Celebrating Libraries and Buddhism

  

I had been planning my visit to the Buddhist exhibition in the British Library at St Pancras for several months.

   

I thought it would be a good way to celebrate, not only three decades of working in libraries, but also the last two years of practising mindfulness and other Buddhist psychological techniqes.

    

I was feeling a bit cold and tired on the day, it has been a particularly dreary February, but I think the experience and my time exploring libraries and Buddhism will be good to reflect on in the future.

        

Amy Stuff

These art pieces by Amy were part of her GCSE school exhibition in 2016. We got them home and put them on Instagram in 2017. More of Amy's artwork is on my Pinterest pages under Amy Stuff which can be found here.

The Magic Gallery

These are my favourite ten pages of the A4 book of the ALF project's 'Pictures at an exhibition'. It features the eight part story of Grace and her mother's extraordinary visit to the Magic Gallery and the adventure they have there. It also contains pages of Amy's drawings which I used to fill the gallery's empty spaces and also shows some stills from various ALF animations. I lost a lot of data related to 'Pictures at an Exhibition' in 2012 and so this A4 book has become quite precious to me.

    

     

     

   

   

Framed Prints

 

I haven't sold any framed prints from my craft stall, however I have sold one when I have participated in the St. Mary's summer exhibition. This is a selection of the art Amy and I have displayed in the church over the years.

     

ALF & Audrey @ Kew

   

 

My family has had a lot of connection to Kew Gardens over the years. My dad used to work here and now his ashes are scattered here, I used to work next door and visit the place in my lunch breaks, the whole family pay a visit to Kew, getting on for once a year. Now our connection feels even stronger, as my mum has had one of her pictures chosen for an exhibition celebrating the reopening of the newly restored temperate house. All in all, it was a proud and pleasing day, not to mention a gloriously sunny one.

     

    

Twelve of the best

After being caught short on the church art exhibition in July I decided to work on getting six paintings by Amy (above) and six paintings by me (below) ready for the next church art exhibition or in preparation for another opportunity to show our art somewhere else in real life. I'm pleased with the results.

At an Exhibition

This is an edited montage created from the 'Pictures at an exhibition' connecting scenes. 'Pictures at an exhibition' is a short film that lasts for forty minutes. It includes me playing the piano (Gnossienne 1 by Satie), Amy's drawings and a little girl who visits three mysterious rooms, one blue, one green and one red. Also featured in the film are our songs and stories, Stargazing, The Legend of the Dream Box, Gone Fishing, Phoenix and For What I Am. You can find the whole film here on Vimeo.

Wall of Women

This 'Femininity' collage sold for a hundred pounds at the Deep Space Art Show I organised in 2005. The second half-mask picture is a favourite of mine and I have used it in many of my creative endeavours in the real and virtual worlds.

Faith goes to church

It's always good to take part in the St. Mary's church art exhibition. This year they asked for craftwork as well as artwork, so I took my Star Heart doll, Faith, along. I exhibited some of my old pictures and also a new copy of The Cellist.

 

Amy also had her own collection of her old pictures and also two new abstract paintings.

Other painters exhibiting were Jean Higgins with her accomplished oil paintings, the exquisite Japanese, floral inspired paintings of Phyllis King and the intricate artwork of Carole Shirwell.