Picasso's goat

As an art student, I attempted to make some kind of reinterpretation of Picasso’s goat – it was the size of a kid and bright red. It really wasn’t much of a homage.

Years later, I saw the original at the Musee National Picasso in Paris and felt like a little girl in front of his larger than life nanny goat. In cobbling together my kid goat, I’d used a single black and white photocopy of Picasso’s ‘La Chevre’ and was just delighted by all sorts of detail that I’d missed – in the lumpy plaster, the bits of scrap metal, the wicker basket that forms the goat’s rib cage, the ceramic jug udders...

There is something so endearing and humorous – and just so goaty – about it. 

‘La Chevre’, 1950 (cast in bronze in 1952) (http://theotherparis.net)

Picasso and family, including Cabra the goat and Lump the dachshund, at home in Cannes, 1957 (http://www.hrc.utexas.edu)

And here’s another attempt, this time sketched with oil pastels.

A small pile of books

I’ve added a banner to my blog – have you seen it yet? Look on the right...  

Yep. It’s that small pile of books just beneath the list of books I’m currently reading.

It’s a pledge to read the printed word.

But I think it’s not just about reading books – it’s about sharing books.

Since going back to my studies full-time, I’ve been buying far fewer books than I used to but I still like to give them as gifts, especially to the children and teenagers in my life.

Here’s something small you can do to share a book...

Give a book as a gift, especially to a child

There are so many wonderful children’s books to choose from – everything from beautiful big picture books to pop-ups to board books to bath books. Or share one of your own favourite old and dog-eared children’s books with a littler member of your family.

Join your local library

Um, look it up if you don’t know where it is. And donate some of the books you’ve bought that you know you won’t read again.

Make use of your school and university libraries

While more and more books and articles are available online, libraries are still the most accessible places to read and study.

Give a book away

Find a school that could really do with more books for their classrooms or library and donate some of your books.

Lend a book

And borrow one in return – that way you should be sure to get yours back!

Recommend a book

If you really can’t be parted with a book you love, recommend it – especially to people you know don’t often read books. And create a home for your books on http://www.librarything.com/ while connecting with other readers who’ve read and loved the same books.

Release a book into the wild...

‘If you love your books, let them go.’ Let your book travel around the world – join other book lovers at http://www.bookcrossing.com/ and you can then label your book so that it won’t get lost, ‘release’ it by leaving it on a park bench, at a train station, at your favourite coffee shop – anywhere it can be ‘caught’ by another delighted reader – and then log on to see who finds it and what adventures it has had. =)

You can see more banners here: http://readtheprintedword.org/ 

A bigger pile of books - I bought these at a sale and gave most of them away.

African All Stars

And a favourite local design. Found this postcard at a shop in Long Street. Love it!

You can get in touch with Star Cards at: info@starcards.co.za

A bundle of life

A little late for his 80^th birthday but who needs birthdays to celebrate someone?

He's my compass and my touchstone.

I respect his courage to speak out against injustice – and to take an unpopular stand.

He also said, “My father always used to say, 'Don't raise your voice. Improve your argument.' Good sense does not always lie with the loudest shouters, nor can we say that a large, unruly crowd is always the best arbiter of what is right.” 

And he does it all with such laughter and playfulness and dedication.

    

Iditarod dogs

These are from a collage that I’m making for my niece.

She’d recently watched a documentary on the Iditarod (the great sled dog race in Alaska) and was inspired to create her own Iditarod with the family dogs at home in South Africa.  She harnessed her motley team of four and roped them together with their leashes, then tried a bit of mushing – and cajoling with a carrot! (They’re very healthy – they snack on carrots.) But they didn’t get very far. Her lead dog actually froze – she sat down stiffly and simply refused to budge!

So I began to think of another expedition that the dogs might enjoy – running across the beach, following their leader who would be marching on ahead, singing to them. A little more Pied Piper...

They do prefer rolling in the sand and lolling about...

Et voila!

Friends found this in Paris and gave it to me for my birthday.

It's a cut-out postcard by Pascal Parmentier and, after a whole lot of careful cutting and snipping out and gluing together, here it is:

Merci beaucoup, Jacqui et Patrick!


You can see more of Monsieur Parmentier's postcards (and other work) here: http://www.pascal-p-parmentier.com/ Have a click - the charmingly animated M. Parmentier will make you smile.

A haiku about... falling poems?

I wrote this about ten years ago when I was living in London.

I was at work and from my window I could see a man and a woman reading on the grass below. It was a blustery day and she was leaning against him – but quite absorbed in what she was reading. It seemed like the perfect kind of solitude.

Uff!

So, my design is still not quite what I’d pictured but I’m getting there – well, somewhere. And I’m having far fewer arguments with my computer than I did when I began learning Illustrator. Though I might still be heard going, ‘What?! No? NO! No, no, no, no, nooooooo..! Oh... Okay...’

If anyone invents a computer that argues back, I’m so buying it.

Chapter 1

I found the beginning of a story at my bus stop last week.

I still don’t know who wrote it but I’ve been going up to campus and down again, imagining the two of them... She must get on at my stop but does he? Did he see her read it? Did she blush, laugh or smack him with an armful of books?! Perhaps she was quite cool and gave nothing away. Would he have been bruised or a little bit smug? Maybe he was knocked off his feet!

I sat on the bus smiling and wondering what their next chapter would be. And what title they would give their story. And how many chapters it would have...

I wonder where he wanted to take her.

And, of course, I wonder if she relented and went with him?