DAZZLE CAMOUFLAGE

Dazzle Camouflage was created during the first world war. Rather than camouflage which is traditionally created to blend, to disguise the jeep or tents from the enemy, dazzle camouflage was designed to confuse the U boats. When firing on the ships, the dazzle designs confused their sights so that it was impossible to discern in which direction the boats were going , thus the torpedos often (and hopefully) missed their targets. (More text to come).

These pictures are in black and white but often the dazzle designs used colour.

Small designs were created to place over pictures of the ships, and the ship would be painted in the design as it appeared.

A fabulous example of a ship with optical illusions created to confuse the enemy.

It would be difficult to tell which way this ship was going.

Boxes were designed with geometric patterns and then placed over the template of a ship. I love this idea and would love to try it.

Wow! This one is amazing.

FURTHER DISK HANGING RESEARCH

Looking at creating disk hangings, I am beginning to feel that perhaps this is not a good idea. Bouncing ideas of Mel, we have sampled with pipe insulation, joined by pipe insert. The insulation is too flexible and would not hold the circle at that diameter. (6 ft). The pipe itself may, but a small piece is £7 and I would need probably 4 of those per piece = £28 x 6 = £168 just for pipe which I would have to paint white. If the fabric were for digital printing, silk would be about £15 p m. = about £344 for silk so £512 total. That is not allowing for errors and samples. The pipe may twist too when hanging freely.

6 ft diameter is unstable so I have decided that 5 ft diameter is large enough. At the moment, I am sampling with drainage pipe (free, as we have a lot of it). As I said previously, I may have disks cut in wood, mdf or clear acrylic. The disk hangings are not worth doing if they are not going to be perfect and beautiful.

Alternatively, I am considering a series of hangings instead.

Watch this space.

THE BLACK AND WHITE

There would have to be a tanker sheep!!

And a tanker pig!!

A favourite CB Tanker.

From the CB Tanker I am hoping to create a large floor piece. This is part of the model for it.

This is one of my favourites, a Crosslands Tanker at the Waste and Recycling Show at Paignton. This image (as with all of the images), is untouched by me. The shapes (and everyone sees something different in them) are created because the tanker was under a tree and this is the shadow. I see two old crones with a baby in a cradle - Rosemary's baby?

The shadow of the ladder on the tanker makes an interesting shape. Here I am collecting elements and imagery for my final pieces. I very often work in black and white in my sketchbook, adding colour later.

There is a little blob of scarlet glitter on the end of the 'cigar' in the 'hand'. Can you see the cigar or is it just me??

'You must understand the whole of life,

not just one little part of it

That is why you must read,

That is why you must look at the skies,

That is why you must sing and dance,

and write poems, and suffer,

and understand, for all that is life.'

Jiddu Krishnamurti, philosopher (1895 - 1986).

THE ZEN OF SHEEP 2

My studio is surrounded by small fields in which my 5 pet Exmoor Horn sheep graze. I find watching them, feeding them and interacting with them meditative and relaxing. The lambs are so funny to watch.

Here are some of their 'Zen' wisdoms.

'Train your mind - it is the source of everything'

'Remember that is is easy to point out the mistakes
of others, but difficult to admit one's own.'

'Accept the challenge of higher development

'The road to the experience of ultimate reality
is the practice of meditation'

'It is necessary to gain insight
that life is impermanent'

And I thought this appropriate for our M.A. course;

'There will come a time when you believe everything is finished.
That will be the beginning'

and

'Watching a spider at work, I vow with all beings to cherish the web of the Universe:
touch one point and everything moves.'

THE ZEN OF TANKERS

Reading my own blog from the present day back to the very first day on the course, has taught me so much about my 'Self' and what is missing from my work today. I feel inspired. The 'Zen' part of me is essential to my being, to my work and I am looking forward to allowing myself to 'be', just to create from the Soul instead of creating from the mind which is what I have been doing, knowing there was something missing from my mission.

I found my journey into 'Zen' and the 'Road to Enlightenment' totally absorbing. I was merely studying the visual aspects and not the spiritual, or was I? 'Zen' is a philosophy, vast and beautiful. I did not want to study Ikebana, (or Kado), but it was through Kado that I came to understand in a small way the power of the 'Do' as in Ju-do, Aiki-do, etc. or 'The Way'. To 'see' from the 'Soul centre', creating imagery from the Soul centre in meditation became part of my working practice, part of who I am. Seeing the absolute simplicity of shape and space, geometry and colour with black and white is beautiful to me. I see this as part of the mastery of craft in the Eastern cultures. I have merely scratched the surface.

"When you practise za-zen, don't try to stop your thoughts from coming. Ask yourself only this question: 'Which is my own spirit?' " Bassui

Detail from 'Full Moon' by Lui Guosong. Courtesy of Christis's Images.

'Peacefulness' by Zhou Luyun.

"Zen embraces a profound philosophy of self-awakening and freedom from man's egocentric perception of the world"

The nature of 'things' is called emptiness.

'The Way is beyond language,

for in it there is

no yesterday

no tomorrow

no today'

Hsin-hsin Ming

I love some of the philosophies of Zen. Working directly onto the silk in meditation was not just a visual process but something much more meaningful and deep; it meant something to me. I knew I would have to find the 'Zen of Tankers' - a book perhaps??

'Enlightenment comes from practice,

Thus Enlightenment is limitless;

Practice comes from Enlightenment,

Thus practice has no beginning'

Dogan Zenji

All from 'The Origins of Wisdom', Zen Buddhism, by O.B. Duane.

DISK HANGING RESEARCH

Considerable research has gone into creating the disk hangings and I am at a point where I may seriously change course. Does one have to recognise when an aim is just not possible? Or too difficult to achieve? My worry is that I will want the finished hangings to be perfect and that I am wasting time trying to achieve something which is just not working.

As I have mentioned, I contacted a boron drum maker in Ireland to ask how he makes the frame. He suggested 3 layers of ply bent round a template. The 4-5 in deep 5 ft diameter frame appears to be stable and hopefully will take the tension of the fabric when it is stretched over it. This allows me to make two frames to place against a wall. These will not be viewed from both sides so hopefully will work. Although I have done a lot of sampling, I still have to create the designs (which I have felt uninspired to do until the mounting is sorted out).

I have also researched suitable fabrics extensively. It must not be translucent and show the frame. It must be able to maintain tension across the 5 ft. and 6 ft diameter shapes. I think I may have to use two layers of fabric. Trying to find a dense enough stretch fabric is proving a problem. I managed to find stretch linen which I rather like. Just like linen but doesn't crease in the same way. However, I sourced it from a mobile stall (really nice barrow boy from London) and cannot find it elsewhere. I cannot find a thick stretch cotton except cotton jersey which I do not feel is suitable. It would run if cut. So, I have yet to find 'the' fabric for this project.

I was offered a tanker, Genesis, for my show and was so excited about that but when Whale Tankers mentioned insurance, I was worried about the tanker perhaps being gouged or damaged. I feel rather bereft about that. However, I was keen to have a 'tanker footprint' as part of my show. Initially, I was simply going to draw a tanker shape on the floor and hang silk tanker hangings around that. However, I do like the idea of hanging disk hangings length ways, like the body of the tanker represented in silk.

It was thought that 6 hangings would be appropriate, hung about 1m apart to allow visitors to walk between them, each one representing a part of the tanker.

As these will be seen from both sides, I am having problems working out what to make the frames with. I can have them cut in wood or perspex but would this be stable enough to take the tension of the cloth? These would all be 6 ft diameter. Pipe could be used but after tests, we found it twisted and flexed and probably would not hang absolutely square.

Another problem is how to fix the fabric to the frame as it will be visible from both sides?

So - I am just going to have to make some up and see what happens. These I would like to be in silk, translucent but not too see through, so probably georgette or crepe de chine.

If anyone has any ideas about these frames, I would be so pleased to hear them.

After cutting and assembling a 5 ft diameter disk, blocks were placed around the shape so that the ply could be placed around that. This was done in sections and built up until there were three layers of ply glued together in three sections. The sections slot together and are then screwed in place.

I have considerable research to do on these hangings but wonder if it is just too much work when I really just want to be creating silk hangings.

THE ZEN OF SHEEP

Sheep will always feature somewhere in my life, such characters - we all have our little foibles!
More like a distraction from trying to create these large disks. I am having such problems and have spent an inordinate amount of time on it. I can't make anything work. (Research to follow)

Watching sheep is such a relaxing pastime (or is it timewasting?)


'George' and 'Favour' (a friend named that one)

Mum 'Judy' and 'George'. Their horns have suddenly broken through the wool making them look like little devils.

'Favour' waiting for his lamb nuts.

Julie.

Ah well, back to the challenge of the disks.