On Friday Susan and I managed to get together. Neither of us can believe that it is June and we have really only managed to catch up in person once or twice since February! Still, we were both happy to just sit and spend time, thinking and talking arty things and doing show and tell of this and that.
Our primary purpose in getting together was to try and complete a couple of our unbound books. We spent the biggest chunk of time making a perspex case for our latest book - the 16 squares with images on either side that we felt we couldn't bind and fix into position. See here for the earlier ramblings!
Susan is a real technical expert with Perspex, so I was lucky to sit and follow the ways she suggested, even tho I have made boxes before I had forgotten a lot! They look simple, but the exactness of cutting needed as well as the control required over the slippery solvent glue can test you.
In typical fashion I like the two completed boxes photographed against a white background...
Besotted as ever by the edges...
Susan liked them against the darker background...
And the other thing we did was talk bout how to package up our 'envelope book'. We decided on a pouch and these papers and are now back at home, each making a pouch in whatever way we choose.
It feels good to have these books almost completed, rather than just finished, if that makes sense.
The next book is in our minds and our thoughts...waiting to emerge over the next wee while. Fingers crossed.
And now to a giveaway. As is often the case with me, I missed my 600th post (this post is actually 655) BUT today is actually my blog anniversary day so I'm going to do a giveaway to celebrate and mark it.
Yes, 4 years ago on 16 June 2009 I started to blog. What a great adventure it has been, so much fun, so many connections, so much sharing.
In keeping with the spirit of sharing that is for me, the blogging world, I am giving away one of my recent "Imagine Peace" prints...
All you have to do to take part is leave me a comment that tells me how you imagine peace...and you'll go into the draw.
Leave me a comment by 6pm Australia Eastern Standard time on Saturday 22 June and I'll let you know the winner next Sunday. Thanks for joining me along the way...
Our primary purpose in getting together was to try and complete a couple of our unbound books. We spent the biggest chunk of time making a perspex case for our latest book - the 16 squares with images on either side that we felt we couldn't bind and fix into position. See here for the earlier ramblings!
Susan is a real technical expert with Perspex, so I was lucky to sit and follow the ways she suggested, even tho I have made boxes before I had forgotten a lot! They look simple, but the exactness of cutting needed as well as the control required over the slippery solvent glue can test you.
In typical fashion I like the two completed boxes photographed against a white background...
Besotted as ever by the edges...
We turned the boxes over as well...
Susan liked them against the darker background...
And the other thing we did was talk bout how to package up our 'envelope book'. We decided on a pouch and these papers and are now back at home, each making a pouch in whatever way we choose.
It feels good to have these books almost completed, rather than just finished, if that makes sense.
The next book is in our minds and our thoughts...waiting to emerge over the next wee while. Fingers crossed.
And now to a giveaway. As is often the case with me, I missed my 600th post (this post is actually 655) BUT today is actually my blog anniversary day so I'm going to do a giveaway to celebrate and mark it.
Yes, 4 years ago on 16 June 2009 I started to blog. What a great adventure it has been, so much fun, so many connections, so much sharing.
In keeping with the spirit of sharing that is for me, the blogging world, I am giving away one of my recent "Imagine Peace" prints...
All you have to do to take part is leave me a comment that tells me how you imagine peace...and you'll go into the draw.
Leave me a comment by 6pm Australia Eastern Standard time on Saturday 22 June and I'll let you know the winner next Sunday. Thanks for joining me along the way...
Oh Fiona I would love this piece. My idea of peace?I think it is of different people,of different colours and creeds sitting together on the ground, perhaps around a fire, talking, reaching out to each other, all in harmony.
ReplyDeleteOne can only hope.
Penny, indeed one can hope. That sense of harmony and ease is very much about peace I think. Go well.
DeleteCongratulations on four years of blogging. I really find your book very interesting, waiting to see them in their finished pouches.
ReplyDeletePeace to me is the freedom to choose.
Thanks Maya - the books are happening which is good! Peace and freedom are so closely aligned aren't they?
DeleteCongratulations on your blogging anniversary! Over 600 posts...that's something to be proud of.
ReplyDeleteAs always, I sit here and drool over your projects with Susan and dream of the day when Pam and I get to join you at the table or in the studio.
With that in mind, my idea of peace is people involved in the creation of art; working together; sharing ideas, techniques, tools, materials, etc. Simply enjoying the process, but most of all the camaraderie and meeting of like souls that comes with such an adventure/experience.
Thanks J - maybe I just talk too much? Laugh. I can sometimes feel that sense of peace when I look at images of you and Pam working together, and I know that when Susan and I are sitting and talking and making and doing it is a very restful, calming and peaceful place. It's great to feel at peace with people. Go well.
Deletei like peeking in on your doings, as you know! after a visit to a student in jail last night, i imagine peace as place, place without harm, but instead with tolerance being the practice to live by.
ReplyDeleteThanks for continuing to peek Velma! A place without harm and with much tolerance would indeed be a peaceful place.
DeleteCongratulations..655 truly a milestone!
ReplyDeleteI suppose I have two images of peace...one more universal...being able to come together with others to open up, to share, to try to understand, to walk in another's shoes.
The other more personal, but related. A walk on a deserted beach on a beautiful day with a good friend.
Thanks Julie, like you I have a sense of peace for me personally, how it feels where I am and what I am doing, then there is that broader sense of shared understanding...
DeleteCongratulations on your blog anniversary... I love coming here and seeing your beautiful work, and reading your musings. I find much inspiration here!
ReplyDeleteI imagine peace as a moment of maturity in the human race. As there will always be conflict, disagreements, and diversity of all kinds - I imagine a day when strategies for council and non-violent conflict resolution is present at all levels of society. I imagine the structure of community looking more like a village again somehow, where children are protected from violence because there is more transparencies between family walls and more of a sense of a community raising youth. I imagine that when the early signs of someone going astray are visible, that that person is sent off to be on the mountain with healers, that they go back to the land, finding what is broken and being supported by fierce love and not men with bully clubs. That this place of healing is deep and committed and people stay for as long as it takes to remember themselves.
I imagine peace being taught to youth through story and love of the land - and in the telling of the day when we almost lost everything to greed and war and environmental disaster, when the food supply was poisoned, but in the eleventh hour, the people came together and extraordinary healing happened. I imagine peace as a moment in the not too distant future when culture values stillness and inner reflection over constant distraction, and a true belief in the common-wealth is present, when people live with just what they need, and not whatever they can get their hands on. I imagine our new culture of peace as a wellspring of extraordinary creativity, beauty and cross-species reverence, where the Earth is truly laughing in flowers once again....
Yes. So eloquently stated Valerianna.
DeleteThanks, Jennifer... When I came back, I thought, oh dear, I've written a novel!
DeleteThanks Valerianna - I love the hope in that! If we could drag ourselves back from the brink, how wonderful would that be? I think you're right that there will always be disagreements, but my hope is that we find peaceful means to resolve them. I'm imagining peace now...
Delete"Imagine" by John Lennon comes true at last...
ReplyDeleteSo true Mo Crow - it captures it perfectly doesn't it ? And still we hope...
DeleteYou and Susan...a collaboration made in heaven! The little books are exquisite. To me the essence of peace is absolutely about NO WARS. This means a worldwide acceptance and, if only, a collaboration between all people to provide the basic necessities of life for everyone on the planet. This is extremely unlikely to happen...so I'll settle for some quiet time with a good book.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jo - it is both personal and universal isn't it? My mountain top is a pretty good place for me to start. So much difficulty does stem from inequality and unequal access to food and resources...I love your notion.
DeleteCongratulations on your blog anniversary Fiona. Although I love tumblr and pinterest it is on individual blogs such as yours where more intimate conversations happen. Blogs are nourishing to mind and creative soul. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI imagine peace as harmony and respect between people, the earth we live together on and the animals we co-exist with. I imagine peace as ecological, spiritual, and encompassing. And I imagine peace as a sense for all of us that there is "enough." Whats more, I imagine peace as a lack of greed.
Thanks Leslie - I love the visual solitude of Tumblr, but really enjoy the conversation and connection that blogs bring into my life. That sense of there being 'enough' is important I think - if we could find a way to let everybody have enough then conflict would be reduced I am sure...
DeleteOh these images of edges, pages, boxes are so inspiring, Fiona! I'm amazed that this is your 655th post. Congratulations!
ReplyDeletePeace to me... where do I start: .... feeling safe... being able to walk alone in nature without looking over one's shoulder; Feeling respect, compassion and love for our fellow man; a sense of community.... harmony; a country working together, fully focused on bringing about peaceful change; creating art for hours on end, without a worry in the world.
Thanks Robyn - it does seem rather a large number! Still, it has been such a joy. Feeling safe is important for peace I think - it offers a sense of security and calm that links to peace; and solitude, respect, compassion...
ReplyDeleteNot an original thought but I feel peace is a way of thinking,living and being rather than a place or destination. As always a big fan of all you do
ReplyDeleteHelen I
Thanks Helen - sadly this slipped by me and into the spam folder; only just discovered it! Big apologies, F. I agree - a way of being and making our way through the world, rather than a place or a moment.
DeleteCongrats on your web journal commemoration Fiona. Despite the fact that I adore tumblr and pinterest it is on distinctive online journals, for example yours where more personal discussion happen. Websites are feeding to psyche and innovative soul. Much thanks to you.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I like the conversations that begin here...
DeleteCongratulations Fiona!
ReplyDeleteI only recently found you via Lesley (Printed Material) but I've enjoyed reading through many of your older posts!
Peace is that feeling of calm and security usually experienced in my garden, sometimes alone, sometimes not!
Thanks for finding me Gill! Gardens are places for peace aren't they? Quiet solitude, or shared time together...
DeleteHi Fiona,
ReplyDeleteLove your Perspex boxes, I wish I had those skills.
Peace conjures up for me, quiet calm contemplation and the wish the rest of the world had the same advantage.
Sent from my iPad. Valerie
Quiet, calm contemplation feels just like peace should doesn't it Valerie?
DeleteDear Fiona,
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog through Sandra Pearce's amazing blog. I love your work and thank you for sharing it.
Peace: It is a two part process. Firstly, it is kindness, beauty, and stillness that comes from within. Secondly, it is sharing this "peace" with everyone you come in contact with.
Suzanne Coley
http://suzannecoley.blogspot.com
Hi Suzanne, sorry for my tardy reply - just discovered comments in my spam folder. Sigh. I liek the notion of a two part process -one for me and one for me to share...
DeleteDear Fiona,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your amazing work. The boxes are absolutely stunning!
Peace: It is a two part process: Firstly, it is nurturing the kindness, beauty, and stillness inside of ourselves. Secondly, it is sharing all that is "good" within us with others. Imagine if everyone did this . . .
Suzanne
http://suzannecoley.blogspot.com