Dilapidated beauty

We have been in the Scottish cottage for a week or so now; re-acquainting ourselves with the place (Armadale, Highlands) and renewing our spirits and souls.

We have hassled with technology for a bit, but think we might have won that episode for now.  Hence blogging again!

Across the bay from our cottage is another locality called Ladnegulin; and we visited to have look at a croft house for sale.  Just because...

It was described as derelict in the sales blurb, and that it was, but it was beautiful in its dilapidation.  Certainly I don't want to live there, or attempt to renovate it, but I just ached with the beauty of its windows and their stories.

So many stories told and untold from this place I am sure.

Our cottage is across the other side of Armadale Bay (but not in this photo, it is more to the left).

The curtains...

Attempts to protect...

And a door...

It was interesting how my interest in it as a dwelling dissipated as we spent time there; I was instead caught by the ageing of it, the loss of things, the loss of the people who had lived their lives there; a multiplicity of losses, and yet its dignity was steadfast.

So much beauty in this place; always found in the unexpected corners and hollows, and coves...

Book Wall up close

A number of years ago we needed to build a retaining wall near the studio. Barry very creatively decided to build a book wall, and it has weathered away over time, with the books absorbing moisture and buckling and cockling and turning up their leaves.

It has been fun to observe - it is just next to where we pull up and park the car, so I generally look at it each day.

We have also planted plenty of orchids in and around it, as well as a baseline row of violets.

I stopped to photograph one of the tiny wee orchids the other day, and then fell in love with the overall look, so here are a few close ups...

Gentle layering like sedimentary rock..

Lovely lovely curves.

A violet tendril weaving its way through deteriorating pages...

And finally the wee dendrobium orchid...

And then when you step back, here's the wall a'weathering...

Printmakers' road trip to Maryborough

Over the weekend a couple of printmakers from the Sunshine Coast headed north to Maryborough to meet up with the printmaking group up there.

It was a lovely gathering and so wonderful to share the joy of printmaking with other passionate folk. We hope to do it again sometime!

We had a lovely stay and saw lots of beautiful buildings and public art; but one of the highlights was a visit to Geraghty's Store. Now a National Trust building it is a an old grocery store that remains intact.

Close up, some of the old crates reminded me of a Rosalie Gascoigne piece.

or two...

There were 'still life' images all through the shop...

And so many fabulous bottles and jars for lotions and potions...

And beautiful marks and traces...

 But one of my favourites was an internal door, where folk had clearly written sums - pounds, shillings and pence I think - on the timber panels; keeping records of something...

It was an absolute treasure trove.

Weathering away...

In January last year, I popped some old folded books out into the garden to watch what happened to them.  A year or so later I have captured their transformation and some of the friends they have made in that time.

Looking fresh and crisp.

We have had soaking rain on a daily basis  for about 3 weeks now and the books are showing signs of living in the sub-tropics.

Draping.

Consuming.

Enfolding.

Cockling.

Curling and protecting.

I love the look in this skink's eye!

Two of them at play.

I wonder how long it will take for them to completely disintegrate?

Three very different looking books from where we began.

 They sit outside the sliding door of my studio and I walk by them on a daily basis. It was nice to stop and focus on them for a little while and think back to what they were once - a pristine book to be read; then a sculptural book for inside; now a garden sculpture gradually disappearing.

Rusted metal books

I really enjoyed making these books and binding single 'pages' of metal for the first time in such a way that they operate as books; rather than simply as book-sculptures.

The worn and used look and feel of the books, is reflected in the words engraved on their covers and stamped on the pages. Despite their sense of wear and weariness; they seem beautiful to me and made new again.

Barry suggested the extra bar on the cover for strength and to differentiate the covers from the pages and I have to agree it works well - it looks strong and defining. I used waxed linen thread and a single page binding to hold them together; and created my own little variation of the finishing stages which I was really happy with.

You can find them for sale here.

Rusty books

I really love the look and feel of rust. I love its discarded beauty; the way it proudly wears its history and I love the sense of rediscovery that happens when I begin to work with rusted materials.

It feels as if the old, the worn, the forgotten, the discarded and the weary have been found; their beauty recognised and valued, and new life given to them.

I have been working on some more rusted books. Their names 'surrender', 'succumb' and 'submit' suggest their past - that they have been surrendered, have succumbed to their environment and submitted to the weather.

Here are the beginnings...