I’m enjoying listening to Gustav Holst’s The Planets as I prepare my last assignment for ACG305. Much of it is familiar though I’ve never paid close enough attention to work out which bit is which planet. Mars is pretty unmissable though – must remember not to start with that piece next time!

I’m working through some ideas now on some old photographs I have of myself and thinking about the journey from youth to old age. When you’re young, old age seems a very long way away. Amazing how fast time flies the older you get, and there’s still so much to do.

I have some x-rays I have of my husband’s brain from a serious illness he suffered some years ago which I am also going to try and incorporate into the artwork. His memory has been affected, but is it any worse than the one in my 51 year old brain? Is that even where the memory lives, or is it in the heart?

30th May 2013

Brainstorming whilst listening to each particular movement and thinking how I can create the artwork. Can images of words indicate movement? Big words, little words, floating words, vertical, horizontal, repeated, how can words jump out at you?

Mars, the bringer of War: powerful, bombastic, marching, stomping, clashing
Venus, the bringer of Peace: sad, sweet, aftermath, uplifting, sublime, bird-like, rising up, soothing
Mercury, the Winged Messenger: speed, voices skipping though and over, business
Jupiter, the bringer of Jollity: important, NBC news theme, contrasty deep bass w high woodwinds, melodic, pastoral, imperious, measured, resolution, conversation
Saturn, the bringer of Old Age: slow, bass, plodding, finality, dignified, careful, mature, dramatic, bells-death, stately
Uranus, the Magician: horns, drums, Fantasia, mysterious, expectation, friendly, revelation, impressive
Neptune, the Mystic: ethereal, airy, minor keys, chost, delicate, pensive, unknown, ascending, disembodied, vanishing