Pottering and waiting

 It was a bit of a misery afternoon yesterday - beyond dreich - but I was able to stay warm inside and have a bit of a potter and a play.

I had brought a few watercolours with me and decided to do a sample chart, and then to test out mixing them to see if I could record any of the colours around me. That was the plan but it kind of went this way and that.

I started by making patterns for some book covers. 

I felt in my absolute comfort zone as I made small grey watercolour squares on paper. I wondered to myself “could there be anything more soothing?” as I went along.

The finished bunch of covers. I have been tweeking a few of them since.

I had brought this tiny set of study cards with me, thinking they might encourage me to jot down something each day. Ha! That they did not. I thought I might test some colour combos on them and as I went along, I started to simply make marks, thinking I might be able to do something on them. Better than white paper terror, I hoped.

My water ‘glass’ was a vase, and looked gorgeous. At one point it looked like a very fancy cocktail!

I then thought to instinctively respond to some of the marks, adding few lines or whatever came to mind. It was good to not think, just do.

A very productive and re-invigorating few hours were had. I do not know why I need to learn this over and over, but I do. 

Making fills me up. Spending time with artistic play soothes me, calms me and energises me. I know this, and I should pay far more regard to it than I do at times when I get busy and distracted.

Today as we waited whilst my Dad was at church, we simply sat and watched a field of lambs and their mums. It too was calming and just so lovely to be able to observe them, without making them skittery. We were in the car and they didn’t really know we were there. Lots of fun, and this wee one was gorgeous.

And not a bad view to bide the time in…

Throughout the time however our quiet was interrupted by thrumming and tapping and rat a tat tatting.

In the rear view mirror I spotted who was doing what. This pied wagtail was completely besotted with itself we think, or else really wanted to have a go at shiny black cars!

And this!

Too funny.

Still pottering - art and nature

Life continues along in its own re-emerging manner.  We are spending good chunks of time in the studio getting product ready for our Open Studio on 13 June.

Using up some spare ink I printed this thank you card (yet to be folded in this image). It is a nice big bold thank you - but I will be doing a more delicate one too I think!

I loved that rediscovering gold leaf moment a week or so ago, so decided to build on it with a few more shines for cards.  I can think of no nicer reminder than to shine.

I used some of my Caran D'Ache water-soluble wax pastel crayons as the base, to which the gold leaf adhered rather well. My little practice/sample card is at the back.

I selected six colours from the samples and then threw in a couple of marbled effect options as well just for fun.

And here are the results.  One got stuffed up along the way. I still have another 7 to attempt.

So that bit of pottering was quite good fun.  They have been sealed and will now be adhered to their cards.

The other pottering about was really more about pottering along and paying attention to nature.

I went for a walk at Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve (the place of Mabel's Scrub fame) early one morning and we came across this wee pademelon.  Like a smaller version of a wallaby and a much squatter and smaller version of a kangaroo.  They are so placid and lovely to see in their natural habitat.  It is literally just down the road from us (about 5km on our road).

We had a chilly day on Saturday. For us.  Making it to a maximum of 11 degrees (C) with a wind is quite cold in the sub-tropics.  But the gift came at sunset - this sky...

And to the west.  The light was phenomenal and we kept ducking out this way and that to see what was happening to the west, to the north, then  back to the south...

It filled me up.

My dad has planted quite a few orchids in the garden at our new studio space.  This spike of flowers was coming along well, but needed lifting up off the ground.  During the process of raising it, the stem snapped and so only one bloom remains on the plant.  I took the broken head of flowers inside and over a few days the stem has opened up to 5 flowers which I find amazing and so generous of it.

Pottering here and there...

Studio pottering

To start, a shot of a stunning pink flower of a weird cordyline type plant at the new studio - stunning!

And then to pottering.  Whilst my anxiety about the world and the future is receding slightly (mainly I think because we appear to behaving as a nation and doing sensible things with good outcomes) I am not yet back near anything I would call peak performance!  I am definitely still a bit skittery and finding that time is an odd thing - slippery and stodgy at different times.  So I am manly pottering in the studio and using the time to do some of those what if? or how do I? s that I often think about in passing, but don't get back to doing.

This week I decided it was time to try out some metallic dusting powder I had bought when we were in Scotland last year.  I thought it might be nice to dust it onto black or other colour ink to give it a golden touch, rather than using up lot of metallic ink.  Metallic ink can also be a bit hit and miss - it is always hard to get the metallic pigment bits to stay evenly mixed and not just fall to the bottom of any pot and so on.

So as Barry was madly printing away the back of over 200 postcards, I nicked into the production line to print two for myself to practice on.

The dusting powder is very fine - so precautions re breathing were taken. Whilst the ink was still wet, I dusted a wee bit of powder on. Gold and copper.

And because I am pretty impatient, I dusted it off again after about 5-10 minutes. And was pretty chuffed! I think we will find nice ways to use these powders.

Another thing I bought when in Scotland was a sheet of polymer plate flourishes.  I am a traditional type kind of letterpress gal; but thought a few flourishes could come in handy every now and again.  So they have sat there for a while now and I thought if not now, then when? Laugh. I am not made for modern ways...

I have had limited success with polymer plates  and as ever, teaching yourself can mean a whole lot of dumb things happens and mistakes get made.  Still, I thought I should have another go.

So I cut one out and attached it to a piece of timber I had had cut to make type high.

Pretty happy with what came about - could be useful. It was crisp and clean around the edges which was great. But boy did I have trouble making it stick on the block.

I thought I should test out a few more so cut out quite a few from the plate - it was good buying! Lots of different flourishes.

They were all set on blocks and I thought this would test a good few of them.

Again - struggled to get them to stick.

Two fell off as I put them through the press. Clearly this was not going to be a thing I could ever use if they just fell out willy nilly.

The general look and feel of the print was good (except for the two gaps issue) so I wanted to check if I could find out what had gone wrong.

I laughed so hard.  A quick google about the type of plate (it has some serial number on it) and I found the bit where the advice says "replace the blue protective sheet after each use to maintain the plate's adhesive capability".

I went to the drawer where I had packed them away; picked up a piece; and slowly, gently and with stifled and muffled hilarity pulled back the blue protective sheet to discover a significant and magnificent layer of stickiness on the actual plate!!!

There's always next time. Stay tuned. Grin.