LAST THINGS FIRST
Despite my lucky 3 leaf clover it teamed with rain. Rain I wished for over the summer to swell the vegetables arrived today. Plans turned back to front – we worked inside on the kitchen table, printed leaves, made invitations for ‘allotmenta’, the Open Day – our last event became our first.
We had a drawing lesson – drew nasturtiums picked from the allotment yesterday. Five things I noticed: 1. Ridges on the old runner bean reminded me of ridges left by the sea on sand. 2. Hollyhock leaf had 13 little round holes in it. 3. Nasturtium flowers have a pointed tail running down behind. 4. The veins on nasturtium leaves join up and form small five-sided figures. 5. Snails eat curly jack leaves between the veins, leaving a lacy pattern.
Two Artists in Residence on an Allotment – Day 1 – Rain, rain, rain.
London and Southeast England: Cloudy, with a little more rain or drizzle for most. This Evening and Tonight: Cloudy skies generally, with outbreaks of drizzle and mainly light rain. Low cloud will give mist and fog over the hills but it will be mild.Tuesday: A good deal of cloud, with a little light rain or drizzle in places. A few brighter spells may develop here and there in the afternoon.Outlook for Wednesday to Friday: Mostly cloudy again on Wednesday, with some rain likely later. Cloud and patchy rain slowly clearing during Thursday. Mainly fine on Friday.
Despite the weather today I collected leaves from the allotment and we made:
over 50 prints
some drawings
tea and coffee
some wet puddles on the floor
I’ve just eaten the allotment. It is inside me. For supper I had mash made from the last of the potatoes, greens: spinach, curly jack, sorrel and oriental greens, and a yellow courgette.
As well as providing food for the stomach the allotment gives food for thinking, food for feeling. It is an open space apart from the day to day. On my visit today I thought about the 2 weeks’ residency to come. I looked with slightly different eyes at the grass, the earth and the sky – I stared at them. I looked at the water in the baths and the metal of the empty wheelbarrow. I decided I will start each day of the residency by standing and staring. I will see what happens, what I notice, what I think. What I noticed today was the clover. There is a mass of three-leaf clovers. I love them. There is no need to search for a four-leaf clover, all the luck you need is here.
CHECKING MY BOUNDARIES
My recent work has been concerned with location and locating oneself; finding one’s place. A little while ago I worked on a project in which I was looking at strategies which blind and visually impaired people use to locate themeselves, to get a sense of the space which they are in. One blind person explained to me that to understand an indoor space, she liked to walk the length and breadth of the room, touching each wall to "feel" the space.
On Wednesday I walked the boundaries of the allotment, feeling the extent of our space, marking the boundaries with string looped around tall canes. Remarkably, the perimeter of the allotment was exactly equivalent to one whole ball of string.
ANOTHER PRIZE AWARDED
Autumn has arrived on the allotment. Leaves, flowers, vegetables are dying back. The juice is retreating into the earth. I was struck by the beauty of some deaths. The dead heads of the artichoke stand proud, strong, brown. I have one more prize to award. The MERIT goes to this dead artichoke head. This one has to represent the team of heads. I remember the brightness of their purple hair in mid Summer. But their silvery brown crowns stand up straight and true.
