What a nice pink wall!

Spotted it in Wilmington, NC. 

Hannah Curio x

Untitled, Arrangement with Black Ink

Untitled - Emerald Form

Clouds

William Johnstone is a Scottish Borders artist & was one of the first British painters to work in purely abstract forms.  Marchlands, at The Scottish Gallery until the 3rd March, is a re-examining of his contribution to British art.  I’m sad I can’t see it as I’m in the USA, so I’m hoping my Edinburgh-based readers will go along and report back for me (and for the blog!).

Hannah Curio x

The morning view from our hotel room balcony – hoping the day will brighten up so we can have the top down on the car for the drive back to North Carolina.  I’m also determined to get my feet wet this morning – into the ocean I go! It doesn’t look very warm.  But I can hear it roar and beckon me.

Hannah Curio x

You see Spanish Moss everywhere in the Lowcountry, hanging like a fringe over the branches of oak and cypress trees.  It’s a symbol of the south.

Despite the name, Spanish Moss is neither Spanish nor moss.  It’s actually an epiphyte or air plant.  Up close it looks like loose crochet.  Apparently in the 18th c it was used to stuff mattresses, and the little insects trapped in the process coined the term ‘don’t let the bed bugs bite’.

From here we’re starting the drive back to Raleigh, NC, with a couple of stops on the way.

Hannah Curio x

Sunset from a rooftop bar in Charleston, South Carolina.

Hannah Curio x

South Carolina’s coastal state capital, Charleston, has been named the ‘best-mannered’ city in the US.  I was excited to go here because I’m fascinated by southern manners and etiquette.  Here’s a link to a Handbook on Southern Manners.

I slightly fell in love with this little gateway although I couldn’t quite tell you why.  There are very pretty houses in Charleston, and tasty Lowcountry cuisine.  We also visited the Old City Market where you can see traditional basket weaving in action.

The weather here is so beautiful.  I left Scotland icy and cold, here we’re wearing T shirts and snoozing in the sun.

Hannah Curio x

We were really hungry when we got to Myrtle Beach  – and sad because the dinosaur themed crazy golf was shut for the winter – and in desperation got our first (and possibly last) Taco Bell burritos to eat on the beach.   I probably wouldn’t highly recommend them.

From here we head south to Charleston.

Hannah Curio x

Flying our aeroplane kite on Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for the last photo diary post in January.

Hannah Curio x

Visited the USS North Carolina – a WW2 battleship.

Stayed in the rather wonderful hotel The Wilmingtonian. 

Bought awesome sunglasses from The Edge of Urge and promptly sat on them in the car and broke a leg off.  Welcome to my life.

Hannah Curio x

While we were in Beaufort we visited the Old Burying Ground on Anne St.  The cemetary is full od 18th and 19th c stones, many reflecting the maritime tradition of the town, and huge old oaks, Spanish moss, wisteria and ferns, giving the whole place a magical quality.

One of the most poignant stones was for a lady, Mrs French, who fell in love with her tutor when she was a girl.  Her father forbade the pair marrying so the tutor went off to seek his fortune.  He did well and became an important man.  But the postmaster intercepted the communication between the girl and the tutor.  On his death bed the postmaster repented of his actions and told the girl, now an old lady, of the fortunes of the tutor.  The tutor finally returned to the town and the pair, now very old, married.

One grave, according to legend, contains an English soldier who was buried standing, boots on, in an eternal salute to the king.

The form that fills this silent grave,
once tossed on ocean’s rolling wave,
but in a port securely fast
he’s dropped his anchor here at last.

In the above picture you can see trinkets & gifts left by visitors on the grave of a little girl who was buried in a rum keg.

I can think of no better place to be laid to rest than this cemetary.  Three little squirrels were playing in the trees, and there were Red Admirals flitting from stone to stone.  Absolutely idyllic.

From here we’re headed on down the coast to Wilmington, so more from there soon,

Hannah Curio x

as you can see, I’m making tracks!  One good thing about being on the road with the top down is that you don’t need a hairdrier!  My hair is Mustang Styled!  We’re driving south down the outerbanks, heading for the ferry from Ocracoke, stopping at diners to eat cheeseburgers.

Hannah Curio x

And I found this poor chap on the beach.  I’d recommend looking away if you’re squeamish!  I find it really interesting to see the bone structure and the way nature is dealing with the loss.  I hope you agree!

Hannah Curio x

Some photos from the Outer Banks, a strip of sand reef – apparently it’s heaving with holiday makers in the summer but it’s pretty dead in  January.  Beautiful though!  This is Nags Head in the morning:

More soon!

Hannah Curio x

After Frances’s excellent post about her New Year’s Resolution to take the 2012 bull by the horns, I’ve been having a think.

I’m fully into making things happen, and many of my goals for this year involve moulding my own future – like working on making my business plan robust.  This year I want to take things up a notch, work hard for success, never take ‘no’ for an answer. 

But yet, I’m subscribed to a Slow Club. 

This doesn’t necessarily mean doing things slowly, or getting less done in a day. 

It means that I’m subscribed to a way of living which embraces reflection and togetherness, which treasures the slow, and which is mindful of detail.  I’m subscribed to a way of living which aims to make quality connections.  I hope for my business ethos, my art work, my crafting and my relationships to reflect this commitment

Often the Slow Movement – whether slow food, slow art, slow money, slow cities – is a reaction against, & an intentional separating from, fast paced society.  I’m not really into that.  I don’t see being in Slow Club as negative lens for viewing society. 

Saying that, I think that taking time to notice, valuing the inherent history in a re-usable item, and enjoying things that unfold slowly over time, can be a powerful vehicle for change and a strong political comment.  I also think it might be a way for me to be a woman in business making my own way through. 

I think my 2012 is going to be about noticing.

About watching things emerge. 

About being open to surprises and opportunities. 

And I think I might be amazed by the things that happen.

'Slow Snail' postcard sized work by Hannah Longmuir

Some interesting people to look up who are connected with the slow movement or who’ve written interesting things about living slow: John O’Donohue, Tim Slowinksi, Michael Kimmelman.

photo by MK Burbach

I’m off on my travels today!  Flying to join Tom in North Carolina for 5 weeks.  I’ve packed my camera, sketch books and notebooks so expect some enthusiastic photo diary blogging soon.  In the meantime, here’s a ridiculously luxurious, totally-out-of-my-price-range flight-themed suitcase from UOldBag on Etsy:

I’ll see you stateside!

Hannah Curio x

I can’t seem to stop taking pictures of vapour trails.  It’s up there with telephone wires, other people’s washing lines & rust.

Hannah Curio x

Sarah Riseborough is a Northumberland coastline painter.  I was given this lovely pair of earrings for my birthday which feature one of her paintings:

You can find out more about Sarah here and here.

And you can find out about the clever Lucy Clayton who makes the earrings themselves here.

Hannah Curio x

Hannah Curio x

and then encountered this ravenous hoard of mallards (and a handsome goose) while on a walk in Duns estate – the little loch they populate is called the Hen Poo.  No joke.

Hannah Curio x

I saw a very nice doggy from Spittal Promenade when I was on my daily trot the other day.  I’m into spotty dogs at the moment because this jumper has recently entered my life:

doggy jumper by Oasis

Hannah Curio x

Also, I saw a house on top of a house in Berwick the other day and have decided I’d like to live there.

If I lived in the tiny house on top of the big house I’d have a bookshelf with all my special things, a little bit like this:

by Etsy seller Red Rooster Bab

hope you’re all having a good week!

Hannah Curio x

We also saw a speedy hare (boing boing), a buzzard and a low flying aircraft on our little walk, all of which are too fast and sly to photograph.

Hannah Curio x

spooky January trees on a face-freezing walk in the Lammermuir Hills

Hannah Curio x

Richard Pearse

Richard Pearse is a New Zealand artist currently living in a shed in Patea, South Taranaki.    These pieces made up of interlocking blocks have struck a chord.  I don’t think they are necessary representative of a landscape, but I think the idea of interlocking blocks which go on and go, repeating and changing, is a nice way to think about landscape.  They also have a tapestry-like quality too, especially the bottom one, don’t they? 

Richard Pearse’s blog.

Also, here’s a sweet blog post about New Years Resolutions.

Leonardo Solaas’ algorithmic landscapes generated by sampling images and transferring their colour into striated configurations of black and white topographical lines, exploring the relation between colour and movement

They sort of look felted, no?

You can find more about this chap here.

I’m thinking about how to construct a landscape, and what happens if you pick one linear aspect from a landscape to focus on.

Hannah Curio x