thank-you

a lovely simple design

mock-up

a little sneak peek at my installation idea

rediscovered

my dad found an old film years ago and has kept hold of it through three house moves and about 15 years. last week i developed it and this is one of the 36 photos that came out perfectly. the man is my great uncle.

i am the first person ever to have seen these photographs. it's amazing!!

i wish....

a day of letter-pressing and wishing

"too twee"

try again!

less about looking back on the past, missing what i once had and more about looking to the future and what i wish i had now.

wish list.

"Rose Tinted"

At a time when things in life are uncertain, the future unknown, I feel a sense of loss and longing for a once carefree existence.

I look to the past to find comfort and familiarity in people and places.

Through photographs, letter writing and exploring outdated methods of photography and communication, I look back on a life of cozy simplicity through rose tinted spectacles.

I miss sitting at the kitchen table after school,

coffee and home-made windfall cake,

telling each other of lessons and break-times.

I miss running along the dusty track to the kangaroo tree,

chasing Eleanor on the bicycle.

I miss picking up stones on the beach for Grandad to inspect,

to see if I would be declared the winner of the polo that day.

I miss jumping off the beams into the haystack below,

in our big old barn with my cousins.

I miss picking rose petals from the garden,

mixing them with water from the tap in the old dairy

to make 'perfume' for our mother.

I miss little house on the prairie at bed times,

Dad falling asleep in the old rocking chair.

I miss a life of cosy simplicity.

finally finished, wrapped and ready to go.

"when i think of you, i think of waking up to boiled

eggs and hot buttered toast"

" i think of freshly laundered sheets and flowers in vases.

i think of hot soups on rainy days, mittens on the aga on snow days and warm blankets on sick days"

rose tinted

a series i am working on based around the idea of fond memories, longing and a rose tinted view of the world.

and this not necessarily being a bad thing.

yours faithfully

a beautiful set of postcards dating back as far as 1929, lent to me by a friend. Providing great inspiration for my letter writing.

I am considering turning my prints into postcards and writing my letters/poems on the back of them.

rose tinted

"had we but world enough and time"

cold nights and warm hands.

music memories, love letters sent, pot plant gifts.

tears and comfort,

secret smiles shared, old familiarities and new

discoveries.

new beginnings

love letters

the post below is part of a series i am working on at the moment. i am using typewriters, a box brownie camera, letter writing, poetry, darkroom printing, book binding and other such methods that are rarely used any more. obviously digital has its perks but there is no substitute for a lovely hand written letter or a photograph thats been carefully printed and can be held in your hands.

the project is still in very early stages as it i have promised i will not imagine my final outcome too early in the project. so for now it is just thoughts and experiments.

i am writing letters to people important to me. although i have (for now) titled it 'love letters', they are not all to one person with whom i am in love, they are to anyone i would say 'i love you' to.

i am also writing small poems, musings, thoughts etc. about my childhood, things i miss, happy memories, people i no longer see.

my life is at a point where it is uncertain, things are changing and there are no definates. so i am looking to my past and reminiscing of a simpler time.

the writing of letters, using of a typewriter and overall use of simpler methods echoes the life of simplicity i long for.

for you.

remember remember

bird and banner is a wonderful blog, I can't find the 'follow' button so I am writing about it here in the hope that I will remember to look at it again!