A rainbow in a garden

 Last week we wandered over to Tongue and to Cereal Bakery once more, and on the way home we stopped off at Eddie's Garden. Somebody had mentioned to us there was a walled garden nearby; and we had driven past it a few times and I had spied signs; but this time we stopped and double checked that yes you're just allowed to wander in by yourself, and so we did!

It was a beautiful and welcoming garden full of colour and scent and the buzzing of many bees.

There was so much to look at and enjoy, but after a while I decided I would focus my meanderings a bit and look to see if I could find a rainbow. And I did.

We had such a lovely wander, the sun was shining and there was just so much to delight the senses. Clearly it was also a really good time of year to visit when everything was opening and buzzing and being beautiful.

On the way home we also stopped at a friend's place and I loved these dark grey/black 'cones' on her tree.

I know there's no black and no white in a rainbow, but I feel like these two sort of book-end a rainbow!

Daily Words

Each morning Barry and I start the day with a fresh orange juice, selecting a word from our Daily Word bowl as we look out our window on the world.

We have had this practice for many years and the set of words within this bowl were written way back in 2004 when we were living in Hobart. As we have moved and had different lives and different vistas, we have replaced the bowl with one Barry made; but other than that these words have been our daily companions.

I just liked the look of them this morning and I liked the words. Beauty and thankfulness.

I am a bit stumped as to how I selected this set of words way back when. They are a muddled mix of nouns and verbs, some inspirational, some less so. I will sometimes say I think we should take all the tough words out - like responsibility and humility - and then I am reminded of the balance in life and how to try and make the best of some things.

The cards started out with crisp, sharp, knife-cut edges, but daily use has softened and rounded their corners; and a number of them have become foxed since we live in a high humidity and often rain-filled environment.

I remember making the marks on the back of the large sheet of paper by dribbling quite bright blue ink onto it and then blowing the ink around through a drinking straw! 

The bowl sits on this humble wooden curtain ring; elevating it slightly.

I have since made several sets of Daily Words for folk and they have morphed  into Rainbows. I have settled on sets of either 70 verbs or 70 nouns. 

I will often make sets with calligraphy words written in rainbow colours - ten words in each of the seven rainbow colours. For smaller orders I will do 5 words each in each rainbow colour.

Some of the sets and their making can be found here and here .

It is a delightful practice which we carry with us.  We randomly select a word, and then we think an it a bit, how might we bring it forth in the day? what might the universe be telling us? oftentimes thinking oh that sounds like a great day! when the words are lovely...

Rainbow Words...

 I have been undertaking the loveliest of commissions.

Someone has asked for 5 sets of daily words; each in rainbow colours with four sets of verbs and one set of nouns.

Each set has 70 words in it (10 of each colour of the rainbow) so that means 70 x 5 = 350 words.

Plus I decided to make an extra set of verbs just in case...so really 70 x 6 = 420 words.

And 420 slips of 300gsm watercolour paper,  cut down to size at 1.5cm x 5cm.  Lots of cuts and quite small to work with! 

I use my trusty Windsor and Newton watercolours. With the mixing palette at the top, my mixing and loading brush; and my nib.

And my trusty water jar.

I started with all the red words and worked my way through the colours from there.

Gradually making it through orange, yellow, green and blue.

Pushing through to indigo and violet.

Until they were all done.

My arms ached.  It took a couple of solid runs to get through the writing of 420 words.  My right hand gets a bit cramped holding the pen ; but my left elbow gets the sorest as I use my left hand to hold the tiny bit of paper down and steady as I write.

The point of my left index finger is still a bit numb from the sustained pressure!

My test sheets, my mistakes and my paper towel for cleaning my nib.

And after the few weeks we have had in Australian politics and the lives of all women who have been silenced, assaulted and not believed, there I was, late Friday afternoon, writing this word, in purple.

I decided to cut quite a few of the slips just in case I want or need to do a few sets more in the future.

I popped them in a cellophane bag for protection and looked inside and thought - magic!

Now for them to dry and for me to make a pocket for them and then send them on their way into the world...

2020 in review

 As is now a tradition of sorts on my blog, I spend time at the end of the year; or early in the new one , looking back over my favourite works of the year.  Sometimes I labour long and hard to find completed works; sometimes I have an abundance to select from.

This year my expectations were low.  I really did not have that feeling that I had completed much work. 2020 felt like the year of fiddling when one couldn't focus; of going across things not deeply into them. And yet.

I managed to discover 10 pieces that made me smile; that made me happy to think I had brought them into the world and that reflected the year that was.

As ever, they are in no order, except alphabetical.

1. A Place Among the Clouds

A beautiful book that emerged in response to some gecko poo on some paper.  I love looking through this book and sharing it with people. There is ritual in the opening and turning of the pages...

2. Circles

These little cards were definitely a pandemic piece of work.  They are simple, and the graphic details let you know what they say. They have been shared with many folk for whom they are a touchstone.

3. 54321

More pandemic inspired work - the theme around anxiety is strong! I loved these little cards, and whilst I haven't need to use the technique for awhile, it helped me a lot along the way. Let me know if you think I should print more and if you'd like some...

4. For James

In amongst it all we had  a lovely commission for a lovely man. Etched aluminium calligraphy. A gentle marker for some good friends.

5. Kindness mini posters

To mark our new studio, our first project was a rainbow of kindness. Barry printed four mini posters and I printed three. His are kinder than mine I think!

6. Mabel's Scrub

One of the few exhibitions I took part in this year! It was called Eco Women and was held here in Maleny. My print about Mabel Thynne with an embossed forest was on display there.  I love the texture of the forest in the background and the way the text fits within...

7. On joy

A beautiful book that emerged from a challenge to ourselves, and using the words of a friend. Playing with feather-like papers here was a delight.

8. On joy (mini)

When one beautiful book leads to another...this wee one was the result of testing registration of the printing for the book above; but it led me somewhere lovely as well.

9. Open

My first attempt at printing my own words in an edition of sorts. This is the cover sleeve for the poem. Printing into the counter must be becoming a thing!

10. Remembering

One of the greatest honours of work this year was to help make beautiful things to remember folk by.  This one has beautiful words and is so elegant in its simplicity.

And yet again, it was not until I had written this post and popped all the photos in that I realised what an avalanche of white there is.  I never think about it consciously, yet there it is - my stories are nearly always told in the softness of white; with white on white; with flimsy and light papers, with little or no adornment.  It's just who I am I guess..

Thanks for coming along on the ride looking back over the year that was. It helped me remember that there were beautiful things and moments of magic and that there will be again. Go well.

Moments in my days

 A month on from the move we are still settling, sorting and sifting.  Learning new ways; trying hard not to be too busy; and still waiting for furniture to arrive!

Still I am loving the moods and moments of the new place. As I drive to exercises early in the morning I am keeping tabs on where the sun rises, where the mist settles and am thoroughly enjoying discovering this new rhythm.

During the week I got sad.  The news that Helen Reddy had died sent me tumbling down a hill.  I felt as if the balance of goodness and rightness and strong women in the world was tilting and teetering and I felt a bit afraid. In the space of about 10 days we lost RBG; then we lost Senator Susan Ryan and then Helen.  Too much.

I blasted out "I am Woman" on the drive home and shed some tears, then went and picked a big bunch of bold Australian native flowers to honour and celebrate her.

I also picked lavender and thyme flowers to soothe me a bit. In the office they sit sending out their gentle vibes.

The sun and sky did some magic as well one evening.

And on Thursday the studio was tipped all akimbo as a film crew arrived for a two-hour shoot!  Lordy, who know where that will go and what it will end up like; but we gave it our best shot.

On arrival home on Friday the sun back-lit the clouds in a wonderful way.

And on Saturday morning the magic rainbows on the kitchen bench.

Moments of beauty; of sadness; of chaos; and of beauty again.  Moments in my days.

Unpacking and re-stacking

It makes me smile a wee bit to realise that the first work of art we unpacked and set out inside our new place is the rainbow stack of books.

We have a few bits of sculpture dotted outside; but inside remains in a state of flux as we await tables, chairs and beds! It seems wise to hold off putting art up until we can see how it will work with the rest of the gear.

The stack was in three boxes we unpacked.

Uncertain of the height it could go to here, we laid it all out on the floor; colour by colour. And found it was almost exactly the same height as in our previous place. Amazing.

We were doing it on Saturday night and hit a bit of a snag with the hooks we had planned to align it to, so with the wisdom of the ages we held off to try again in the morning.

And off we went.  This photo shows us having built, it secured it and then, realising we needed to do it another way,  mid un-stacking it.

 All back on the floor ready to go again.

On review, we left one book out - the green just didn't blend in well.

And having secured it with a bit of pressure, we realised we actually needed to add books! Eek. We had been through the library before moving and decided to take only those books we really enjoyed with us, so I wasn't feeling confident that we would find any hard backs, in rainbow colours,  that we could offer up.

But we did. We added in Japanese patinas and Marienthal, the sociology of an unemployed community.

And then the stack was done!

All I need to do now is add some twinkle lights and all shall be well!