The Ramblings Of Linden Langdon

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Quirky

Thursday 24, February

I wonder how many kids have answered 'yes' to the question "do you want a SMACK?" belted out from a desperate mothers lips?...hehehe

Family Calls

Wednesday 23, February

My daughter rang from Vancouver this morning! She is on the last leg of her overseas trip before getting back into her drama/education degree at uni in Brisbane. It was so good to hear her voice, and of course reminds me of how much the family means to me - what else is there in life if you take away the emotional warmth, stimulation and turbulence? It gets stripped down to functionality and minimalism as far as I can see. I'm heading off to Queensland to vist my family - Dad and brother and sister and their spouses! Its a short visit, but a long anticipated one after an emotionally draining year at uni. I find that no matter how long I live away from my hometown, I always need to go back to breathe in the air, touch the surfaces that have left tactile memory maps in my mind and swim swim swim. Oh how I miss the warm ocean!

Planning The Future

Tuesday 22, February

Today I picked up the last of my bits and pieces from art school (apart from a paint roller, buts thats another story), and as final as that is it leaves a gapping hole in the 'what are you up to now' question that everyone fires at you. Perhaps with renewed enthusiasm in full knowledge that the answer won't be 'going to uni'. But it does place a certain amount of responsibility on the aching shoulders. Allan (the man who owns the paint roller) rang and said he was never going back to 'that place' again! You can keep the roller - he said. Living in the gorgeous destination of Bruny Island, he said his days were full as he slept, ate eggs and bacon then surfed or whatever took his fancy on the spur of the moment! Who can blame him really... So back to the planning. It seems to be a trend for young people to have a much stronger focus on their future than my generation ever needed to. Perhaps the higher demand for skilled workers, less inclination to train people on the job and less jobs to choose from are all factors in the push. The Tasmanian Arts@Work people are there to help young and (I hear it rumoured) older people with a focus on the arts. So it is no surprise to find a link to a student site promoting career direction. Good to see some creativity hitting the screen!

The Art Of Paper And Sewing

Sunday 20, February

The definition of art is always a lively debate, and the fashion world is ever encroaching on the prestigious end. Who could deny that so called fashion strutted across the catwalk is often less than casual and more than evening wear? Even the models struggle to manoeuvre... The Fashion Fantasia show was a demonstration of wearable art, and although I didn't get to the event, I hear that there was plenty to consider for debating the line between art and craft. One entry (that I know of) was made from paper, the artist winning a trip to New Zealand. Not that paper doesn't have an extensive history of creative use and sculptural construction. The purest pounds natural plant fibres to develop their own recipe to suit their vision, while others utilise the benefits of modern dyes and methods. Tasmania has a bit of a history with papermaking, contentious in its resource use, and embraced through artistic expression. Check out Jan Marinos' site for an artistic use of paper. The dress is from my third year at uni printmaking, and there are some more images of it on my website on the multimedia page if your interested.

Dad's Fruit Cake

Saturday 19, February

I am the youngest in our family, so after I left home Dad set about learning how to cook meals and goodies that would keep fresh long enough for him to get through them (with a bit of help from visitors..). His fruit cake was his specialty, develping quantites over time to produce a fruity and undemanding recipe!

• Dad's Fruit Cake
• 8oz SR flour (2 cups)
• pinch of salt
• 4oz butter (125g)
• 3-4oz sultanas or mixed fruit (3/4 cup)
• 3oz sugar (6 tablespoons)
• 1 egg
• milk to mix

Sift flour and salt into a bowl, then rub in butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and fruit and mix well. Make a well in the center and add the egg and enough milk to make the mixture moist and of dropping consistency. Bake in a moderate oven.

Selwyn Stein

Friday 18, February

Not many printmakers in Tasmania have made the progression to a personal website, but today I received an email from Selwyn announcing his new site. His work at the Tasmanian university has been primarily woodcut, concentrating on a theme of life represented through the natural world, and specifically trees and water. Always good to see a new website for a printmaker!

Tracey Cockburn

Thursday 17, February

Tracey has just completed her masters in printmaking and is having her exhibition opening tomorrow night. She has a wonderful spirit of generosity and care and her work reflects her intimate interest in lifes patina. Springing from the small pieces of china we find (remnants of early settlers), scattered by the actions of time as weather erodes the soil or washes up as memories on the beach, her works expand their life into the present in intricate works on paper, and with paper. Sometimes folded and placed in repeated patterns, sometimes printed onto surfaces to reflect thier glazed properties, the work breathes with warmth through the soft colours. Tracey's work is on show at the Plimsoll Gallery, center for the Arts, Hobart until February 27th.

Naked Lady: Belladonna Lily

Tuesday 15, February

I have a hot dry section of the garden that has to cope with the intense afternoon sun that sits low in our Tasmanian sky. The dogs add their degree of complication as they love racing up and down in total disrespect of any small plants I lovingly place in earnest of creating a retreat within the garden. Recently I ventured cautiously up into this little corner to discover the Amaryllis belladonna emerging from the soil in defiance of its barren surroundings. This is its first flowering, and so inspired the gardener in me to try to make something of the site again. At a time when contemplating the years of love and care I have had with my father, this is an ideal project for my state of mind.

Alley The Beagle

Sunday 13, February

The mischevious little beagle pup that chewed her way through many leathery items and refused to alter her wayward ways by the expected training date deadline has finally curled up and accepted that life isn't so bad when she plays our game! Walked, fed, snuggled up in a beanbag under a blanket, bathed, and loved - what more could she ask for? Well free raiding rights on the rubbish bin perhaps, or a means of operating the gate that blocks her way and severely stunts her cat chasing skills. Alley, I think you've got it made! As a tiny pup she wandered from her mum on a stormy night and needed to be revived in a warm bath after she was found cold and still, but apart from her absolute dread of thunder and distinct avoidance of rain, she seems to have her head in order. At least she knows how to order us...

Sculpture By John Langdon

Saturday 12, February

Ok I worked like crazy and put up a small site to show off my Dad's sculptures. It is always a compromise to show a sculptural form in a photo representation, but I think the collection gives a feel of what they are about. I have also put up a photo site as a way of learning a few tricks with Flash. It is a big program to learn, and is really in its element when there are some graphic skills involved as well... so thats next on the list...

Dad's Sculpture: John Langdon

Friday 11, February

My Dad spent his parenting years as a potter in a town called Buderim. It was a lovely quiet place in the 1960's to '70's, and ideal for creative industry. He did an amazing job of rearing four children on a potters income, and managed to have some spare time for pursueing his passion for sculpture. Combining Grog (crushed brick) and clay he formed, carved and created forms of people in his life, and perhaps some he dreamt of. He also created objects to be rolled in the hand and explored with soft fingers. He kept most of his sculptures, and they have made every move he has, gathering memories of gardens and life as they rested. I think they are beautiful, tactile objects that speak loudly in hushed tones of inner thoughts. Perhaps I will gather all my images and make a gallery page..

Model Looks

Thursday 10, February

There is a strange breed of TV show that has taken hold which features people of appearance and proportion that fits into the western idealistic view of 'attractive'. It has seeped into all 'reality' type shows as ratings must show that people are more likely to watch if the participants are 'models'. This makes me wonder, what happened to our viewing expectations and why? A definition of a model is more like "... a person who acts as a human prop for purposes of art, photography, pornography, fashion, advertising, etc." (Wikipedia) connecting the act of modelling with the industry association. So does the reality TV fit into...art? I think not, advertising must be the drive. So then are we once again duped by manipulative advertising agency games? Personally I am much more comfortable with a realistic image of a person, un-photoshoped and revealing the nature of living on their face, than the opposite. I think the ability to manipulate the human image, in physical and pixel or photo form, has gone too far and lost sight of the real world. Is that the point?

Operating Table

Wednesday 9, February

Today my Dad is on the operating table and I'm pre-occupied with sending him all the love and strength I can through my thoughts. Gardening, I find, is the best source of meditative state for such occasions. Perhaps its the connection with the earth that I crave.

Rocks And Rock Art

Tuesday 8, February

We have a bit of a family tradition here to treasure rocks for many reasons - colour, form, fragility, beauty... they decorate shelves and nooks and crannies about the house, and are a constant source of bewilderment for my partner Steve, who doesn't share our interest! Norway comes to light again, not only as my partners traditional heritage and my daughters partners traditional heritage, but also as an interest in traditional rock art. I was recently reading Marja-Leena Rathje's blog in which a discussion about petroglyphs has waxed and waned over the year her blog has been active. It inspired me to put together a few photos that my mother, Micheline Marion, has taken on her excursions into remote areas of Outback Australia. Interest in rocks, it seems, has a long and undeniable history. The rock art of the Australian Aboriginal people has been dated and redated to hundreds of thousands of year ago, representing stories of lifestyle and cultural identity. If you have and interest in seeing the images, they are in a Flash presentation.

Scrambling For Time

Monday 7, February

A biref reprieve for me today was being able to print a couple more copies from my stone that still has 'The Tank: Category A' etched on it. Of course someone else has already decided its their stone for the coming year, so I had to get in fast before it hit the grinding bench as a few students have started trickling in. In theory, I shouldn't be there at all, not being enrolled in any course so far this year, but it felt oh so good to slip back into the rythymn of rolling out a litho stone that it is hard to think of not having access to the printmaking facility at uni. But now its off to the beach to sink into the salt water and entertain my daughter in her last couple of weeks of school holiday. Lucky you might think, but I suspect that the water is going to be rather cold...

Actions And Words

Sunday 6, February

Sometimes its hard to find the right words to express a feeling - be it a premonition or emotion or other thought that springs into the mind, and other times it is hard to hear or acknowledge the words, and only action can bring home the truth of the spoken word. Yes (eg), the wind was too strong for the umbrella and the little table too weak to withstand the gust, and sorry to say that the pig cup that was resting on the table - is no more. But lesson learnt, and words will be spoken and acknowledged, in spite of the pain that such acknowledgement might bring. I love you Dad.

Deluge Delusions

Friday 4, February

To the strains of 'we all live in a yellow submarine' resounding in my head the day turns to mush with far too many things on the simmer and threatening to raise the stakes to a boil. My flash photo site (so far lacking any great advantages of using flash) has decided to play up on me, housework takes a priority, no sign of the multimedia unit on 3D in the mail, sign up for an online web design course, countdown to Brisbane for my Dad's birthday, Sydney for my son's graduation and Perth for the Hatched exhibition, then the BFA(Hons) certificate arrives in the mail and I get all misty eyed. And its only six months till I know if I'm going to be starting the masters in fine arts, so I'd better start thinking about the theme that will no doubt define my art practice to a degree in the eyes of the critics. Critics, there goes that song again...

Wet Printing

Thursday 3, February

Usually when I think about wet printing, I'm thinking about immersing my paper in water for a period of time to soften it up before printing an etching or drypoint, but today it meant something quite different! My first day printing at the uni art school and it was pouring with rain. Now this is an old building, and on days like this the rain just seems to seep into all the nooks and crannies that have opened up over time and splatters from invasive blobs to fine mist create an atmosphere of outside-inside. Not to be deterred, I managed to prepare some background pieces to be printed next week, and hopefully they will be safe from rain until then! Meanwhile back at the ranch, the extra rain has turned the grass greener than green and overfilled the vegetables in the garden - bursting tomatoes, pumpkin and zuchinni. Maybe there's a print in that - 'Exploding Still Life'!

Studio Found, Studio Lost

Wednesday 2, February

The nature of families can so often be contracting and expanding, and at the most unexpected times. Restless teenagers drift in and out, intent on finding 'that space' which defines their identity as a new adult. Older siblings settle momentarily with partners, and younger ones (or one in my case) seem to seek intense friendships to replace the company they have lost in their older brothers and sisters. The rooms in my house have been painted a gamut of colours to suit the moods and sex of the occupants, and altered their purpose from laundry to bedroom to laundry, or such, as the numbers rise and fall. So now the studio I spent time arranging to suit my mood, sits stripped bare and ready for the return of son three. Time, I do believe, to renew my membership with the Rivulet Print Studio!