The Restory Retreat Centre

"No one suspects the days to be gods."                                                             Ralph Waldo Emerson Maart is Klassieke Musiekfees-tyd op Wakkerstroom. (Vanjaar se datums: 17 – 20 Maart) Dit is die grootste geldelike inspuiting vir ons dorpie wie se hoofproduk vir die res van die jaar ironies genoeg stilte is. Ry jy nou in die hoofstraat af sien jy hoe daar oral gevee, geverf, gewas en gewerskaf word om al die besoekers te ontvang. Vir ons as plaaslike kunstenaars is dit ook ‘n groot geleentheid en van vroeg tot laat is ons aan die skep vir die veskillende uitstallings. Wanneer ek egter aan die Musiekfees dink, dan is dit die tipe dae wat ons gewoonlik oor hierdie tyd op die Hoëveld beleef wat aanhoudend by my opkom. Die reënval was vanjaar baie beter as verlede jaar, die veld is pragt...

Ceramic V-bowl with leaves by Matilda Angus Coffee table converted from old dining room table by George Angus "When you buy from an independent artist, you are buying more than just a painting [or vase, or chair]. You are buying hundreds of hours of experimentation and thousands of failures. You are buying days, weeks, months, years of frustration and moments of pure joy. You are buying nights of worry about paying the rent, having enough money to eat, having enough money to feed the children, the birds, the dog. You aren’t just buying a thing, you are buying a piece of heart, part of soul, a private moment in someone’s life. Most importantly, you are buying that artist more time to do something they are fully passionate about; something that makes all the above worth the fear and the doubt; something that puts the life into living.”                             ...

My mother's tiny art work. Photo by Matilda Mother’s Day in South Africa. This morning, being a mother and all, I granted myself an extra half an hour of lying in bed. I lay thinking about my children, all three of them more than a four hours’ drive from us. I felt like thanking them for being the ones to bring me to motherhood. I left it at that, knowing that they will all call during the day and make this a special day, even though we have never gone overboard with this kind of commemoration. I then opened my journal as I do most every morning. From between the pages and into my lap fell a tiny artwork. A small cameo of lacey leaves and flowers set into a small card. The artist: my mother. How did it get there? I honestly cannot remember putting it there. Maybe during the move it had surfaced somewhere and needed to be kept safe in order to later add it to the collection I have of my mother’s art work. The synchronicity of it though made me sit up and take notice. Since she...

This morning, without deciding upon it formally, Mily and I took it reaaally easy and had a snuggle-in. Outside it seemed rather overcast and gloomy: perfect cuddle weather. She curled onto my lap, covering my first and second chakras with her silken body, while I lay dozing on my back. She later moved to where the sun started trickling onto the corner of the bed while I sat writing about the richness of this simple indulgence and tried drawing her catness in R-mode like I am being taught in Art class at the moment.        Then I spent time planning a week of personal treats. Read on, this gets even more ridiculously decadent. In my defence, I have to say that I am under orders to do so. (See Tasks of Chapter 11 of Julia Cameron’s Artist’s way). I struggle with especially this: treating my inner child, the true artist in me, to the things I need to fill my creative well. The reason, always, is a feeling of guilt. Guilt because there's a furrow seemingly per...

The nine sculptures depicting the Enneagram on display in Greenwood Manor, Linden, Johannesburg Sometimes my bold soul does something because she knows its the right thing to do. And I (read my ego self) go along with it because at the outset it seems such a good idea. After all, the ego loves showing off, doesn't it, even more than it wants to keep me safe from harm (read humiliation).      So when I contacted the Enneagram Institute in Johannesburg and requested whether we could display our Enneagram inspired sculptures at the all important upcoming Part 1 training by Russ Hudson and Gayle Scott, it was without hesitation. After all, what better exposure than to have it viewed by people whose life work revolves around the Enneagram?      As we prepared the plinths after having viewed the exhibition area, however, the familiar inner chatter started. My ego was running scared. What if they feel we have missed the mark? Would I be able to handle crit...

Photo by C. du Preez "The artist is no more and no less than a contemplative who has learned to express himself,  and who tells his love in color, speech or sound:  The mystic, upon one side of his nature, is an artist of a special and exalted kind." - Evelyn Underhill

It was at the end of the 1990’s that I started setting up my woodworking workshop. At that stage I bought second hand machines and overhauled them over time while I was busy farming and working with my dad in the engineering workshop. My idea was to start with the basics and gradually build it up from there. It was interesting, reading up on articles from a variety of woodworking magazines, what was regarded as “the basics”. Some said a table saw and a planer-thicknesser. Others thought you could not be without a band saw or a router. To a novice like me it was confusing and in some ways debilitating. Quite often during that period I said to myself that I could only start thinking of any project once I had the right machines and the ideal workshop. Which meant that it took a long time for me to actually put my hands on a piece of wood and make something, because for a long time I was under the impression that I didn’t have any of the two. Then one day, on a journey into town, I h...

Exploring the Enneagram through Art. (Continued) Also called the Individualist, the Signature trait   of this personality is their belief that they are fundamentally different from others. They often see themselves as uniquely talented, but also inherently flawed or disadvantaged. They grow to believe that they are special but are not understood and stand apart from others. They feel uncertain about who they really are and desire to find themselves and their significance and to create an identity out of their inner experience. This presents a problem as their emotions keep shifting and Fours often create a fantasy self to counter this. They struggle with envy because everyone else seems to be or have what the Four feels they lack. Connecting with their Life essence by staying present to themselves and committing themselves to stay engaged with reality through principles and actions that are not embedded in their moods and emotions, they are able to reach into the deepe...