Crispie Edges

 

3/17/23 Issue no. 16

Happy March (& Saint Patrick’s day)!

 

I won’t be drinking Guinness or out on the town, however I’ll probably eat an extra dose of cabbage roasted and then broiled with cheddar cheese to mark the day — I know thrilling.

 

I hope you are feeling some hints of spring, as I write to you there is overcast sky and very light mist, which I’m grateful for as the last two days have been consistent rain. Since I last wrote I’ve been busy in the studio building works for a late July show at Molesworth Gallery, and in the last month the work feels as if it has opened up in a way I’ve been longing for.

studio news

I have two pieces in the Butler Gallery’s 80th Anniversary Collection Exhibition Featuring New Acquisitions

 

Instead of a complete overhaul of my website I am slowly editing and reworking parts, adding, and taking away. Recently I uploaded this new body of work, entitled ‘A single woman climbs into bed’

 

ie explains

 

 

 'My childhood is in the room next door'

 

Oil on linen panel

40x30cm

 

 

This was the downstairs bathroom in my grandparent’s lake home. One might consider it a ¼ bath rather than a ½ bath based on its size, it was the only bathroom on the main level.

The window on the left-hand side was an indoor window, as the laundry room and pantry were what it looked into. When I was small, I would go into the bathroom, wait for my grandma to go into the laundry room and then knock on the window to say hi to her.

 

The blinds were a fuzzy upholstery, with the weft made of a type of lightweight wood, stained dark. The wallpaper was also textured, stripes of cream, olive, and gold. The wood paneled ceiling was angled since the bathroom was directly underneath stairs. Only recently due to a comment by my uncle about this painting did I realize this angle would be inconvenient for any male needing to use the facilities.  The sink had a singular knob, (which was common for my grandparents in all their bathrooms) a giant fake crystal looking thing, made of plastic, which I could never angle right for an ideal temperature. The door (not pictured in this painting) was hollow and light, the knob had to be pressed in and turned slightly to lock, something I never knew, which lead to some mishaps in vacancy and occupied — thank god we were family.

 

To the right of the bathroom was a small narrow closet, here my grandparents kept a few kids’ toys, puzzles, and board games, reserved for those rainy days at the lake. As years past that closet was opened less and less as my favorite rainy lake day activities shifted from Chinese checkers to reading alone in a bedroom or the second living room.

 

The strongest memory I have of this bathroom though is its where I first experienced getting my menstrual cycle — July 5, 1998. There was no celebration, or excitement. Only after some explanation from my mom did I understand that this was not a one-time moment every month but would last for a week and occur monthly for years and years to come. My disposition likes to think in extremes at times and I had two main concerns: What if one day I’m so poor I can’t afford products and ‘So, you’re telling me ¼ of my life is now doomed?!’ I suppose it was only natural to have that kind of extreme thinking being 80% of time at the lake would be spent in a swimsuit romping about, careless about time, and here I was dripping from an orifice. My own perception might be quite different from what was actually known to those around me but I felt completely exposed, alone, and depressed in figuring out this new way of physical existence in front of my immediate family, cousins, uncles, and grandparents.

recs

 

I hesitate to recommend things that are not 'of the moment' but recently I have been able to watch a few things that have been on my list for some time, perhaps they’ve been on yours too and this is the push to get around to them?

 

WATCH

Get Out This is scary. Scary psychologically and culturally. It not only vortexed me into one of the most captivating film comas of my life, but it also addressed chilling realities we are facing as a society.

 

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri After watching The Banshees of Inisherin I am bound and determined to watch any and all of what Martin McDonagh sets his mind to. As someone whos sensitive to extreme psychological or physical suffering in film I am always cautious in what I watch. But I find McDonagh's work to never use these components without reason, so I visually forge on.

 

LISTEN

This podcast brilliantly discussed Matisse’s Red Studio painting. What I loved is how it discussed the beautiful precarious nature of how a painting (or any art form) gets made, reminding me of the best advice I ever received in the process of painting: ‘it doesn’t matter how you get there, it's that you get there’

 

READ

Happening by Annie Ernaux This book is a memoir written 40 years after Annie Ernaux went about dealing with her unwanted pregnancy in France where abortions were illegal. The work is highly readable, at the same time visceral and haunting, awarded the Nobel prize it is no doubt a cautionary tale. *Another rec and purchase from Wormbooks Im so lucky to have them so near!*

 

EAT

Two recent trips to Sweden have introduced me to many culinary revelations.

First, the Semla (sadly now out of season) I am certain I had one of the finest quality here.

Secondly, Pizza without cheese ordered here in a fluster was actually a mind-blowing gift to self. *Capers, Sardines, garlic, cherry tomatoes, fried basil, green olives, and sauce* (side note: pizza doesnt come cut in Sweden so you can fight over squares or triangles at the table.)

Third, as a cookie over cake person I can say I have found my definitive, favorite, and most magical carrot cake here.

 

As always, thank you for subscribing and reading.

Take care, see you in May!

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Knockroe, Ballydehob, Cork Ireland
087-421-9780
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