Looking back on 2016 with hope for 2017

We've arrived at the end of a year and the beginning of a new one.  Around this time each year we stop, look back, think about our year and how it went; and think about how we'd like the next year to be. 

Looking back involves spending time looking over the work I made in the course of the year, and the pieces that ended up meaning the most to me - either because they were significant; or simply because they made me smile. It's become part of a tradition on the blog to create a list and in doing so I remember so much more about what I have done though the year. 

For previous lists you can see: 

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2009

It was a fairly lean year in the making stakes for me and yet I discovered I had more than 10 to choose from for the Top 10, so from the 2016 archive, listed alphabetically and not in any order of favouritism, we have:

1. Daily Rainbow Words

These make me smile and in a way I wonder why I never thought of doing them before!  I love the ritual of choosing a word each morning and here they are in rainbow coloured wonder. 70 words in packet so lots of options.

2. Fed Up

2016 was a year of commissions and this was one of them. I made five pieces as gifts for the five men who host the Fed Up lunch to raise funds for family violence services.  The five works were siblings not quintuplets - the same letters but with different patterns cuts into them and slightly different layouts. 

3. Go Girl!

This piece came about because I had ink left on the roller. I grabbed some random wood type and one of my favourite phrases and there we were. I intend to make this an open edition variant - using the same words with different inks and different type. It too makes me smile!

4. I Lost my Words

After my mum's sudden death in December 2015 I just found it so hard to create or make - to find something to say; to draw from inside me anywhere. As a woman who works with words, I felt like I had lost my words. And so I set myself a small task of working with the word WORDS - to see how many ways they could disappear... this is one in a series.

5. Imagine Peace

One of my favourite innovations this year has been to use up ink on the rollers and offcuts of nice paper to make business cards with Imagine Peace, using a variety of typefaces. I carry these in my bag and hand them out at random and offer them to folk in different places.  They make me happy.

6. In Peace and Stillness

My biggest commission of the year and one with loads of learning in it - putting words on windows in a new service for homeless women in Melbourne. Working with the women was an honour and a joy, and creating a space for reflection and meditation was precious. So so precious.

7. Lost for Words

Continuing on with the notion of losing my words, this is the only artists' book I made this year. I used wood type to produce a small edition, masking off the letters as the pages progressed.  

8. Peace Books in the Landscape

Barry and I had wanted to do this for ages - etch some big standing books for our garden, and we finally made time to do it and I love them! With words of peace within them, and loose circles and semi circles on their covers, they are a beautiful collaboration - words, books, metal...

9. Quietly and Gently

It was a year of teaching as well and one of my favourite things for the year was the sampler book I prepared for the course I taught at Wrapt in Rocky - Quietly and Gently.  It was all white on white, exploring techniques, working on, above and through the surface and I just loved the book; and the class!

10. Words and more words

This broadsheet came about because I forgot to remove some of the masking tape on the wooden type before inking up again. It is a reminder of happy mistakes and I love it for what it is; and what is says about process...

 Thanks for coming along on the journey back in time.

For 2017 - I wish for a year of hope; of peace; and of kindness. A gentle year in which we find our way back to our best selves and in which we create and make and continue to share.

Thank you all for the time you spend here - I look forward to another year of connecting in blog-land. Go well.