Thursday Thoughts...

“Shape clay into a vessel;
 It is the space within that makes it useful. 


Cut doors and windows for a room;
 It is the holes which make it useful. 


Therefore benefit comes from what is there; 
Usefulness from what is not there.” 

Lao Tzu

I know I have some work ahead of me when I read over a possible quote and go yes, then shake my head in disagreement, and wonder if I've not read it properly.  This happened with this quote and so here I am about to dig in and try to sort out my thinking.

I am fully on board with the first idea - that it is the space within a vessel that makes it useful. A cup is useful because of the void within it that can be filled with liquid that provides sustenance or comfort.

The second idea about doors and windows making a room useful I'm less sure of.  I think it's the walls and the roof that make a room useful! The roof in particular is key in terms of protection from the elements and by virtue of keeping the roof up, walls are also key and they also define a space which creates its usefulness in terms of scale - a tiny storeroom or a large living area. Doors allow you enter it and make use of it I guess.

And then I end up being somewhat confounded because I am not sure I fully understand his definitions and delineation between benefit and usefulness...

Somehow benefit comes from the form of the cup - the structure? Because it creates a void? And usefulness from the void within? And for a room its benefit comes from walls and a roof and the usefulness from doors and windows. Is that because the windows allow light in and one can therefore navigate the space, see things and find things within it? Doors make it useful because you can enter it?

Enough pondering for one day. It's a tricky one!

Both the benefit, and usefulness, of a cup are clear tome!

Back to jewellery - making!

 In preparation for the next Pop-Up Art Show back in Scotland later in the year, I have put my head down and been working hard to create some new pieces of jewellery. Some are variations on a theme so to speak; others are new designs and I am enjoying the challenges they all bring.

I did a lot of soldering of silver wire when we were at the cottage, and on return I have rolled it and buffed it.

Here I took five of the rolled pebble forms and set them together as a necklace. Rather than solder them together and make it a rigid piece, I thought I would try to link them together; and that would give a little bit more movement to the piece.

And then I connected it all together with a sterling silver chain. And was happy!

I had six small pebble forms ready to go, so I also rolled them. This time I did solder them together and they are such delicate little stacks of stones.

And here they are together. Quite a good result for a new design; and an older design modified to use very small forms!

Packed and ready for sale!

Back to the typewriter

 Yum! I spent the most delicious of mornings playing with the typewriter I got for my birthday. It was the first chance I have had to see what it does and how it does it and it was good to feel the keys under my fingers.

I had this idea in my head to use some of these Moleskine postcard books I had purchased a few years ago, to pop a couple of poems I had written in Scotland into.

I typed out the first poem to see how it would fit. And just like letterpress, discovered that you can't modify the size of the font/typeface, and the poem ended up much wider than a single page. I would need a Plan B.

I typed it at triple space, double space and single space.

So I started to put the wee book through the typewriter. The poor thing, its first outing and it has to handle a book! The life of a typewriter in the hands of an artist...

I typed the title on the opening page.

And then opened it up and tested how it would go typing across the double spread and the flattened spine.

It didn't work really, so that was a good test. The roller also creased the cover and back cover rather a lot.

So off I went to type the second poem and then typed them both onto this nice firm, but light, Japanese paper.

And then tore them out (with no grain to guide me) and looked at them and thought maybe yes.

So now I am drifting and dreaming and thinking and pondering and wondering how they might become part of the page...

Thursday Thoughts...

"There should be something revelatory about art. It should be totally creative and open doors for new thoughts and experiences". 

Tracey Emin

I have pondered upon this one for a bit, wondering why I responded to it. It's always interesting to stop and reflect on why did I even save this one into my Thursday Thoughts document?

I think what I like about this is that she is suggesting that art should not simply be descriptive. That it should be expressive. That it should ask questions; not provide answers.

It seems to encourage engagement with art and allow for ongoing questioning and wondering. It seems to want to keep the doors open to new understandings, new explorations and new learnings. It feels so generous in its offering. That art should be there for us for ever - for us to keep learning and exploring and enjoying.

The opening sentence suggests this as well in terms of art being revelatory. The second part suggests, to me at least, that this revelation can and should be, ongoing as I imagine doors opening leading to new doors, and to other doors and to....

Hub, by Do Ho Suh.

Doodling, lettering, colouring

 I am keeping pretty busy on return and have lots of arty things on the go.

The other morning at Biblio I started playing around with ideas about how to write the 5 'S' words starting with Stillness, that I blogged about on Sunday.  I am thinking of making maybe five small pieces that would fit in a frame similar to the black one I tested them in when in Scotland.

I wrote the word love out by hand in green; then used pencil to create perhaps nicer letters; and went over it with red. However, and no real surprises, the pencil stayed under the red even when I rubbed it out, and it looked a bit iffy (photo 2). And for comparison I wrote direct with red and the colour stayed much brighter, even tho the photos barely show it!

I then gave myself a little task of creating a small sampler of the pens I thought I could use to do these small works.

And it worked out well.

And then for the first time in days the sun came out as it set, and caught the page and looked beautiful!

And for no good reason other than I am doing so many small things towards bigger things I thought I might try a doodle a day kind of thing. It was more about doing a small thing each day if I can. And by small I mean really small, like simply filling in a square or a few colours on a mixed up kind of grid. Who knows if I even do it; but it was meditative to draw things up.

I tested the idea out in my journal.

Decided the X was too distracting and added a few more of this and that, here and there.

And then went and had a play on a piece of watercolour paper 10 x 15cm. And inked in the lines. 

Now...to colour them in!

I am trying to stay away from over thinking it...but I doubt I will.! I will select  series of colours to use and try to stick with them.

Practising stillness

In the last couple of days before leaving the cottage I got to play around with some words. I had previously written out the words Stillness, Silence and Simplicity and the wonderful Robyn Gordon had commented that she also loved Solitude and Serenity. I thought to myself they would be delightful additions and set about seeing if I could bring together a composition of sorts.

Using Kilian Capitals, it looks like it could be possible. 

I then returned to another form of handwriting I had used many many moons ago, and thought the simplicity of its form might also work with these words.

I picked up some tracing paper I had to hand, and wrote with a white gel pen.

There are things to think about with the layout; and much muscle memory that needs to be returned and reminders of which letter forms do what, but it has potential as well.

I placed the tracing paper over white paper and over black paper.

And greyish paper...

And then I popped all the tests into a black frame, to see if they worked.

I think there might be some places to take this...

Thursday Thoughts...

“There are two motives for reading a book: one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.”

Bertrand Russell

This one gave me a little laugh this morning as I read it and I thought it was worth pondering on. 

Despite nearly always reading for pleasure or for interest or for stretching myself, I think I have been guilty of the braggy bit on occasions. 

When there is book that everybody is talking about; or perhaps one you have come across that you think has been a sleeper but is so going to take off, or one that is so full and lengthy that just to have completed it is noteworthy, it can be possible to feel smug I think.

As I think about it thought, it rarely happens - I am never in front of the zeitgeist; rather, I have to confess to so many books I have not read (not a single Dickens, no Shakespeare ever, no Russians except Anna Karenina and it was a slog and so on).  

Occasionally I do read a wonderful book and talk about it and then it becomes great and I feel very chuffed after the fact. And yes, I mean occasionally! The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood was one such book. I was in awe, gob-smacked, thrilled and chilled by this book but it was quiet. And then it became huge and I can definitely admit to a bout of smugness.

In contrast to Mr Russell however, it's not my motivation to read books. I don't have a bookshelf full of names and it books that make me look smart or intellectual or alternative or interesting (however, I do confess to looking at other people's bookshelves and wondering what they say about them!).

I think you have to take care with the boasting bit though - it can be risky to say you have read a book just so you can show off. What if somebody then wants to start the deep dive conversation about it? How will you hold up?

The safest sort of bookshelf... in a hardware store in Arizona.

Departing and arriving

We left the cottage on a bright sunshiny day, just right for a road trip.

We made it to Aberfeldy, one of our favourite places to stop, and settled in for the night. In the morning the mist and low cloud was in as we visited some Standing Stones nearby.

 

Which seemed to echo, or mirror, our morning walk in Maleny this morning!

We have arrived safely and are happily settling back into life and friends and community here.

Thursday Thoughts...

“What is necessary, after all, is only this: solitude, vast inner solitude. To walk inside yourself and meet no one for hours - that is what you must be able to attain. To be solitary as you were when you were a child, when the grownups walked around involved with matters that seemed large and important because they looked so busy and because you didn’t understand a thing about what they were doing.” 

Rainer Maria Rilke

Solitude. Inner Solitude. To be solitary.

For some of us this need is just that - as if it were food or shelter or drink - we need solitude. We need time on our own and we need quiet spaces to simply sit with ourselves and with nothing.

I love visualising the notion of walking inside yourself and meeting no one. Vastness. Emptiness. 

The way he links this place to being like a child again - does take you back to those times you were in adult company and where you had been told to sit and be quiet - and you did. You spent all this time with your self and your aloneness, even tho you were in amongst people.

These were good times for the imagination. Or oftentimes for me, good times to sit and read a book, which is a solitary activity, yet not quite solitude as he means it.

I re-balance in these moments of solitude, I refill, I replenish and I refresh. Solitude is necessary for me to feel balanced and right and 'me', and I love that he knows how much it matters.

Sometimes a vast outer solitude too...

Small bits of satisfaction

 As we get ready to return to Maleny, we have managed a few more minutes here and there of making and creating.  One of the things I enjoy about being here in the cottage is that I face limitations. Plenty of them in terms of space, materials, equipment and time.

With making jewellery, I don't have access to a roller which is a key part of what I do. It takes the round wire pebble forms and flattens them. I can try to hammer them flat; but I find that without a large hammer and a large anvil it just doesn't seem to create the best effect.

So I decided I would do lots pf preparation, and take the pieces back to Maleny and use the roller there.  In between times after soldering the forms, I usually 'pickle' them to get the heat marks off them.

Again back in Maleny I have a small crock pot with a pickling solution and I pop the pieces in and leave them in for about five minutes then collect them all nice and clean.

I had imagined I would take the forms back and pickle them there; yet one night as I lay awake I thought about googling non toxic pickle mixes to make. And lo and behold I had all the ingredients I needed, here in the kitchen.

Vinegar and salt. I laughed as the salt is our fabulous salt from Blackthorn Salt - have a look at the magnificent way they make salt and the beautiful building they do it in here - and not just plain old table salt. But needs must. Luckily the vinegar was distilled cleaning vinegar!

Again, I don't have a crockpot for regular and slow warming, but we do have a microwave, so it was pour in the vinegar, stir in the salt and then heat it for 30 seconds. Then drop the pieces in a few at a time to see what might happen.

Yay! They came out shiny and clean!

Hopefully lots of new jewellery waiting to be.

And is so often the case, you do something, buy something and then see it everywhere. And so it was when we popped in to the Clachan Cafe through he week and went to look at Barry's sculpture in place and on display, and sitting quietly in a window was this great old typewriter!

And a final few photos of the weather, and the water, and the rocks, and the fishing net drying poles before we go...