Thursday Thoughts...

“today … may i be me …. being & becoming.” 

E.E.Cummings

Whenever I come across quotes by E.E. Cummings I think - oh I really should read more of their work!

I love the simplicity of this, together with its deep and thoughtful message.

This one feels to me as if it is almost a request to the Universe, to allow us to the best us we can be today. What a beautiful way to start each day - seeking a commitment from yourself to be the best you can be - both as you are and as you may become.

Being and becoming. The present and the future. I think we often struggle with simply being; being present; being enough; being happy in this moment, in this place.  So may I simply be me.

And I like the use of becoming - it has that hint of hope; of growth, of change but in a positive way as if there is still time for us to become the best we can be.

On reflection, I have clearly determined that being me = being the best me; and that works for me here.

Tree trunk, Battery Point 2014.

I wonder why this feels like me being and becoming my best me?

Up, up and away!

 Well, today is the day we head back to Scotland. It feels like an age since we have been there, and nine months really is quite a while!

We knew we would not be able to get back sooner because we had the BIG job when we returned last June, of sorting out and closing down the studio.

Whilst I am glad we gave ourselves the time to do that steadily, I am also glad that it is done and we can be free to head back to the cottage and our friends and our life over there.

With any luck, it won't be quite this cold when we get there... photos taken by a friend in January this year.

But whichever way things go, we will be happy to be there.

This trip is a trip of painting and patching - we are thinking about it as a maintenance trip rather than a trip to relax into art and visits and wandering, so there may be fewer blog posts of interest!

We have closed the online shops whilst we are away as it is too hard to manage postage and deliveries in our absence. But we will be back on track as soon as we return to Maleny.

The second book of silences (2)

Once again, the light is hard to get right here at home and the book looks duller here than it does in real life. In real life there is a softness, not a heaviness.

 And we begin again from the middle - where the silent pages rest quietly.

This spread gives such contrasting silences, with much to ponder.

More silent pages, slowing us down, making us feel and listen to the silence.

And yet more silences.

And yes, much gratitude once again.

I like how the soft Japanese paper almost muffles the book at the ending.

And further evidence of the lighting issues - here is one packaged looked light and bright and beautiful!

So, the books of silences are complete. I have enjoyed having a self-initiated, not-for-profit, community collaborative project to pursue for the past year or more.  It has been a gentle thing to be doing; it has tested my brain and made me practice a lot of things which now feel less daunting each time I do them. I will take a break from this sort of project for a bit now, and turn my mind back to making some jewellery; and a couple of ideas and works I have had burbling away in the back of my brain. 

Thursday Thoughts...

“To my mind one does not put oneself in place of the past, one only adds a new link.” 

 Paul Cézanne

I think I respond to the humility in this quote. So often, artists have the need to break free; to boldly go where no other has gone before; and to somehow prove themselves to be unique and original.  

Whilst I fully support the notion that we need to do our own unique work, that nobody but ourselves can do what we do, and that we can only do what we do, I really like the idea that this is not about individuals starring in their own show; rather we are about building on what has gone before; and building a platform for what may come after.

We are all links, this way and that. A bit like the internet with connections spanning across centuries, and the world. My work despite being mine; has been influenced and/or inspired by others who have worked with words, and books, and soft palettes, and letterpress, and lovely papers and threads, and...

That said, my work will possibly go on to influence or encourage or inspire others - when people respond positively to your work it probably means they have taken a little nugget of it into their mind, and who knows how that might appear down the track?

We are all linked, we are all connected, and so too is our art.

The second book of silences (1)

 So... the second book of silences is complete!

I have also managed to wrap, pack and post those that need posting. Once again, posting to the US proves challenging as we negotiate tariffs, non tariffs and all the rest, so I have sent them off with my very best wishes and hopes!

I wanted to show the books in full, so have created two blog posts; this one and the next one so that all of the pages can be viewed without creating a single, huge post of almost 30 images!

This is a book of silences and a second book of silences, side by side. I had thought at the last minute that I might add a second line of pen 'stitching' to the bottom (or the top) to differentiate them, but when I tried to do it it looked really awful, so I quickly retreated from that thought. Instead, they look the same on the outside, but differ on the inside.

Siblings.

I tossed up between a book of silences ii; and a second book of silences and went for the latter. So many decisions.

And straight away, the book offers you silence.

And little bit more silence, then a perfect silence.

I can feel myself in so many of these silences. Either acknowledging a shared silence; or seeking one I am yet to experience.

And we reach the middle of the book, we pause, with silence.

The rest of the book can be seen in the next post. It is nice to take time and read the silences slowly as well.

An Artists' Talk

 On Saturday afternoon I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of artists about my work. The event was hosted by Sandra Pearce of Art from the Urban Wilderness, at Hive Studio in Banyo (north Brisbane).

It was a warm and generous audience and there were many lovely exchanges and conversations. I remarked that we don't often get the chance to share our stories in depth; to handle people's books; to ask questions of the maker; and to learn about their process and their philosophies, so it was special.

Sandra took many photos of the afternoon; and here are some of them.

It is such a great, creative space.

One of the things Sandra wanted me to touch on in particular was my making in Scotland. Here I am pointing to the cottage in January when the snow was everywhere.

And me pointing to where the cottage is located - right at the very top of the North of Scotland. Gotta love a skirt with pockets!

One of my first 'activist' books in the background - Fragile Gains.

After the talk I chatted about some of my books and showed people the details and talked about the ideas...

It was lovely to show some oldies off - A Subversive Stitch,

And some newbies too - Red Card

There was a marvellous spread for afternoon tea too!

Sandra hosts some wonderful workshops and I picked up flyers for a couple myself - would love to get back down and do one or two!.

Thanks to Sandra and all the attendees for a wonderful afternoon.

Thursday Thoughts...

“Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. The source of better ideas is wisdom. The surest path to wisdom is a liberal education.” 

Alfred Whitney Griswold, Essays on Education

Mr Griswold was an historian and educator, and a President of Yale University. He was also, I think, reading other quotes of his, quite a wise man, tho I know not all that much about him.

For me, there is wisdom in these words. The sense that the short term gain of banning or burning books feels like victory for those who achieve it in that moment; is not I think a long term win at all. I oftentimes visualise books being covered over with whatever, and then seeing them pop up like new shoots elsewhere. A bit like weeds perhaps, but the idea that you could stop them being shared or read or spoken about is pretty nonsensical.

Of course, if you make enough fuss about them, then that will only drive folk to go and discover what the fuss is about as well.

I really like the logical progression he makes from bad ideas being overcome by better ideas which emanate from wisdom which is gleaned from a liberal education. No surprises I am a fan of a liberal education!

Any education that encourages you to read broadly, seek out opposing views, try to understand them, challenge them, and debate them; or one that provides you with such strong evidence and research to support sound and sensible ideas is surely a fine thing.

Araki Takako, Bible with Black Page (1982). Porcelain with decal glaze

Continuing with the nesting book

 The pages are coming along well for the new nesting book. I continue to struggle with how much to add in, or leave out. How soft and gentle to be; how not to overcrowd things; how to make it friendly enough to read without distracting. Heaven only knows why I still have all this fluff going on in my head when I make a book, but here I am.

I have done the writing, and am happy with it. It is soft, it is subtle and it is legible.

Nidus is the title of the book - Latin for nest.

Some of the words on the pages...

A bunch of the pages tumbled together.

Here is the embossing plate I used for the nest. Back in the days of Pas de Deux when Susan and I were collaborating mightily, she used this embossing to help illustrate a book of mine; and one of hers. I borrowed it from her recently to see if it could have another book opportunity. 

Because we sold our etching press, I only have access to a proofing press these days so it was quite the challenge to create the pressure to get a full emboss. I also think the paper was quite heavy, but it was the colour I was after so needs must.

In amongst things I have completed a small calligraphic commission, and am preparing for my artist talk in Brisbane next Saturday. 

Oh! And we are still hoping to get to Scotland in a few weeks, but there are of course complexities. We are going slowly and steadily with our plans and changes, but are hopeful...

A screen shot of the thumbnails of the slides in my artist talk!

Another nesting book...

 I have been enjoying my book about nests a lot, and on the way through started to create some more pages that could possibly be used for another book.

The pages are all grey, which I like, and I imagined a really soft book, so I was hoping to be able to get white wording onto the pages (not the black of the typewriter).

As much as I love white, softness and there, not there looks, even I knew this wouldn't look good or be legible for most folk.  Sometimes subtle is tooooo subtle. Although I tried all sort of pens and inks and pencils!

So I checked again with the black - and really it was too stark and demanding. It didn't feel as if it reflected the quietude of nest building.

So all the pens and pencils I could imagine came out and off we went again. Luckily for me B now has a lot of grey pens and I could test quite a few.

As much as I loved the very fine 0.1 pale greys, when you stepped away from them you could barely read them. In the end the warm grey 0.3 was the best choice. Not as harsh or stark as the dark greys and blacks; but legible unlike the light greys. It felt like Goldilocks I tell you!

And here are the grey pages with this beautiful soft emboss of a nest. The bottom card is true to the light and colour; the tilted one is far darker than the real thing, but offers a look at the embossing.

And so i set up a template to start writing...

And began...

There have been some dreary days here and there, but I brought these bright flower inside recently and they were rather cheering!