Monday, 28 March 2011
For Roger
Our friend Roger, currently based in Tokyo, has a dog a French bulldog. Lots of hugs to you, guys! We hope you are both doing well, despite the earthquake...
Sunday, 27 March 2011
Friday, 25 March 2011
Work space
We have since this picture was taken, made some tweaking to our workspace (and finished filling in our tax return applications!) and Simon's new sofa, ups I ment to say, new work space is arriving tomorrow! We might even consider inviting some guests for a drink since they will actually have someting to sit on...
P.S. To my previous post: Philip Glass will be performing during the Edinburgh Festival this summer; tickets go on sale on 2nd of April.
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
Not quite as avant garde as one would have thought...
Philip Glass's Symphony No.3 / Movement 4 was used by... Marc Jacobs as a soundtrack to his fashion show for Louis Vuitton A/W 2012, you know that one that Kate Moss closed smoking a cigarette. I wonder what the composer thinks about all that, world of fashion and other trivial things like handbags? I hope he at least got some monogrammed freebees or Marc just told him it will be good for his portfolio?
Thursday, 17 March 2011
A little bit Kielce-like
As some of you already know (because we were talking about it so much!) we went to Derby Format festival portfolio review at the beginning of March. We have met with excellent team of reviewers and heard some helpful stuff about our old and new bodies of work. The highlight of the stay was meeting with Amy Stein (see her blog in the bloggroll on your right) - she is smart, charming, intellightn, helpful and funny.
You know as you sometimes think something when looking at your own work but are too lazy or too shy to actually change the direction of an advanced project and start from scratch. That is why I was deeply impressed with Amy's scrutinising eye. What she said will allow me to move my work forward. I am on a lookout for a studio space now so that I could continue my project. Though it is actually quite weird to hear somebody whose work you admire to pronounce aloud what you were secretely thinking about your own work. Well, she said she liked it so fingers crossed for the progress of this new work amidst the wedding work whirlwind.
Derby is a very weird place - visually, of course. I think it must have been quite damaged during WWII (a nearby Coventry was completely flattened) and then rebuild without any particular plan in a very haphazard way. On Sunday morning, while Simon was meeting with his agent (Regina was one of the reviewers) I went in search of Sunday newspapers and it took me quite a while to find a newsagent open at 10 am. Luckily people who I asked about directions were most helpful and I got my Sunday Times and Telegraphs in the end of a quite a long walk in the rain. Just in case I went to say a short prayer in the nearby church (again an interesting architectural mix - gloomy and medieval from outside, pink and welcoming inside!) - for a preagnant Amy, Simon's trip to Warszawa to photograph The Polish National Ballet there (he was going litterally a day after our return from Derby), my mum and dad and many other things that one does not write in a blog post.
You know as you sometimes think something when looking at your own work but are too lazy or too shy to actually change the direction of an advanced project and start from scratch. That is why I was deeply impressed with Amy's scrutinising eye. What she said will allow me to move my work forward. I am on a lookout for a studio space now so that I could continue my project. Though it is actually quite weird to hear somebody whose work you admire to pronounce aloud what you were secretely thinking about your own work. Well, she said she liked it so fingers crossed for the progress of this new work amidst the wedding work whirlwind.
Derby is a very weird place - visually, of course. I think it must have been quite damaged during WWII (a nearby Coventry was completely flattened) and then rebuild without any particular plan in a very haphazard way. On Sunday morning, while Simon was meeting with his agent (Regina was one of the reviewers) I went in search of Sunday newspapers and it took me quite a while to find a newsagent open at 10 am. Luckily people who I asked about directions were most helpful and I got my Sunday Times and Telegraphs in the end of a quite a long walk in the rain. Just in case I went to say a short prayer in the nearby church (again an interesting architectural mix - gloomy and medieval from outside, pink and welcoming inside!) - for a preagnant Amy, Simon's trip to Warszawa to photograph The Polish National Ballet there (he was going litterally a day after our return from Derby), my mum and dad and many other things that one does not write in a blog post.
Monday, 14 March 2011
Funky Maceo
Joe has definitely taken on a task of being my social director last week as he very kindly took me under his protective wing to see Maceo Parker performing in The Picture House this Saturday. This venue is just down the road from us and last year it was Adam who intorduced us to an excellent music spectacle there and this time it was also a great fun! I had a great time listening to an amazing performance (that woman singer, what a voice - she nearly brought the walls crumbling down!) but also observing people bouncing around me to the rythm of a funk jazz music while absorbing a great energy coming from the stage.
However I could not help but notice that in these circumstances (of live music) one has some trouble with finding a right way of behaving while standing in the audience crowd - should I be dancing? Should I better just move my head to the rythm while smiling approvingly? Should I just move my feet shuffling or should I work out a more elaborate performance? Perhaps Ishould just be standing clutching my drink and not move at all getting more and more embarassed by people getting crazier and crazier around me?
In the end Joe and I we got fed up by avoiding being hit by several dancing vigorously (and whistling furiously at the same time!) Latin teenagers and we moved back towards the bar area which turned out to be a master stroke as the sound was so much better there. This was also the place where a more sophisticated kind of jazz fans gathered perched on several bar stools at high tables and I must say I liked it there much more than being tuck between a couple making out in the darkness and a dreadlocked and unwashed foreign students jumping up and down.
Maceo granted us with almost two hours of extremely vigorous performance (as one might expect from somebody who used to be a saxophone player for James Brown). It definitely put me in a good mood for the rest of my working Saturday evening (as yes, I have skipped a round of drinks with Joe to start working on my latest illustrative commission due on Monday). Thank you, Joe! Next drinks are on me.
Images courtesy of Joe's iPhone as my little camera (mea culpa as I brought my old little Olympus with me because of the size of my handbag) could not cope with the speed of Maceo's movement on stage (and I have resized Joe's image):
However I could not help but notice that in these circumstances (of live music) one has some trouble with finding a right way of behaving while standing in the audience crowd - should I be dancing? Should I better just move my head to the rythm while smiling approvingly? Should I just move my feet shuffling or should I work out a more elaborate performance? Perhaps Ishould just be standing clutching my drink and not move at all getting more and more embarassed by people getting crazier and crazier around me?
In the end Joe and I we got fed up by avoiding being hit by several dancing vigorously (and whistling furiously at the same time!) Latin teenagers and we moved back towards the bar area which turned out to be a master stroke as the sound was so much better there. This was also the place where a more sophisticated kind of jazz fans gathered perched on several bar stools at high tables and I must say I liked it there much more than being tuck between a couple making out in the darkness and a dreadlocked and unwashed foreign students jumping up and down.
Maceo granted us with almost two hours of extremely vigorous performance (as one might expect from somebody who used to be a saxophone player for James Brown). It definitely put me in a good mood for the rest of my working Saturday evening (as yes, I have skipped a round of drinks with Joe to start working on my latest illustrative commission due on Monday). Thank you, Joe! Next drinks are on me.
Images courtesy of Joe's iPhone as my little camera (mea culpa as I brought my old little Olympus with me because of the size of my handbag) could not cope with the speed of Maceo's movement on stage (and I have resized Joe's image):
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