En Place

today cycle to Chevrières
a small and ancient town
going back to
the year 700
Église Saint-Georges
has vivid, fresh
stained glass windows
in one there is a saint
painting
this might be St Luke
painting the Virgin
(according to google)
the supermarket
by comparison
is much vivid

not sure
what happens to the rest
of the day
it gets gobbled up
writing, researching, planning
talking, listening
arranging, leaning stuff
photographing, making something
in other words
plodding through the undergrowth
looking for the ‘thing’
that will hold
a network of images
and objects together

am corresponding
with artists, curators, writers
that I know
to get a conversation going
about
being an artist
and an artist in residence
expectations, resolutions
practicalities and abstractions
making work
and other stuff
P is in Switzerland
painting for 3 weeks
getting back to
and making time
for recent developments
…away from family, work, responsibilities
it’s good to exchange
thoughts on moving forward
and biting insects
N encourages the unfolding
of a process and reminds me that
I am a late starter !
I tells me to trust the process
..which is all there is at the moment
and M suggests I try unforgetting
French post-structuralists
and French aesthetics
…is there time for this?
though am enjoying
Sarah Bakewell’s book
on the existentialists
hard to be an artist without
some appreciation of phenomenology
all of this, of course
encourages a certain
amount of introspection
c’est trop
perhaps

to simpler pleasures
tomorrow is la Fête nationale
tonight
an evening lantern parade
takes us around the village
we straggle behind a van
blaring out tinny music
and in the warm night air
we inhale exhaust fumes
dangle candles
in paper lanterns
then fireworks on the field
i particularly like
the exploding gold chrysanthemums
then, suddenly midnight…

a fretful day
an excess of jittery energy
confused about where
I’m going
photographs
sculptures
film
a combination
a mix
fabric
wood
found objects
how to get them
talking to each other
talking to the place

cleaned out the ‘little house’
an ancient building
that was once home to someone
pre second world war
…and his sheep
2 large bags of fir cones
a pile of logs
small and large
2 large bags of hay
a pile of paper rubbish
a corner pile of stones
and plaster and lathes
damp earth
mushroom smells
it’s got potential
as a showing space !

cycle to the farm
at Saint-Martin-Longeau
on the pink bike
hard work
legs ache as they pump
H is miles ahead
the farm seems to be mostly
falling down
walls leaning in
roofs caving in
ramshackle,
not unlike those in a film
I watched last night
La Fianceé du Pirate
a disturbing and humorous story
about a free-spirited country girl…
anyway …
this farm has hills of
tractor tyres
crates, feed bags, boxes
metal stuff and
machinery
the veg stall, however
is orderly
with yellow and green courgettes
just picked
scruffy carrots
green and yellow beans
some dairy stuff

return to base
to read and eat,
to add to zine
…need to find a way to print it
to research, plan, organise
write some more
and then to sleep

cloudy

overall uneventful
went to shop
for bread and paté
for cheese and peaches

spend a cloudy afternoon
on the lawn
playing with my
64m of wood
leaning it
on a tree
on me
on the wall
add a length of fabric
a mirror
not sure anything
exciting is happening
but there is
something interesting
going on
kind of casual
none-making
not sticking, screwing
or constructing
just propping
placing, leaning
balancing
…blasé

H offers me a glass of rosé
hard to resist
it’s cool and refreshing
and distracting
I film her once again
for a short while
she is reflective
and expansive
but am just looking, listening
for something
to get the ball
rolling …
to find something
to expand on
…fishing for ideas

an abbreviated kind of day
that unfolds
in a list-like way
french toast
uses up
stale bits of bread
warm rain is falling
have been here a week
time seems
to shrink and expand
in weird ways
flip and flick
through journals
still raining
decide to make
a zine
small, simple-ish
reproducible
been on my mind a while to
make one, it fits somehow
takes all day and night ‘tho
ideas come and go
ambling, then rushing
through my head
by mid afternoon
the rain has gone
and for a break
visit the graveyard
…pastime of many a family holiday !
sentiments are kept to
a polite minimum here
most graves
have only names and dates
some are engraved
with regrets
or au revoir
understated n’est pas
the china flowers though
are memorable
pansies, chrysanthemums
and roses
chipped and faded
pinks and mauves

listen to the radio
as I work
a John le Carreé story
that is hard to follow
and I drift off into
a place of concentration
where everything else disappears

a day of catching up
am easily distracted
wandering the gardens
is good for thinking
but the danger is
little else gets done
eat, drink,
make lists of useful words
objets trouvé
casual
nonchalant
propped
…a photograph in b & w
of Charles Ray pined to the wall
by a plank of wood
springs to mind
leaning
balancing
offhand
blasé
to apply to objects

then it’s
early evening
D the builder
delivers my wood
it’s unexpectedly yellow
nice and square
smother than imagined
cheap

there is
another bbq
and I’m kind of invited
but really
there is work to do
I’m not on holiday
for goodness sake !