Departing and arriving

We left the cottage on a bright sunshiny day, just right for a road trip.

We made it to Aberfeldy, one of our favourite places to stop, and settled in for the night. In the morning the mist and low cloud was in as we visited some Standing Stones nearby.

 

Which seemed to echo, or mirror, our morning walk in Maleny this morning!

We have arrived safely and are happily settling back into life and friends and community here.

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!

Prepping for the Pop Up!

 We are holding a Pop Up Art Show at the Armadale Village Hall this Saturday and Sunday. We are excited at the same time as uncertain about what might happen and how it might go, but looking forward to it and to chatting with folk and talking about art!

The show is mostly about Barry's small watercolours of buildings and boats along the North Coast of Scotland; and my sterling silver pebble and stone-inspired jewellery; but we decided to also add in a few more pieces that we have made (and are making!).

I have been testing out my jewellery-making capacity in our shed and this week completed three pairs of earrings. I was able to texture them and oxidise parts oft them, so I feel right at home now!

Different display options are available...

My inside art-making space is quite the clutter!

At a lunch a few weeks ago I chatted with a woman who had previously seen our work at markets here and she said" I love your cards, I hope you have some more". So I thought, right I had better make some more! This one became Welcome to the World when I completed the Letraset.

One of the birds was coloured in on these ones

The latest stash of cards. I bought the envelopes in Bergen!

I also have a few of my black and white photographs. This one is called Safe Harbour.

I have matted up the 6 collages working from the imagery of the fishing sheds here.

Our kitchen table is multi-functional that is for sure - currently typing on the laptop here, but we also do art finishing here as well. Oh and we eat at it too!

I have called these pieces Moments of Memory I-VI.

And last but not least, in line with my love of the house/cottage form that I always seem to end up playing with as I travel back and forth, the form that keeps me pondering what home means, and the form that just makes me feel good when I look at it, I have worked with B to to create these wee hoosies. I selected the timber and the size and the shape and B cut them for me and did an initial sand; but I have done the finishing sanding and the wire brushing and will add the varnish once we have bought it! They just make me smile. 

It feels like we are almost ready for whatever happens, and we look forward to hopefully sharing time with folks we know and people we will meet...

2024, the year in review

 This time of year is good for so many things - slowing down, forgetting what day it is, as well as looking back and looking forward.

Each year I reflect on what I made in the course of the year, and consider the pieces I like the most; or those of which I am most proud. Sometimes they are real works; at other times they are simply little pieces that gave me great pleasure.

This year I have a real blend of things, as it was a busy year exhibition-wise and I experimented with different things.

In alphabetical order only, no listing of favourites by ranking, here are the ten pieces I made this year which I like the most.

1. All That Was Lost

The feature piece of my exhibition Hame, these five scrolls cascaded beautifully into their rusty tins, with the hand stitched words depicting such rich and full lives and homes. My heart still feels warm when I look at this piece and I'm thrilled it has a new home at the Strathnaver Museum.

2. Bundled and Burnt

Another piece for my exhibition Hame, this piece is so simple, so elegant and so poignant. It too now resides with the Strathnaver Museum and whilst I will miss it, I hope to visit it there again one day. The background story can be found here.

3. Grief is a Stone book-ets and cards

The three poems here, pondering grief at different points along the way; hand illustrated, embossed and stitched; are quiet and gentle acknowledgements of grief.

4. Hame exhibition activity

Alongside the exhibition Hame this activity brought me so much joy! Visitors participated by writing their responses to four questions over the four weeks and I hand stitched each week's responses into a book. I loved to read people's thoughts and was impressed by the time and consideration they gave to them. Such a lovely record of what home means to folk.

5. I Hit a Wall

This one kind of came out of the blue towards the end of the year, when I was just taken by the notion that this work, incomplete as it appeared, was in fact complete. I tacked the pages together and it was done. Telling the story of the pandemic in 2021 and how weary we were all were; how many things we had to deal with; how many decisions were made daily and how we were transfixed by press conferences, updates and data.

6. Pebble Jewellery

The Pebbles exhibition offered me the opportunity to expand my work into all sorts of mediums - laser jet cut steel words into stone sculptures; and hand formed-silver jewellery in the form of pebbles. I discovered I loved making pebble jewellery! And folk also seem to appreciate it. I now have an exclusive arrangement with a shop to sell it for me - who knew?!?!

7. The Emigrants

This unbound book was another new direction for me with the overlaying of photographs onto lightweight papers as illustration and image. Although the postcard size, Letraset and hand stitching meant it didn't venture toooo far away from me. Another piece for my Hame exhibition.

8. The Shape of Things 6

Although this piece was not my favourite amongst all of the books for The Shape of Things, it does make me happy as it reminds me what a lovely collaborative exchange it was with Annwyn Dean. It was also the only piece completed this year as all the others were made in 2023.

9. Together

Sometimes its a large exhibition or collection-worthy piece; sometimes its a small gift or offering that heads out and around... These together cards are the latter; and they just remind me of how important it is to stand alongside folk and remind ourselves we are not alone.

10. Travelling Home

Last, but definitely not least. This piece has been in the making for years. More than five, as ideas about pegs and threads and two homes percolated about in my brain. Hame offered me the place to put it together with notions of here and there, of travelling and of reminders of home. I quite simply love this piece and it is the only piece of my own work I have ever put up on our wall.

Thanks for coming along on the wander back through the works of 2024. On reflection having so many exhibitions to participate in meant I really did create some work! For once I was spoiled for choice for selection rather than rummaging through and trying to find the small things... It also looks a lot like my palette - the soft muted tones and a surprising amount of blue.

I focussed on the notion of home a lot, and the impacts of displacement on women; pebbles also featured in different ways, as did grief. Community, collaboration and care are there; along with my new found passion for silversmithing. Life is good and it was a very fortunate year.

Here's to more making.

Remembering to update

 So often I am reminded that its never just about making the art...

Having received the good news from the State Library of Queensland last week about their purchase of I Hit a Wall, I spent time updating my CV for them and completing the paperwork that accompanies the book; as well as doing the packing and posting and invoicing...

I woke yesterday remembering that I probably should update the CV on my website...and the document that indicates which institutions my work resides in.

I added this book to both and went to the website to attach the two new documents, uploaded them and felt most chuffed with myself. But of course it doesn't end there.

I remembered I hadn't include the two works which were acquired by the Strathnaver Museum following my exhibition there in September, Hame. So I re-did the documents and re-loaded them.

Which reminded me I normally add these sorts of things to my portfolio page. 

And from that page I have links to some process stories, and so off I went looking for representative blog posts about each of the works and thinking about titles and images that might describe them well.

I also added in Travelling Home which I love, but which is in our personal collection rather than a public one. As the top of the page says, sometimes it's just about pieces I love.

And then of course I realised I should probably update the news page of the website and include these stories; and remove the other pieces of 'old' news that were there.

It never ends!

Luckily it was a rainy day and I was pretty tired, and I didn't feel like doing much else, so updating all the website stuff felt like a real accomplishment. Phew!

And just to finish with some end of year twinkles - a table setting at lunch in theVillage on Friday...

Some favourites

As we start the wander back to Maleny, I paused to pick my ten favourite images from our time here.  Some of them are beautiful imagery; some are memory triggers; some represent special places or moments. An interesting cornucopia which shows the full ness of life and beauty and wonder. 

In the end I came up with my top 15 I think; no surprises that there were many magical and special moments in our three months!

The bounty with which we were met and welcomed back with was amazing. From this beautiful pot of lavender and lobelia to potatoes and kale and raspberries and eggs and so much produce.

Our beautiful wee cottage looking loved and lovely in the sunshine.

I delighted and surprised myself by having left this beautiful small arrangement of dried seed pods and flowers in the kitchen. I adored finding it and have enjoyed it every single day. Simple beauty. Small moments.

The light and small moments. The drying of the flower and seed heads always seems so poignant and fragile and beautiful to me.

Mounting a successful solo exhibition in a remote locality on the opposite side of the world is an achievement I am proud of. It was a beautiful show and engaged locals and visitors alike with the gentle way in which it told the stories.

The joy of seeing so many of our friends and neighbours at the opening of my exhibition was so so special.

Our very first Northern Lights!

Working with the visitors' thoughts and comments and observations about home, and creating four beautiful books for the Museum was a really lovely thing to do.

Building a kitchen cabinet and bench, and replacing the sink and taps and all the plumbing was an experience! I now know more about plumbing than I ever thought I would, but a huge sense of satisfaction in working together and finishing the kitchen.

So many wonderful morning skies at this time of year; and this was a stunning evening sunset out the bedroom window with our favourite sheep Nellie.

We also enjoyed some bramble rambles, collecting brambles from the roadside and adding them to our breakfasts.

A memorable train trip with some of the magnificent West Coast Highlands opening up before us.

We discovered a great new bakery in Tongue, run by a young couple who make beautiful food and great coffee. It is exciting to see young folk making a commitment to the wild and empty places, and bringing their skills and delights with them to share.

Movement from the train - for me the beginnings of some artwork ideas; but also a sense of just how fast the time seems to have gone.

And now we are on the road again...