dorothys blog (under construction)

2010-05-17T08:11:00.000-07:00

2010-05-17T07:53:00.000-07:00

2010-05-17T07:25:00.000-07:00

2010-05-17T04:43:00.000-07:00

2010-05-17T04:30:00.000-07:00

2010-05-17T04:20:00.000-07:00

2010-05-17T03:52:00.000-07:00

I loved working in this site ,I got a lot of feedback from the public and a lot of good chatting went on, leaving the work . The best part was a wee woman and her life story ,stories not for telling a blogger, but she can yap more than me. The lady in the stall told me beside the fountain had lots of photographs of this place and she told me there had been a stal there for 80 years and that they used to steal the electricity for the stall by rigging it up to the fountain.

2010-05-17T03:21:00.000-07:00

I dont remember this guy is he on a bike?

2010-05-11T13:20:00.000-07:00

2010-05-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

This is the Beethoven bust on Renfrew Street, this building goes all the way back to Sauchiehall Street where you can see the front of the building has a winged woman, named Harmony, with pipes in her hands and there is also two caryatids at opposing sides of her. When I was researching , discovered (from the Ray Mckenzie book) that the building used to be a warehouse for piano's and organs and through the back of the building they placed the bust of Beethoven to oversee all the instruments as they came into the warehouse. This is now "Classrooms" a nightclub.

2010-05-11T12:15:00.000-07:00

The wool has been cut here on the studio wall and I tried to create a similar ,but more controlled effect, at the site of the Beethoven sculpture, on Renfrew St.

2010-05-09T15:30:00.000-07:00

2010-05-09T15:24:00.000-07:00

After packing up the wool, this guy came over after I had just put my camera in the same place to get the detail of the interior of the station , he showed how highlighting something as tiny as that wee hole, grabbed his attention, for him to have a nosey.

2010-05-09T14:41:00.000-07:00

When I look now at this photograph, I really wish I made the effort to do this at night. I want to see the wool at night, therefore I am going to do this at my last site, I still have not put the wool at the site yet, although I have taken photographs and researched it. The weekend is too busy there at Charing Cross so I decided to do this tomorrow night, more boring in town on Mondays.

This is me rolling the wool back up, at each site I have been to, I have people blethering away to me , at the docks 3 tiny weans all sat watching me," missus,can we get a bit o yer wool "to which they all got a load each, terrified I was that they were so young to be playing there, everything about those weans reminded me of me as a wean myself,(in gullies, sewers and up hills as 3 and 4 years of age,) and as the wee one asked me "what is art " wearing sannys with layers of holes through holes and holes to the soles of her feet, saying" Its ok I dont want a bit of the wool ,I just want to watch " that still makes me cry. I realise that each site is important,yes , but the people are what is making me feel the real reason to go to the next site and to go back again to the old site .

2010-05-09T13:56:00.001-07:00

This is Gorbals train station, its not in use anymore, I tried to put my work here, but I got too scared, it was getting too late, and even though this place is quiet, it is just round the corner from the Carling Academy, now the O2 Academy, and there was a gig on that night, nothing wrong with that except drunk people, can be scarier than the dark!

2010-05-09T13:10:00.000-07:00

Some images from the TALL SHIPS, at Greenock.

2010-05-09T07:45:00.000-07:00

2010-05-09T06:54:00.000-07:00

This is the Free French Memorial on Lyle Hill a local spot high up on the hill overlooking the Clyde Estuary, these images show the Clyde and why this River works for the passage to and fro for ships. I have an image of the Clyde before it was widened ,the sandbanks at Dumbarton Rock, with lots of sandy islands. I will have to try and find that book.

2010-05-09T06:03:00.000-07:00

These are images I have taken from my father's computer , from a large store of images relating to Greenock and the surrounding areas he obviously collected. I found them around Christmas time. It is taking some time to go through, I will continue to post these at length. As I began to research the Govan Graving Docks, I realised the history of one dock in the Clyde cannot be fully researched without the whole history of the Clyde's Shipyard's, inwhich that job would take a lifetime to achieve, here I show just a snippet of history recorded in photographs.

this image is stated as AXLE OF HERCULES, a fantastic photograph!

2010-05-09T05:16:00.000-07:00

I took these photographs before the launch day, when the boats were at the IMAX.

I can't quite fix this image, but the vote labour boat had a white flower attached.

I went to the Armada launch a little late but still managed to see the little boats that were made going upstream towards the SECC, IMAX and Science Centre. I felt how poinant this was that those wee boats were making there way to the old docks. My youngest son was the last to put his boat in, or rather he vollied his glass coca cola bottle ,all sellotaped up ,with the coloured wool inside and his message reading, HAPPY DAY, into the Clyde.

2010-05-09T04:20:00.000-07:00

These images are from the Evening Times on the 25th of October 2005, I gave the origonal copy to Tara Beale as she has been working at the Govan Graving Docks and invited volunteers to help with the Armada project. When I went to the site ,I could only then visualise the enormity
of the real history ,been filled, in on these sites.
Only yesterday a man told me that they used all the rubble fom Glasgow's old houses in Maryhill
and other areas , to fill the docks and how he watched this from his granny's house near Govan Road. I felt rather guilty to hear how the docks went into decline, he said it was because Greenock got the orders.

2010-05-05T13:46:00.000-07:00

This photograph shows a dock at the Govan Graving Docks. I was struck by how historic a place it is, and how it has been left to crumble away. I was shocked to realise the sight across the river was origonally more docks, and now its the science centre and imax.
It's sad that the history of these docks were robbed, and given a new cinema the height of five double decker buses, given the height of the ships that used to built in its docks, its a right sore neck ,and a red neck for that planner!

These images are of rope that is embedded solid into the ground, it looks as if it is growing in its surroundings. The sad thing was there was not much of it in sight, but to remove it would be criminal. I have a love of the shipyards, coming from my Greenock upbringing, its bred into you. Even though I have the faintest experience of it. I stayed with my grandparents who brought me up and my granda retired, from the shipyards ,about 1984. His sons also worked briefly in the yards. Even in the mid 70's as a four year old on the way to school and evenings I can remember the noise from that yard, like pounding and sirens but ,more , it was the silence after a while of the evening. We lived in a high flat on the 8th floor then, memories of all the men going home could never have been any way shape or form the memory of one who truly experienced the Clyde's shipyards .

2010-05-05T12:19:00.000-07:00

These 2 photographs were taken from my really old phone in December 2006, on my journey to Greenock in the car. If you look closely you can see there is two rainbows, in each image. Clydebank's Dumbarton Rock can be seen also. This is the River Clyde, where for me Glasgow to Greenock and doon the watter even still, are all but the same cherished parts of me.

2010-05-05T01:42:00.000-07:00

This is a quick post of my wool at the Govan Graving Docks, a fantastic place, will post more of this work and area ,shortly.

2010-05-04T16:12:00.000-07:00

This is the white set in the sequence of blurred images, they are my favourite set. When I look at them on the computer screen they actually hurt my eyes. They do not have this efect from the actual photographs. I am not liking this, maybe they will be less sore to see when I publish this post, as they tend to be published with a border.

2010-05-04T15:25:00.000-07:00

This is the second set in the blurred sequence, here the colurs are not as vibrant as the previous set, they are subtler and remind me of pastels, the actual motion of my fingertips blending pastels.

2010-05-04T14:07:00.000-07:00

These photographs are from my wool. I took my camera and in a quick, sweeping motion, I was able to get a blurry image. These images are part of a lot of simliar images I had taken and made other work from. I will post the next two sets in the blurred seqeuence, this set shows the more stronger colours of the sets.

2010-05-01T11:57:00.000-07:00

I should have realy started my blog with the studio work in progress, I am back to front with posting . This is studio 19,in the basement in the Mackintosh building, the interior walls are plywood ,I believe set against the original brick walls. The width of the plywood gave me the edge to staple my wool into. I am concentrating more on the space the wool is in, and it was my thinking throughout the making process.

Here is the two lengths of the studio, my 24 steps by my 12 steps. The measurement of my steps became the walk backwards and forwards that helped me realise this work had to make more journeys. As I could not afford or finish all the walls, my steps were not to be stopped, so I began walking with this work rolled up and carried for miles, opening my eyes to my journey. It was incredibly soft and cosy, into the bargain, to hold and light.

This image shows more the view above the walls ,and the tangled mess and order, I looked to achieve.

I allowed the wool to relax and dip more the further I went into the studio. I was halfway through ,at this point (this doubled in length on these walls).My aim was to try and get to Karen's landscape, she made such a beautiful picture that I wanted to see this rainbow above the mountains and clouds in her landscape, (done in oil pastels,I think). I began realising I felt more happier as I walked underneath the wool, the colours definetly were mood positive to my wellbeing.

This is exactly the look I wanted to achieve. This was when the wool is taught more and it does remind me of the weaving loom, I desired to achieve.

Rainbow Protector

2010-04-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

This is my wool, bought from the Watt Brother' shop. I rolled it around a blind after working with it in the studio. I started to work on the term 2 project again as I couldn't fulfill this work in the studio , as it would have took up too much space for students to show their work, it was about a weaving loom. This term I planned to turn my new allotment into a sculpture garden, and two weeks into the term and I could not let this go, when I should have been in my allotment.
I realised I had to take this wool to my locations and find its best site, my reasons for this will unfold with each new site.
This so far has been my biggest learning curve, knowing that I had to change projects.Making the descision and sticking to it.

Location : Footbridge at Charing Cross over the M8 motorway to Woodlands.
This bridge has saved many lives, it is also when I realise I am nearly there,at my beloved Kelvingrove park. It is in need of being highlighted more to get people to realise it ,in the midst of the motorway jungle below it.

These two policemen were laughing at me ,they let me continue after checking I wasn't throwing myself over ,with the help of a woolen noose. They were chatting away so much, I had to tell them to let me get back to work. Their photo makes the title of this project work, I gave the project its title during my chat to the police,because of them. I had lots of people stop to yap and the best bit was when a wee tot toddled along its path .It was a great experience.