Thursday Thoughts...

“Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas.” 

Donatella Versace

I quite like pondering quotes that I don't really understand!  I have sat with this one for a bit, and still not really come up with any sort of understanding or explanation that holds firm.

I tried to think of it in the context of a fashion designer, and wondered did creativity stem from a conflict like how to make clothes that look ethereal, also fit and stay attached to the body? Is it like how to think about the military and uniforms and yet appear feminine? I'm not really sure. In the first instance, that seems like solving an engineering problem, and I guess that can be creative.

For me I wondered if my creativity was a conflict of ideas? Perhaps it can be in the sense that I want to say something tough, but do it in a way that folk can engage with it. I want to create beautiful and quiet work; that when you look deeply can be really confronting. 

Oftentimes tho I feel my work  and creativity comes about because of a harmony of things; of a kind of symbiosis between materials, technique and message. Occasionally I will set up a sharp contrast - and perhaps that is conflict; but I am not sure my creativity is born of conflicting ideas.

Still, there is a lot to ponder in it and I daresay I will continue to do so...

Time For Change 2015. (Photography by Penny Riddoch). This piece is so calm and gentle looking. The grid is peaceful, the colours are muted, yet it tells the story that at least 1 woman is killed in Australia every week by a partner or former partner. When displayed at Noosa Regional Gallery in 2015, I was told of folk who came to visit and looked at the work, then read the didactic and burst into tears. They weren't expecting it to be such a beautiful memorial. 

Circles of Concern...

 In between times I have been doing the small tasks in the production line of these Circles of Concern, Circle of Control cards.

The steps involve printing the words, drawing the square, drawing the circles, laying on the gilding medium, waiting, then applying the gold leaf, waiting, and then brushing off the gold leaf.

And now they are done.

I managed to grab a few photos along the way - here are a couple where the gold leaf has been applied and is waiting to adhere, then be brushed off. You can see by how the gold is kind of all over the shop how flighty a sheet of gold can be!

Despite the weird angle, I think these two show the 3D nature of the leaf application.

I was quite pleased that I managed to get 20 good ones.

And then there are 5 wobblier ones. In the end, I kind of don't mind these ones as they suggest to me that even when we try to operate in our circle of control, we might be clumsy and/or imperfect!

This one definitely has the wobbles.

As does this one.

Once again, these are giveaways, so if you would like to receive one, please don't hesitate to send me a message or a comment and I shall pop one in the mail to you as soon as I can. If you would prefer a wobbly one, please let me know.

As things get tough and feel even tougher, it helps me to remember to come away from my circles of concern (so many!!!) and return to my circle of control.

The red book continues

 So I had sorted out the look and feel of the pocket, the title and the cards for this wee book; but the cover was making me think long and hard.

I knew it would be black. And then I could see segments of red machine sewing and threads dangling. That feels like me, and the jagged nature of the stitching felt a part of the story I was trying to tell. But when I tested it, it just didn't work for me. It was way too messy and disrupted, and did not feel nice at all.  

I then moved all the dangling threads inside and tidied up the front to see if the helped. It helped a lot, but still wasn't quite right.

So I think I have landed on a single continuous line of red stitching about a third of the way down. Yet to be tested!

The inside cover will be attached to the outside cover by  a frame of hand stitching. I needed to check if red was the way to go; or black. This is what it would look like on the outside cover. I chose the black.

Instead of doing a pamphlet stitch or variation of it I think I will machine sew the book to the cover, and

 here I was testing how that might look on the inside, with either red or black. At the moment I am going with the red.

So many choices! So many decisions!

So I sat down and wrote down everything that I think I have decided to do - from the paper size, to where to stamp; to what to mask off, to which typeface to use for the title; to whether or not I will use Letraset or letterpress on the cards....and I think I might just about be ready to get fully going!

In the meantime it has been nice to visit my Dad's orchid house and see some of his beauties on show. A couple of my current favourites...

Thursday Thoughts...

"A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition. Like money, books must be kept in constant circulation... A book is not only a friend, it makes friends for you. When you have possessed a book with mind and spirit, you are enriched. But when you pass it on, you are enriched threefold." 

 Henry Miller

I agree with Mr Miller about keeping books circulating; but can't describe those books that remain in my shelves as wasted ammunition!

I love sharing books and having books shared with me. Barry, my Dad and a friend have an unofficial book club where if we come across a book we think the others might enjoy we share it amongst ourselves and then have dinner to chat about it.  The last person to read it, then passes it along to somebody else.

Most of our books end up being circulated around a few times before ending up with somebody else for good; or for them to do their own network of sharing. Some books however, I like to have returned so that I can continue to access them.

I recently spent a morning going back through my Biblio notebooks/journals, remembering all the great books I have dipped into and making notes to myself - MUST re-read this! There were some great books that I had kept, and that I have been reminded to return to for their insight and wisdom.

Not wasted ammunition; just resting until they are needed again.

I agree that when you share a good book with another you are enriched - knowing that somebody else has the chance to love it, enjoy it, be moved by it, learn from it; it does give a bit of a gentle glow to life.

Some of the books I MUST re-read!

Pondering a new book

I have had an itch to make another book about domestic abuse and the terrible tragedy that is the regular murder of women by partners or former partners. 

How or why our authorities and systems just can't seem to give the issue the priority it needs just leaves me shaking my head in disbelief. And so, in response, I feel the need to respond in some small way, to keep the story being told, to encourage to look at the issue, to consider it, to respond to it.

I tried an idea when we were in Scotland and it really never did come together. It intrigues me when I start with something firm in my head, but I just cannot realise it in a good or coherent manner. Somehow you know if you have to work that hard for it, it probably isn't a good idea...

I wrote some more notes to myself and then had one of those absolute Ah-ha moments and scribbled it down on a couple of post it notes and headed straight to the studio the next day to see if I could make something of it.

The thought involved some cards in a pocket. I wanted to use red and black and white. I don't have a lot of red paper or card, so I tried to dye some using acrylic ink. I absolutely adored this colour red (Derivan Acrylic Ink, Red)! It got a big tick and I then worked out which paper worked best and what size.

The design element that had been going around in my head for a few weeks of the multiple overlays of the word STOP. I have this self-inking stamp that you can put your own letters into and I have used it for other play work; but this time I thought it would be great for a piece of real work.

So I tested it on a scrap of paper.

And it took me  while to test out how dense I really wanted it to look.

And it turns out I want it REALLY dense!

Back on the trial fold and pocket I was exploring stitching lines and whether to put the title of the book on the pocket somehow?

At first I thought the title could go in a gap where I hadn't stamped; but it didn't seem to give enough definition or purpose; it just looked like it kind of happened, without much thought or intent.

I then thought about maybe making the title out of the same red card and putting it on top of the stamping. This seemed to have more authority somehow.

So far, so good.

And then I had a look at how it might look if I did the density of stamping I was hoping to do. And it still held. The words of the title are handwritten - just an indication of how large the printing might be, and testing out the idea of a border.

Good progress! Ideas tested and trialled, and even a fair few resolved! Next, trying to sort out the multitude of ideas I have for the cover...

New Year cards

 And so after faffing about as much as I did in trying to work out how to set some simple numbers, I managed to print the New Year cards.

I had also hoped to do a bit of a blended ink print and so that meant I inked and printed each card individually. It was no drama really, and good practice for me re inking.

I went with a gorgeous green and a deep blue - and they melded nicely. The colours were a bit hard to photograph, but in real life they worked.

The first proof showed that it wan't as simple as I had hoped using 36pt Empire and 72pt Empire. The smaller numbers on the outside were not lining up evenly and so I needed to adjust some spacing.

And then I needed to work out where to position the print on the card. I was using the proofing press which is much more about using your eye for placement that the Adana, where the card slips into a position held by a couple of bars. With the proofing press you line it up by hand and place it down - and there can be ever so many tiny movements...

In the end, they worked out well and have dried well in this heat we have had.

And as ever, before I cleaned up I just wanted to play around with some moving and over printing. I like how this approach makes them look like ripples in water...

They have begun to make their way out into the world, with all best wishes for 2025.

Thursday Thoughts...

“Hope locates itself in the premises that we don’t know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty is room to act”. 

Rebecca Solnit

It feels apt to start the new year with a Thursday Thoughts about hope. As I rotate through Art, Life and Books as the themes for the quotes I ponder, the new year began with Life. 

Rebecca Solnit is a fierce proponent of hope. In amongst everything that goes on, and everything we fear and everything we worry about, I often find her words make sense to me. The approach here I think emboldens me to hope, or somehow allows me to not be frozen by inaction.

Hope finds room for realisation exactly where you might think it wouldn't. 

In uncertainty, in not knowing and in opacity.

Her thinking, which allows for this opacity and uncertainty to actually be defined as spaciousness, is a simple step, yet a breathtaking one.

She almost seems to say that not knowing how things will pan out is almost a prerequisite for hope; a precondition of sorts; some form of requirement.

Which is mighty relieving.

Perhaps the opposite of hope is that sense of feeling like you KNOW, you just KNOW, that things are going to end badly...

Within uncertainty lies hope, and the room to act, so without knowing where they might lead I shall keep doing small things, in small ways to help folk where and when I can, and to nudge the world (or at least my corner of the world) towards the sort of future I dream of (and hope for).

Hope, Macauley House, 2016.

New Year

As a new year opens it's doors, may we move gently through them and find ways to connect and care throughout the year; to hope and to work for peace; and to be kind wherever we can, and whenever we can.

Wishing you all a creative and peaceful new year.

2024, the year in review

 This time of year is good for so many things - slowing down, forgetting what day it is, as well as looking back and looking forward.

Each year I reflect on what I made in the course of the year, and consider the pieces I like the most; or those of which I am most proud. Sometimes they are real works; at other times they are simply little pieces that gave me great pleasure.

This year I have a real blend of things, as it was a busy year exhibition-wise and I experimented with different things.

In alphabetical order only, no listing of favourites by ranking, here are the ten pieces I made this year which I like the most.

1. All That Was Lost

The feature piece of my exhibition Hame, these five scrolls cascaded beautifully into their rusty tins, with the hand stitched words depicting such rich and full lives and homes. My heart still feels warm when I look at this piece and I'm thrilled it has a new home at the Strathnaver Museum.

2. Bundled and Burnt

Another piece for my exhibition Hame, this piece is so simple, so elegant and so poignant. It too now resides with the Strathnaver Museum and whilst I will miss it, I hope to visit it there again one day. The background story can be found here.

3. Grief is a Stone book-ets and cards

The three poems here, pondering grief at different points along the way; hand illustrated, embossed and stitched; are quiet and gentle acknowledgements of grief.

4. Hame exhibition activity

Alongside the exhibition Hame this activity brought me so much joy! Visitors participated by writing their responses to four questions over the four weeks and I hand stitched each week's responses into a book. I loved to read people's thoughts and was impressed by the time and consideration they gave to them. Such a lovely record of what home means to folk.

5. I Hit a Wall

This one kind of came out of the blue towards the end of the year, when I was just taken by the notion that this work, incomplete as it appeared, was in fact complete. I tacked the pages together and it was done. Telling the story of the pandemic in 2021 and how weary we were all were; how many things we had to deal with; how many decisions were made daily and how we were transfixed by press conferences, updates and data.

6. Pebble Jewellery

The Pebbles exhibition offered me the opportunity to expand my work into all sorts of mediums - laser jet cut steel words into stone sculptures; and hand formed-silver jewellery in the form of pebbles. I discovered I loved making pebble jewellery! And folk also seem to appreciate it. I now have an exclusive arrangement with a shop to sell it for me - who knew?!?!

7. The Emigrants

This unbound book was another new direction for me with the overlaying of photographs onto lightweight papers as illustration and image. Although the postcard size, Letraset and hand stitching meant it didn't venture toooo far away from me. Another piece for my Hame exhibition.

8. The Shape of Things 6

Although this piece was not my favourite amongst all of the books for The Shape of Things, it does make me happy as it reminds me what a lovely collaborative exchange it was with Annwyn Dean. It was also the only piece completed this year as all the others were made in 2023.

9. Together

Sometimes its a large exhibition or collection-worthy piece; sometimes its a small gift or offering that heads out and around... These together cards are the latter; and they just remind me of how important it is to stand alongside folk and remind ourselves we are not alone.

10. Travelling Home

Last, but definitely not least. This piece has been in the making for years. More than five, as ideas about pegs and threads and two homes percolated about in my brain. Hame offered me the place to put it together with notions of here and there, of travelling and of reminders of home. I quite simply love this piece and it is the only piece of my own work I have ever put up on our wall.

Thanks for coming along on the wander back through the works of 2024. On reflection having so many exhibitions to participate in meant I really did create some work! For once I was spoiled for choice for selection rather than rummaging through and trying to find the small things... It also looks a lot like my palette - the soft muted tones and a surprising amount of blue.

I focussed on the notion of home a lot, and the impacts of displacement on women; pebbles also featured in different ways, as did grief. Community, collaboration and care are there; along with my new found passion for silversmithing. Life is good and it was a very fortunate year.

Here's to more making.

Preparing for the new year

 We often use the time between Christmas and New Year to set and print our New Years cards. It's a thing we started doing because when we were super busy work-working in a previous life, there was no way on Earth we would find time to make, write and post Christmas cards, so we went with New Year. And in the end, it has worked our fine for us, as so many of our wishes and hopes for folk are about the year ahead...

This year I thought I would just do some numbers, and maybe turn them this way and that.

Sounded so easy, but took me quite the while to sort. I have 'flipped' the photos here so you can see what they might print like; rather than try to work out by reading the numbers back to front, if it might work.

At first, I thought that numbers could be read clockwise as you moved around the square. But I got 25 wrong on the bottom and in the end wasn't sure that they looked nicest that way.

Then I thought maybe all the numbers would face inwards, but then when you put the big number inside, I wasn't sure that that worked either. And again, I had stuffed up the bottom numbers!

By now, I can't even work out what I might have been trying to do here! The numbers are wonky every which way.

But for whatever reason I was feeling confident enough to pop the big numbers back in!

Then I thought maybe all the ones you could read horizontally should be easily read, and the two R and L could face inwards. 

But then I went back to all the base lines being towards the centre...

And honestly, this seemed like a good enough place to stop. So I went and set up and inked up.

Before we went to Scotland back in August, a neighbour had given me one of her favourite rocks and asked if I could wrap it for her like I had done with some cement ones for our Pebbles exhibition. I said I would and it went onto the "Before the end of the year" list.

Which seemed to arrive with a rush and a roar this week! So on Boxing Day, I managed to collect the thread and some twigs and happily wrapped the rock just in time.

The before the end of the year list is getting done!