Tuesday the 7th October

Tuesday the 7th October Fun day good day people day. Went for a quick walk along paddocks before breakfast, followed by loyal sheep dog. Beautiful morning light, hits the trees perfectly here. All the wood is so translucent it takes on the colours of the sky: this morning a troublesome blue, turning a heap of deadwood such a cold blue. Drove to museum and did a little bit of rearranging, then on to Portland. Karl Hatton the arts councillor for the shire had given me some contacts that might have film equipment to borrow; my first call had put me onto Clinton who runs the local film club in Portland. I met him at the arts centre, which is part of the Arts Company Inc where I will be staying in a couple of weeks. What a dude. A welcome relief. An excitable lover of film that I manage to keep away from the surf for a couple of hours of film tech foraging, without even trying which shows his enthusiasm for film! He basically had between the arts centre and his house every format of film equipment you could ever desire and the kind of no bullshit motivation for the arts every town needs. I left with some massive reels of 35mm films, a proper old school viewer, splicer, tape, a box full of mini canisters of educational films and a little bit more film knowledge. Its good to know I can get all the tech I could need where ever my work goes, so I can go back and get projectors or 16mm format stuff. Fantastic. A very happy bean. I visited a few op-shops whilst in town to no avail. Then with the guidance of the out-of-the-way helpful locals located and picked up some sewing bits and tracing paper to start stitching weather maps. I burned through the countryside, bouncing along in my little automatic, ye-hah, back to Dartmoor and the museum. A little bit more rearranging of the furniture was done, and I've now got my space pretty much organised and full of tech and artefacts to play with. Which I did. Driving home I had to stop and take some photos the smoulder sky overwhelmed me. Slamming on the brakes, hitting the grass and leaping the fence to be out in it. Made my heart rush for the earth, the kind of fix I've been after. To top it all a rainbow tried to emerge, but due to the heaviness was just a solid block of colours behind one tiny little tree: bizarre and stunning. I regretted not having my proper camera with me, but it made me realize how I have to get more savvy with my digital SLR as it was frustrating not being able to get the shots I was after: what was in front of my eyes. All fired up on nature I m going to walk to the village tomorrow, gathering and filming on my way. Planning an early start as it always a magically lonely part of the day. Whoop yeah. Happy motivated bean.