Thursday Thoughts...

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”  

Aristotle

I think this is a very thoughtful way of thinking about art making. Sometimes, representation of something just as it is, is important  and oh so beautiful. But oftentimes, art is about feeling. It is about expressing a desire or a need. It is about an attempt to share insight and understanding; to respond and give voice to thoughts and experiences.

Aristotle wrote this a very long time ago, and I am amazed at how apt it remains. 

I think he is suggesting that art is about looking beyond the surface and trying to explain/express/represent what the significance of that landscape is; or of those objects; or of the person. It is not simply about representing them photographically accurately, but more about representing them; and their meaning and depth.

A detail from Tenebrae...attempting to express light out of darkness.

Getting back in the groove

 We have pretty much finished the chores we set ourselves to do this trip - the painting, the pointing and the planting - so we have been able to grab  few moments here and there to think about, and make, some things artistic.

Whilst this photo looks like I have a fur hat on; it is actually the reflection of the hay bale in the field beside us! It took me a while to work out what was going on.

This is me hard at work in my workshop. Also known as the garden shed behind the cottage.

When next we are here, we are planning another pop up art show and I thought to myself I should get down and start making some jewellery.  It seemed like if I could grab an hour here, and maybe an hour there, I could cut some silver wire and solder some forms.

Nothing too fine or too tricky or too elegant; just get down and get the basics underway. I think am snipping solder here, ready to make a few more pebble forms. It was about 6 degrees outside with a sharpish wind, so I am pretty rugged up. My hands really felt it tho!

It was a good productive hour!

All these forms need to be cleaned, and to have the lumps and bumps filed down, but I am well on the way to having a bunch of pebble forms to play with to make some new jewellery.

And a few photos from around the cottage. Out the bedroom window as we headed to bed one night.

Our apple tree is in full bloom.

And the lambs are being cute.

As we round the corners to home...

Turn left into Armadale...

Typewriter 2!

 Well, we went and did it. We went and bought ourselves a small compact 1970s typewriter so we could have one to use when we are in Scotland. 

Decadence. Indulgence. Whatever it is, it is nevertheless fabulous to have this wee one with us now and I couldn't wait to get started using it! Here it is all primed to go on my multi-purpose studio bench.

I had so much fun remembering the little quirks of a typewriter, setting tabs and line spacing; and loving the ding when I had room for just a few more characters in my line. I tied it on the usual 80gsm bond paper and that fed through really well. 

The ribbon is brand new so it was quite inky in places. This image also shows how easy it is to make typos; and how you can't readily remove them by simply backspacing or deleting. I like the honesty of the work.

I can't yet tell that ghost effect is me thumping the keys too hard because maybe the typewriter is too high on the bench; or if there is a setting I need to get sorted that will change it.

For the time being I don't mind it - perfection is not the goal - but it would be good to be able to understand what is going on.

As is my want, I then went and picked up all sorts of papers I had lying around - Japanese papers; lightweight tracing paper; used teabags; heavier art paper; and card; and checked to see if they would go through and if the keys would work on them.

I popped the tea bag onto a piece of copier paper and held it down with washi tape, then fed it through. All good.

The 'ghost print' equivalent on the copier paper was a bit of a bonus!

So I can see a lot of fun happening here.

We went away for a couple of days through the week - taking my Dad to see some of his favourite old haunts and some new ones. Here are a couple of shots from our road trip.

Thursday Thoughts...

“Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic.”

Carl Sagan

I like the thought that books are like magic.

In some ways, it seems as if he is suggesting books almost enable time-travel; they allow the past to speak to the present, and for the present to speak to the future.  And in this way, I guess they are kind of magic.

I keep thinking he means books are magic; but on closer inspection he really seems to say that books are evidence that humans can make magic - and yet I prefer my own interpretation!

Breaking the shackles of time perhaps suggests that books can be timeless, that the recording of information, lessons, philosophies or memories can be just as potent now as they were when they were written. Perhaps it also suggests that fiction can transport us to other times or other futures.

Whichever or whatever, I still think books are magic.

So many time shackles to be broken.

Some moments from here and there...

We have had some lovely blue sky days, and some soft grey days.

On the blue sky days we try hard to get as much washing done as possible, and here is my Dad and me soaking up the sun after a marathon waking effort!

Not sure if it is the same seagull, bt it is the same roof on two different days!

 

A dazzling shimmering sunshiny moment on our morning walk.

Looking across the road to the fields with some lambs and the gorse in bloom.

A grey day was the day for a drive to talking and tongue and there is beauty in the softness of grey as well.

And Spring is making an appearance...

A visit to the Melness cemetery showed me a memorial with a list of heroes; and one heroine, from WWI. I have never seen a nurse recognised on a Memorial before and thought it was truly marvellous!

Kilian Capitals

 There have not been too many moments to play and make and create, but I have been thoroughly enjoying my time with Kilian Capitals!!!

My photos are not transferring properly for some reason so I am frustrated by that; will do my best to make things look reasonable, but that is the best I can hope for I think.

I had drafted three words and practiced a few different layouts here - the missing word is stillness.

I transferred the single line version of the words onto black - looks grey here but is really a nice black.

And gradually filled them out in pencil as I went. I have mentioned my issues with writing the letter S - and boy what a delight it was for me to have all these opportunities to practice!

The finished 'piece'.

I continued on my merry way wth another short piece of one of my favourite quotes, but along the way I caught sight of a folded 'book-et' I had sitting alongside me and wondered if I might be able to bring things together somehow.

And so here it is!

I thought it would make a two-way sample book. I had loved this series of folds (inspired by Annwyn) and I enjoyed finding proportions I liked. I had written the lengths on the back of it, planning to use it as  resource. And then I realised that in fact, some of my Kilian sample pieces would fit within the folds. how excitement! and so then it could be my fold sample as well as my Kilian sample!

It incorporates black on white vertical writing, vertical writing white on black, pencil on white, pencil on black and white on black.

I got an extraordinary sense of satisfaction and achievement doing this small, play piece. Funny isn't it how you just play around and make something for yourself and it is joyous!

Thursday Thoughts...

"The beginning of a friendship, the fact that two people out of the thousands around them can meet and connect and become friends, seems like a kind of magic to me. But maintaining a friendship requires work. I don't mean that as a bad thing. Good art requires work as well". 

Charles de Lint

This quote does two things for me - it reminds me we should celebrate our friendships; and it reminds me that friendships need nurturing.

When I stop and think about the first part of this quote it really can be rather magical that in amongst the multitudes of people we meet in so many settings, we somehow come across folk who get us, and with whom we can simply be ourselves. 

Friendships are such important, stabilising and supporting relationships. They differ to familial relationships in plenty of ways; and I am forever grateful for the women friends in my life.

Maintaining friendships does take work, or investment. Each friendship takes different amounts of input and it occurs in different ways, but taking time to check in with friends is time well spent - an excellent return on investment!

I am looking forward to a new body of work celebrating women friends later this year.

A delightful typewriter

 We had purchased a typewriter several months ago on eBay and I had enjoyed playing with it (after B spent a very long time trying to get it to work). I went to use it for a relatively simple task not long ago, only to discover the roller had decided to no longer roll the paper through! It was disappointing and I couldn't find a way to make it work, and I felt quite deflated.

I had actually been building plans for work around using the typewriter and I was left a bit flat thinking I wouldn't be able to use it.

I thought to maybe check if I could maybe buy another one; but this time not from an overseas eBay seller - from  somebody who was a typewriter seller. That way I would have somebody to go to with questions.

I came across a site and thought they looked marvellous and oooh weren't there some lovely typewriters there!

With B alongside me, I gulped and decided that because we weren't paying rent for the studio space any longer, we could buy this as a treat.

It is a 1965 Olympia in a solid case and what a delight she is.

And to make matters even better, that is the year I was born; and it arrived on my birthday! We went and sat on the deck at dusk with some beautiful soft cheese and a glass of bubbles and unwrapped her.

Isn't she a beauty?

So much care and attention - the original key, and a copy of the manual was inside.

A fabulous note about how to open the carry case.

With a typed note from the seller telling me more about her.

She is in such good condition, and I just love the two tone keys here!

A portion of the note included. I had not known that to type a number 1 I would need to hold down the lower case L key, so I was grateful for that insight.

What a precious parcel to unwrap that was, and I look forward to being able to type the works I was hoping to type, once we return.