Now, didn't I come up with an intriguing title there! And it's true. I was going around like a whirling dervish today trying to fit as much in as possible. That's the problem with hibernating. Once you awake from that state you realize that you have almost missed quite a few exciting happenings and have to fit it all into this week. Today I met up with goddesses, as well as princesses, a trapped boy, and a handsome chap in a kilt.
First up was
Gillian Cooper's
exhibition Unsung Muses in
The Scottish Storytelling Centre in the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, located in John Knox House. I wasn't going to miss that show and it's still on till the 21st February. It's located next to the very nice coffee shop area. I enjoyed seeing how Gillian is developing her goddess theme.
On the way out I tried very hard (oh yes, I did!) not to look at the extremely tempting bookshop located in the Storytelling Centre, but somehow out of the corner of my eye I spotted an image of
Su Blackwell's amazing paper sculptures. She is one of my most favourite artists making paper cut imagery from vintage books. Once I had seen it and saw the book was filled with her art it became a must-have. It's a fairytale book called:
The Fairytale Princess; Seven Classic Stories from the Enchanted Forest. By Su Blackwell & Wendy Jones. To make it even more special it contains some of my most beloved fairytales such as Rapunzel, The Princess and the Pea and Sleeping Beauty. Needless to say it came home with me.
After all that excitement I stopped several times in the Royal Mile to take pictures. It pays to look up there as well as through the openings of those old Closes (narrow alleyways in between buildings). I saw the amazing carving at the top of the entrance to Paisley Close and you can see it at the top of this blog. It has an interesting story attached to it which goes as follows: on the 24th November 1861 35 people were killed when the rotten timber supports of the building collapsed and workers trying to free the trapped inhabitants heard the cries of a young boy (Joseph McIver) saying: "Heave awa men, I'm no deid yet." When the new building on the site was finished both boy and words were commemorated with this sculpture.
A bit further in the Royal Mile, I discovered the kilted figure standing on a beer barrel to advertise the Celtic Craft Centre Kiltmaker.
And with a bit of luck there will still be time for some stitching today. Very rewarding.
2 comments:
That sounds like a fun and exciting day. So glad you could break through the hibernating!!
Thanks for going to my exhibition. Glad you had such a good day out. I must look out for Sue's book when I go to take the exhibition down on Monday.
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