Trees

I am painting trees in black ink. The complicated trucks and shadows mean there is no thinking, just painting. The trees move up the paper taking up the space. There surely should be something else other than trees and a few large rocks, but nothing feels right. The High Priestess from the tarot sits quietly…

Dorothea

My dearest Dorothea, I didn't go and see you at Christmas. I felt that all the people and things I needed to do and see were pulling me apart and I decided to come again at another time. I thought January or February when I could come just for you and my parents. It was…

A cottage by the sea

The odd paint and seaside smell of the kitchen In the sunny white porch a crab is swimming in a plastic bucket Our spades leaning against the wall The sloping ceiling and flowered wallpaper of my little bedroom The gabled window and the quilted eiderdown The sitting room we can´t go into because of the…

Two pockets

A Rabbi told his disciples: Everyone should have two pockets, with a note in each pocket. In one you find the words: “For my sake was the world created" and in the other the words: “I am but dust and ashes.” From the window of my studio by Josef Sudek

Santa Lucia

Aghast, she looks (eyes on stalks) at them hanging there. Such strange fruit...

The new year

It came without much recognition but that felt fine, I like it that way. I walked down the canal, past the boats with their comforting woodsmoke and engine oil smell. The cold air bit my cheeks and my hands had lost all feeling (I must buy some gloves and a hat). A dutch barge had…

Making dolls

I can’t paint or draw at moment she said I am just making dolls With different hair and dresses made out of scraps of material They are nothing I drew flowers last year to soothe myself Flowers are safe and no challenge And making at weekends is of course not enough But children and people…

Gossamer

A fine, filmy cobweb seen on grass or bushes or floating in the air in calm weather, especially in autumn. A thread or a web of this substance. An extremely delicate variety of gauze, used especially for veils. Any thin, light fabric. Something extremely light, flimsy, or delicate. A thin, waterproof outer garment, especially for…

The Queen of the Underworld

She ate 6 seeds and that was that, she was now part of the place and for 6 months a year reigned Queen. At first it was hard, she missed her mother and the sun and the flowers and fresh air, but in time she got used to it and now could almost say she…

Fear of earthquakes

Skinless, unprotected, walking in a land where the ground trembles and the plates shift. I have felt the shifting plates beneath me. Presumptions about place and people have moved. What I thought was secure is no longer. I realise that I thought of England as a Motherland. She was a distant and reserved mother with…