Notes to Self

 I was looking for some documentation I was sure I had recorded in one of my art journals the other day. It was simply a record of the paper used and the nib size and pen I had used for some calligraphy (the daily word cards). I knew it had to be there somewhere...

So I got them out and started going through them. Fortunately I had indexed them so I had half a chance of coming across it, and also narrowing it down to a certain year.

But still. It took a while. 

Over a cup of coffee in the studio I enjoyed the wander and after I had found it (yay!) I continued on with my reminiscing.

I was intrigued to come across some great notes to self.

Most often I would write notes about what to do, not to do, why I had changed my mind or where I thought to go next. But these ones I am sharing here were more about the bigger picture of my making. 

This was the first one that caught my eye - and I think it holds true. It holds the duality of my work where I need to say something; along with that work where I am simply making for beauty or simplicity.

This one intrigued me a bit as I so often want to use words! But I think I wanted to make sure that the other parts of my making which might supplement my words, were also speaking.

I turned the page and came across this, which kind of answered my own questions.

This one came after some notes from a course I did. A couple of words to guide my process. I think they are about guiding the final piece - select which bits to include; eliminate unnecessary parts; and then work out what and you want to emphasise.

I am not sure what this means, but my sense of it is that it might be about drawing on a memory, or evoking a memory. Making an association stronger? The reading of my own words, in my own journal, is still quite an investigation and full of queries.

I found this one in my first journal and was tickled pink because it is the first of these - what is your vocabulary? - that I offer as a handout to students of Building Narrative and which I gave out at the Conference in New Zealand recently! I have obviously hung onto this one and still incorporate it in my thinking, work and teaching 

And then the spirals all together... such a pleasing image.

Strangely enough I hadn't thought to go through my journals in this reminiscing-reminding way before and will definitely do it again. There are some gems in there that could become something still!

And a note to self and everybody: next Saturday 29 and next Sunday 30 November we are holding our Closing Down Sale at the Studio. We are not renewing our lease and lots and lots of stock has to go so prices are low!

We are busy with the tidying, sorting, pricing; and getting ready for cleaning and moving. We will continue to make and create and sell; just in a new way....

Daily Words refresh

Barry and I have had a daily word practice since 2004 when I made our first set of words whilst we were living in Hobart for a year. I have written several more sets over time for folk - in particular rainbow daily words. In these sets I had written 70 words (10 for each colour of the rainbow).

It has come to pass that after 21 years of use, our cards set needs replacing. One morning recently, mindfulness simply separated in two. We thought that several others could go the same way, so we sat down to work out which words of this set, the verb set of 70 and the noun set of 70 we would like to take with us into the future.

It was an interesting task. We did it separately, then came together, to discuss. There were lots of overlaps and the occasional different ones but we landed very happily on a set of 50 cards.

This allows for 7 words for each rainbow colour (49) and leaves a blank as well. We kind of like the blank; although we never really know what to expect on the days we draw it...

We love the number 7 so 7 x 7 seems like a good way to go!

The first step is always cutting up the cards. They measure 5cm x 1.5cm so a lot of it needs to be done by hand.

The next step was seeing if I could still write with a dipping pen!  I couldn't remember the last time I did proper pen calligraphy by hand so this was a real test. (I am now thinking it was maybe 2022 - a commission I did??). I had to track down my nib and find my watercolours, then mix the colour. I liked the colour but in these first few attempts I didn't have it loose enough and the pen was really scratchy on the surface. Nothing flowed, including my hand! It was wobbly and wild.

So I loosened the watercolour, cleaned out the pen and rinsed it, and then sat down and wrote and wrote and wrote for a while and gradually got back into my groove.

I also gave myself a bit of ground because working on such a small piece of card (5cm x 1.5cm) is incredibly awkward. You are working so hard to not have it slip or move that you can rarely relax and simply let it flow. The tension is real!

Here are the first seven words - in red. 

Orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo violet remain to be done!

Getting there...red, orange, yellow, green and blue done.

And indigo and purple/violet for the win!

I started out with plans for 5 sets, but settled for 4 because I used so many extras for the ones where I wrote badly. Still four sets will be great - one for us, one for a  friend and two to sell. 

Barry has begun making the bowls that will hold them. Here is the first one. 

It is such a lovely practice. It helps set the mood for the day, and gives a quiet moment of reflection before we get into things.  The bowls plus words will be available for sale we hope at the Closing Down Sale next weekend. They will form part of the new work sale - where new things re 10% off (everything else is at least 50% off!!!).

Thursday Thoughts...

“All that is holding us together is stories and compassion.” 

Barry Lopez

I think the Barry Lopez quoted here is the nature writing and essayist; who I had never heard of before so I am now granted the wonderful opportunity to discover him and his writing!

The words here resonated with me greatly. I feel as if our entire life is oftentimes about telling stories to help us make sense of our world. Of gathering our observations and our readings; our thoughts and our understandings and trying to put them together in a meaningful way which helps to clarify. Which helps us understand ourselves, those around us and the world at large.

Stories hold us together. Sometimes people write books of stories that help us understand.

But I also really love that he says we are held together by compassion. Compassion and empathy. Compassion for others and their failings towards us. Compassion for ourselves as we too, fail ourselves and others.

Compassion and stories. What a wonderful way of looking at our lives.

Tidying up and using up

 We are well underway with the studio downsizing. Our lease runs out in February and we won't be renewing it. This means we have a major task on our hands to get rid of things we don't need or use anymore; get organised to move the things we will be keeping; and generally speaking tidy up and sort a lot of things out!

As part of this we have re-imagined our home office and created more storage there for things like books, work for sale and so on. As we did this I came across some leftover images from my exhibition with my friend Sheila back in 2024 - Exposed. They were the small proofs, most of which didn't make the final cut; some of which did make the cut, but only in a larger size; and some that made the cut but with minor tweaks.

Did they go in the bin? Or could they be re-worked somehow?

I went with the notion of rescuing some and re-working them. I thought about making cards; but then decide to make postcard-sized works. I wondered about putting them on another colour before placing on the card. And then I thought I would blind-emboss a square to frame them.

I first used this technique back in 2010 for a series of books based on glyphs - marks made either in urban setting or bush settings. More recently, I have come across it in the work of my friend and co-collaborator Annwyn Dean, who uses it beautifully to set off her prints in many of her books- for example here. 

My challenge was however, that as part of the downsizing we had sold our etching press. How to make a deep enough emboss without a press? I recalled we had a timber bed we could slot into the proofing press we use to print letterpress posters, and popped it in. But the rough timber worried me, so I cut some acetate and placed it on the bed. I put the registration template underneath that and thought I was onto it.

I cut a 7cm square from a desk mat, and then I needed to build up the pressure. So I put in several sheets of grey board to give it some oomph as the roller passed over it.

The only trouble was it needed so much oomph I was in danger of crushing my fingers; or having the whole press fall off the bench due to the uncontrollable movement as I pushed and pushed. I recalled there was a handle? But where? Luckily I found it and could fit it. I did have to turn the press around by myself which was fun given its weight, but I managed that safely, then used the handle to really pressure roll and it worked.

And then it was gluing and signing.

And bundled up, waiting for some of them to head off and out.

It felt good to rescue these images. I ended up with 26 workable images on postcards.

The silences

 I had such a lovely time making these books and spending time with the thoughts and words of my friends.

One of the most delightful things was the constant loveliness of the edges and the light and the pages and the covers...

Here is list of all the silences within, and a few images of some of them within  the book. In terms of design decision-making, I simply went with the silences in the order in which I received them. It seemed impossible to make a selection or decision based on anything else.

the silence of being awake at night beside a sleeping love

in our marriage a silence meant something needed to be addressed

quietly sitting in companionable silence with my lover and friend

as children we were told that if the radio fell silent, then someone had pressed the red button

the silence between the notes is also music

the hollowed-out silence of grief

a political silence (from most of australia)

in moments of silence i can hear myself gently exclaiming that i'm proud of you

when the silence of the inner world meets that of a cold moonlit night, i am at peace

moments when silence is all that i have to give

silence can sit quietly amidst noise

silence is a warm comfort blanket between the very best of friends

the silence o your own eyes in the mirror

the companionable silence when reading alongside each other

the silence of insults in the face of righteousness

i find my silence in stillness and inner quiet

One of the things I found most powerful and most moving about this project, was that each of the silences I received was one I would not have thought of, known or imagined.  It seemed to me our silences are unique and as a result quite personal and intimate.

I have collected and collated enough silences for there to be a second book, and the covers and pages are all cut, ready for when I can get around to setting type and printing. 

Thursday Thoughts...

"The world is the closed door. It is a barrier. And at the same time it is the way through. Two prisoners whose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the wall. The wall is the thing which separates them but it is also their means of communication … every separation is a link". 

 Simone Weil

I was headed towards a rather simple pondering this morning, and then I came across this one. And as ever I know not how, but it grabbed me and said 'choose me'.

I confess up front to not having read anything of Ms Weil's to date, but she sounds an interesting character, whose work would be worthy of exploration.

Perhaps this one appealed to me because it speaks of duality. She has taken a moment to consider an object and describe how it can act in two opposing ways.  With a particular example which really does make her case; she could suggest an extrapolation of this notion to other events, objects and experiences.

What can be this; can also be that. 

Interestingly, I think she goes not so much to the scene or the set-up or the physicality of the object; but rather to the concept of that particular example (the wall both divides and enables communication); and instead extrapolates that idea - that every separation is also a link.

For me, this is much harder to conceive of and my mind does some twisting and turning as I attempt to work my way through it. Can every separation also be a link??? Or only certain separations?

In the end, I think I can agree as I try to imagine separations as links - when you are physically separated from somebody; you are somehow also deeply connected by love, by some invisible, non-physical means of attachment to a person. So perhaps the separation enhances this link? Emphasises it? Brings it forth into our awareness? 

Even when somebody dies, the link is still there - through memories, objects you can touch or feel or smell, certain shared experiences, words or moments...

This one could take a lifetime of pondering!

Do Ho Suh 2023

Orchard signs

 We have recently seen the planting of a lovely small orchard in the village where we live. It sits alongside a new walking path and further around the corner are some raised garden beds for vegetables and herbs. A number of the fruit trees were saved from where they were previously growing, as the development started down below.  It was wonderful to be able to save them, move them and give them new life. Others were donated by folk who live here; and one was planted by the operators.

People who walked past however, weren't too sure what was growing, so we undertook to place some signs nearby so that folk could see what was what.

Over the weekend, Barry did the cutting and painting of the stakes/signs, and I did the writing. Together we hammered them in.

Barry's first steps.

Over to me to write on them. I thought they looked a bit like pencils at this point!

I remembered we had done a similar thing many years ago for the Neighbourhood Centre, and went back to check if there were any tips or tricks for me. And there was an excellent one!

Given the variation in word length, I re-created this template as a guide for me to work between/within.

I had written the names out in pencil to get a sense of the size of lettering I could use.

And got myself a permanent marker and started writing.

As per the previous signs from 2017, I simply wrote Orange - and then across the top the type. We might be getting a Navel orange as well, so this is one way to know which is which.

After hammering in place.

Once again, it was a case of the blog to the rescue.  I love being able to search the blog 'vegetables' and have a few posts pop up, including the one I needed to remind myself what I had done in the past!