I was flicking through the TV channels yesterday afternoon, and stopped to watch Oprah, normally I don't watch her programmes, but this one interested me. It was a young woman in her 20's or 30's who had an abhorration to old people. To see how she would go, she was made up to look like at seventy year old, her face and clothes looked the part, but her posture did not, she stood too tall, walked too fast, sat with-one leg bent underneath her. Had no one told her about arthritis and stiffening joints? To her amazement, after meeting and socializing with these 'dreadful old people', she found that they weren't so terrible after all. When all was revealed and they saw they had been taken for a ride, they did not berate her for cheating to them, but took her at face value both old and young. They said to her that being old is not important, its just like a shell, its really what's inside that counts. Very Very True.

Part of my work is printing women's faces who are 40 plus. I have been using the face of a very old friend (pardon the pun) Margaret who is in her seventies. When talking to Margaret, you feel that you are talking to someone much younger, she just has that sparkle of life about her, and it is this that I am trying to portray in my work.
Have you given a thought to the way older people are treated in our society, we have stereotyped them as worthless. Have you thought of for example a fifty year old trying to find employment, it is almost impossible. Look around and see how older people are treated in the street, or in the supermarket queue, yes they are slower than younger people, but they certainly do not deserve to be treated as if they are stupid and invisible, as sometimes is the case. They have a lot to offer if you have the patience,
Ola

I have been busy today, I received pieces of 'old' kimonos in a mixture of fabrics, silk,synthetic and cotton. which I will need for a workshop at the April Fibre Forum in Orange called Take One Kimono. Ann Darling from the US will be our tutor. The fabric I have been sorting out into different piles, hoping they will somehow inspire my creativity. I also have to take a kimono or haori (happy coat), I am looking forward to it and thought I should get started on the materials as the list is pretty long.

Hi
This is my first post, I hope you will join me in my journey in my studies and tell me about your experiences, whether it be in art or craft. Did you have trouble convincing people that you were serious in what you were contemplating? I know I had contemporaries who thought I was taking this course just to pass the time. It has been something I have wanted to do for a very long time. I was unable to do it when I was younger, one because the family attitude, and secondly, although I had a husband who has supported me one hundred per cent, his job meant we had to move nearly every two years.
I have been able to do short courses in painting, sewing, machine embroidery, spinning, felting and my favourite, dyeing and printing.
Ola