Thursday Thoughts...

“Painting is a means of self-enlightenment.” 

 John Olsen

John Olsen was a celebrated Australian painter with a unique style. I am no art critic, but would use words like vigorous, bold, bright, whimsical and squiggly to describe his work. He died a few years ago, aged 95.

I responded to this quote I think because it seems to say to me that art, painting, and creating are really important things for us to help understand ourselves.

The word enlightenment is a bit more than I can necessarily chew; but he positions painting as a tool that helps him on his quest for self understanding; for digging deep and trying to get to know the what and the why of himself.

In small and non-at-all-comparable ways, I find I learn a lot about myself from my making. The things I choose to make about; the palette I use and the ways I tell the stories of what the art is about. All of these things give me insights into myself that might not have become so clear without the art and the making.

I am not sure I have had any major revelations from exploring my creating and making; but I have most definitely learned a lot about myself.

The Bridge, John Olsen.

Flower cards

I learned that these simple flower cards, blank inside, were popular when they sold out at the recent studio sale.

As a small gift to myself on a difficult day, I went to the studio and sat with them, quietly painting and drawing nine new cards.

Watercolour pencils were sharpened! It is hard to think of a more satisfying moment than having a box of beautifully sharpened pencils.

And so it begins with scribbled shapes across the card. I tend to follow the same pattern for them as it makes it easier for folk to select.

And then I add water...

And then the outlines get drawn in loose way.

And then I package them up with a lovely envelope and they are done.

I texted a friend the images of the finished ones and she promptly bought seven cards! 

So I am back to the drawing board, but in the nicest way.

Elements of this and of that...

 It's the time the year where demands seem to stretch you and pull you this way and that; and there is not often a steady run at anything. Life as a maker creator becomes about grabbing small moments; following up small things; taking a chance on a spare half hour; and doing things in small stages and with small steps.

This post reflects just that.

I handed over the wee book I stitched during the week; and was fortunate enough to view and handle the original. What a delight and special thing that was.

You can see how it would not have survived a new generation of regular interaction, so what a wonderful heirloom kind of thing to do, to re-imagine it as a new book, with lots of love.

I also started to play around with thoughts of my 2026 card. 

I pondered wood type; in a couple of ways, but am yet to land on exactly the design and layout I am after. And also yet to decide what colour I want to print with. But I have begun...

And the studio clean up and tidy up continues with decisions being made every which way (decision-making is exhausting may I say...). 

We have a bunch of collectable type things in the studio so we are in touch with our local vintage guy and are putting together a bundle of items for him to consider. I went through my calligraphy nibs and decided he could have a lot of them, but that I  would save the ones I use the most.

Which sent me looking through all the little packets of nibs I have and sorting and re-packing them. 

Starting afresh with full sets; buying new nib holder so they are clean and shiny (not stained and rusty...). 

And don't they look fine!

A full set of William Mitchells, 

and the spares below...

 

A full set of Brause nibs, with the spares above.

It's funny how good a clean and tidy up can make you feel!

Finding moments at the moment is gold; achieving small things feels medal-worthy.

Thursday Thoughts...

“A book is a gift you can open again and again.”

Garrison Keillor

This one seemed apt given the time of year... a time of giving and receiving - and one can only hope that amongst any gifts received are books!

Re-reading is one of the most wonderful things about books. They really can be the gift that keeps giving. Sometimes I re-read books when I am feeling low or sad or weary or ill; I have a stash of books that I return to in these times. I know what the plot is, I know what happens and I find great solace in knowing they will be gentle companions as I deal with what I deal with.

On the other hand re-reading can also bring new thoughts and awarenesses into stark relief. The book you remembered reading is suddenly cast afresh and anew as you bring to it your own older eyes or wiser mind.

I wrote this note in a book this morning:  "I am reading this differently this time". And I was taking notes of all sorts of different things that apply to my art life now; which didn't interest me or I didn't understand how they might interact with my art world back then. Now it feels like there are fresh insights; yet they were always there waiting to be discovered and understood.

There are some books I keep with me because I enjoy them and they feel liked friends; there are some I know I have not really been ready for and maybe I will be at some point; and there are others that I know offer me things and probably will offer me new things when I return to them.

Books are treasures.

There are a couple of book-looking gifts in this little lot... smile.

Festive lights

 Oh my goodness - this December is quite the December. Lots on in life, moving the studio and of course the rush to the end of the year and associated festivities.

Not much time for making that is sure.  

Here is a bunch of twinkles we have around the place - they make me smile which is good to do this time year.

Some twinkles around our sage bush at the front door.

Some twinkles around the base of our magnolia.

Some twinkles across the way at the outdoor table shelter. And in the Christmas Bush.

Gifts wrapped for everybody in the village to be shared at lunch later this week.

A bit of movement across our neighbour's lights - abstract art!

Some twinkles in a neighbour's tree fern!

I love the Jackson Pollock nature of these lights at another neighbour's place.

A bowl of bubbles and twinkles on our table over the weekend.

Some snowflake twinkles on my dad's rosemary bush - it is ginormous!

Whenever I feel a bit wrung out, weary, overwhelmed or plain tired, if I wander outside in the evening, I always end up smiling at the twinkles our neighbours are sharing.

A stitching commission

 Last weekend some friends stopped by the studio in a bit of a dilemma. They were heading off to see a precious new grandson and had had a children's book, which was part of their own children's early years, reproduced, hoping to be able to continue the story with their new grandchild.

Their only problem was it had come back; but hadn't been bound and they were leaving soon.

We spoke a bit about what might be possible and agreed to go with a single sheet binding, even tho the stitching would intrude onto some of the pages. It is a good solid stitch, and lets the pages lie flat.

Fortunately the book had been re-produced on a card with a shiny finish, which proved to be very tolerant.

I knew it would take a while - stitching can be slow - but I had no idea it would absorb 8 1/2 hours of my time! Oh my goodness, this book caused me grief with each and every stitch. There was also the pressure of knowing the deadlines as well and approaching!

But we got a great outcome and it will hopefully be treasured for years to come.

The unbound version with holes marked for piercing.

Some of the pages where I knew the stitching would intersect with the illustrations.

I was scared witless I would lose the sequence of the pages so I popped little stickers on each one numbering them. Usually if it is my book, I know which pages go where. If this slipped or fell off the table I could have ended up in mess.

I made a massive miscalculation regarding the length of three I needed. I used one measurement instead of the right one and ended up with metres of thread. In hindsight I reflected I was grateful I had overcalculated rather than undercalculated - there is nothing worse than running out of thread; but the length made for SO MANY tangles.

And so we began...

So many moments of tangled threads. So many deep breaths taken. So many knots unravelled.

But eventually we're done. Such a relief.

And the red thread stitches look fine on the pages. The pages are really easy to turn and the book feels sturdy. I hope the young one enjoys it!

Thursday Thoughts

“Our business in life is not to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits.” 

Robert Louis Stevenson

This one feels like such a good reminder to keep it all in perspective.  

I am imagining that Mr Stevenson was well aware of the need for success. I think he was the grandson of the famous Robert Stevenson who built many lighthouse on the wild Scottish coastline. Success really mattered there - if you messed things up, lives were well and truly put at risk.

So it's interesting to me that he might take this approach to life. But perhaps it is linked more to his own vocation and career - being a writer. There is probably less at stake if one fails with a book!

I really like the notion that we keep on keeping on, even tho we are bound to fail on occasions. And the critical thing is that we have the right attitude to it. We don't always need to beat ourselves up; or criticise ourselves; or feel like failures. We have to acknowledge that failure is part of the road to success and that we should accept these knock backs and learn what we can from them. And remain in good spirits!

Strathy Point Lighthouse where we spent a lovely evening on our trip.

Thank You, cards, fun fact and flowers

  With many many thanks to those folk who came along to our studio closing down sale on the weekend. Saturday was a huge and bustling day, and Sunday was slower but steady. A lot of work has now found new homes, and we have  a clearer path forward for the remaining work; and for the next steps in the process. It is a long road, but we are progressing! Our FINAL sale will be in mid-January and will involve art and craft supplies; the furniture and appliances in the studio; and possibly some work. Phew.

As we re-imagine our art lives without the large studio space, we are looking ahead to collecting and collating our best and favourite works and getting them online. 

With the hope that folk will but things from us in this way, we have been preparing our online purchases' gift wrapping and packing. Sounds funny, but each of us will use slightly different colours to wrap and send our work and I also want to include a hand-printed thank you card with each purchase.

So the other day I cut  a lot of paper (Gmund 300gsm - delicious and bright white), then mixed up some light grey ink and set some type and printed a handful for me.

I added some black to the mix and printed some for Barry - so that they appear dark grey. 

I sent him photos and he asked if I could add in some gold ink to the mix to bring bit of bling. Eek. 

I did not feel at all confident with this move, but I printed him a few - which he seemed to like, which was a relief.

Both the small and large cards have plenty of room to write a hand written note to accompany the purchase.

And in other news - I have been making more pebble jewellery which I had for sale at the studio sale this weekend, and this is the sort of work that will also find itself on line afterwards.

Here is one of the pendants, for illustrative purposes...

I have a fairly ad hoc relationship to my making of pebbles. Unlike my other more formal work where I plan incredibly; with the pebbles I tend to go - big, small, medium; hmmmm, I'll cut a piece of wire maybe this long.

Which works up to  point.

It doesn't work when somebody asks for a trio of pebbles of around a certain size. So I thought I'll work out how to measure the circumference of a pebble and then I'll have a formula.

Harder than I thought, so I messaged my two mathematician-type brothers and one of them came up with a link to this online calculator which works a treat.

He told me to go look at the formula behind it and said "Yep! You give a nice circle a little squish and the formula goes straight to hell...". Hard agree. This is the formula:

For reference purposes, the formula for a circle's circumference is this: C=2πr  😁

So using the online calculator widget,  I now have a table of sizes and lengths that I can use to form my pebbles to order so to speak; but am yet to test them out when I put them through the roller and stretch them bit more. This will tell me what the final size actually is; but I am getting there!

And as a form of palette cleanser after that disturbing formula calculation, and just because they were vibrant and beautiful - some nasturtiums

Thursday Thoughts...

“A lifetime devoted to creativity is nothing but a scavenger hunt — where each successive clue is another tiny little hit of curiosity. Pick each one up, unfold it, see where it leads you next. Small steps.” 

 Elizabeth Gilbert

I have been pondering art and making and creating and have loved the notion of how we each express creativity. Because I think we can all express creativity. We might not all feel comfortable saying I am an artist; or I am a maker; or I am creative, but there is no doubt in my mind that we can all express creativity.

And so to this lovely description of a lifetime expressing creativity, being devoted to it in fact.

The strong link she makes I think, is that creativity is connected to curiosity. The idea that as we are curious, so do we become creative. As we consider new things and take on board new learnings, we begin to put this with that. We wonder what if? or Are they related? Could they become something together?

Curiosity leads and creativity follows.

Perhaps.

They certainly seem connected and supportive of each other and I think her approach to smalls steps, to gentle unfoldings, and to careful considerations is a lovely way to think about a creative life.

Notes to Self

 I was looking for some documentation I was sure I had recorded in one of my art journals the other day. It was simply a record of the paper used and the nib size and pen I had used for some calligraphy (the daily word cards). I knew it had to be there somewhere...

So I got them out and started going through them. Fortunately I had indexed them so I had half a chance of coming across it, and also narrowing it down to a certain year.

But still. It took a while. 

Over a cup of coffee in the studio I enjoyed the wander and after I had found it (yay!) I continued on with my reminiscing.

I was intrigued to come across some great notes to self.

Most often I would write notes about what to do, not to do, why I had changed my mind or where I thought to go next. But these ones I am sharing here were more about the bigger picture of my making. 

This was the first one that caught my eye - and I think it holds true. It holds the duality of my work where I need to say something; along with that work where I am simply making for beauty or simplicity.

This one intrigued me a bit as I so often want to use words! But I think I wanted to make sure that the other parts of my making which might supplement my words, were also speaking.

I turned the page and came across this, which kind of answered my own questions.

This one came after some notes from a course I did. A couple of words to guide my process. I think they are about guiding the final piece - select which bits to include; eliminate unnecessary parts; and then work out what and you want to emphasise.

I am not sure what this means, but my sense of it is that it might be about drawing on a memory, or evoking a memory. Making an association stronger? The reading of my own words, in my own journal, is still quite an investigation and full of queries.

I found this one in my first journal and was tickled pink because it is the first of these - what is your vocabulary? - that I offer as a handout to students of Building Narrative and which I gave out at the Conference in New Zealand recently! I have obviously hung onto this one and still incorporate it in my thinking, work and teaching 

And then the spirals all together... such a pleasing image.

Strangely enough I hadn't thought to go through my journals in this reminiscing-reminding way before and will definitely do it again. There are some gems in there that could become something still!

And a note to self and everybody: next Saturday 29 and next Sunday 30 November we are holding our Closing Down Sale at the Studio. We are not renewing our lease and lots and lots of stock has to go so prices are low!

We are busy with the tidying, sorting, pricing; and getting ready for cleaning and moving. We will continue to make and create and sell; just in a new way....