[madameshawshank]

hi all...more than nice to be back...almost back anyway...the places I go................

was reading a magazine article on the alphabet and how it can be used...cut out letters from pastry etc...photos of exquisite bowls and jugs with prose..ahhhhhhhhhh

thought this was fun..and got to wondering what language I'd put where...walls, ceilings, shelves, on the roof! now that would be fun...

Derek Jarman had a John Donne poem on the side of his fisherman's cottage...each letter hand carved methinks..

http://www.wonderfulgraffiti.com/photo_album.php?pid=132

I rather like the idea of "Arrange whatever pieces come your way." (thank you Virginia) perhaps in exquisite calligraphy on a silver bracelet...'twould be an interesting tattoo!...don't really see maself as a tat gal...however am imagining it in fine script around the wrist...it would be a reminder...and pretty at the same time....however don't see maself as a tat gal

any wonderful graffiti ideas?


http://www.wonderfulgraffiti.com/photo_album.php?pid=132
_________________
"I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson

[Rachel]

Not really sure if this counts as graffiti because it was removable, but my first two years at university, I taped a load of my favourite poems to the walls of my room... the advantage being that if I ever got tired of any of them or wanted to change/add anything it was very easy! I think I still have the lot in my closet back home - I don't remember the exact contents but I'm fairly sure they included e.e. cummings' 'since feeling is first' and Yeats's 'The Cat and the Moon' (those two I will NEVER get tired of!).

[madameshawshank]

well Rachel ma dear, perhaps these two might like to re-appear...poetry loves to be visable..and think of the visitors who will be drawn to the wall words...

I've a copy of Constantine P. Cavafy's "Ithaca" taped to a wall...am now imagining it as full on calligraphy drawn on the wall....oh yes methinks..oh yes ~ now, what type of font...oops a late night pun!

will ask the calligraphy angels to send me a scribe who works with walls 'n paint 'n such!

As you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon -- do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.

Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.
_________________
"I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson

[gingerpale]

So glad to see you Madame! Thanks for the poem--it sounds very much like yourself.
(This Internet is instant grafitti, all grafitti, all the time.)
I'm crazy for stencilling--my walls always kept plain white for that purpose! Mostly pictures, but phrases too:
My heart stood still.
I'd give anything to see you again.
Sun lights up the daytime, moon lights up the night. I light up when you call my name... (All bits of song lyrics-- the Mamas and Papas, Linda Ronstadt, Peggy Lee.)
Rich ( my SO) is embarrassed by love talk on the walls hee hee. He would not let me put "Ricardo y Rosamaria" in the kitchen, however, with doves. He pointed out we're Swiss and Irish.

[georgia]

Madame, you are in good company...If I'm not mistaken, Caroline Kennedy read "Ithaca" at her mother's funeral. It was one of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' favorites...

[madameshawshank]

ok wall word folk...how about these! from Derek Jarman's imagination...he decided to place a John Donne poem on an outside wall..and here are snaps for thee all

in a rather scrumptious way I've felt part of that environment from the moment I saw the photos....the joy of a poem wall...dear Derek...talk about a complex soul...merci Derek for sharing this precious place with us ...(it isn't Derek on the ladder)

golly I'm in the mood to play with the alpabet and surfaces of all kinds...I can remember when the kids were little finding oblong stickers "It's fun to read."...I stuck them on the stairs

now there's a game...what words on what buildings....there's an enormous house being built at the end of our street...perhaps a gigantic BIG with !!! alongside

words on the front door would be lovely...





_________________
"I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson

[gingerpale]

Think what you could do with empty rooms and blank walls and Beatles songs -- Strawberry Fields.. She Came in through the Bathroom Window! what fun to carry out the theme..

[madameshawshank]

dunno why these came to me:

We don't need no education
We dont need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it's just another brick in the wall.
All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

'n imagine a field of tulips with a winding mosaiced "tiptoe through the tulips" path
_________________
"I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson

[Griffin]

How about ...

An Englishman's Home is his Castle... But I'm not English and this isn't his Castle!

Or
... Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a cloud of stars.

Or

You think it horrible that lust and rage
Should dance attention upon my old age
They were not suck a plague when I was young;
What else have I to spur me into song?

Both from Yeats.
_________________
Confusion comes fitted as standard.

[minty]

The famous French writer Michel de Montaigne used to write his prose on the walls and the ceiling of his libray...
he asked for the following text to be added there after his death !


« L’an du Christ 1571, âgé de trente-huit ans, la veille des calendes de mars, anniversaire de sa naissance, Michel de Montaigne, depuis longtemps déjà lassé de la servitude de la cour de parlement et des charges publiques, mais encore dans le plein de ses forces, s’en vint se reposer sur le sein des doctes Vierges où, dans la paix et la sécurité, il passera les jours qui lui restent à vivre. Puisse le destin lui permettre de parfaire ce séjour des douces retraites de ses ancêtres qu’il consacre à sa liberté, à sa tranquillité, à ses loisirs. » Michel de Montaigne
Cette inscription, aujourd’hui disparue, fut peinte, à sa demande, en sa librairie.

[georgia]

In college I had a boyfriend (briefly) who had written "Abandon all hope ye who enter here" above the door to his bedroom. It was the only thing poetic about him.

Does this count???

[Griffin]

That depends, did you enter there... and if so, did you actually abandon hope?!!

I would have over my bedroom door, Enter this world, leave your mark before the mark leaves you. Mainly because my room is my own little world - a world of books which in themselves are little worlds and in which I have slept and dreamed... in my own little worlds...

If it were my brothers bedroom it would most likely be, I can hear music. Because apart from being good at drawing, he loves his music, both playing it and listening to it.
_________________
Confusion comes fitted as standard.

[georgia]

Naaa...didn't enter. No poetry to the guy, remember? Besides, that was his idea of "funny". Didn't want that regret in my memory bank.

This thread has got me thinking of what I'd want on my walls, but I need more time.

Later...

[gingerpale]

A caution: almost everything clever/funny/cute painted on a wall will eventually become simply not seen, or trite or old, so make it classic and simple or well loved or easily painted over!

"The truth works"

"All you need is love is all you need is love is.. " (this is nice in a circle.)

[madameshawshank]

georgia, of course it counts!...wall words...maybe a blackboard wall

we had a fabulous graffiti wall many years back...doing house extensions...and a wall had to come down...whenever friends came over they could write away...by golly it was fun....wish I'd taken photos..too busy to think at that time..

hugs
_________________
"I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson