Inspiration

Reasons to be grateful #5 – walking in the woods with my best one

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One of the things I’ve been doing with this blog over that last few months is trying to keep track of some of the things I am grateful for, following this post about gratitude. I thought it would be fun to build up a little collection of doodles to capture these. Finding the time to do this has been a bit challenging, but I have enjoyed thinking about what to draw.

Over the last few weeks we’ve had some unpredictable weather here in the UK, swinging rapidly between spring sunshine and flurries of winter snow. We’ve been lucky enough to have time to go for 2 really nice walks in the woods, in between the snow showers and rain. I find being in the woods particularly relaxing and refreshing, and love the curving unruly forms of nature. A few weekends ago we came across some beautiful mosses, which were intricate in form and all kinds of vivid greens.

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My fiancé (still getting used to calling him that) frequently have our best, most thoughtful conversations while out walking and not distracted by other things. It is often in the woods where we discuss what we would like to do together in the future, or scheme to create a joint project. So I am grateful to have that time and space with him whenever possible. I also find that when I am walking I have some of my best ideas. I think there is something about the rhythm of walking that may make different connections in my brain in comparison to just sitting in front of a screen or with some materials. So I am grateful for that different kind of ‘head space’ too.

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Like what you see? I also make art. You can things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying.

Objects with meaning #5 – Jade Dog

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This is a part of a series of photos of objects that have meaning to me. Want to know a little more about the origin of this project? Have a read here.

Fellow magpies, what objects have meaning for you? If you would like to join in and tell the story of your own objects with meaning have a read of this post, or post in the comments below.

 

 

Like what you see? I also make art. You can things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying.

Objects with meaning – do you want to join in?

/ The Magpie at Midnight / 31 Comments

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A few weeks ago I started running a series of posts about ‘objects with meaning’, by which I meant objects that have personal importance to us, so that they may make up part of our emotional story or landscape. You can read that original post here should you want to know more. You can also have a look at some of the objects here and here.

Anyway, I found that something pretty exciting had happened at the beginning of this week when writer Scar (of blog SCAR) took up the idea behind this post and wrote her own lovely post about her own poignant ‘objects of meaning’. You can read her post here. I was particularly taken with the tale of her Ukulele and of her Happy Wagon. No spoilers – if you want to know more you’ll need to head over there to get the full story. If you like books, or ever have occasion to roam London looking for good places to hang out or eat, her blog is also for you.

So I really like the idea that other bloggers may want to write about their own ‘objects of meaning’ and the stories behind them. I think ideas are best shared. If you would like to join in I would be happy to host guest posts here, or link to posts on other blogs to direct some traffic. I really like the idea that we could together develop a web or map of stories through interesting objects, nearly forgotton pieces of clothing and long cherished toys – it would be exciting to act as a hub for that.

Please grab my attention by posting in the comments below, or you can email me at rose@magpieatmidnight.co.uk if you would prefer that.

I also make art. You can things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying.

Objects with Meaning #4 – All seeing eye

/ The Magpie at Midnight / 2 Comments

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This is a part of a series of photos of objects that have meaning to me. Want to know a little more about the origin of this project? Have a read here.

Fellow magpies, what objects have meaning for you? would love to hear all about them in the comments below.

 

 

Like what you see? I also make art. You can things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying.

Objects with meaning #3 – Assorted beautiful buttons

/ The Magpie at Midnight / 9 Comments

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This is a part of a series of photos of objects that have meaning to me. Want to know a little more about the origin of this project? Have a read here.

Fellow magpies, what objects have meaning for you? would love to hear all about them in the comments below.

 

 

Like what you see? I also make art. You can things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying.

Objects with meaning #1 – China ballet shoes

/ The Magpie at Midnight / 6 Comments

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A few years ago I took a whole heap of photos of objects that had meaning for me. I had a conversation with a guy I was seeing at the time about minimalism and how he had thrown away all his childhood soft toys, which I just found really, really sad for some reason.

I am slightly suspicious of wholesale minimalism. I feel that some objects come with important emotional meaning attached, and they form part of our emotional memory. Our emotional story. What looks like simple clutter to some people, is for other people an anchor to an important moment, good or bad, in their past. I am sure that sometimes getting rid of those anchors can, in it self, be a very psychologically healthy thing to do. But I am not an advocate of throwing things away simply for the sake of being tidy, of creating a clean, minimalist environment. So (in a grand romantic gesture) I made a digital film for the guy.

It totally wasn’t worth it. I mean super duper wasn’t at all worth my effort. But there we go.

Looking at them again now, I think they made a nice little project. I wanted to share them with you, Fellow Magpies. I will post them over the next few weeks and months, and maybe add in a few new ones along the way.

 

I also make art. You can things with my designs on at my shop here. Could even treat yourself if you wanted to. Just saying.

Taking the rail replacement bus

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This morning I went swimming with my sister for the first proper training session in preparation for swimming in the Great North Swim in June. I have signed up to swim 5k (which is just over 3 miles), which is the furthest distance I will have swam. Eventually I want to work up to swimming a 10k, which is a marathon style length for swimmers. We swam a mile, and it was pretty tough going. I think it will take 2 swim sessions a week, and an additional session in the gym a week to build my stamina between now and then. So we have work to do. I will try to keep track here I think.

On my journey there this morning, one of my trains was replaced by a rail replacement bus. I normally travel on the train, and which is a relatively direct route. The bus takes a less direct route, and as a consequence I was able to see parts of London that I do not normally see. London is a huge city that has developed and evolved over time, slowly swallowing up towns and villages as it expand outwards. This process has left a patchwork of buildings of different styles, sizes and ages, with different parts of the outer edges of the city having distinct atmospheres and styles of their own. While it took me longer than i expected to get to the pool, I was great to spend some time looking at these bits of this city that I do not always feel at home in.

It got me thinking a bit about doing things differently, or what I may try to do differently last year. Over that last year and a half I have been working on just trying to finish things, which has been helpful in getting me to a place where I feel my creative work has purpose. I have also begun to really appreciate that doing things slowly, and building things over time, is actually the better way for me. I can be comfortable with this. However some of the work has felt, if not trivial, at least a bit light, or thin. In the last few months I have begun working on some pieces that are emotionally more close to home. I’ve been avoiding finishing bits of work like this in the past, as putting it out there is a bit anxiety provoking. When you already have anxiety, adding in more sources of anxiety is a bit of thing. So this year, I will be trying, gently, to push my self a bit more in that direction. Stay tuned to see how that goes…

Is there anything you’ll be having a go at doing differently this year?

A little clip from my documentary, a long time work in progress

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I have been working for some time on a documentary about a lovely man called Stuart Hughes for some time now. I really long time, actually. The outcome will probably be quite different to what I initially planned, as it’s a bit like ideas have been sitting in a slow cooker.

I have finally managed to put a little clip up on Vimeo. I would love to know what you think. You can have a here:

It started with a short wave radio… from Rose Thompson on Vimeo.

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Swimming in silver

/ The Magpie at Midnight / 2 Comments

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About a week ago my bf and I were on holiday. We decided not to go very far – we had just over a week off and didn’t want to lose too much of that time travelling. We went to Canterbury (UK) which is a couple of hours away by train from where we live. We stayed there a couple of nights, which I think was enough to begin really exploring the city, but I think we will go back for more.

While walking around the city, looking at the different forms of architecture there, I began to get some ideas for some new art, which given the number of projects on mental do to list, probably won’t see the light of day until sometime next year. I have always found that for me walking about, especially in places that are unfamiliar to me, is the time when my brain suddenly starts offering up new ideas about all sorts of things. I think there is something special about the mindful state that it is possible to get yourself into when striding about new places. There is something about the rhythm of walking combined with the strange details of a new place, that are so attractive to the eye, that can prompt my brain to make new connections that would not have come together from the comfort of my sofa. I think this is why a little trip away, and it doesn’t have to be a trip very far, can be refreshing for our creative selves.

In Britain I would say that we are particularly lucky in this respect. You do not have to go very far to find some strange, wonderful, slightly eccentric environment to immerse yourself in. I wanted to share the photo below as a case in point.IMG_20170901_165520622

This was taken by my bf, last Friday afternoon, as I stumbled out into the sea at Whitstable for a swim. We got so lucky that afternoon. The water was so still and smooth, and the light was just right, that the clouds reflected straight back up off the water. I swam out quite some way, and ended up swimming alone through the still, warm water. With the sky reflecting off my face, at times this swim felt quite unreal, like swimming in silver.

At times I look at the UK news, which appears to be full of the small minded, the small hearted and the delusional in their political manoeuvrings over Brexit, and I feel so sad for Britain. If you were looking at the news from abroad now I cannot see how you could even imagine there could be little treasures hiding in the funny, eccentric, down to earth little corners of Britain. You could not know how kind and friendly and admittedly slightly strange many of us are. You probably would not even believe that you could visit a tiny little beach town, just a couple of hours by train from London, and swim in silver.

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