Tangled and Mangled

Posted on 13/04/201313/04/2013 by Alastair

The effects of yesterdays dreich morning can be seen in that old freezer I have been photographing recently. The wet metal reflects the weather we had at the start of the day which created new colours and patterns only seen in these conditions.

And the sounds this can make? I continued working with them and here are a couple of experimental mixes. Next week I will try to explain some of my use of metal . . . watch this space!

You can click the mp3 files below or play the SoundCloud files which only appear on the blog page, not in an email. Ideally you would listen to these through headphone but it’s no big deal.

Same environment, different viewpoint

Things are brightening up!

Posted on 12/04/201312/04/2013 by Alastair

But it was a dreich day when I came down the garden to my studio this morning. So, to stay in keeping with the brightening day, I have decided to put up a few more of those colourful metallic “canvases” I have snapped recently.

Today I will work some more with the sounds I have been recording from this material but here, in the meantime, is a snippet. What does it sound like to you?

A Visit to Middlesbrough – Claes Oldenburg and Haroon Mirza

Posted on 04/04/201304/04/2013 by Alastair

The Bottle of Notes sculpture by Claes Oldenburg is in the centre of Middlesbrough by MIMA (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art). There have been plenty of photos taken of it before now, but these are mine!

We had a short visit to Middlesbrough at Easter and managed, amongst other things, to see this, the MIMA exhibitions, the Anish Kapoor sculpture at Riverside Park (see tomorrow’s post) and had a walk round Great Ayton.

One of the exhibitions we saw at MIMA was Untitled Song by Haroon Mirza. I can’t show photos other than this wall in the gallery, but I did record part of the audio in the exhibition. Here is 30 seconds of it.

Haroon Mirza

You may not find the sound particularly easy to listen to – it’s not exactly popular music – but there was more to it than this sample and it worked well with the space and the sculptures by James Clarkson, some of which had been modified by Mirza.

Maritime Quarter, Swansea – Different Scales

Posted on 02/04/201302/04/2013 by Alastair

I have managed, in the last photo of this series, to bring the scale of the Meridian Tower down to that of the Helwick Lightship sitting in Swansea’s marina.

The sounds of the marina can be a fascinating orchestra of rigging when the wind is up. On this day there was just the lapping of water under the floating booms, passing voices and high heeled shoes. They would not have been there if the marina wind orchestra had been playing!

Swansea Marina sound sample

You can listen to this on SoundCloud below (if you’re on the blog) or click here.

Meridian Tower

Rigging in the Marina

Helwick Lightship and Meridian Tower

Different Scales

Looking Back

Posted on 29/03/201329/03/2013 by Alastair

The reflections in these puddles and the subject matter of the Cathays Cemetery made me think that while putting the blog posts together for this week, I have mostly been looking back, if only to Saturday – so now to look forward!

Despite the cold on Saturday, I really liked this cemetery and I hope that you can see from the previous images through the week, that it has many different aspects to it. I must visit again in the late Spring or Summer to enjoy it in better conditions.

Cathays Cemetery

On a different note – sometimes, as on this occasion, I compile a few posts all at the same time and scheduled them to go out through the week. It was been a pleasure to do so this time to the music of Carla Bley (have fun on her website :-)). Anyone else enjoy her music?

French Garden Walk and House Tours

Posted on 23/03/201323/03/2013 by Alastair

New StillWalks – I have just completed a new StillWalk, for Summer, of my parents garden in France, “Garden Walk, France”. It is a beautiful garden and the sounds of the birds and bees, the church bells and the peace take me straight back there.

There is also a StillWalk house tour produced to help sell the house. Anyone interested should check it out and if you know of anyone who may be interested, please pass this on.

French House

Busy Bees

Waiting

Posted on 20/03/201320/03/2013 by Alastair

Looking out to sea and waiting – that is what these “standing stones” appear to be doing!

My StillWalk, “Coastal Walk“, in Scotland in the Spring features these shots. The balanced stones looked as though they were just biding their time and waiting for some spectacular event – or perhaps they were just soaking up the sun while they could.