a ponderance

a good days graft today closing everything down around six and going for a walk to wind down, the rain seemed to just dissapear yet still umbrellas remained hoisted, I passed a group of people all spread around trying to keep their glad rags dry each making a frantic run for the coach each time the stair well became vacant, the coach taking them on their way to a wedding reception I guess looking at their dresses and lack of coats.

I watched a woman spending her millions while sitting on a bench, staring at her lottery ticket, perhaps she had won the lottery ticket.  as I watched her face went through a entire range of emotions and thoughts, all given way to a different facial expression that, I doubt, she even realised she was showing the world her thoughts.

HER EYES AND SMILES, FROWNS AND A SHAKING OF HER HEAD UP AND DOWN, SIDE TO SIDE, A LITTLE LOOK UPWARDS AND TO THE RIGHT SUGGESTING A DEEPER OR EVEN, SECOND THOUGHT, SHE PONDERED OVER WHO SHE WOULD SHARE THE NEWS WITH, EVEN I EXPECT WHO SHE WOULD SHARE HER WINNINGS WITH!  so engrossed was I that I did not even remember to take a fotograf or make a quick film of her expressions, privacy, a sacred thing.

Peoples faces and body language tell so much, the good, the bad, and, the ugly, the sick and needy, the well to do and the less foretunate yet their still exists the same group structures, everyone with those they aspire to and those they detest, many even have those who they look down upon in their group but who, in this day and age can look down upon anyone, even the Queen has her share of closet secrets that arn't quite as secret as her status should allow.

I thought of myself and was in a way brought mixed feelings, were there more like me then the government would have some major problems, as would supermarkets, social utilities companies and breweries!  It is society that controls the status quo and not they who have the finger pointed

Oh well, another day another blog!
Bye for now
andrew

period ending 20 May 2011

All goes well with the castle instalation, not too much happening at the moment though that really is semi-intentional, it was imagined from the start that it would be a huge undertaking with much more to do than one would at first think.

The local gazette continues to add support with our next update due in next weeks paper, yesterday the project had a plug on Lakeland radio which was a bit of an unexpected event having not been contacted by the station, imagine my surprise to hear of the broadcast from someone in a supermarket, also in the news the report of my former units return from Afghanistan and their humanitarian achievements while there, well done 2 PARA and welcome home.

My collection of fotografs of the castle from various locations around the town is slowly growing as every now and then I find a viewpoint that I was not aware of, this town continues to bring me surprises, not only in relation to the castle but as a town, always there is another little alley way (ginnel) that I've not found before, another picture postcard view, previously unseen in any special way but then along comes another bit of light illuminating the view.

This is a picture of the yard that housed a school and eight almshouses  built in the early 1600's, nothing to do with the castle simply a nice pic in the May sunshine.

The facebook site is the most active part of the process so far, now with over 600 friends even there I find pleasant surprises such as people commenting on fotografs at 3 in the morning, (thanks cherry for your dedicated support) it does make me wonder how history would have fared had the internet and social platforms been around for those who campaigned and worked for many of the charities and organisations that now rely heavily on facebook, twitter and blogs, we might live in a very different world now, only time will show if the presence of such powerful tools will affect our futures hence; the castle has also launched its Twitter feed today, http//twitter.com/poppybid it is a new platform for me and I am not entirely sure how to use it but, it is still early days.

The survey of the castle necessary to calculate the number of poppies and nets continues, not as quick as I would like however this is down mostly to my inability to climb the hill as often as I would like, even then, having conquered the climb the amount of work I am able to do is limited, this is now remedied as another local artist, Tim Leeson, has volunteered to help me out in my struggling attempts to scale the walls and rough ground, tape measure in one hand, sketch book in the other.

I am off today to meet with the Lib Dems Party Chairman, Tim Farron, it is not castle affairs that take me there but a charitable appeal to help save the funding for Stonham, a local housing project that serves homeless and vulnerable persons, hopefully there will be opportunity for me to pass on one of the castle cards to him in a bid to illicit his support for the project in the future, the Stonham Charity however must take priority, fingers crossed for both.

The CD carrying the new Poppy Song commissioned to raise funds for the Castle Poppy Bid, by Country and Western singer/songwriter Rita Bridgeman, is now weeks away from being completed, I have not heard it as yet and am really looking forward to it's release.

Till next post, best wishes
andrew 

The Castle

Work continues as the rewards grow up at the castle, around a third of the outer-wall has now been measured up, I could have done more this morning however a thicket of brambles and nettles, plus a young hawthorn thrown in for good measure, forced me to 'guestimate', the last 2 meters of the day,  a decision based solely upon my returning my open sandal covered feet to soft grass; it matters not, enjoyment is the name of this project as I persist in trying to avoid working to a tight schedule, that I reserve for nearer the completion date!

what never ceases to amaze me the level of solitude that can be experienced within the castle walls,  today's trip was of no exception even on my arrival and seeing around a million schoolchildren all sitting in a circle in the centre of the castle walls, I also knew full well that the moment they were released from the restrictions of 'class is on' there would be an a veritable 'explosion' of children in all directions the instant that a 'play-time' was announced, children are like sprinters on the starting block in such a situation, each hanging on their teachers words while waiting for the word that is the teachers equivilent of a starting pistol; I didnt have to wait long.

 Simon from the scaffold company

My peace continued even allowing a sketch while the children buzzed around me like little worker bees, all on a mission though I doubt I could have enjoyed the moment quite so much had it not been for my new, and recent, birthday gift, an MP3 Player, the soothing sounds of grover washington eliminating the children as effectively as telling them to 'go and play elswhere', if anything it was the constant and verbal vigilance of the teachers guiding each of the little terrors from the places where it would have been dangerous for them to play, always someone there to soften the games eh!"

The reason for the trip to the castle was to meet with the scaffold company rep.  I have looked at various ways to support the nets from the tops of the castle walls, scaffold was the winning choice as others such as wooden saddles straddling the tops of the walls or simple concrete weights were flawed in some way, risking potential damage, either to the building walls or the grass within the walls.  I have opted to encircle the interior walls with a box like structure of scaffold posts, each with short legs that will protect the grass ensuring that the minimal amount of grass will be deprived of light.  The scaffold not only will act as a 'hanger' for the nets but also the ballast necessary to prevent the nets being blown off or dislodged in some way, my fingers are crossed that this arrangement is suitable for the English Heritage.

Simon, from Harts Films came to do collect a little more footage for the project.  I have expanded upon the original plan, that being to make a short introductory film for future funding and promotional ventures.

The more I visit the castle the less I see it 'as an object', it has now become more of 'a process', not just from the project point of view but also in seeing the subtle little changes that occur in everything, the castle is, as we all are, in the process of 'getting older', what is now will one day become history; the work that I am doing now has an historical reference, will the walls continue to be maintained and remain exactly, for the next hundred years, or, will they slowly but surely fade away.

It is only the concept of time that allows for change, it is a fact that our time on this earth is too short to notice the changes in 'objects' and therefore  do not see things as being part of a process, the castle one hundred years had far more stones and wall height than now, one day, perhaps, maybe the castle will be of little more than a raised hump of grass covered land, seen only from the air, for that reason I have developed the short inroductory film into something more akin to a documentary style production; charting the ongoing process toward the castle walls becoming covered in poppies through to their removal and disposal, is a story and one I intend to document in film.

Nature starting to take its rightful place over man



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Kendal Castle - The secret movie

Life of late has been quite full and draining, both emotionally and physically forcing a weekend of R'n'R. On the physical side there has been a lot of running around the town to the various meetings involved with the castle project notwithstanding the treks up and down the Castle hill for a variety of reasons, surveys, TV and media as well as my own mental process; the external wall mural I have recently been asked to do is in timely delay while an access door is now being cut into the wall where the Mural was intended to go so it is all free time for castle project..

If the project is to be completed as I see it I have to identify all pitfalls and all possibilities. To find these I must firstly be able to visualise the entire event as a film, over and over again in my mind, cutting and pasting here and there, deletions and additions, these visits are absolute escapeism for me, during these moments, there are no people walking around, there are no sounds from the town other than as a harmonious backdrop to the images that I am seeing through my mind.

By playing this film in my head it allows me to run through the entire event in real time throughout different time periods of each day, this would include watching the different modes of transportation both to and from the castle following the events completion, currently I have been looking at Horse and Carts loaded with blood red poppies each one in my having light, reflection, movement colour and ambience, on a different level a simple a link of respect to the towns past,

each time I visit the castle, the weather is different providing different view, different sceneries, different affects on the materials used and the interactions of man against elements, wet, dry, moist, warm, different smells on different days, different emotions, when one thing is different everthing is different, when you smell the life from a damp and living earth you essentially smell out the possibility of damage to the natural ecology, by feet, wheels, equipment, metal, wood and rope, from my part I get to enjoy all of these different visions and emotions along my own journey; a couple of drey horses. Heads down on a frosty morn followed by glistening poppies; how beautiful an image of tribute that would that be.

The various access points to the castle hill, all will need to be removed and replaced for the transport, these works will need permissions, I can to know who and where I have to go for the permissions, this film I watch, conjured up from my own known reality allows also for ensuring the health and safety of individuals (and animals) who will work in the setting up the instalation, if something goes wrong in my mind I can take steps to rectify through a change in design or chronology of events; only when I am able to successfully complete the project through to the castle being returned to its previous timeless condition in my mind, only then the installation start to be put into place and removed safely only through this process will it bring the veteran and the viewer together in heart and mind.

This 'connection' is truly what it is all about, it is about the work reaching out for a purpose, be that purpose of joy, sorrow, a memory, or just inspiration, even if that be but one viewer who who takes something away with them, in the case of 'Vigilance', the Installation, it has done its job, that however can only come when every aspect of every detail is cohesive with every other part of this mind invasion machine that is art, put simply, if something isn't right no matter how small, it is all wrong and the thing wont work, it wont do the veterans justice for their sacrifice and it wont find empathy with the families left behind.

The drain on my emotions is equal to that on my physical well being though this in itself is an inspirational drain. When I am fatigued I cant but help to feel for those who patrol the streets of Afghanistan on constant alert for their and their colleagues lives, hours upon hours of walking in the heat and dust, misstrusting any and all who is not sharing the same uniform though at the same time maintaining a friendly aire holding their fears, their fatigue, their tiredness and families deep inside, knowing that their next second could be their last, yet they continue in the professional manner our forces excel, they have to, its how they stay alive a bit longer, no, by comparison my suffering and exertion is zero.

Back to the project; this week sees provisional agreement from the local District Council that they would like to see the Event take place and that they would support my Bid at future discussions, in particular English Heritage, I await a date for that meeting and will post details on the facebook site (Kendal Castle Poppy Bid)when we have that meeting and the results of which, for the most, their main concern will be that the castle will be treated with due respect and that there will be no structural work either on the building or the ground.

Also a part of local council remit is the licensing department that deals with enforcement of street collections and events to raise funds, at Wednesdays meeting it was all quite positive with minimal form filling, the way the town has been split into sub areas for the purpose of revenue collection which would also include buskers and street entertainers and probably Big Issue sellers, is something new to me as I had not previously imagined that such control was enforced even in the sitting down and the playing of music in the street.

The facebook site, having had its automated fun blocking software ban me from the network on two occasions for inviting too many people, forces me to now allow the friends list to grow organically without marketting the event, this is frustrating in one way but positive in another as I am now able to watch the viral nature of social networking 'do its thing', on occasion this brings along a surprise new friend, sometimes in another country who has no direct link with the event until you do some tracing back and find that they are a friend of a friend of another friend, terrific stuff. Thats about it for now, not a lot of studio work done this past ten days though fortunately there are only two commission on the easel neither particularly demanding technically and borne of fun, something for me to chill out to after a day on the streets. Take care and have a good weekend