Glimpses

 I have been working on finalising three verses/poems that reflect some of our time in Scotland.

I have called the series Glimpses. Each one is a glimpses of a scene I have become familiar with, and fond of, in the north of Scotland.

The chaffinches that visit our kitchen window are absolute favourites and still stop me each and every time. Yet, they move so swiftly I often only catch a glimpse. 

The changing nature of the hillsides as the seasonal colour changes take effect, incrementally, yet creating such vast contrasts, inspired glimpses of the turning.

 

Trees of the blanket bog came about following a conversation with my brother in Australia:

 

“It’s Autumn there now isn’t it?” he said; “How’s the colour?”

 

I turned and looked out the window.

 

“The colour’s more down south, like Perthshire, up here, we don’t really have trees”.

 

And I told him what we have instead are power poles. That these are our ‘trees of the blanket bog’; and how at certain points in our regular drive, we glimpse them, scratching the sky.

I have been working on them with my beautiful new typewriter and some lovely Japanese papers. 

There were typos, and layout mistakes, one time I didn't return far enough and the new line started in an indented position...so many things to focus on.

I was working towards using the Moleskine notebooks I mentioned back here...but after attempting to glue

the paper onto the lightweight page part, I was disappointed with the buckling and the way in which it flattened and deadened the lovely paper. So...B was right! And I had to ponder what to do instead. 

In the interim, I went and worked on my second doodle page - which was calming and mind-emptying, so I didn't get too het up about my failure.

I knew the typed pages were good and showed promise. I had stitched the typewritten page to another page of the same paper and they created a lovely framed/bordered look. But then what to do with them?

I tried them out on some Arches Velin paper, cut as if to make a cover. I liked the look, but then thought about attachment. Would I sew right through them into the cover? That was problematic as any sewing would cut through the words which were split over the gutter of the page. Glueing them was another option - but I really didn't like how much it deadened the work and didn't let it feel alive.

So I did a mock up in plain paper and much smaller than the real thing. And wondered how it would go if I simply machine stitched from the stitched border to the top; and from below to the bottom?

This was functional - it held the paper page in place; but also met the form requirement of letting the page have lift and life. Felt like I was onto a winner!

And so I went and folded the page and set each page into a cover and sewed from the border to the top and to the bottom. And left the threads...

And attached the title to the front of the cover. And they were done.

I have made four of each verse, and now I know what I want to do, I have the capacity to make more. But this is a good start, in readiness for the Pop Up in Scotland in August.

Some words of care and thinking and preparing

 So, it has been a dark start to the year. There have been moments of light and hope; but many moments of dread and despair as we watch the news from around the world and our own country. 

In chatting back and forth with friends, we have reminded ourselves of the Circles of Concern (all those things out there in the big wide world that scare us, worry us, make us fear for so many) and our circle of control (that sphere closer to home where we can do something that makes the world a little bit better).

And so I was happy to recall I had seen some templates for my Circles of Concern, Circle of Control cards as I packed up and moved. Even better, I knew where they were!

So I pulled them out and started to make the circles, and to add the gold leaf (whose whereabouts was also known!) and to get a few in the mail to folk.

And out of these nine cards, I have six of the smaller cards left.

If you would like me to send you one please let me know and then email me your details (info@fionadempster.com).

I know I find the idea comforting and helpful when things appear too awful for words. The words encourage me to look within my sphere of control; to look at my circle and to go forward and do some good there. Small acts of kindness, of reaching out, of connecting and checking in.

And in another task I have an artists' book to make for an exhibition. I have been thinking and planning and pondering and playing and touching this and that; and then looking at that over there and wondering...

It is such an intriguing time this uncertainty, this fumbling towards the light of clarity and knowing...

It began with the idea to re-work some words I had written about nests, and maybe feathers, and eggs and birds.

I recalled coming across these pages as I packed up the studio. Several of them were damaged and foxed, but these five were in good shape so I saved them.

I started to gather some notions - some things that might go with the paper...

And then I thought maybe the soft grey thread might be better...

And then I went hunting in the garden for some twigs...

Something is evolving. The words are re-appearing in new ways. The possibilities for the pages are changing. It is a dance of lightness and quick movements; then pausing to reflect and go back around again.

For whatever reason I am sitting to the side of myself observing and watching how it is coming into being and I am enjoying myself. There are lots of little moments of insight and discovery; of working out that I need to slow down; or I need to challenge myself and think really hard about why I thought something was good...

Oh I do a lot of miles in my head before I begin to make a book!

Art birds and beachside beauty

 Whilst we were away recently, I noticed a number of beautiful artistic birds - here they are in all their loveliness...

This one was just sitting in a random tree in Olinda in the Dandenongs

At the bottom of a garden in Melbourne. This bird is BIG!

Upon a wall in Melbourne

Above the mirror in a room that we stayed in...

A piece of mine in our friends' house. Memorial to Birds Having Flown...

It is always lovely see your work in its new home and I really do like this piece.

It sits alongside some very funky and contemporary art!

We visited friends who live along the Bass Coast and had a wonderful time - with so many moody memories of these windswept places.

And so much loveliness in their garden...

Learning and making new things

 When we spent time with Lindsey, I also wanted to learn how to solder small pebble forms side by side...

I had made 6 or seven small pebble forms here and my goal was to try and link them up to maybe make a pair of earrings.

Playing with layout and which pebbles went where.

Learning how to solder side by side.

Soldered. 

The thing I was wary of is that if you have already soldered once (to form the pebble) if you solder again too close to that join, it may well melt. So that is a good thing to avoid if possible. 

Success.

 

And then rolled through the rolling mill.

Then polished and made up into earrings just to see if they might work. Pretty happy with the results, although I think I might change the earwires to a stud, to make them not quite so dangly.

And I finished the commissions! I was able to access Lindsey's rolling mill, so put all of the pebble forms I had made through the mill which looks a whole lot nicer than the effect I can achieve simply by hammering. And then they were all oxidised in the workshed and put together.

Then two reminders of the beauty of nature... a seagull and a field of bog cotton.

Working in the shed plus beauty and joy

 We often reflect on how fortunate we are that the cottage had a shed when we bought it. Sure enough we need it to store gardening materials and tools, and paint and the like, but it also offers B in particular, but also me, the chance to have a workshop space to make and create in.

And so it was that I tested it out recently to see if I could make some jewellery whilst we are here. We had purchased some tools and some supplies and I thought I had most things covered, so off I went.

Setting up

Realising that although it was great to have bought a stool for me to sit on; that in fact there was nowhere for my legs to go under the bench, so instead, I needed to sit sideways and set up the work station that way. Solved.

No idea what I was pointing at, but I had so far managed to form and solder three pebbles.

Having thought of almost everything, I realised I had not thought of pickle. The stuff that you put the pieces in to clean them, remove the grime and finger grease and other things. I mentioned it to B, who went away and boiled some water and added lemon juice! Ta da we had a functioning cleaning pickle. In a mug. We now have a glass container to hold pickle, but in the interests of necessity for now we had the mug.

I managed to form 6 pebbles that seem to have worked out in pairs so I can make 3 pairs of earrings. I don't have a roller here so had to hammer the wire flat which has left more marks and texture. I am working on whether I like that or not! I think I will try to oxidise a pair as well and see how they look.

And the dappled sunlight coming through the window, the tile, and the soldering tile were a lovely combination of marks and shapes.

So it looks like I will be able to head back to the shed and keep making. We are having a pop up show in May here in the Village Hall and I want to make sure I have enough stock. I'm sure I do, but I always have a little niggle voice saying what if you don't? 

And so to beauty and joy around us. Here is a robin in a nearby tree singing its little heart out.

A tulip at our front door.

A new arrangement in our bathroom.

A nearby bridge with the gorse in bloom (I removed an ugly barricade fence and some rubbish in the burn in photo editing just so you know it has been doctored)

And the latest cute family group in the village.