Archive for August, 2009

Yearnings - by Su Roberts

Today I went to the opening of my friend Su Roberts’ art exhibition at Oriel Canvas in Canton. If you’re around in Cardiff between now and 26th September, pop round sometime. It’s a sweet little gallery and Su is exhibiting alongside two other artists. The sculptures are Su’s, and the paintings are a mix of Su’s and the other two. The work is powerful and some of it completely entrancing. Su’s beautiful ceramics titled ‘Yearnings’ just touched something inside me. Look out for the painting of Nut right at the very back of the gallery – stretching across a Welsh sky dotted with flowers of sunshine and moonlight. The more I looked at her the most fascinating I found her.

Apart from that, I’ve just completed the main stage of my house and business move – I’m sharing the house with one other human and two cats. All my stuff is now in the house but needs to be redistributed to the relevant spaces; I’m looking forward to spending the two remaining days of the bank holiday weekend bimbling around and sorting out my shelves, putting blinds up, etc. It’s been a 3-week push – cleaning and redecorating the office as well as the old flat – and I handed the keys back to that this morning. By Monday evening I would like to be sorted, organised, with a plan and an idea of what’s happening in the month to come, and with some clear surfaces in the kitchen to start juicing again – my diet has been hit and miss for quite a few days due to lack of time and kitchen facilities, and I miss my vitamins! And fitting in some rest would be a good idea too. :-p

Photo by Playingwithbrushes

I was flicking through a women’s magazine in the supermarket earlier and read a personal account about weight and body image by a journalist who’s been working in fashion for her whole career (I forget her name). Anyway, the thing that really stuck in my head was that she was sent to boarding school in her teens. The food was poor and there wasn’t much of it, and the school had a policy of weighing the girls twice: once at the start of the school year, and once 3 weeks before the summer holidays. Girls who had lost too much weight were put on a “get fat quick” diet for the remaining weeks of term so they wouldn’t be too skinny by the time they went home to their parents.

How appalling is that?! I know I’m doing my “Disgusted, from Cardiff” bit here but seriously?! My brain’s gone a bit too soft to make a proper point but it really shocked me. Other news and on a lighter note – I’m still in the midst of a house and business move (they being synonymous), paint has been liberally applied to my elbows and eyebrows, much hoovering has happened and is yet to happen, and Ikea will be welcoming me with open arms soon (to do my usual “I only came in to buy a blind and some krispbread” and actually buy half the store).

That’s about it from Planet Noreen for today. Happy Monday evening to all