So, using the rotation feature, I made 4 sides to form a mandala. Only perfect is perfect. This is the best I could do with imperfect.
BY THE WAY: Tiffany Arpdaleo Is an abstract artist I follow on WP. Her art is fabulous.
Below – A car reflects wall art.
This alley fence I pass at least once a week was painted 2 years ago. I took the pic back then. The colours are still holding out.
Garage Doors
A bit further away, but within a 3 hour there and back walk:
This garage door in 3, parts, makes a cool triptych. A resident came home & parked her car. It was cool how the doors opened. The 3 pieces are featured individually in the slideshow below.
Same artist as the fence at the end of Alley Gallery. There were 4 in 1 alley – in the slideshow.
The below artist’s work is popular in the alleys.
This is anold rotting wood garage door. Yay for art!
On the Street
Not swung out at first sight, but it’s grown on me.
Boxes
I’ve been somewhat neglectful of taking pics of power boxes and Bell boxes. Most are abstract. Pulling my socks up as of NOW!
Below- Tags piled on tags. I’m quite fond of the accidental abstract this non art, art form randomly creates. Still, it defies the definition, which makes me like it even better. Think I’ll call it Rebel Art.
Robbie Cheadle/aka Roberta Eaton Cheadlewas at it before, and she’s still at it .Her mission, as far as I can tell, is to draw attention to critical realities with her creative prowess.
Although an earlier book by Robbie (published 2018), I have just read it recently. Well penned by Robbie via her mother’s memories, this book opened my mind’s eye.
Resa – How/when did the 2 of you decide to write this book?
Robbie – My mother has always told me stories about her life as a child growing up during, and after, WW2. There was food rationing and life was hard. The schools had bomb shelters and you had to go into them if the sirens went off.
My mom was young but her older siblings talked about it, as did her parents who lived through two world wars. I decided to write down mom’s memories and she was pleased. It was as simple as that. Mom had quite a bit to do with the book as she read each chapter and gave me changes if I took to much poetic license. It was a fun exercise and I learned a lot more about her childhood during this time.
Resa – When and/or why did she leave UK for South Africa?
Robbie, aged 9 months, on the deck of the passenger liner that brought her from the UK to South Africa.
Robbie – My mom left the UK for South Africa after my biological father died of a massive heart attack in front of her. I was three months old at the time. We came to South Africa on a passenger liner when I was nine months old. Amazingly, I recently wrote a poem about it.
(The poem was a response to a writing prompt, reblogged below.)
Allow me to digress momentarily to say how happy I am that Robbie wound up in S. Africa, with the animals and loving them. This is her new painting of a leopard, inspired from her recent trip to Sabi Sands.
Resa – When writing While the Bombs Fell, did the memories come with fond or sad feelings. Perhaps bittersweet?
Robbie – I think the memories about mom’s father and mother are bittersweet. Mom had a free and interesting childhood despite the food shortages. Children could roam around, usually in large packs of mixed ages, and they went swimming, took long walks, climbed trees. I think mom’s childhood was lovely, much nicer than my own children’s as crime and traffic have curtailed freedoms where I live.
Mom’s father died of appendicitis when she was sixteen. It was quite horrific as his appendix burst and he died of blood poisoning. Mom said she went to visit him in the hospital in Norwich just before he died. He looked so awful she ran away and went home. Her mother died of a heart attack induced by high blood pressure in her early seventies. My mother gave birth to my youngest sister just after her mom died. My aunt didn’t tell her about the death for some time as she didn’t want to upset her post-partum.
Resa – I seem to remember you saying you wrote While the Bombs Fell to help children today to understand about war. Am I correct?
Robbie – Yes, that is correct. Young people are very removed from nature and the realities of life. They spend a significant amount of time in imaginary worlds on-line. I believe that understanding history is important to prevent repetition of the same mistakes. The teaching of history in schools has become very selective now, so I wrote this book to present a civilian child’s perspective of growing up during a world war. Admittedly, it feels as if everyone, including the politicians, have forgotten our collective history currently.
(To the left are 2 of Robbie’s many children’s books, some co-authored with her son, Michael.)
Resa – I think young adults around the world would benefit from this book as well. War is an abstract reality. Yes, we see it on the news all the time, but we are detached from experiencing the reality, and often numb from overexposure. What say you about that?
Robbie – I think that is exactly what I was said above. People are removed from the realities of war because it has become an abstract concept and something that happens far away in other places. I think the computer and other games children and adults play, glamourize war in much the same way as it was glamourized in paintings in past eras.
Robbie – I like to write about the realities of war and the devastating impact war experiences have on people, civilians at home and the men on the fronts.I explored this same topic in my novel, A Ghost and His Gold. War destroys lives and countries.
Resa – I adore A Ghost and His Gold! Are you currently writing another novel? If not, any plans to?
Robbie – It is currently very busy at work, and this will continue until the end of March, so I won’t get much writing done outside of poetry and blog posts.
Resa – What is your most recent publication?
Robbie – I published three books last year as follows: Square Peg in a Round Hole, a collection of poems, artworks, and photographs; And the Grave Awaits, a collection of paranormal short stories (a few of which focus on civilians in war situations)
Sesi says goodbye to Granny, a children’s book including photographs and artworks about African elephants as well as some facts about African elephants in the wild.
Robbie – I am working on another anthology of poems for a WordCrafter Poetry Treasures publication. This latest one, book 5 in the series, is called Small Pleasures and the cover is being designed by the talented Teagan Riordain Geneviene.
Resa – Excellent, yes, Teagan is fabulous!
Robbie – I have received first round edits on my collection of South Africa based historical short stories and poems. I haven’t made much progress with addressing the suggestions and comments yet as I haven’t had much time.
Filmed by Robbie on her recent visit to Sabi Sands
Robbie – I am also advanced with a new book of my own poetry called, All About Animals. I have some editorial comments on that book which I need to address, and I also need to create the cover. The artwork is done but I need to turn it into a book cover. I am also working on the artwork for Michael and my new children’s books which is about leopards.
Robbie – I have three other poetry books in various stages of completion, but I generally only publish one a year. I have plenty of time to work on those. I also have a novel about the radium girls and America’s involvement in WW1 that is 2/3rds complete. I need blocks of time to work on a novel so that is waiting. I also have another children’s book outline completed but no artwork as yet.
I have the first four chapters of After the Bombs Fell drafted as well as a middle school book about Alice in Wonderland’s cat, Dinah, in progress. It is all about time for creative projects and I seem to have less and less currently. My youngest son is in his final year of high school so there are a lot of demands, and my father is very ill and that has impacted heavily on my life in several ways.
Resa – I am so sorry to hear about your father!
Robbie Went to Japan
While she was there, Robbie found some fabulous street art, and thought of me.
You will find other posts about her trip on her blogs, but this one is special to me. It’s not just being thought of, but I believe in the power of art (all the arts), and art in the streets reaches many people that art in galleries never will.
Robbie is a prolific writer. You can find her books on Amazon sites around the globe. Just search “Robbie Cheadle” for children and youth books – “Roberta Eaton Cheadle” for adult books.
Cassius Clay, knocked out Sonny Liston for his first world title in boxing.
On March 6, 1964
Cassius Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali
At the Ali/Liston (1964) fight was a photographer, Neil Leifer.
Leifer took what became an iconic photograph. You can buy a print from the photographer’s website, if you can afford it.
Artist, The Half Decent, painted a massive mural of it in a narrow ally that was impossible to get a straight on shot in.
The above slide show was taken from the most straight across vantage point, the indent for a fire escape.
Float Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A Bee
That is a statement made famous by Ali.
I designed the costumes for a movie "Strange Justice", a docu-drama of the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas United States senate hearings. The actor playing Clarence Thomas was Delroy Lindo. We were shooting backwards a decade, so I had his suits custom tailored. A suit was ready to be fit the day he arrived for prep. The fitting went well, but he had 1 request. Could I make the pockets really deep, to fit his large hands? I took hand measurements and sent the alterations to the tailor, with a special note about the pockets. Everything runs on a last minute seat of your pants timing in film. The suit was picked up from the tailor the night before he played. The morning Delroy played, I got called to his winnie*. He was livid. His hands would not fit into his pockets. They barely made it half way to his wrist. I walked to set with him while he tore a small strip off me. I had failed his simple request.
He didn't play again for 2 more days. So I personally took the suit into the tailor, who had not and still refused to make the pockets bigger. It was a tailoring no-no. I can be quite "assertive" when needed, and the pockets were corrected.
A couple of days after that I got called to his winnie, again. He looked me square in the eyes, and sincerely apologized for his behaviour about the pockets.
I said something like.. aww that's okay.
He said - When someone makes a sincere, honest and heart felt apology to you, you need to sincerely accept the apology, if in fact you are accepting it.
Eyes locked, I said Delroy, I honestly accept your apology, and I thank you for it. He said he appreciated my acceptance. We were best buddies on the shoot after that. He would hold talking on his phone to wish me a good morning, air high fives across a parking lots and always genuine smiles.
On the last day of the shoot, he gave gifts to some of the crew. I still remember him handing me a tiny jewelry box, opening it to find a marquesite & sterling bee brooch inside. I looked up and thanked him, all the while thinking “Sting like a bee- Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee".
I still have the brooch, and I cannot see an image of Ali without thinking of Delroy Lindo, and that honest apologies are 2 sided.
I close with a slideshow of demented angled shots form the narrow alley.
I went back to the alley a second time, as I had the warm filter on, accidentally. The alley was still narrow.
Pics taken by Resa – 2024
Toronto, Canada
The Artist:
winnie* – a Winnebago motor home used for stars’ dressing rooms on location shoots.
In one of my alley wanderings I came upon this fabulous mural, albeit unfinished.
I kept returning. It remained unfinished, but the scaffolding (in slideshow below) kept moving.
Artist at work on the mural.
If I could just get a shot of her face!
I shot on 4 visits, scaffolding et all
On one visit, I met the business owners next door. From them, I learned that the mural had been started about a year and a half earlier, but the artist had been in an accident.
His injuries required lengthy healing, and he had just recently returned to work on the mural.
Finally one day in November, it was finished. I shot over a hundred pics. Unfortunately, I had to return in December.
I told Trent the day had been dark with black clouds, and the pics came out really warm. I would return on a brighter day.
Confession; like an idiot I accidentally had the camera on a warm setting.
All in all I must have returned to the site 8 times.
Returning to the unfinished mural had become like reading a great book, and I was sad when it was finished.
I love intricate murals, as there is so much detail to take pics of.
The slideshow on the right, presents the details I languished in.
I was going to pick a fave, but I kept changing my mind.
At some point I realized it was the back door to the Schevchenko Museum. The sign was always there, but I ignored it because it was all about the mural, for me.
About the Schevchenko Museum
Taras Schevchenko (1814 – 1861) Ukrainian artist, poet & thinker. Once imprisoned by Russia for his views, his rich creative legacy remembers him.
I was dazed by the collection of images and history on the website. I’ll be visiting over the winter months.
Left: Self portrait – click on portrait to visit museum website.
There were always cars parked on the site.
Sometimes they were clean (ish), and I was able to get some cool reflections.
The greenish one at the end is actually reflecting next door artwork.
Thank You to Trent for this Song!
A Million Miles Away
V1 He said, “You’re a threat” As his tanks gathered on the borderline
He said, “You must be stopped!” As his missiles started flying
He shook his fist And his countrymen fell in line
“It’s us or them” And our babies started dying
Chorus
V2 Another town, another city Turned to rubble over night
In darken cellars the children With each bomb blast, shake in fright
Refugees and wounded Walk and crawl the road of flight
Is anybody out there To listen to our plight?
Chorus
It’s a million miles away
CHORUS
How’s your work? And how’s the weather? How’s your mom and dad?
The traffic sucks It started raining So things have been real bad (1) So things are really bad (2)
My pickup’s dirty The dog’s on the couch Tik Tok has been a bore
The football game On my 80-inch TV Was postponed for some stupid war A million miles away
About the Song in Trent’s Words
Another new song, and, yes, another dark one. The four-note motif that runs through the verse might remind you of “Carol of the Bells”. I was thinking of the music that that carol was based on, Shchedryk, a Ukrainian New Years song arranged by composer Mykola Leontovych. Those four notes, though, are thought to be ancient, going back to before Christianity was introduced to Ukraine.
By this motif you may guess that the “he” in the first verse is “Putin” and the country being invaded is “Ukraine”. You are partially right – it is inspired by that war, but the idea is any war, particularly a war where a dominant power invades a lesser one, and how people here can care less about the lives lost. Anyway, I will let the song speak for itself, except that I want to say I think I did a pretty good job channeling my inner “Bob” on the first chorus…
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