The new website. What do you think?

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Feeling the need to have some changes in my life, I’ve decided to create the new “Linandara and Artish Folk” website. A proper one. It is going to be about arts, crafts, creativity, lifestyle, ethical issues, located at linandara.com and linandara.co.uk . Few days ago I did a first step: a temporary simple “business card” type website. Everything (like life itself) is a work in progress. There is now a facebook group for the future site, which eventually will have a forum. Please feel free to join the group and I hope you enjoy being in it.

To let people know about the new website I had an idea to do some handmade business cards. They are evolving as I make them. On the back I’ve put some keywords which would describe the future site, topics which would be discussed on it or be associated with it. The list is  changing from card to card. At the moment it includes Arts, crafts, creativity, handmade, fantasy, rationalist, dreaming, emphatic, discovery, freethinking, impressionalist, folk art, bohemian, ethnic, eccentric, independent, sci-fi, по-русски, commissions, one of the kind, etc.

Any suggestions are welcome!

 

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Захотелось перемен, и я собралась сделать себе новый сайт, посвященный вопросам искусства, рукоделия, творчества, этики и жизни вообще. Сайт будет расположен по адресам linandara.com и linandara.co.uk. Сейчас там протая временная страничка. Как и сама жизнь, работа идет методом проб и ошибок. Есть группа посвящена новому сайту. Пожалуйста присоединяйтесь и, надеюсь, всем будет интересно.  Буду рада любым советам.

Allotment update

Hopefully it is ready for the winter. I am not very experienced gardener but I love to experiment.  Lucerne and Alexanders are sown as green manure,  soil is covered by autumn leaves. 

Young broccoli and cauliflower plants plus salad leaves are covered by glass jars,  soda plastic bottles and some bubble wrap on top. As people say it in Russia, “голь на выдумки хитра” / “poor are inventive”.

My autumn sown Scorzonera is doing well. Apparently its young leaves make tasty salad and it is slug proof!

Peackocks, pheasants and chickens

A couple of weeks ago I have been doing a little acrylic miniature:

Not very happy with the painting but at least one person liked it so I’ll let it be. When I was working on this I’ve accidently stumbled across a sad picture:

Two freshly shot pheasants.  They looked so beautiful from close up… I know people who wish to execute anybody killing pheasants but at the same time eat their close relatives,  chickens and turkeys every day. .. Which just shows how our attitude to animals (and sometime to humans) depends on pretty looks and “cuteness”. It shouldn’t be this way.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with eating animals: lots of people probably are better off with high animal protein diet as this is the food we originally evolved on.  Obviously we should protect endangered species and avoid unnecessary cruelty to animals, especially the ones closest to us by intelligence. Being cruel or destroying the beauty of nature would eventually backfire.  It will make us more cruel to humans too and guilty and depressed. Yet if medical science really needs to experiment with animals it should be allowed: only humans on this planet know how to heal.

I wish I had time to do an old fashioned still life with those pheasants. ..

Instead of “hello”

Imagine you ask somebody which country they are from originally (I probably wouldn’t as some people may not want to speak about this or they may feel upset that they accent shows). Imagine you have got some kind of reply. Would you then rushed into saying that oh, yes, you heard about that country,  it’s well known for (pick from the list) evil government,  racism, slavery, crime, bureaucracy,  obesity, poverty, injustice, unemployment, etc?

Similar conversions happened  to me twice last week. People honestly expect to maintain friendly conversation started with these accusations. I do love to criticise my native Russia when appropriate.  But  when strangers are talking to me in this manner it is like being held responsible for all negative news stories or just pure propaganda is completely different. Another thing that drives me mad is when strangers start to treat me as a zoo animal,  discussing my cheekbones, shape of the face or accent.

I thought that after 15 years living abroad I would get used to that. Apparently not. I still feel afraid to talk to stangers.

The “Lights on” night

The Market and the shop are open till late today. There is music & fairground in town but the Market it dark, cold and quiet. .. A corner of a new commissioned painting in progress is at the bottom right.  It’s a Mediterranean house in oil pastel. I had a productive day in the studio,  I’ve talked to interesting people, but haven’t seen much of my family and haven’t earned any money.  Which,  as usual,  makes me wonder if I am doing the right thing?

In need of some changes

Why wait for the New Year to make resolutions? I have a good life but I want to make it much better. I want to declutter, I want to enjoy every moment, and I still want to learn to  be a breadwinner for my family.

Live your

Dream

your Life.

Join me on a mission. To be one of a kind. To be kind. Don’t vaste. Don’t be afraid to experiment. I want to be creative in every aspect of life, I want to improve my craft. To make my home a happy place, floating through time and space.

I feel the need to change what I do and how. More of this to follow (hopefully).

An anchor

In any book,  or movie,  or TV series I need at least one “hero” through whom I could connect to the story.  A generally good person in my particular understanding (who not necessarily always does good but wants to). A person with conscience.  Without him or her I feel like floating without an anchor in the story.

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В любой истории мне нужен “якорь”: хотя бы один персонаж, положительный в моем понимании. Не идеал, живой человек. Если все пеосонажи воспринимаются как отрицательные или нейтральные, ни что в истории не цепляет, читать или смотреть не буду.

Back at the market table

So I did it again: for the third financial year I am loosing money (something like 67-350-250 £ a year). This is despite parting with a number of paintings,  cards and prints.

I am grateful to the people who bought the artwork from me but please be aware that it was local council,  public transport companies,  insurance companies, post offices and art supplies who really got your money: I had to pay them too.

Number of customers at the Market is falling. I only managed to cover my rent for December. The local library sent me a letter saying I have to pay 45 pounds if I dare to put prices on my paintings at my annual exhibition. I had it here for 2 years and earned 20 – 40 pounds each time…

I should admit that the thought of a big bonfire made of the paintings and sketches regulary burns in my mind. But I am not sure I ever can give up. All the money I have to spend on art are the leftovers from buying food and clothes for my family for which my husband gives me some money. I could’ve spent more money on him and kids. Perhaps I should have spent more time on them too.

All the housekeeping: washing, cooking, gardening, tidying and almost all shopping are my responsibilities which I have been partly ignoring for last few years in order to “be an artist”. And I am not even good at it. My conscience is not allowing me to charge sky-high for my artworks and anyway local people wouldn’t be able to pay any more. We haven’t got many millionaires in Newtown. I love doing art but the stress of trying to sell it and to please everyone is getting at me.

So I probably will only have a table on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Newtown Market, I also will exhibit some artworks at Galleries Live in Telford and Shrewsbury. I also will possibly participate in an evening art club at Pen Dinas Community Garden if it won’t eat too much time. But I really would like to claim at least some of my life back as my home, me, the family and the garden are not well attended at the moment. I used to read, write, exercise, do plein air trips and I want to try to go back to this.

Sorry for a bit of whining but I feel I should explain what’s going on – mostly for people who (I think) expect me to be something I am not.

Abused by youth on Treowen

Today at about 3 p.m. me and my husband were walking to the shops when 5 kids approached us (between Treowen school and community house) and started throwing snowballs at us. When I stopped and tried to tell them off (we obviousely don’t swear) we met with horrible disgusting verbal abuse. A girl was mocking my foreign accent and a boy exposed himself. I think we know the name of one of the offenders and I think we’re seen others locally before. We are distressed by this accident and we don’t think the behaviour of these kids should be ignored.

This is not the first occasion.  A couple of weeks ago my husband was verbally abused in the evening on the way from work. My children told me that one of their elderly teachers is being bullied at school by students. A couple of years ago two teenage girls were shouting swear words at me and my then little kiddies – without any apparent reason apart from thinking we are Polish.  Today’s “mocking girl”, often seen on that street, was trying to say something offencive to me on other occasions but I just ignored her. Not any more. Community support officers have been notified of the incident.

I don’t think I am overreacting.  When we were kids we loved practical jokes but we didn’t swear and I absolutely can’t imagine us looking innocent strangers into the eyes and being abusive.  We never had a will to do anything like that (Why?) And we knew there could be serious consequences.  E.g. parents called to the headteacher – it would be pretty scary.  Today’s lot were so sure they won’t be punished in any way. I think that is wrong and this attitude should change.

Some thoughts on the interview with Jim Al-Khalili

http://rationalist.org.uk/articles/4070/facing-the-future-an-interview-with-jim-al-khalili

I agree that humanists should work more on the positive side of secular life, on creating the society which would be caring, loving, tolerant. But I can’t agree with accepting these Christian statements as rules. Turning the other cheek in many cases would give the wrong message to an offender. And different people call different things “love”. I still remember being told that to love in Christian understanding is to wish to a person being saved by God… That’s all.

I am a bit worried to hear about “good manners” when there still is inequality and injustice backed up by religions on this planet.

Maybe I was lucky – I’ve never seen atheists knocking on doors or surrounding people on the streets with the purpose of converting. .. I think some of us feel themselves as an offending side only because of the hyper sensitivity of many religious people to slightest disagreement with their views.

I respect kindness, courage, honesty, creativity, everybody’s right for self-expression but how could I “respect views” with which I disagree? And is a person civilized because of his or her “political correctness” or rather because that person can’t tolerate another person being abused?

I also think it is very important for secular people to stop mimicking religious ones. We don’t need “atheist churches” or ” humanist bibles”. We should work on positive and original self-identification, promote various aspects of secular lifestyle.