3 – 4 June sunrise 6.32 Gargarou cliff

May, June a new series of Illuminations after the winter erosion

Nov 26 intense looking, expanded awareness, find marks, lines relationship

marks from digging the pit, marks from fire and ash,

pit fire and sun fire transformation

Nov 30 mark making with the remains of charcoaled branches from the pit fire

Dec 5 hardness in the old scars from pruning the olive trees, this year’s softer marks

frottage drawing with the the olive trees, allow chance into the creative process

cycle of cut branches –  growth, olives, olive oil, fuel for pit, charcoal/ ash ,  drawings on old paper/ new growth

30 Nov   pithoi made in the local villages last 2 centuries were rolled down the earth paths trodden by donkeys, to the boats that stopped at a wooden jetty on the beach.

Huge pots rolling past our olive grove.

old man with donkey, tear in trousers, stopped often on the track 10 years ago, exchange smiles, the potter in village a mile away, no donkey or potter now.

sea worn shards found on the beach, fallen off boat or broken and thrown into sea.

Nov 28   frottage drawings  with pottery shards,  shadow  new beginnings

olive branch charcoal from the pit fire each twig different softness, unknown

spontaneity balanced with intention

Sunrises over the mountain range opposite the cliffs where I work map the relationship of the Earth and sun

23 June  clear bright sunrise after weeks of hazy sunrises from Sahara dust in the air

13 October  big deep red sun of autumn, slow rising

10 October  waves, rain and wind re works cliff face

weather cycles – creative processes, erosion gives creative raw materials

regenerated cliff offers new surface to work with

deep quietness emerging

mountains of seagrass along shoreline, waves churn stones on sea bed,  shards of pottery washed up, cliffs battered, erosion of the soils and rocks creates a new cliff face

April 4    flowering sage covers clay pieces, butterflies around fire, hear explosions in fire

intense heat of fire and sun as we throw olive branches on the fire

April 5  pair of golden eagles fly in the valley and over the olive grove

April 6  energy of fire transforms, animal images appear, clay pieces erupt and crack like clay cracks on the cliff with the heat of the summer sun

sifting through ash in pit, ash to the olive grove

intense heat in northwest of pit, fire fuses 5 clay pieces together, create one, 3 arrangements 

last making with clay before pit fire, mother.

need to give air to fire

surrounded by bees in sage flowers, owl in south west, deep peacefulness at dusk

church bells across valley chime 3 tones as fire burns to ash

birds sing, soft pink tones of setting sun reflected on mountain peaks

Mar 20  vibrant fire of the plants

12 Dec   Earth – one body  –  feel olive tree my extended body

places on the tree trunks where I have pruned in past years contribute to my image imprinted on the bark of the tree

Nov 26 dig out pit – earth fallen inside, handfuls of earth on sides of pit leave my hand prints

Nov 27  moving olive branches towards pit

Nov 28 rainbow into sea. gather logs for fire pit cut from trees at harvest years before

prune wild sage bushes on land, sage for beginning and end of fire

October 31  Birth day, remembering line of mothers before me. talking with the ancestors, sage fire

Nov 4  full moon rises over sea, moonlit olive grove, bright fire, deep quietness, moonlit shadows

Nov 7  little owl in olive tree in east, fly south and away

Nov 8  making with clay, balance, images of myself, woman energy, giver of life, moving body

Nov 10  high piles of seagrass cover stones on beach, easy to  walk on, collect clay, new cliff fall

minerals, fossils, shells of sea creatures embeded in earth

In winter rain softens clay, force of water from hills, land saturated, clay expands, falls

Shells revealed in silt in lower cliff, silt fall. Make with clay fallen, roll in silt and broken shell

June 15  feel fire of sun rise in my body, intense concentration, focused awareness, allowing space for the mystery to come in

sun illuminating,  link to beginning of time, feeling momentarily merged with cliff

April 9  fire bright, lightness, gentle burning through night

April 10  stillness, delicate ash, sculpted bone like, pit of broken pieces, ephemeral

sun sets, fire burns down, mountain of ash in pit and piles of leaves left, return to the land

Feel elements are the raw energy of life. Whirling wind through olive grove, waves crash rocks, sand, stones, bring seagrass onto beach creating cliffs of bouncy seagrass along tide line

Find sea worn shards of pots, roof tile fragments, cuttlebones, fragments of olive tree bark

strong warm winds carry sage and orange blossom scents. Olive trees flower. bees, orchids

Harvest olives dawn to dusk, huge pile of branches. Hands soft, touch thousands of olives. Hitting olive branches with stick, reverberates in my sleep body, seeing olives in dream state.

natures processes, physical and creative, body immersed, oneness in the moment, deep state of being, experience my body in nature being the doorway to sentience, presence

Oct 24  Dance in olive grove, feel tall wild flowers touch hands, become part of my dance, light into darkness, sense directions, feel the elements, lie on ground feel the pulse of the earth

dig on the land, once seabed, find stones with shells embedded, holding millions of years of life

Oct 29 Dusk, clay, hands, moving, knowing, belonging, no words, no thoughts

27 Aug walk past eroding cliff at dawn, aware a storm or earth tremor might bring it to beach

dream state after siesta today of small tablets shining out from rocks with small symbols on, like ancient script, inscriptions cut into earth, Linear B clay tablets?

29  Aug  dawn, warm air, red glow over mountains, find pocket of clay beneath a cud of earth fallen in sea, roots extending, deep orangery brown, very soft clay, press into cliff, image of my shadow disappears. clay tablets crack as they dry, like cracks in cliff as they bake in the sun fire

body imprint on cliff akin to my skin imprint on forms, same unfolding processes, evolving from spontaneous fleeting moment, unconscious fusion of energies of the living Earth

man carves determinedly deep into cliff, fishing knife, letters ‘sts’, digs with forceful energy. Synchronicity, the day I begin to make tablets, incise into clay, a man incises his tag in cliff

red dawn, golden sun rises over mountains, birds fly across, high, bright sun beam across sea, capture moment, turn to photograph cliff behind me, try to avoid my shadow

fleeting moment of my shadow imprinted onto cliff, infused with colour, layers of soils, impregnated with fossils, shells. Unseen for weeks, feel momentary flash of unity

each morning walk alongside the cliffs, just a few moments after sun rises to capture subtle elusive energies, days different – slow rising big deep red sun, quicker bright golden sun

spontaneous. chance, split second of time, decisive moment when everything comes together

elements integral, transformation, fire from sun and fire burning the olive tree wood, unveiling of mystery held in images emerging and from forms unearthed

Intense summer heat, fall asleep with flashes of my shadow, one to another, fading in and out, flashes of light, illuminating pre – conscious states