To Nose or not to Nose?

So, pertinent to yesterday's engagement ring related saga, Xavier tells me he has commissioned an old art school chum of his, one Rupert, to design it. We have an appointment to take High Tea with Rupert tomorrow and see some initial sketches. Meanwhile I went for a hair appointment with Norma Jean and she advises I do take that holiday I mentioned earlier and I think she is right. I am still a little heart sore after my failed romance with Ernestine and a tropical holiday would do me good. Norma Jean suggests I resolve the issue of my nose before I go. I am still undecided and I do encourage visitors to Vote in my nose poll. I have posted two clear photos of the state of my proboscis as it is. Should I undertake plastic surgery or not?
In other news the Anonymous Patron has commissioned another video work from me.

Engaged in a Search for the Ring

Xavier says I have been lapse in my posting with all the tweaking and experimentation I have been doing on my Blog. He has a point. This as we went to find a ring for Ariadne. Xavier spurned the large (and suspect) jewellery franchise shops. He was very particular about what sort of ring he wanted and consequently we spent the whole day going from one antique jewellery shop to the next like worker bees gathering crystal nectar for the Queen. He adopted a fatalistic approach to engagement ring purchase saying 'I'll know it when I see it.' Of course Xavier persisted on looking outside his budget and I kept having to provide a note of caution. One such was a confection in white gold with a rose diamond and border of tiny sapphires. Xavier alarmed the shop assistant, a sweet lass called Molly, by bursting into floods of tears when he saw it and saying 'This is it, this is it'. She then gained the impression that I was buying a ring for Xavier, which notion was difficult to dislodge as he clung to my arm weeping and saying 'I must have it! I must have it!'
Finally, exasperated and demoralised we sat in a city cafe as the crowds rushed by. Before he could become too maudlin I suggested he have a ring designed and made just for Ariadne. Well this idea was a big hit and he rose from his chair, inflated, saying 'I know just who to ask' and promptly exited the cafe! I was then obliged to pay for our two Vienna coffees and chocolate mud cake (yes we did binge a little, jewellery shopping is very depleting you know). He was a distant figure way down the street, Admiral's plume waving above the crowd (he insists on wearing his nautical hat everywhere, hence the somewhat dubious attitude of several jewellery merchants). In short, I made my way home alone and still have not heard the outcome, nor who this mysterious would-be ring designer might be.

Drawing Grid

Here is my drawing grid done in response to other's fabulous grids from 'The Drawing Club'.

In other news I have decided to go on a little holiday. Somewhere tropical I think. Somewhere warm and balmy. I need fresh inspiration. Bruno, the Roly Poly Chime Ball, gave me a little ring to indicate he thinks it's a good idea. Xavier has been very preoccupied with Ariadne of late, which I suppose is all well and good. In fact I rather think there are some 'plans' of significance afoot as he has demanded my presence on a jewellery buying outing tomorrow and he was dropping all kinds of heavy handed hints that he may be about to propose! Actually I think it's a wonderful idea. Ariadne (featured above as part of the grid) is a lovely lady and very good for Xavier. I do rather miss him though. Ah well, life is change.

Sweet Air of Spring

Spring is my favourite time of the year. I can feel the energy of it running down my arms and in my blood. I can feel it in the soft sweet air. Glorious Glorious Glorious.

The Journey to Atlantis on a Found Object Kaga green monitor

The Journey to Atlantis

What wonders! I finally dislodged Xavier after pleading, threats and taunts, from the dark hole into which he had fallen after his competition rejection. We dressed quickly and made it to the venue of the Undersea Extravaganza, the Boatshed on the Harbour, with less than an hour to set up. It was a balmy evening and the air was full of the sweetness of flowers. We brought our little monitor and set up our installation. I have posted here a shot from our art piece, The Journey to Atlantis. Our piece was greeted with incomprehension by the gathering and was certainly not half as popular as Ariadne's Performing Pups. They performed a circular, jellyfish inspired dance. Each dog wore a little tutu and crown and carried a flower in its mouth.

I will confess I was gloomy about the reception of our piece until Hugo took me aside to tell me that the Anonymous Patron enjoyed it very much and hoped I would contribute again next time. The piece was intended to evoke the alien qualities of the deep sea environment and give the sense of a mysterious, perilous journey at unfathomable depths.

The night ended with dancing to wild klesma music. Norma Jean, who is responsible for our helmet outfits (which I must say were a little cumbersome when it came to dancing), graced me with three dances and Xavier and Ariadne were of course inseparable.

Last Minute Hitch

Xavier has barricaded himself in his rooms like some sort of crab and is refusing to come out! And this with only a few hours to go till the Undersea Extravaganza!
He has a veritable addiction to painting competitions. He keeps entering his works and they keep getting rejected with all the accompanying angst and bother. Well yesterday he had another such rejection letter.
'Thank you for your interest in this award. Unfortunately (the most detested word in Xavier's vocabulary) your painting has not been selected...' and so forth.
I can not rationalize it with him. He is inconsolable.
Hugo keeps calling me to confirm our participation and asking me when we are coming in to set up! How shall I extricate Xavier from his funk?

Through the Found Objects Looking Glass

Here I am looking at the world through my Found Glass magnifying glass, feeling brassy in the new coat Norma Jean made for me. I have imposed on her to attempt yet another outfit for the Undersea Extravaganza this weekend. She says there isn't much time but she will give it a go. (Admiral) Xavier and I have decided that our contribution to this art event needs to be more contemporary. We wish to incorporate some technological element. I have some ideas involving one of my found objects. I am meeting the Admiral for lunch today so we shall see what he thinks. He is in very good form these days, his obsession with all things marine notwithstanding. His relationship with Ariadne flourishes. He is now helping her with her act, Ariadne's Performing Pups, which he reports is bridging the divide between himself and her lead player and constant companion, the Jack Russell Matilda. I am pleased for this myself as she is quite a handful to dog sit.

The Owl and the Pussy-cat

A picture of Ariadne and (Admiral) Xavier on a Sunday afternoon boating trip that put me in mind of Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussy-cat who went to sea in a beautiful pea green boat. Not oblivious to the parallels I believe Xavier provided honey sandwiches and they threw one coin each into the sea and made a wish. Whilst I don't entirely approve of throwing anything into the water, it was a Romantic gesture. I was once again dog sitter to Matilda who would not be persuaded away from the pier and howled until they came back! For solace I had a new coat, made for me by Norma-Jean, so at least I looked dapper whilst creating a public disturbance. Plans continue to blossom for the Undersea Extravaganza and it is scheduled for next weekend. The Patron has provided a wonderful venue, a harbourside boatshed, and Xavier and I are experimenting with old fashioned sea helmets.

Norma Jean Cooks Chicken Soup

I have had a rather unpleasant head cold. I was giddy with fever in the dark hours of the night and I saw the Roly Poly Chime Ball light up with an eerie blue glow. I called Norma Jean to ask her about this phenomenon and she came over the next day. She made me tea with lemon and honey and chicken soup to which I credit my recovery (see recipe below).
She stayed on into the afternoon to keep me company and so was there at 4.30 when my daily soap opera came on. I do enjoy my soap opera, it marks the turn to evening in my daily routine. It is deliciously improbable and convoluted, and whilst I am the first to admit it is preposterous, I was a little put out by Norma Jean's mockery, delivered as a running commentary throughout the program. 'What's this person called? Persimmon Flake, Anchor Chain, Neon Bulb?' she cackled. The nomenclature is often ludicrous, it's true, yet Norma Jean could not be persuaded to watch the program with Surrealist glasses, to applaud the Daliesque grotesquerie of it as the plot melts into absurdity like his famous clock.
As to the Chime Ball, she held it for a good ten minutes, eyes half closed and murmuring. She says the 'mystic entity' is not to be feared and was simply introducing itself. She says I am to call it Bruno.
Chicken Soup
Wash one whole chicken and put into half a saucepan of water. Clean two onions, two or three small potatoes, three large zucchinis and four or five carrots. Add to the chicken with salt and bring to the boil. When cooked, remove the chicken and the vegetables, saving the soup. Mash the vegetables. The chicken meat can be saved for sandwiches, curries etc. Sieve the soup and add the mashed vegetables to it with half a cup of rice and put on a low heat. Cook till the rice is soft. Add the juice of one or two lemons (to your taste) and some freshly ground pepper. Serve with a kind heart.

Nostalgic Collecting

I found this object, a 1966 Roly Poly chime ball, at the markets yesterday (where I ventured with my friend Ernestine but more on this later). I bought it for only $3 which amazed me. It's value seemed so much greater as it was so evocative to me. I do wonder how much of my collecting is externalised nostalgia. I see things and they haunt me. They have a sort of familiar quality and to buy them, to acquire them is like finding a piece of yourself, reclaiming a piece of your past. So then the collection becomes a malleable autobiography, a pictographic self portrait, a diaristic installation.

So I have reclaimed the mantle of 'collector'. I shall just have to find a happy compromise between the imperatives of collecting and the imperatives of a neat, orderly and financially viable life. As Hugo my yoga teacher says it is all about balance.

So now to Ernestine, my old flame. We had not seen each other since our parting, but she called me and suggested we go to the markets, the scene of our first meeting. She made it quite clear this was not an attempt to renew our romance. Was I disappointed? I wasn't sure until I saw her, lovely as always, but then I felt things had settled into the right frame. Friends, then, we pottered about, enjoyed carrot cake and chai tea.

Norma-Jean says the Chime Ball contains a 'mystic entity', but I have yet to see any evidence of such.

Art Meeting and other Shipwrecks

I feature here a picture of Xavier in his nautical mode so that you can see what heights he has reached. It certainly raised a few eyebrows at our lunch meeting in the cave like environs of my local cafe. To confuse matters further he kept calling the waiter 'my child' in an ecclesiastical tone. Personally I think he is more piratical that naval with a touch of the Napoleonic to him too. Suffice it to say he created quite a frisson of interest in our fellow patrons and I was conscious of more than one fellow diner straining to hear his utterances. The dam of good decorum was burst and laughter ensued as Xavier, waving his fork through the air like a harpoon, announced to his plate of baked mushrooms 'I shall devour you, you landlubbers!'. Xavier himself was oblivious to the general merriment.
So I decided not to swim against the current, but allow myself to be swept along by the force of Xavier's preoccupation and agreed to a watery theme for our collaborative art piece. After all, I have been collecting a great deal of my found objects along the shoreline.
So it is to be some sort of underwater spectacle. Ariadne is in favour and has begun to create a little jellyfish outfit for Matilda.