take off all your clothes
walk into the wonder
take away your saddness
Day 55: you save me
take off all your clothes
walk into the wonder
take away your saddness
Day 54: you watch me
As the earth is taking a natural cycle of warming up
As it has done since it's creation.
And before a rapid cooling to another ice age
As it has done since it's creation,
You watch.
Day 53: you infuse me
[watercolour on paper]
Day 52: you silence me
I love how all sounds disappear when you’re under water, and you’re completely alone
Day 51: you frighten me
Within the fear comes respect for the power, for the pure unseen force that can occur. I've stood on the edge of a ragging Taranaki river in flood, rolling boulders and broken trees surge down the blackened water, the noise so loud there is no room for a conversation.
Day 47: you move me
We lose ourselves in the things we love. We find ourselves there, too.
oil on board (detail)
Day 46: you sadden me
I am breaking without your touch
Image of what I see on my walk most mornings, east coast Singapore
There is no surf around Singapore and it's too polluted for me to swim in the water.
Day 44: you tumble me
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Memories......the night before a Surf Lifesaving Carnival was always a fearful time as I knew whatever the surf conditions were the following day, the show would go on. I recall one Taranaki carnival where the surf was just a seething mass of white froth and massive raging grey-brown waves that at times seemed to be crashing sideways into each other. But as an Australian team was visiting, the event would proceed, instead of taking it to the shelter of Ngamotu Beach; which they did do the following day.
In my first swimming race I tried so hard to swim out, at one stage being dumped back to shore, vomited and tried again, but my nerves got the better of me. It’s the only time I didn't make it. I felt so ashamed.
With my next event it was decided to take us out in an IRB (inflatable rescue boat) and drop us at the buoys, some 120 meters out from the shore. I was the ‘patient’ in the tube rescue event where I waited at the buoy to be “rescued” by a swimmer who would swim out with flippers.
My journey back to shore with my "rescuer' was extraordinary . With some of the giant waves we clung together; it was like being inside a washing machine and then spat out the other side, only to be engulfed by more waves. Not sure if it was courage or stupidity.
The arrival back at shore installed in me a feeling that from that day forth I could do anything.
circulatory drawing 4
pen on paper
Day 43: you call me
The sound of water is every where in Singapore, as Feng Shui plays an important part in making sure people live in harmony with their surroundings. Fountains and other water features abound.
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Day 40: you astonish me
9am: after a walk through Gardens by the Bay, it was time for a coconut water fix, sitting next to a pond with the biggest Koi I have seen in a very long time.
Day 39: you rock me
oil on board (detail)
I was a surf life saver during my 20’s and learnt much about the power of the oceans force, along with its beauty and at times it’s gentleness, like when you float motionless with arms and legs stretched out and let the sea gently rock you into a wonderful state of calmness.
Day 37: you remind me
watercolour and ink on paper
you remind me to take life by the balls and get shit done.
...now how do I write that politely and still convey the same intensity?
Day 36: you propel me
Sea - A big blue wobbly thing that mermaids live in. (urban dictionary)
Image is of a fish tank at a local Food court...the inhabitants were pleading with me for their release....or was it simply "don't eat me"
Day 34: you lift me
My main pastime in the sea has been body surfing and as the best waves were where the board riders were I’d wear a bright yellow bathing cap to be seen. I was only hit once by a board, rewarded with a fabulous black eye.
It’s an amazing experience to be ‘lifted’ and transported forward on a wave. I’d stretch out the length of my body until I felt like a spear being flung forward.
My favourite beach to catch waves at was Titahi Bay, Wellington, where I could walk around to the far point of the bay, drive in behind the breakers and simply catch a ride back to the shore on a big wave. I spent two years as a Wallpaper Designer in a studio not far from this beach...lucky me.
Day 33: you deepen me
There is nothing softer and weaker than water,
And yet there is nothing better for attacking hard and strong things.For this reason there is no substitute for it. (Laozi, Tao te Ching),
Day 31: you focus me
Pool training is always rewarded with a session of hand-stands.
...now being sucked up into another dimension.
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Day 29: you nurture me
As the waves are gently lapping
What is the sea whispering to me
Day 28: you motivate me
"To me, the sea is like a person, a child that I've known a long time. It sounds crazy, I know, but when I swim in the sea I talk to it. I never feel alone when I'm out there."
Gertrude Ederle - first woman to swim across the English Channel, 1926
Day 27: you lead me
I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travels sake. the great affair is to move
- Robert Lewis Stevenson [....like a river]
Day 25: you wash me
one of several water features a Marina Barrage, Singapore
This dam was built at the confluence of five rivers, keeping the seawater out and creating a reservoir of fresh water which helps with the aim of self-sufficiency in water supply.
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...created for the young at heart to run through
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