En Place

a trip to the boulangerie
to get some snacks
for friends
who are visiting
they’ve been around
Prague, Munich, Landau, Strasbourg etc
galleries, museums, restaurants, hostels
seeking Goethe, Dürer, Hoffman, Sophie Taeuber-Arp
A brings welcome gifts
a book – une utopia moderniste
to see familiar faces
to hear about their travels
is really nice
in the heat of the afternoon
we sit and talk easily
eating melon
drinking tea
exchanging stories

but once
they’ve gone
I return to the ‘little house’
to be in situ
the logs are gone
and the performance sign
two rusted sheets
or corrugated steel
remain
and a green oil drum

drawing, measuring
noticing, thinking
imagining
and suddenly
in this unexpected place
there is a gravitational pull
a sense of latent
energy
where objects could
react to it
to each other
shapes and colours
come to mind
forms and structures
appear
the site of further encounters
seems to have arrived

an evening follows
of making lists
notes
drawings
slowly
gathering up
the threads

early morning scribbling
trying to keep on top
of this blog
which feels a bit
like homework
it keeps
things, time, space, thoughts
in order though
but the internet is down
and it comes to a halt

put on
decent shoes and shirt
we all gather
outside the gates
and wait for the mayor
the oompah band arrives
leads us to the memorial
there are speeches
liberté égalité fraternité
are mentioned
re-framed in reference
to today’s unstable world
get distracted thinking
that they offer
an obvious and sensible motto
and wonder
what the UK motto is
… I re-discover later
that it’s
Dieu et mon droit
the monarch then,
is en place
he/she has a
God given right to rule
all power to
the ‘head of state’
and by inference
the population is
isn’t worth a mention
plus ça change!

after the speech
we listen to the band
in the car park
then retire
to the village hall
for champagne
ahh … I see the afternoon
disappearing in a fog
of inactivity
….but
after a siesta
I head up the
rue de bois
assuming there will be
woods somewhere
and after a while, up ahead
there they are !
it is close and dark in there
and I puff my way
to the top of the hill
and down the other side
and out into a sunny field
where everything that isn’t field
is on the horizon

late afternoon
in the ‘little house’
I move some stuff about
take some stuff out
try and level the floor
it has a positive
ambience
from high windows
the light enters
pleasingly
in a series of bright lozenges
…could be the word of the week

after this coming together
of mind and space
I celebrate with
sausages and wine

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