Tender Pencil

^{Just some tenuously connected thoughts this week.}

^{Tender: soft or dainty or delicate. Tender:loving or fond. Tender:susceptible or young or vulnerable. Tender:compassionate or caring or kind. Tender:to offer or bid or propose. Tender: a ship or galley. Tender:grant. Tender:dispense something needed. Tender: to yield. Tender: sore or swollen.}

^{A film by Kim Longinotto and Jano williams ,'Shinjuku Boys', follows the lives of three women who work in The Marilyn Club in Tokyo. Onnabes are women living as men . The film exploring the fluidity of gender in contemporary Japan is moving and thought provoking. A tender, careful portrayal of vulnerability.}

^{Walking through the dusk catching the last sightings of the Lapwings, Greenshanks, Dunlins feeding on the mud before the darkness falls. Fluttering half seen, turning, seen and unseen, seen,unseen, grey soft light.}

^{Waiting for my drawings to return.}

Concrete beauties.

^{Michael, the source of many unusual books,popped in for a coffee this week with another of his eclectic collection; ' Concrete Ideas: Material to Shape a City. ed. Pina Petricone/publ.Thames and Hudson.}

 ^{This recalled my visit to The Whitney, New York in November. A 60's concrete Brutalist building designed by Marcel Breuer which took my breath away with its gorgeous textural surfaces, rough and gritty. Although stark and spare it has a wonderfully feminine quality. The womb like intimacy of the stairways contrasting dramatically with the vast and imposing gallery spaces. I must admit that although I enjoyed the retrospective of Artschwager's,at times hilarious work, it was the building that really caught my eye. http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/RichardArtschwager}

^{I am now on the look out for more of these brooding concrete beauties...mmmm take a look at the one below.}

Winchelsea sea defence.
Photo by Michael Murton