studioeldridge

Haikus and paintings

2011-06-30T08:02:00.001-07:00

Montefiore Creativity Workshop June 16 weekend

This is Annabel, who has fully integrated with a painting. It’s incredible what Belgian girls can do! The weekend really was an explosion of creativity and between us we created not only paintings but 100 Haikus which we swiftly dispatched to California and the Universe in general (aka CTI’s creative artists forum).

It never ceases to amaze me, the power of group activity.

Sea air, new friends and good Italian food. But most importantly of all, a profound reconnection with our creativity.

A Haiku for you…

Let me help you see

Suffering is not needed

You are really free.

Next workshop Sept 2 in Appignano

email; micermice@gmail.com

It’s marvellous!

2011-04-22T05:15:00.001-07:00

Hiya!

Guess what? Our first Coaches lunch on May 4th is full! 28 people have signed up for it. The next one is filling up fast. It's on Wed June 1st and the subject is 'Coaching and Education'...The speakers are Helen Gormley and James Sale.

http://thecoacheslunch.com to find out more

Our creativity retreats are filling up too. Where you will rediscover your unique creativity

and where you will soak in the beauty of Italy’s light and colour, and

weave them into words and images.

June 16 to 19 in Montefiore, by the sparkling Adriatic.

The Creativity Journey of a Lifetime, www.starstone.me

Snowed up

2011-03-10T02:14:00.001-08:00

This is a new painting I struggled with, possibly because I was snowed in for five days with no heating and no electricity. It’s emotional (probably)

Creativity in Sant’Ippolito

2011-01-29T08:56:00.001-08:00

Dear friends,

I am running a Creativity weekend in March, another experimental workshop for a small number of people; similar to my session last Spring in Appignano.

It’s experimental in that sense that I want us together to try out new ideas, strategies I will use in Starstone sessions later in the year.

The venue will be our home at Sambuco in Le Marche and for a small group of about 8 people. It will be hands on stuff; making a mess, playing, lots of fun and laughter (guaranteed).

As well as playing like children we will also walk together, cook together, relax and delight in each others’ company.

Dates; Saturday and Sunday March 19^th and 20th

The total cost is E125 to include meals, accommodation and workshop.

For those coming from UK, extra days B&B can be arranged. Ryanair flights are less than E20 single at this time.

For those of you who don’t know Sambuco and our beautiful area of Le Marche, here’s our Sant’Ippolito website http://sibillinislow.com/Sibillini_Slow/Welcome.html

I do hope this finds you well and I send you my very best wishes for the New Year.

Michael

Cari amici,
Sto organizzando un week-end di Creatività in Marzo, per un numero limitato di persone, un ‘altro workshop sperimentale simile a quello organizzato in Appignano la primavera scorsa .
Sarà sperimentale nel senso che insieme tireremo fuori e proveremo nuove idee, questo workshop sarà un’anteprima dei prossimi corsi che terrò con Startstone in Autunno in Italia e in UK .

La sede sarà la nostra casa il Sambuco nelle Marche il gruppo sarà massimo di 8 persone .

Ci autogestiremo, parteciperemo attivamente a tutte le attività , faremo un sacco di disordine e giocheremo , il divertimento e le risate saranno garantite Ma, oltre a giocare come i bambini cucineremo e ci rilasseremo e faremo delle belle passeggiate , sarà un vero piacere stare in compagnia e ritrovarsi bambini.

Date: Sabato e Domenica 19 Marzo e 2011

Il costo totale è di Euro 125,00 incluso vitto e alloggio
Per chi viene da Regno Unito, c’è la possibilità di organizzare giorni extra nel nostro B&B.

Per quelli di voi che non conoscono “Il Sambuco” e la nostra bellissima area nelle Marche, ecco il nostro sito web http://sibillinislow.com/Sibillini_Slow/Welcome.html

Spero che questa idea vi piaccia, che veniate numerosi con l’intento di divertirvi , nel frattempo vi faccio i miei migliori auguri per il nuovo anno.
Michael

a fire painting

2011-01-28T11:43:00.001-08:00

I painted this in my usual unconscious fashion, only to realise I’d been having a conversation with Jack about the volcano in Sicily (Etna of course)

StarStone 2011

2011-01-27T13:16:00.001-08:00

StarStone is hosting three workshops in 2011, two in Italy at Montefiore, Le Marche and one in UK, in Norfolk.
Each of the workshops are complete Creative Journeys
Our extraordinary workshops are designed to rekindle your creativity. You will begin the exciting journey of revitalising those parts of yourself which may have fallen asleep over time. Your StarStone facilitators will re-awaken and challenge you, so that you will fully connect with the very essence of your original creative self.
Montefiore June 16th to 19th… RETREAT
The purpose of this retreat weekend is to find the still point that reveals everything as it is in our lives up until now. We step into that point through disengaging, stepping back, creating space, witnessing, unplugging and un-winding. Paradoxically, through this process, we find we are revitalised and see what is really important, what we can bring to the fore that will refocus us and create the next stage of our lives.
Montefiore Sept 15th to 18th… REFLECT
In this refreshing and challenging retreat we touch upon the very essence and significance of living within the present ‘time now’. As we reach that still point of the present moment, we see our selves reflected back through the eyes of the world around us; we experience what it is to be fully living in the present and how this is in fact the realm in which creativity waits for us, the feeding ground for poetry, music, painting, (indeed all the expressive arts), and where neither past nor future hold sway.
Voewood, Norfolk December 9th to 11th… EVOLVE (to be confirmed)
The focus of this retreat is individual evolution. To evolve is to begin to create ourselves as a clearer expression of our real and authentic essence. To thus finally evolve as a creative being, seeing each day as a creative opportunity where we become the master of your fate and metamorphasise into something new. What is it we can become? Anything and everything of course. It is where we begin to create a whole new cycle in our existence.
StarStone retreats are designed to take you on an adventurous voyage of discovery. Join us and explore the reflections of your past, the mirror of your present and the image of your future.

For more details email; michael@starstone.me, or tel+39.3283535358

New Year almost

2010-12-29T09:41:00.001-08:00

Guess this’ll be my final painting for 2010.

It’s about water and light but I suspect, too, that its existence has something to do with my visit to The British Tate and Turner’s exhibition there. Probably.

Snow’s here

2010-12-14T06:54:00.001-08:00

Hope it doesn’t last though, gotta get over those mountains and snow chains are dangerous.

This is a new painting inspired by a visit to the Tate a few weeks back. Turner struggled with his paintings and so I thought I’d do the same. This one was a fight

Not much different form what’s going on outside. Minus 3 and the stuff is settling ominously.

Yet another

2010-11-06T11:16:00.001-07:00

I shall have to give this painting lark a rest.

There's not much room left in the house, but

I suppose paintings in the hall are better than

prams. selling more could be a solution

New paintings

2010-11-06T11:12:00.001-07:00

This one's about the cave of the Sibilla in the mountains just above my studio in Le Marche. Chock full of magic it is up there and what's more you can find meteorites the size of golf balls lying around.

I wonder why that is? Magnetism perhaps. Hmm

Cold Autumn

2010-10-27T06:12:00.001-07:00

This week has been hot but last night the first snow of the winter.

Edges are blurred and sunlight filters through in patches. I'm reading 'Albion' by Peter Ackroyd. Must get to the Tate when I'm next in London...gotta see the Turners again.

New Painting

2010-10-19T06:01:00.001-07:00

I struggled with this one a bit but gradually came to like it. I've been reading a book about Turner and I think he has bent my mind somewhat (in the nicest possible way)

Nevada

2010-09-20T01:16:00.001-07:00

After a couple of months really boring myself with repetitive stuff, this painting popped out yesterday and blew me out of a rut. Thank you painting. It is a memory I guess about ranging over a Nevada desert with Jack, with patches of light everywhere but having no way to place them in time and space. Searing heat in the daytime and minus 20 at night. I miss all that stuff, goddamit I do.

Sweet memories

2010-05-24T07:12:00.001-07:00

My photographs are not just photographs.

Now that’s an amazing statement Mice!

Yes, and somewhat simplistic, I know, I know.

Let me put it this way. They are a sort of external hard disc of my mind and I can shut my eyes and summon up every painting and photograph that I have ever created.

And what is more…

Yes Yes Yes ?

If I had never created them, my life would not be as it is now.

Whoa!. Heavy stuff!

Not really no. You see, what we create, what we create beyond ourselves, enriches us.

Let me give an example.

I was at the Printer’s this morning in Tolentino printing this image, testing again the limit of Mauro’s patience (he my print expert on RAW and Nikon imaging programme) And I asked him about a course he’d just finished on master printing. Cheekily I asked him if they ever, in these classes, talked about the experience, the actuality, of taking photographs. He span around at me in his swivel chair and said ‘Look, the first thing we are always told in these classes, is that the image you take is what is of supreme importance. It starts here. And to never attempt to work on an image that isn’t good, your best’

Nice that!

So this image above, for me, is about that instance of recognition, where you feel yourself part of what you are photographing. Where duality dissolves ;where you absorb the trees as they themselves absorb the first moister from their roots as winter releases then tenderly from its grip.

And now that creation is part of me; the trees, the dampness, the mist, the sky.

And that’s what is so marvelous about the medium.

Applaud trees and skies

2010-05-18T07:40:00.001-07:00

Mice likes this Tuncay lady

Can’t wait to meet her. Picked up my small prints today.

And they’re rather tasty

Creativity workshop in Appignano

2010-04-20T05:31:00.001-07:00

Though I’d thought of everything; catering, leaders, materials, wine, biscuits. But a volcano! a volcano! Would you ever have imagined it?

It meant we lost five wondrous people from UK whose flight was cancelled at the last moment. It made for a sad start but we held a wine and biscuit ritual to mourn their absence and we soon recovered. A near thing though. So there we were, a bunch of 13 of us.

The general theme was ‘This moment of NOW’ where we learned that being present in the NOW is a gateway to creativity and life adventuring; where creativity awaits us and where the voyage towards its very heart begins

The above image is from the story writing part of the weekend, although you would never guess it would you?

And this part is called ’Painting attack’

So this was a voyage into the NOW, the present.

And now you are itching to know what our next workshop is about, aren’t you? Well, it’s a journey into past, present and future; how the one fuses with the other to form what we are, how we pattern our lives.

Maria collects treasures from the past; Italian customs, culture, cuisine and saves them in her Magic Box to share with you. Mice takes you into the NOW of creativity on a wondrous voyage of self discovery and Ant into the Future where you design a Planet worth living in for yourself and your love ones.

It’s June 11 to 14 in the beautiful agritourism of I Cigni in Le Marche, Italy, on the edge of the sparkling Adriatic Sea.

Info on our site www.starstone.me or call Mice on +39 3535358 if you want to chat about the workshop in English or Italian. Or you can email him on micermice@gmail.com

The Meteorite

2010-03-30T12:23:00.001-07:00

OK, what’s this?

A truffle!

No!

Look, you’re not gonna guess, so I’ll tell you. It’s a meteorite, found on the mountain this Sunday when we trekked up Mt Amandola with our CAI group (Club Alpini Italia) and were rewarded with a the most spectacular views across the hilltop towns of Le Marche to the sea, as well as a meteorite. Isn’t that marvellous though? To find a meteorite? We climbed to about 2000m,

……….ate a banana and a packet of crisps (classic) and rested awhile on one of the peaks before climbing down slowly to the trattoria where we’d left our cars. Then a long and dozy lunch. And the day before I was at the sea spending the morning costing our June workshop with Patrizia the owner of I Cigni, . It was almost tropical in comparison.

This part of Le Marche is where the mountains pushed towards the sea millions of years ago. In fact a great part of the sea was itself thrust up trapping a species of red shrimp in what is now a glacial lake (Lago di Pilato) in the process. Red shrimps and meteorites.

So, lucky we are, to have the mountains and the sea within a short driving distance of each other.

So, here’s an idea. Spend a fantastic weekend on our workshop and spend the rest of the week touring this beautiful area; even go meteorite hunting up in the Sibillini mountains. You’ll find one, you will, with a bit of guidance.

AN INTERVIEW WITH MICHELLE RUMNEY AND MICE

2010-03-08T02:17:00.001-08:00

http://www.roomontheedge.com/2010/03/interview-with-michael-eldridge-artist-photographer-creativity-coach/

Our flyer for Tuscany

2010-03-05T04:33:00.001-08:00

The StarStone myth

2010-03-04T05:21:00.001-08:00

Why a star?

Why a stone?

Well. it happened like this..

I was organising a creativity workshop with my beloved TigerEagles in Chamonix, France.

I needed to prepare a visualisation for the feathery, furry creatures and for inspiration took myself down to the river

below the Chalet where we were staying.

And there they were, waiting like huge eggs in a Eagle’s nest; washed down from Mont Blanc over the millennia

and seemingly just waiting for my arrival (or so he would like to think, I hear you whisper).

That night before the workshop was full of glistening stars; and there it was, or there they were.

I painted seven stars in memory of the voyage of Isis and the group did the same (after many a trick and game)

And mine is sitting before me now as I write.

Wanna see it?

Like a star of your own? wanna know how to get one?

Maybe we’ll let you in on the secret place where you can find your own.

It’s a pilgrimage though.

So what's new?

2010-02-27T13:00:00.001-08:00

Been most neglectful of my blogging these past months but I'm working...I'm working.
Have a show in Marmaris, Turkey with Steve in May and have done a whole lot of work painting-wise. Wanna take a look?
Here's some..

Now that wasn't so dificult Mice, was it?

So what's new?

2010-02-27T13:00:00.000-08:00

Venus

2009-09-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know it's Mars that's close now but this is a painting of Venus. Well, actaully the configuration of Venere. Why? well this is the star zone which the Sibilla's cave points to. It's a portal you see, a gateway to the cosmos (and beyond)
Like it?

Creativity Workshops

2009-06-04T03:03:00.000-07:00

My new venture.
Very modern won't you think?
It's what comes of doing a life-coaching course (which I am currently)
but in the meantime, here's a new painting, just for fun..

So this is what I'm going to do. Prise open the rusty old gate of the Physik Garden (which should take about a month) with 'rustoff' and a fretsaw; throw in a team of rabbits, sheep and strong chaps with machetes and chainsaws and clean it up and bring into the brave new world of pro-activity. Not sure what that is exactly but love the word.

The workshops... here's an extract from blurb

'History shows that the negation of creativity is damaging both to society as well as to us as individuals and this we all know to be true, but suppose you had the ability to return to the original 'heart' of your creative imagination, whenever you wish? How might life be different for you today, both for yourself and those you love.

Is it possible to live from a secure place within yourself that permits you to act from your own uniqueness? Can you really live out of your creative essence rather than out of fears, or the everyday concerns, that come from living in a turbulent society?

Using a unique yet simple combination of play, dialogue, light-hearted individual confrontations and group activities in painting, music, writing, dance, theatre games, our creativity workshops will help you experience new ways of self expression. You will hopefully rediscover the precious core of your creativeness, which has always been there waiting to re-awakened.'

For further and on-going info regarding creativity workshops and creativity coaching check for upcoming info on www.physikgarden.com

Back to my roots

2009-03-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

And I don't mean the Boy Scouts.
I mean Bournemouth College of Art
It was where I (or should I say we ) cut our creative teeth ; we being the Bournemouth Boys aka Maestri, Blatchford, Fassnidge, Drury and me, Eldridge. Oh, and a host of brilliant part time lecturers ('cos brilliant and exceptional is what they were) Yes, the then Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design; now called The University of Art (I think)
So, there we all were at this sort of reunion exhibition. crowds of people and very well organised too. Over the weekend we got to talking about those inspired years where we worked and taught intuitively and in a spontaneous fashion in a way which could not be possible now; nor even understood.
Most of all, talking with Tony Maestri, I was made most powerfully aware of the influence Krishnamurti had made not only on us personally, but on our teaching philosophy at the College of Art. Every summer he and I (with our kids in tow) would make it out to Brockwell Park for Krishnamurti's summer seminars to listen to yes, but more to simply absorb his words and his presence. I remember driving to the Park one summer in the late eighties I think it was, up from Italy to spend the weekend there at his seminar. I'd been out of touch for a couple of months in the Tuscan hills and I'd arrived to find the place almost deserted and gloomladen, he'd died a couple of weeks before. That was one earthquake of a loss but, after this Bournemouth experience, his life and words and influence have come flooding back.
Tony Maestri (http://tonymaestri.com/Books/Intro.html)has all his books, I've lost most of mine but have gotten another from Amazon. Recommended reading indeed. You should read Tony's books, too, which draw heavily and at times emotionally on Krishnamurti and his brilliant understanding of consciousness.

Look at this.....

Nice eh? You can buy Tony's books from his site above (a gentle plug)

Zen and the art thereof

2009-01-26T01:38:00.000-08:00

This painting's got nothing to do with the title really; well, not directly. In fact it's four paintings that I have just finished which I have put together his morning and photographed as a whistful reaction to someone I met yesterday.

I met an interesting Zen monk on a seminar in Recanati. He talked about stopping, and reflecting and making a space for life to enter and for creativity to take place. And this in the week when Tony Maestri and Alex King say they want to meet with me for a weekend in Sicily to start to put together the book about 'The Bournemouth Years', i.e. our teaching philosophy which was just exactly based on the few simple words of the gentle Zen monk.... I think, hmmm, serendipity!!!
So, anyway, this Zen monk goes on to tell me that the planet is out of sync and that's why we all feel so rough in the morning because the planet's suffering you see. And what'smore, in the year 2012 (Dec 21st to be precise) the planet will suddenly say enough's enough; shudder and do a complete spin around. Oh great! In the evening before turning in I did a quick check on CNBS news (to check DOW index as I do) and the presenter is telling me not to bother paying bills anymore because the world's coming to an end in 2012. Buy real estate in the sahara he says, everything else will be covered with ice.
Last time it happened, it seems, was 12000 years ago at the time of Noah (of course). Seems there are Chinese reports of that time which mention a catastrophic night where the stars streeked across the sky and were never the same stars again in the night sky, holocausts, volcanic eruptions, all that stuff.
So I guess that's what this painting is about. Just that I didn't know it at the time.
Tell you what though, I didn't sleep to well last night, worrying about what to do about our animals when the day comes.

work in progress

2008-12-30T06:16:00.000-08:00

I know I said I'd write about work in progress...but I don't know where to start. In fact I never know where a painting starts or ends either; but here's a bash at the matter

Now this has be-deviled me for a day or two. A perennial problem I have where I see work within work as I paint, mini paintings suggesting themselves. I mean by this that there emerge parts, squares, rectangles, within the work which I really fancy and think 'Cor' that'd make a nice painting in itself. Trouble has always been that whenever I've tried to pluck out a miniature part and make it into something grander...well. it falls flat.
Look at these bits below and you'll see what I mean.

and this

You see, it is be-deviling isn't it.
And beguiling too.
Does all that make sense to you?

Just finished this one

2008-12-05T01:58:00.000-08:00

And putting it on a blog allows me to see it with fresh eyes (he thinks).Haven't gotten around to digging out my anecdotes as I promised myself I would. But will commence doing so this weekend. I will, I will. But the image comes up so small. Gotta work this one out.

4 hours later...size problem solved (I used Irfan!)

Those teaching years in Bournemouth

2008-11-25T02:22:00.000-08:00

Books are being written about those Bournemouth Art College years. And the School of Photography, (now referred to almost reverently as the 'Zen School of Photography', which makes me laugh) has built up, seemingly by the sheer weight of collective nostalgia, a whole mythology unto itself.
The reality? Always a bit of a laugh it was. And this I'm going to write about too. Mainly to get it clear in my own head as to how it all started, how it developed and how it was eventually destroyed over a period of fifteen years. Not a chronology, but rather a collection of memories.

Moving studio

2008-10-11T02:54:00.001-07:00

It gets cold dear.
And now it's clear.
So, dear world, this is what I propose to do with this blog.
For 45 years I have been writing anecdotes and snippets about creativity and art; and teaching too.
So I'm gonna dig them out and publish them here...... along with work in progress, snatches and sketches of things on the move, painting wise.
Does that seem like a good idea?