So an Unusual story...which in this case doesn't start with a ONCE UPON A TIME.
It starts.... with me being treated to a lovely cappachino with a friend swapping very interesting stories of our travels abroad & adventures under the gorgeous July London Sun.
As I swooped the froth from the sides of my very bright green cup to catch the last of the froth with my teaspoon as elegantly as usual, I realised I had a little something foreign in my mouth, which I suspected & imagined was a little piece of coffee bean that had, in this case, snuck in my cup.
How delighted was I, when extracting this foreign element carefully and quite artfully if I maight say so myself from the froth in my mouth, to find far from what I'd suspected...and Instead .... wait for it.... INFACT.... Plesae hazard a GUESS of what I found.. must add I've never had one in my mouth until today, tasted slightly bitter for anyone one of you that is curious, the little he or she was happily unharmed and made its way around the bright green saucer which maybe he mistook as a juicy green leaf and stayed with us, which made us a little trio for coffee under the warm now fading london summer sun.
What a GLORIOUS Day to be ALIVE
I wish you all Ladybirds and a Beautiful Day
I wish you all Love

Work has been an absolute joy this time of Lockdowns and Covid 19. The works have been random and different I’ve been led, primarily by my sense of timing in the second. Almost like driving in a strange unknown part of somewhere in step with the journey yet maybe a little lost though with enough petrol in the tank to feel confident that the travelling will end up in someplace that might well be very interesting and scenic as well as resonate in some meaningful way to the moment or indeed the past. Memories evoked, friends and times remembered, in the very same way that music can transport us, paint and materials have that way about them too. That real sense recently of just letting go then finds me later on as the work develops.
I’m neither being judgmental of the new work, or too clingy as in I really feel the impulse to share it, sell it & strangely for me even explain it.
I was an artist that really did not wish to have anything to do with the so-called
Language of Art. I judged it as being pompous and too smart for it’s boots, and imagined a lot of posturing and hands sweeping back and fro, the obligatory hands touching chins with squinted eyes just mili seconds away from some grand understanding and awakening of what the art meant in real terms.
The Language of Art for me is through the Heart and as we know this particular organ can have a different temperature at different times, as well as a fullness & emptiness …now I may be posturing, I’m not scared anymore to speak up on this topic as I’m speaking from my heart & the heart rarely lies.

© Julie Bloom 2020

© Julie Bloom 2020

© Julie Bloom 2020

© Julie Bloom 2020

© Julie Bloom 2020

On the way home, having waited till the heavy down pour yesterday had ended, stepping on to the wet pavements, smelling the freshness and wet in the air, noticing the colours, thrown by the shade of the previous rain. I couldn’t help but want to take it all in. The very breath, the very precious second that times sixty make a very valuable minute.
Secret codes aren't just the preserve of spies. There are mysterious symbols, numbers and dials all around us, which mean, or have meant, something to someone at some stage. From 19th century insurance policies to markings for homeless people, covert communication between Londoners past and present are etched all around us.
We set about uncovering the mysteries behind some of these often familiar, but seldom deciphered, hidden codes.

Mystery right under our feet

What are these mysterious pavement markings? When you're next strolling around town, keep your eyes peeled for these curious symbols carved into Victorian paving stones, from carefully crafted Maltese crosses to shoddily carved-out letters. Once you’ve noticed one, you’ll start to see them everywhere.
It appears that, despite their prevalence, no one has satisfactorily uncovered the mystery of what these symbols actually represent. We've had our fair share of speculation, of course, from conspiratorial conjecture that they directed Freemason initiates to hidden lodges, to more mundane theories that they literally just identify the location of electricity, gas and water.
The mystery continues.
Well, It was great to look up Secret Codes on London streets, and these are some of the things I learnt.
For instance the other day I saw some red chalk markings on the street just beside homeless artist I know, who sat with his beloved dog a meter away. Innocent and not in the know until now… asked him was that some of his work, no he replied.
It’s taken about a week and a half to organically and just through being curious to find that in London more than 50 different utility companies dig up the streets, so it is important to have a universal coding system to indicate what’s hidden underground.
Every color has a meaning.
Red points to electrical lines.
Blue Indicates water pipes.
Yellow means gas.
Green is cctv networks and cable tv lines and white is just general communication from measurements to instructions.
So it pays off to take the time, to really drench and soak oneself into the second… times sixty that will make up a moment as they ripple so beautifully into discovering and appreciating our surroundings and what we might otherwise completely overlook

© Julie Bloom 2020

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From A to B

Was Drawn to the Red & the Beautiful Cracked Glass, for a second I thought about taking some for a piece I'm working on, yet no, the violence that had ensued on both these telephone boxes was a piece of work in themselves, as were the perpertraitors themselves.

So I just captured the moment then continued on my way. It was one of the strongest images of today I must say.

So now to pray...

And then to Dream...

Sweet Dreams Y'all

© Julie Bloom 2020

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THE JOYS


The Joys of Creating
The joys of working within beautiful surroundings
The Joy of being given a space to paint in
The Joys of virtual strangers generosity
The Joys of being close to my beloved parents ashes
The Joy of seeing the Beautiful Blooms that now cover them
The Joy that I can go and sit be still & enjoy them whenever I like
The Joy of having strangers become friends through love of my work
The Joy of creating something that can be shared with others
The Joy of seeing how they connect with the work
The Joy of hearing how they connect what it reminds them of
The Joy of Being touched by Such Loving Souls
The joys & appreciation I feel as we share parts of our lives
The Joys of deriving pleasures from the smallest of things
The Joys of a smile on my lips, from the smallest to the largest
The Joys of Laughter bubbling in my throat and heard out loud
The Joys & gratitude’s are so many, to so many
Some know, some don’t
So many different guises

The Joys

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The rough the smooth, the deep and shallow, the sharp the soft, the light and dark. The jagged and rounded edges of me are the ones that I find when I’m found.
The hard to soft, strong and weaker parts, all get noticed and acknowledged, a little more in lockdown, especially when I am in the awakened state of grace and acceptance.
I’m grateful to add that today, I’m embracing all my colours. The truest of me, the authentic human I.
Who has lived through so many lives in as many guises, hidden sometimes from you and more saddening than that from myself lest, I shine, too bright.
As a child I moved around a lot, yeah that was me,
‘the new girl’ at school.
It seemed that the creative, adventurous, intelligent me was overlooked, the brave, friendly pretty me got reduced just to, in short, ‘the new girl’.
It was a very small box to fit in to, I guess that’s why I began to play small until … I literally couldn’t.
To contort and fit to another’s narrow perception and limited and bigoted thinking, missing out on the bigger picture, and disassociating and separating myself from their fear and in turn creating my own until of course…
I literally couldn’t.
Bullies miss & mistake the rules of engagement somehow, without finesse and sense of mastery they actually can’t help it.
Ever so recently I heard in their too loud whispers, just like in the schoolyard “oh look at her, she really loves herself! “ excuse me isn’t that actually the goal?
Well slap the handcuffs on, arrest me, take my picture and detest me, you’ll never care as much as I’ve done when I’ve bought into the ultimate lie and lazy deception … I’m not enough or for that matter I’m too much. Lest my colours again shine to brightly for you I’ll minimize.
Come on though that crazy poison can slip down as smooth as belladonna at some stage one has to come up for air and- Wake Up,
What an actual gift to re-engage, re-evaluate and remember how capable, talented and how gracious in that acknowledgement we ALL have a right to be.
Thank you, just for today I’m gonna own it, loud and proud, I hope you do too just like the persecuted peoples through out history, and war torn years who fought brave battles and soldiered on.
My darling Austrian mama Ilse, as a young girl was put on the kinder transport by her parents in Vienna.
The train brought my mother as well as many other young children to England to escape the Nazi’s. Unfortunately she was never to see her parents again as they did not manage to get out in time and were taken instead with many others by the Nazi’s to an extermination camp which took days to get to all huddled in appalling conditions no water… (We’ve seen the documentary’s) so actually I won’t continue… my grandparents have rested in peace for many years, and maybe now even my mother has met them, and maybe my dad has re-met her, and his sister and his parents, up in the heavens or the place we go to after a life here… I know how I love.
If no one has told you they love you today, I’m telling you now… as you will tell your loved ones both here and Above 

Julie Bloom
May 8th 2020
VE DAY

© Julie Bloom 2020

© Julie Bloom 2020

Had yesterday, been a normal so-called day, minus the lockdown, do I think I would have woken and thought, Right, today, I’m going to take matters into my own hands and teach myself how to make a little movie from the stills that I drew in the 90’s. I’d written and Illustrated the story when bed bound for a period having been rear ended by a less than competent driver and injuring my back, this was my form of escapism, vicariously living through the flower & butterfly. I was in love too at the time and well it’s romantic in a lovely innocent way.
My darling Mama loved the story and the little less than perfect drawings just the way they were and made me promise that one day I would do something with it.
I have had many visitors to my home since lockdown they have all come via zoom or skype. I thought why not share this story the same way and host some free one hour events for children with accompanying adults in order they can be entertained and enjoy abit of escapism as I did by watching the short animation asking questions afterwards if they like and drawing their own version of the Flower & Butterfly during this time in lock down and following weeks. If this is something that interests you please contact info@juliebloomart.co.uk

© Julie Bloom 2020

He saw a flash before his eyes
a coloured dream was her disguise
and danced about him dervish style
he asked if she would stay awhile

I feel I know you she replied
both joy and sadness in her eyes
and as she spoke he knew it too
his destiny so strong and true

My life is short – I’m a Butterfly
she whispered to him with a sigh
I’d gladly give my life he replied
To fly beside you in the changing skies

This is how the adventure began
with a meeting of hearts
under a warm summer sun
they began their ascents
as he said his goodbyes
to the flowers and bees
who were more than surprised

© Julie Bloom 2020

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Certainly on the roads of our London since the Pandemic arrived to our English shores.

Where as, when I was working on these pieces shown in studio, ninety percent of the project came from
the street and actually later, when having made it’s point, was returned.
The tyre I found and happily rolled into my workspace, ended up encompassing my neon lit city.
The thick pieces of glass gathered up from a street kerb, being remains of a car accident, got dug into the
rubber to describe the sharpness and yet fragility of the tyre as well as the cost to bone and life … after all
there isn’t much in our exsistance that isn’t fallible, or so it seems.
Due to my own flat tyre last week, I got to enjoy these beautifully varied treads.
Black smooth, corrugated, ridged rubber, has been something I’ve enjoyed for ever, and get a kick out of.
Taking it on, like a welcomed muse it in all its creation.
Slate, lino, coke cans turned inside out and constateenered, to describe me, from my inside’s out, to find some meaning and way of telling a story. I didn’t perhaps have a clear understanding of how it began or finished
and similarly I’ve always found little resolution when attempting to figure out beginnings and endings, as the spaces inbetween them seem to matter so much more.
A beautiful nine foot metal sheeting very much worse for wear, light as well flexible enough to get up the stairs and round the corners to my studio, my ‘piece deristance ‘at the time. Perfectly, effortlessly falling into place as my canvas to build my interpretation of a busy metropolis suffering toxins, speed, tarmac that seemed barely to sleep for it’s fever.
Wire, hot glue gun to bond rubber, the only component that wasn’t recycled from the street, which I used
previously to design and make a silver and rubber jewelery collection, the photo included is another one
of my muses wearing it.

So come to today, how things have changed.
Our World, Cities, towns, villages, Ghosted for now… Pollution cut. Our skies breathe.
When I worked on this project I had come from spending time in India. Barefoot and warm, luxuriating
in the wealth of greenest nature and blue depths of sea. Everything slowed and the smile on my lips came as
easily as the waves from the friendly locals as we passed each other by.
You know to finish, cos there has gotta be some kind of end… Is… that Yes, it’s nice to be doing this diary, it’s preety nice cool to have been asked and included. Have opportunity to immerse myself in a little self appreciation which
isn’t something I always do. Joking and laughing, getting upset and near crying, I want to send love to those
who are dying and those who are left grieving for they are creating the ultimate Art.

© Julie Bloom 2020

When Two Sets of Green Eyes Keep Company

Sun was hot, having already prayed, bathed, & dressed
as if I had a hot date to meet, I forgo the fantasy,
kicked off my heels, slipped on trainers, combat jeans,
t-shirt & shades, and armed with water, masks and several
pairs of gloves said goodbye to my sun drenched flat
for the great out doors.
I needed to shake off the feeling of wanting to have my
two close male friends feel better, as each had retreated respectively to their man caves, and had battened down
the hatches. My inner tomboy wanted to fix, & the me
from Venus just wished they’d share what was upsetting
them and so sooth their woes. Forgetting somewhere I’d
heard, that Men are from Mars. Whether in fact they are
or not, neither instinct was a good match for either them
or myself and in the decision to let go… It was then that I bumped into Penelope and ended up having the most
wonderfully, spontaneous and synchronized day with her.

Synonyms for Synchronize

adjust harmonise intergrate
mesh agree match organanize pool
proportion set atune keep time with
pull together put in sync

Set an Intention, see it come to Fruition, Effortlessly 

© Julie Bloom 2020

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Having stayed within a stones throw of my home for more than five weeks I felt Good Friday deserved an hour of real Green.

What a joy… to venture out, to breathe in the sights, slow down, to appreciate the beauty of the park and gorgeous change of scene.

To take time, to notice how my feelings changed, how my heart skipped a beat with each wonderful new surprise and landscape. Evoking and stirring memories unrelated physically, yet connecting me effortlessly to different treasured keepsakes from my childhood, my parents, a romance, a beautiful love affair, a pebbled beach in Greece that could only be reached by scaling down a precipitous cliff with freshly made sandwiches and other tasty delights to eat and drink with Alexi.

Strolling on with an hmmmm and sigh on my lips I follow the bend of the path to witness the care of an expectant father as he selectively pecked reeds from the water to add to the already impressive throne he’d made his significant other. Her appreciation of his care as she relaxed and warmed the two large trusting eggs beneath her soft white belly. They were clearly in love, taking everything in their stride, mindfully alert and relaxed at the same time. One can learn a lot from Swans and a lot from Covid 19.

© Julie Bloom 2020

© Julie Bloom 2020

© Julie Bloom 2020

© Julie Bloom 2020

© Julie Bloom 2020

From my window last week I noticed there was some work beginning, something small but significant.
I have a lot of tolerance for the sound of pneumatic drills, after all, it’s what first drew my attention some years ago when much larger & extensive works were being carried out in my street.
When I laid eyes on those black corrugated pipes, the length and boldness of them, it was Love at first sight.
Curiosity and spontaneity had me immediately go down and enquire what were they used for, learning all about them from the wonderful & friendly workman. Fifteen minutes later I had acquired two of adequate and impressive length. I returned home elated as these would work perfectly with what I wanted to express in my first solo show which was entitled,
“Cityscapes, Above, Below and Everything In-between”.
My relationship with the pipes that carry our electricity started off with just two, as is my nature I ended up with a lot more. I have used them for installations and am currently working with them in lighting, sculpture, belts & jewelry.
Ps…Anyone who has an inclination in the future, who’d like a very unique partition made from them, please contact me, it’s a project I’d very much like to undertake when the dust settles, my home is lovely
but just too small.

© Julie Bloom 2020

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I feel excited, exhilarated, infused, and empathetic. Enjoying change, yes change, rising to the challenge of it. Vibrating literally on called for higher frequencies to meet the day, head on.
To be extra mindful. I have time and certainly the incentive now to be so.
To take this opportunity by the bit, to take extra care of myself in order to take better care of you. After all, we are finally in it together right?
With all of me, the good bad and the ugly, the order of my day seeks to savor and relish this challenge of lockdown and without protest and in the process I’ve noticed certain unwelcome character traits dissipate, fall away as more interesting pursuits, thoughts, feelings and desires take president. I have to admit that right now… I am Happy… having decided to “Have a Good Day on Purpose…my new very favorite of sayings.
I’m sending well wishes to those of you who are feeling unwell. Condolences to those of you grieving for loved ones who have passed or passing now, out of reach of your hand to hold. Love to those who are feeling blue and frightened and those that aren’t any of the above and are here in this space…I’m sending Virtual Hugs, I hope you feel it 

© Julie Bloom 2020

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