Koh-Yama and the Ten Virtues of Incense

Just back from a couple of days with mum and dad on the Gold Coast. I came home to find "The Book of Incense" by Kiyoko Morita had arrive much early than expected from the US! This coupled with the little pots I had picked up from a delightful bonsai shop on Chevron Island meant I could enjoy an evening listening and reading about incense. I learned that incense appreciation is referred to as listening to incense, and this rings true for me. I find the process thoroughly intriguing...I imagine this is the same feeling that wine connoissieurs must have about tastings.

I'm just in love with this tiny three mouth ceramic pot. Filled with sand it's perfect for planting the fine sticks of Japanese koh. When planted with three sticks it looks like the kanji for mountain, so I've called it Koh-Yama, that is, Incense Mountain :)

Some of my favourite Japanese books are featured in the picture next to my Incense Mountain. They are "The Tale of Genji", "The Tales of Ise" and "A Chime of Wind Bells."

I'll leave you with the Ten Virtues of Incense said to have been written by a Zen priest in the sixteenth century.

It brings communication with the transcendent.
It purifies mind and body.
It removes uncleanliness.
It keeps one alert.
It can be a companion in the midst of solitude.
In the middle of busy affairs, it brings a moment of peace.
When it is plentiful, one never tires of it.
When there is little, still one is satisfied.
Age does not change its efficacy.
Used everyday, it does no harm.

How many things can be said to have so many virtues!

May your week be fragrant :)

Meditations with Matisse

Last night I picked up the book "Matisse: His Art and His Textiles" I had waiting for me on the studio work bench. I would share a few sections of the first essay by Hilary Spurling that I liked.

"Matisse's Fabric collection served him as a combined archive and tool-store all his life. He called it 'my working library', taking sections of it with him whenever he switched studios between Nice and Paris, sending for others as and when he needed them, constantly replenishing the collection from oriental carpet shops and clothing stores, radically extending it at intervals in the bazaars, souks and market stalls of Algeria, Morocco and Tahiti, or at end-of-season sales of Parisian Haute Couture."

"Mattise drew on his working library to furnish, order, and on a deep, instinctual level, to compose his paintings. Fabrics made him feel at home. Like virtually all his northern compatriots, he had an inborn appreciation of their texture and design. He understood the propertites of weight and hang, he knew how to use pins and paper patterns, and he was supremely confident with the sissors."

"He said that sissors in his hands became a tool 'as sensitive as pencil, pen or charcol - maybe even more sensitive'."

Afterwards, as I sat pinning bunting triangles, watching the fabric, its treads, admiring the richness of colour dyed into the textile, I remember the lines above and smiled.

*text from pages 16 and 17. Image above "Still Life with Geraniums", Henri Matisse, 1910, oil on canvas, 94.5 x 116 cm.

flower girl

Read some interesting things about Ikebana today. This little miniature not really connected but seeing it again I thought I would share it with you. I used it to illustrate the Chinese tale "Princess Lily" on my folktale blog Crackle Mountain. I haven't written anything there for a while....maybe I'll get back into it one of these days. Seeing this painting reminds me of all the wonderful art works I found to illustrate the tales.

The piece is refered to as Young Ladies Seated at a Table, shown here is one half of an attached pair of miniature glass paintings. Qing Dynasty, 19th Century.

She reminds me of the butterflies I posted about previously.  I love the blue of her gown, the lace details of her cuffs, the intensity of the red in the table cloth, the glow of the white jade vase holding the upright flowers that rise in the air in companionship to her sweet and demure little face....oh, and what about those bold stripes on the ends of her pants?! lovely!

A Flight of Butterflies

"Hoping to see the spring violets, I walked out into the fields. The wind had died down and I could hear nothing but the sound of bees. I began to make a poem in the warm sleepy atmosphere, when down the hill where dandelions were blooming came a group of girls.

One was dressed in dark violet; another in patterns of red, blue and yellow; still others wore white, black, brown, pink, navy or green. They were coloured as exquisitely as flowers in the field. They came closer and danced in a flock under a blossom.

As I drank another cup of sake, they came and said,'You are watching the flowers all alone! Do come where we are dancing. We thought we were the only ones who delight in the flowers of spring. We are pleased to know you enjoy them too....'"

Yesterday Nadine let me borrow a much cherished book of hers called "A Flight of Butterflies", one thousand kinds of butterflies by Kanzanka Sekka originally published in Japan 1904. Part of the preface by Yoshi Zo is quoted above. It's a beautiful facsimile of the original and is printed and bound in the original Japanese album style.

Within, every page is an oasis.....What scents of perfume waft up to colour the subtle senses?...What string is beginning to hum along its length into the distance? The symbol of the butterfly keeps lighting ever so gently upon my shoulder...let me not move too awkwardly, disturbing its fragile heart.

7 things I love (because Kara Smith asked me)

I haven't done a blog meme for a while....blogging hasn't been coming to me very easily for a while. A blog friend recently said that I didn't reveal anything personal about myself. Often what I think is personal must in the end sound very abstract and also it's because I'm usually so involved within my interior meditations that often it's difficult to know what to say. That sounds a bit like a paradox but it isn't I can assure you. It happens to me all the time, at functions, blogging, emails, family occasions, parties....

Anyway, the other day I was aware that aside from the clashing rocks of the collective conscious and the collective unconscious there was a slim vessel of my own that seemed to like a few things all of its own......now what were they?

On Good Friday I walked up to Shorncliffe to watch the boats begin the Brisbane to Gladstone race. I thought I would list seven things that I liked that special day.



1. Walking up the pier, softly and quitely. looking back out over the clouds and mountains behind me. Passing the crowd with my own breath, for a short time free from the interior turmoil of the minds surrounding me. Trailing my fingers along the edge of the orange plastic netting marking off one side of the pier. Feeling a golden warmth spread through my interior nature and a smile the Creator alone understood.

2. Silence. The surge of the sea. Movement, primal - the Begetting. Surges now upon the rocks of earth. Music. Light. The mandolin sounds sweet and ancient, echoing across the water...I have closed my eyes.

3. Walking across the sand and grass, sitting down in the shade of a tree. I am, you are, a jug and the water is everywhere, in everything, in everyone. The Doer is Doing. A child asks, "Are you a ghost?" I'm shocked.

4. Looking at people...curious, people are much stranger than I imagined.

5. Walking home. Looking and sensing each little world, each little house...water scents of knowing, of loving. Usually I would feel too shy to peer over my blanket even with these rose bud eyes. Delicate care.

6. communion, community, freedom, my own path included into the story of man. Daring to shed what was after all only a mirage.......

7. Home - an afternoon with my husband. Peace.


I hope you liked my little story Kara :)

Margaret Olley watercolour exhibtition - UQ

Yesterday I spent a pleasent day with friend M.B., he invited me to join him to see the Margaret Olley watercolour exhibition at the University of Queensland Art Museum.  We took the ferry from South Bank and travelled up river spotting attractive tree clusters, hidden river perches  and generally enjoying all the interesting things one never sees from the street.

The University of Queensland is a beautiful campus with a collection of curious architectural specimens ranging from the dignified sandstone of the Great Square to the concrete spirals and shaped bronze of the 70s...it really took me back to my own uni, the ANU, which has a similar 70s vibe.  But most deliciously, it was the tropical rainforest atmosphere the UQ campus had after the recent rain - rich earthy smells, and mushrooms everywhere!

It was my first visit to the UQ gallery and it was a real surprise.  It's a beautiful building, the friendly staff there told me it was formerly the Graduations Hall, now completely remodelled internally.  They directed us upstairs, where the whole floor is currently dedicated to the Margaret Olley exhibition.  I wasn't aware Margaret Olley is a Queensland girl, she now lives in Sydney, and as I myself am a Queenslander I enjoyed her Queensland sketches the most.  Like in the first painting above, perhaps only a Queenslander could appreciate the subtle implication of the crazy marks of green.  I smile to recognise the tropical summer growth that's slowly getting the better of the careful garden caretaker...much like what Brisbane is experiencing now.

Margaret Olley is known mainly for her oils, but these ink sketches reveal the artist's skill. Her brief colour washes have the effortless elegance of a master.  The skies are particularly fine. While her simple lines are generally bold and confident they display equally a curious and charming quality that betrays a fine sense of humour, never mawkish,  for her subjects.  I can feel her enjoying herself in the production of these works - in her abbreviations she squashes the cold distance of the subject while maintaining its fabulousness and beauty, she leads you into its everyday intimacies - a talent I truly appreciate.

The exhibition, Margaret Olley - life's Journey, is on at UQ Art Museum until the 19th April.  Then tours to S H Ervin Gallery, Sydney, 8 May – 28 June and Newcastle Region Art Gallery, 15 August – 26 October.

Images above taken from the catalogue of the exhibition, "Margaret Olley - Life's Journey",  Queensland University Press, 2009.

Image 1: A Queensland Property (Aroo),  c. 1960, pastel and watercolour on paper, private collection.

Images 2: The Tiled Stove, 1956, ink and pastel on paper, private collection.

The Secret Blue Lagoon - inspiration

More inspiration for the Sail Away: Holiday on the Island of Flowers and Fruit series.  Dear friend and artist Nadine Sawyer recently spent some time with her mother and aunt in Vanuatu.  She brought back not only some wonderful new paintings inspired by her time on the island but also a wonderful story about a secret blue lagoon.  The hereditary caretaker of the lagoon tells how the magical blue arises from the mixing of sea water from a tiny inlet from the sea and the bubbling up of a natural fresh water spring from underground.   She recounted her experience of swimming there among the tropical fish while nervously wondering about what might be below her in the mysterious blue depths!

You can see the blue lagoon and one of Nadine's stunning painting from her time in Vanuatu above.

waiting to dock

Ships.

I thought I might gather and share with you images inspiring my feelings for the sea, boats and ships.  There are a few related toy series waiting in the wings. Last year I drew up the basic designs while the connections were fresh.  The impressions returned today while watching the mysterious half presence of the ships anchored in the bay, a salty easterly cooling the skin - humidity over 70%.

The Cup of the Sea

*

The Cup of the Sea

*

I found a cup in the sea one day,

I found a cup in the sea.

On the sandy bottom I saw the cup,

On the sandy bottom it lay.

*

Dare I pick it up?

This mysterious cup of the sea.

Dare I take it away with me?

The beautiful cup from the sea.

*

White and blue and yellow it was,

White and blue you see.

And on it wild flowers were wot to bloom,

Like the sun at noon for me.

*

I found a beautiful cup one day,

I found the beautiful Cup of the Sea.

I found the Cup of my Heart that day,

'Tis a Wonder for you and to me.

****

This is a song I wrote today while I sat by the bay here at Sandgate in the company of grey skies and seagulls. It came out so quickly and I must say that I like it very much and the more so because it is a true story.

The beautiful Indian miniature painting is of Yumuna, daughter of Surya, God of the Sun, and sister of Yama, Ruler of the Kingdom of the Dead. She personifies the River Yamuna, a tributary of the Ganges. (click on the image for a better look) The Hindu Pantheon: An Introduction, Illustrated with 19th Century Indian Miniatures from the St. Petersburg Collection, E. Tyomkin and M. Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya, Garnet Publishing, UK, 1994.

The New Year Begins

Last night before going to bed I was reading one of my favourite books of folk tales - Heroes, Monsters and Other Worlds from Russian Mythology by Elizabeth Warner.  It is accompanied by wonderous illustrations by Alexander Koshkin.  The large double page illustration above shows a few Rusalkas, mermaid like water creatures, sporting alluringly on the left and a burly, red Leshii with dexterous hands holding a basket of bright magic mushrooms on the right. (click the image for a better look.)

It was a painting that struck me for one reason or another and without giving away my secrets I thought I would share its beauty with you to start off what I hope will be a very happy new year.

Happy New Year to you all for 2009!

book info: Heroes, Monsters and Other Worlds from Russian Mythology, Elizabeth Warner, Hodder and Stoughton, Sydney, 1985.

Sunday Thoughts

"Why have you ceased to speak of the tree, of which he who eats its fruit shall never hunger?"


"Again, plant this tree on the stone, that it fear not the buffetings of the winds; that the birds of heaven may come and multiply on it branches, for thence cometh wisdom."

quotes from various alchemical treatises taken from Alchemical Studies, C. G.Jung page 314
Image: The Big Way, Hundertwasser, 1955.

Tags: Windbag and Thunder, windbagandthunder, Florence Forrest

the fourth book

A gift today of the fourth book.

I have slowly been developing my work as a writer/artist. It has taken me a long time to find the tools that I most prefer to use. I have tried many different notebooks and most of them I have treated no better than a bound version of post-it notes. It might seem strange but I couldn't take myself seriously when I wrote in the wrong kind of notebook. But it wasn't just the notebook it was also the pen! After the longest time I finally realised that I hated using biros. It wasn't until I discovered Moleskin notebooks and returned to the primary school use of the pencil that I began to have some satisfaction with myself.

A year ago I began the practice of recording my dreams and to practice the Jungian method of analysis. What an interesting process this has been. Almost daily I've written, describing the most fascinating stories and from them have learned many valuable things. But aside from the journey to the Self it has taught me about writing. Out of necessity I have been very diligent about keeping my writing legible and have made great efforts to adopt a form of record keeping that is consistent so that I might collate reoccurring motifs and symbols. After many months I noticed that there where different styles one could use to record action. Some I noticed where more suited to the notation style use in the scripts of plays while others took to a more prose like form. Of course the fact that I had adopted the form of separating the parts of dreams into acts and scene also help immensely.

After a lucky start using the thin paperback Moleskins I finally graduated to the hard cover classic black books and I now use them exclusively. From the recording of dreams, in what I call the Book of Dreams, I began to take my writing seriously. I witnessed the value of recording my thoughts and it occurred to me that this method could be applied to my other areas of thought as well (seems obvious enough!). So I began a second Moleskin notebook series for the exclusive use for my theory work calling it the Book of Philosophy and this lead, naturally enough, to the creation of a third book series called the Book of Stories for creative writing. Now I knew I had one more book that I had yet to find - the Book of Pictures. I needed a visual diary, but which one was going to be right for me? I had a small Moleskin visual diary but for some reason I wasn't gelling with it yet. I needed to begin somewhere else, but where and on what? Now well aware of my fussy disposition when it came to notebooks I was perplexed!

Today, the answer to my question has been gifted to me by my good friend Margaret Barnett. When checking my post box in the village I found a little blue slip saying I had a package to collect...how mysterious...I hadn't been expecting anything. On returning home I sat down to open it. Inside was a beautifully wrapped present with a note that read, Found this in Cairns Gallery - thought you could use it - Love M, accompanied by a postcard of a large Japanese stone Buddha seen at twilight. Opening the present was to my surprise a visual dairy made from an old book that had previously been a primary school reader made by Aunty Art Studios called a Bound Again Book. It's the blue book on top of the pile. The original book's title was Eric or Little by Little by Frederic W. Farrar - how appropriate!

I have yet to use it of course.....but its synchronicity seems to indicate its suitability as the fourth book.

Tags: windbagandthunder, Windbag and Thunder, story telling, Florence Forrest

The Birth of Biscuit Bunnies

I'll be doing some more posts on how some of the Toys in the Flying Star Toys world have been originated. The notion and design for my toys often come from quite unexpected sources and I thought people might find it interesting to see what some of those processes are.

One way I develop a toy is to draw a picture. Biscuit Bunnies was one such toy that came about in this manner....but with all things there are often curious twists on the road of creativity.

This was one of the few toys that I sat down purposely to design. You might not know it but I very rarely work like that as it can often be forced and produce very average results. But on this occasion I was feeling frustrated by a certain inability to make a simple toy that didn't use any buttons and such and would be "baby safe".


With sketch book, in hand after concentrating for a few minutes on my desired toy parameters, I did a tiny little sketch of a bunny. The one seen above is in close up and from the picture above it you can see how small the actual drawing is, only a little bigger than a paper clip. That tiny little drawing had so much innate character that I left it in its original condition and proceeded to translate it into a pattern.

Biscuit Bunnies are a perfect example of what looks simple isn't necessarily so for it takes 13 pieces of fabric to make that one little bunny! So it didn't turn out to be as simple as I had hoped. However, while failing the major parameter - to be simple, it is very successful toy. Biscuit Bunnies have turned out to be one of the most popular toys in the Flying Star Toys collection and what's more I always enjoy making them and seeing what little variation of their personality appear, each is unique every time.

You can see more images of Biscuit Bunnies on their gallery page.

Tags: toys, craft, art, bunnies, handmade, designer toys, handmade toys, biscuit bunnies, designing toys, Windbag and Thunder, windbagandthunder, Flying Star Toys, Florence Forrest

Saturday Sunshowers

Slowly travelled, with Gentle footsteps, Pooling the waters of life.

Quiet and cool, the Spirit reposes within the Human Soul, Finally Home.

Tags: Windbag and Thunder, windbagandthunder, story telling, Florence Forrest

By Bramble Bay

Walking in the morning lately has been so clear and bright: with the Water Dragons of the East still sleeping, the sun holds dominion until noon.

But later, on a walk by Bramble Bay I pause on an island of sand and belong briefly to the companion of Silver Gulls bathing and waiting for the tide. The plane of heaven stretched out into the haze of distance, and sinking not, emerged above it in mysterious mountains of white, prevailing with secret atmospheres all of their own.

Tags: Sandgate, Bramble Bay, Moreton Bay, Queensland, clouds, sea, Windbag and Thunder, windbagandthunder, Florence Forrest

Auspicious Clouds

Today was a Sunday filled with auspicious clouds breathed fresh from a happy water dragon. Even the late afternoon sky, seen above, held on to its promise.

Tags: windbagandthunder, Windbag and Thunder, clouds, Sunday, Florence Forrest

The Owl and the Pussycat

A strange and wonderful thing happen to me the other night. Let me tell you about the owl and the pussycat.

My cat Baby isn't the toughest cat on the street but she's very protective of her little patch and will stand her ground if need be. This night her young male nemesis Tinkerbell Tom was on a spraying trip around our neighbourhood and took it into his little head that the friendly house known of in his youth would be a desirable place to scent. Not that he was thinking of Baby, she's friendly to no one but me and my partner John. Baby wasn't having a bar of Tinkerbell Tom's insolents and so with his approach she growled and growled but still he cautiously padded up the steps to our balcony. He obviously crossed a line at one point because suddenly it was on and the cry of my Baby in a fight stunned my grandmotherly nerves into action and defence. I rushed out the front door and into the night to see the rebel cat fly into the street. That's when something unexpected happened.

Swooping in out of the blackness over the back of our house came a night creature. Tinkerbell Tom reared up to swipe at it, claws out, arm extended, with the fervour of instincts still in defensive heat. When the creature settled on the telephone wire across from us, I was shocked to see it was not a Flying Fox fruit bat, which are common here, but a rare owl! "An owl? An Owl? It is indeed an owl," I thought. I had no idea that owls lived in our area and I felt like I was looking at something unreal or uncanny - a spirit of the unconscious flown into view or a god in disguise.

I have often been inspired to make toys based on the local wildlife as they intersect my life but rare indeed is it that the toys precedes the animal. Perhaps some inner devotion has granted me a special view of itself as it wings its way silently in the dark: with wisdom on a wire, four hunters in the dark.

The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea in a beautiful pea-green boat.....And hand in hand on the edge of the sand they danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

*****

image 1 graphic using MajicCatsMini

image 2 graphic using Look and See Owl

Tags: cat, owl, pussycat, The Owl and the Pussycat, toys, handmade, story telling, folk tales, Flying Star Toys, craft, windbagandthunder, Windbag and Thunder, Florence Forrest

Made of Dreams - Flying Star Toys

Last night, before I fell asleep, a pageant of toy designs flew through my mind's eye like a short film run very fast. I remember being fascinated by their beauty and soft colours. While I no longer remember them distinctly now, I still feel their shapes like a sweet after taste or an aura of perfume.

When I look around my studio and see the many toys waiting to be launched, I'm both overwhelmed by the preparations needed for the website and at the same time excited in anticipation for the day they are introduced. I love designing toys and a vision like last night's dream augers exciting possibilities ahead. I think a large dream catcher above my bed might be in order :)

Image: Biscuit Bunnies - Gingerbread

Tags: toys, art, craft, Flying Star Toys, windbagandthunder, Windbag and Thunder, Florence Forrest

Taking time to...

I really need some time to relax today. I can't believe I forgot I live just down the road from this!

Tags: windbagandthunder, Windbag and Thunder, Sandgate, Florence Forrest