“If you’re going down, go down with the band playing”
A Guide to Scarecrow Wisdom – Rule 1 by Rowli Pugh
I am currently recovering from my EPIC weekend. It started on Thursday at Aberystwyth having a ‘business’ meeting with the lovely Lorraine of Greenweeds Web Design. This began with lunch, moved on to Constitution Hill to admire the view across Cardigan Bay, paused with an oversized ice cream and ended on the Pier where we finally gave up on business chat having been totally distracted by the antics of a pod of dolphins. Lorraine is constantly trying to persuade me to engage more with social media (unlikely) and is responsible for the way my website looks and behaves. A website can actually be very useful to artists and other creatives, says Lorraine. Finally, I have come to agree with her. Following on from the Arts Council of Wales funded project The Keepers which tracked the development of Textile Art from inspiration to completion through this blog, I use the website as a kind of journal or scrapbook. All my favourite (and useful) images, sketches and bits/bobs are kept here in cyberspace.
Back to the weekend: Friday saw the selected designers of the International Cambrian Mountains Wool Design Challenge gathering at the Park & Ride in Aberystwyth for a bus journey to Nanteos Mansion Hotel. And what a range of beautiful things we had made: from clothing to soft furnishings; toys to jewellery – all brilliantly staged by the incredible organisers to show off both the wool and the talent of the designers to the best. We got to spend a couple of hours together whilst we were waiting for the guest of honour. I’m not sure what the collective term is for a group of Textile Artists & Makers – a network? – but there were a lot of us and we talked non-stop. It was lovely to meet HRH The Prince of Wales (surprisingly knowledgeable about wool) and the Aberystwyth experience got my epic weekend off to the best of starts!
Thanks to the help of Ruth Packham and Rebecca Connolly I caught the early bus back to Carmarthen for the train to Cardiff, was picked up at the station by mate Sarah, got home, changed and was whisked to a hotel in Heathrow Airport by other pals, Pat the Shed and her hubby, St John the Provider. At 5.40am on Saturday morning I was on the Oxford Tube bus eventually be deposited at the grandly named Lewknor Turn Coach Interchange – though this is actually a layby, and a very ordinary one at that. From there it was only a short journey to the start of phase 2 of my epic weekend. No more the posh frocked, hob-nobbing with royalty, artist; from now on, I was one of 2100 lycra clad participants in the Race to the Stones.
By the end of Saturday, after 50k on Shanks’ Pony, I was at Base Camp, aching, blistered but so pleased with myself and so looking forward to the next day when I was going to achieve a life-long ambition – to visit the Stone Circle at Avebury. If you’ve never been there, it’s worth the visit. One of the reasons I wanted to go there is because I find the history of the British Isles a rich source of inspiration for the kind of art I do. If you want to do something creative – whether it’s painting, writing, music or anything else – it is worth getting out and about so that you can experience what it is that inspires you.
Nothing I had ever seen on television did the Avebury Stones justice. 9am and I was in position on the top of a bank, sketch book at the ready. I don’t pretend to be a good artist but I find sketching so much more satisfying that taking photographs.
By Sunday teatime my epic weekend was over – apart from the blisters and the aches. It was amazing from start to finish. On Monday I was back to work (trying to keep the NHS afloat, weeding an overgrown garden and dealing with a surfeit of garlic). All of which goes to illustrate the wisdom of Rowli Pugh’s Rule 1 for Scarecrows – if you are going down, go down with the band playing – in other words, if you are doing something special, give it 100% and do it with a smile on your face. That way, you’ll remember it for ever.
A rhag ofn i chi feddwl fy mod i wedi anghofio bod rhai ohonoch chi’n dysgu’r Gymraeg – dydw i ddim! Roedd yr holl benwythnos yn fendigedig. Rydw i’n dwlu ar Aberystwyth yn enwedig yr hufen iâ. Roedd Tywysog Siarl yn hyfryd. Gobeithiaf y byddaf fi’n cwrdd â fe eto yn y dyfodol. Y flwyddyn nesaf, rydw i’n mynd i redeg yn y Ras i’r Brenin am hwyl – dim ond 52 milltir. Gwych! Ond byddai’n well ‘da fi benwythnosau gwahanol!