well. (It has tiny holes caused by excessive biting!)

The other picture featured in this post is the front cover of Crowns: Portrai of Black Women in Church Hats. This was a gift from my mother. It contains some magnificent photographs with hats from elegant, striking, stunning, to just darn ugly. It also includes some very funny quotes. My favorite being “My husband said… “You don’t need another hat. You don’t have but one head.”

Lastly, I’ll include a link to a photograph of two homeless men in Sydney. This was taken by my new colleague who is studying photography. (Yes, we have managed to get some work done in between ‘art’ discussions!). Link is here.

With no hope of chilli returning to live with me due to her need for frequent feeding of small meals to prevent vomiting, I had started to think about getting another cat. I’d contemplated it on and off for a few months. There were times I was resolute - no more cats for me (especially after chilli went back to mum and dad’s place after the failed second attempt). Other times I’d think maybe when this happens… or that…
After the shock of the redundancy, I thought about it again. I never expected to be made redundant. I don’t expect to be evicted either… but if I stop myself from making decisions in fear of something that might happen, I never enjoy. So I’ll deal with WHAT IF, when what if happens.

These two beautiful girls are sisters from 2 different litters. They are both overweight and despite being on a light diet at the cattery have actually put on weight since being there! They are 4 and 7 years old and were surrendered along with their sister, Shadow, because the owner moved interstate. Shadow was more aloof and not particularly interested in playing with her sisters so was put up for adoption separately - and I’m happy to say has found a home. The then named Marilyn and Tiger-Lily needed a home together. Fortunately I had decided that I was looking for 2 cats so that they could keep each other company. I also wanted older cats who did not need as much attention and entertainment. I didn’t think it would be fair to get kittens if I was working full time and I feared for the state of my unit when I arrived home.

These girls have been with me 3 1/2 days now. They are settling in well. Within 4 hours of arriving home, after initially hiding under the bed, they claimed posession of the top of the bed - it’s not my bed anymore I can assure you!

 Finding New Names

The biggest challenge on day 1 was trying to find them new names. They are indoor cats so it isn’t like they need to know their names for me to call them in at night. I am convinced that Marilyn (who was called Manson before arriving at the cattery) did not know her name anyway and tiger-lily just would not do. I contemplated Lily - but I wasn’t terribly keen. Perhaps if she was a slight and delicate thing it would work, however she is ernormous!

I’m delighted with their new names of licorice and saffron and had a hoot of time reading through lists of possible names on a website and brainstorming.

Clever play on words:

• Catastrophe
• Decathlon
• Catatonic

Scary

• Caligula

A little odd

• whatever (which would be as good as Abbott and Costello’s Who’s on First)
• for an all ginger cat mum and I liked darth vader
• for a hairless cat - fluffy
• Figaro and Fledermaus had operatic style but didn’t seem particularly feminine

We then started on paired things:

• echo and… ummm… echo (a friend said that would be cruel!)
• doppleganger and ditto
• krispy and kreme
• quangle and wangle… but I was missing quee

Then I was on a “fat” theme…

• doughnut
• pobble
• gumballs
• igloo (well, they’re round!)

Mahogany and Marbles were seriously considered, before finally settling on licorice and saffron.

As for how you tell them apart… well, that’s probably best left for another time.

Last August I started this painting. I really like the ochre coloured lines and the blue. Wasn’t so sure about the dark patch. So I painted over the dark with some titan buff (cream), and re-stashed it in the bedroom with the other unfinished canvases.

On Sunday the 3rd of May, after all my complaining about being ’stuck’ with the paintings, I pulled out this old canvas and this woman appeared. In a very short space of time, there she was and I was instantly delighted that the ‘drought’ had been broken.
On Monday I went to work and in the afternoon there was a notice advising that organisational changes would be announced on Wednesday. We all suspected redundancies. I thought about whether our team would go… I even said to someone it would be all of us or none of us… yet logically, I thought it highly unlikely they would get rid of us. Therefore it was a complete shock when I was told on Wednesday that my position did not exist. It was an even greater shock to find out that my 4 colleagues had been re-deployed and re-assigned to different sections of the Organisation, as I had concluded we were all leaving. There hasn’t been any painting in the last week - I think about it. I would like to paint. Obviously still too many other things going on in my head to pick up that paintbrush yet.

I have got 2 new kitties though… more about them later!

Abuse of power

Originally uploaded by scroobious_pip

My parents have pointed out that I have been slow to update my blog. This is true. Unfortunately I don’t feel much like talking.

One of the joys of collage is the stories it can tell. I have to admit that I don’t know the plot lines to many of the pieces I make. They come together of their own accord and are certainly open to interpretation. Can you tell me what a lizard and the Queen of Hearts are doing together in the same picture? There is a lizard in Alice - Bill the chimney sweep. However I’m not sure that Bill ever meets the Queen of Hearts as he is kicked up and out of the chimney by an oversized Alice long before any croquet match or trial over tarts begins.

 
As for the mad woman of Dulwich Hill - she is fictitious too. My father thought she may be a person that I had seen around the streets. She is really only a title for a painting. I finished the painting and usually you need a name when uploading to flickr… unless I want to go with “untitled” which is rather dull. I looked at her and thought she looked a few sandwiches short of the picnic, hence her name. Perhaps it’s something to do with her eye. I think her face is anatomically impossible… though I can’t say exactly what it is that is out of proportion. Still… I do like her crazy hair.

 
And lastly another story collage. My mum asked about the lion on her back. For the record there are drips of paint on her back. However I guess if mum sees a lion… then there be lions here.


PS: Sorry about the whacky formatting… I’m better with a paintbrush than an HTML book…
PPS: Doesn’t look so crazy once published. Ignore the PS.
 

The piece to the right started earlier in the week, primarily with washes of phthalo green. This particularly green is very dark but with a little water can be quite vibrant. When mixed with blue it makes rich peacock like colours. This green leans towards blue with no hint of lime, olive or yellow in it. When mixed with cadmium red it makes a fantastic dark - near black. I had no plan when starting this piece - as per usual. Each night I came home it acquired some more blobs of paint. I thought that it may, like many of my pieces, turn into a portrait. One of my favourite self-portraits was done using phthalo green, cadmium red and white.
In the end it became a piece about what was happening in the world of those around me. My friend this week received some very upsetting news. Her parent had attempted suicide by taking 105 pills. He is yet to retain consciousness. I don’t expect anyone to look at this piece and “like” it. I certainly don’t.

 

On a brighter note, progress has been made on the ‘Leonardo’ dress. (Excuse my poor picture alignment here… my HTML skills are not the greatest). With autumn truly arriving I doubt that this dress will be worn this year. However I will plough on to finish it so it is ready for summer. I need to do some unpicking, which on this fabric, requires patience. Sometimes one can pull the thread with abandon but the upper layer is so sheer that it is likely to result in holes. I think that shall have to wait for another day for while it is only 10pm, my body still thinks it’s 11pm!

For more artworks, go to my flickr site

 
 

For further art pics, please visit my flickr site

I had the delightful experience this evening of coming home to find that my art has been included in the current month of Downtown LA Life Magazine.

I was unaware which particular art works had been chosen, so I was very pleased to find that they have included a few of my personal favourites.

Garth-weck-er… that annoying beeping noise from upstairs has kept me awake in the early hours of the morning. I’m positive that it’s connected to their hot water system because the noise co-incides with trickling. Whatever it is, this morning it’s driving me nuts!

So I filled in her eye at 4 something in the morning…

In progress

I’m considering doing one of the short courses available at the National Art School. It is run over 5 Saturday’s and is about using photoshop to test compositions and blend images together in preparation for painting. While I admire digital artwork and would like to explore it further I doubt I could use it as a substitute for painting. (I’m attached to the emotional enjoyment of swirling paint around). Instead, for me, digital skills would make a useful adjunct to the brushwork. I’d love to blend images to make my own collage papers so I do not have to worry about copyright on found materials.

The image to the right today is still in progress. (What’s new?) I will admit that she looks somewhat creepy with her left eye half complete. I often have faces with only one eye and have never found them off-putting. Perhaps it’s because she has some details of the eye. I’m aiming to fill in the eye but if it doesn’t look right, I may remove the detail entirely.

This piece has some stitching down the right hand side. The mustard-like cotton was a very good match for the raw sienna that is underneath. In order to do this, I’ve changed the needle on my sewing machine for the third time in as many days. I don’t have an issue using the machine to sew through canvas paper but give I am dress-making at the moment, I switch the needles so as not to blunt the good one. I thought about including some blue stitching on the left for texture but I didn’t have a cotton close enough to ultramarine.