2021 in Review

 I have found over the years that stopping to reflect on the year that passed; and pausing to consider the work I have made is a really helpful reminder and record.  Especially now when time has become such a strange concept;  seemingly elastic and shape-shifting.

I admit that Covid has left me often unmoored with regards time; the markers I can usually pin things down to have moved, disappeared, or happened at unusual times, and I have had to work hard to recall what work was made this year rather than last.  But I did and I enjoyed it as ever - it felt like greeting some long lost friends as I went along the way!

Here are my Top 10 things I made this year - things that I love, things I am proud of, things that make me smile, things that matter to me and things  I am simply happy to have out in the world. They appear alphabetically rather than in any order of merit.

1. The Angels

This commission made me smile.  I love the nod to old fashioned peg dolls; I love how they link to friendships and I was really happy that each piece ended up being individual.  Another one is underway to acknowledge the latest member of the team.  For some of the drama in the making see here.

2. Feminist Postcards

I love these cards. Such small yet powerful reminders of our need for change. Siblings to my larger posters, they gathered together really well in this set of 7. I wrote about them here.

3. For Mary

As part of a beautiful birthday commission for a friend.  This wee book offers reminders of home; and offers words of remembering too. It was such an honour...

4. Friendship Unfurls

The Red Thread exhibition offered me so many opportunities to play with notions of female friends; holding and connecting.  This wee book, in combination with Barry, was an absolute favourite. It sat so well in the hand; it gently unfurled and you could pop it in your pocket and carry it with you. It now lives at the home of a friend. 

5. Hear Me Roar

After having made my individual feminist posters through the year; I brought them all together in a book, which makes quite the statement.  It feels good to have them all together, bravely and boldly telling it how it is.

6. Llorac

The companion piece to the book at number 2; this beautiful work formed part of the birthday commission.  It spoke to the heart and was welcomed with love. Such a lovely lovely thing to have been  part of.

7. Morningtide

It's funny how some thighs are lovely, yet never really get loved.  I really enjoyed making this series of works. There are 42 in the series and they bring together crisp and beautiful digital printing with hand set traditional letterpress. I like the combo and I like the images and the words and yet they don't seem to resonate with too many other folk! 

8. Old Friends

This is the piece that got me kick-started and headed in a good direction for The Red Thread.  The story of the returned rusty tin is here and I once more offer my gratitude to Pauline Prior-Pitt who generously loaned me her words. 

9. Ongoing Friendship

Another of my Red Thread works - I love the possibility of a continuing and shared story between friends with these unbound books.

10. Pocket Book

A sibling to my original poster Pockets are Political, I love this book. It is a slim volume packed with good thoughts about pockets and women's clothes and has always got a lot of nods of recognition as women read it.

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

An honourable mention must got to my Covid hankies.  They are not yet complete and so I will roll them over into 2022; but I must say they occupied an enormous amount of time and thinking this year and I do love them so.

Commission of Angels

A while ago I mentioned things were works in progress and underway. I wrote that post on a Sunday, blithely suggesting that I needed to deliver things by Wednesday. Just after it was set to publish, I realised that I had miscalculated badly and that I actually had to deliver it on Monday (THE NEXT DAY) because we were going to Tamborine Mountain on Tuesday to visit family.  How had I missed that in my planning???!!!???

Big breath in and I went to work to see if I could get it all together. And the good news is that I did - but I tell you I could really do without that additional pressure.

The commission came from somebody seeing my two pieces called Four Friends at The Red Thread show.  They asked if I could make some more.  Their daughter is part of a group of 6 amazing women who their mum has called The Angels. The type of women who are there for each other under all sorts of pressure and stress; long hours, half way across the world from home and through lockdowns and other major events.

The job was to create 6 works with six 'angels' depicted (aka pegs with red thread). To begin, there were peg dramas (did not have enough pegs for 36 - had to buy pegs and hope they arrived). Pegs arrived; beautiful organic beech pegs - but yay (not) they had a waxed coating which would not take staining with tea.

Now what? On Barry's advice, I used boiling water to remove wax coating - tick. Stained them -tick.

The client had brought me her red embroidery threads, so I used six different reds to stitch the top and bottom running stitch lines. I wanted each work to be unique - no two pieces have the same combination of red threads for the angels.

The client also wanted to incorporate the notion of angels some how and I tried to find a way to do that uniquely and discreetly.  Rather than putting halos or wings on the front; I did something on the back.

Once more each set of angel's wings is unique.

I googled my fingers to the bone trying to find six 'easels' that would be big enough to fit the works on. You know when you try every combination of words you can think of? Search every art store you can think of? And then have the happiest of moments when you find them in a catering business for holding menus at buffets??? 

And they could deliver express, so we were still on track.

All of this was happening BEFORE I realised I had less than 24 hours to complete them. At the point I realised, I needed to wind all the thread onto pegs; pierce all the holes, cut all the copper wire and attach them. I had to draw all the angel wings, title them and emboss my mark on them; then attach the backing to the front, and photograph them for posterity...

Ta da! We did it!

The Angels then winged their way across the oceans; and I hope they have landed safely with their namesakes..

It was a lovely job to do and I enjoyed it coming together; but there were a lot of 'moments' with this one!

Ongoing Friendship

 As I prepared work for The Red Thread exhibition, I muddled around a lot until I landed on my theme.  It fascinates me how I can have a million ideas of what I could do - try this, do that, make these...and they explode out of my brain and onto the page of my journal and I play with them and explore.

And then I realise I need an anchor.  They are too chaotic. Too disparate. I need a thread if you will, that will link things. I need a jumping off point that brings coherence to the body of work - rather than a random collection of ideas.

And so it was with the poem about Women Friends by Pauline Prior-Pitt.  Once I was able to use her words, I could think about how to present them in different ways.

The next step was the returned rusty tin and "Old Friends" emerged serendipitously.

Which led to a run of ideas about small, old tins. Sturdy and strong, intimate enough to hold in the hand. Protective. And the ideas of adding more work to tins grew.

Which led me once again to unbound artists' books.

I think the first unbound artists' book I made was back in 2008 called Quest - and it was a hanging book with pages that could be re-arranged within their fabric holders. Using  a script I designed myself.

My first really thoughtful and purposeful unbound artists' book appeared in 2009 when a friend sent me some words he had written about key moments in his life, to celebrate his 50th birthday. He asked me to make him a book.  So I illustrated the pages and wrote the words out in calligraphy and then came the time to bind it. 

And I simply couldn't. I couldn't bind his life. I couldn't decide and fix the order in which his memories would be read. I couldn't say this was it - when there were so many year to go. My dilemma was solved by an unbound book. I made a box and placed the pages in it in such a way that he could move the story around; change what he saw first, tuck the saddest things away at the bottom and so on. I also included several 'blank' pages Because his story wasn't finished; and we could add to it later on if he wanted to.

And all I can say is my photography has improved in the intervening 12 years!

So with that lengthy blether behind me I turn back to making unbound artists' book about friendship. With a similar theory to my friend's book; friendships change; they alter, they move around and aren't fixed, again the notion of an unbound book was perfect.

I used fabric sent me to years ago by a woman friend (similar to how I used Liz's fabric for Unfurling Friendship). Jennifer wrapped some old sheets around rusty cogs and left them out in the snow for winter (in Connecticut, USA) and I was the lucky recipient of some.

I stitched short lines, long meandering lines, little loopy lines across the pages - friendships can be of all shapes and sizes.

I popped crosses to mark the spot - two friends.

I added two spare pages, a needle and some thread - so the recipient could continue and add to their story.

The poem was printed onto goyu paper and dipped in wax, and stitched into the lid.

 And I made two of them in these lovely larger tins. 

And two in smaller tins.

And they were really popular and I am encouraged to keep making along these lines.

Stories of friendship, ever-changing and growing. Women Friends.

Farewell the Red Thread...

 The beautiful showing that was The Red Thread closed this afternoon. All four of us were able to be there for most of the day - to share with friends and fellow travellers and to enjoy time together.

Beautiful red flowers/berries to celebrate!

Friends arrived and chatted having not seen each other for ever so long.  They enjoyed the art and hearing the stories...

It's always great to have the artists there to talk about the work.

A lull at lunchtime, and Barry brought us a heart each - the hearts that connect; the red threads that hold...

Now to tidy up the paperwork and the payments and tie a big red bow on the show!

And that's a wrap.

Everything's a work in progress

 Life is full and pretty busy at the moment. We are enjoying promoting The Red Thread and having visitors and folk through.  I have a commission to complete by Wednesday and we have our Studio Sale in two weeks time which means lots of making and re-stocking must be done  In between times a shop owner friend has been away and I have been backfilling for a couple of rather full and busy days.

So nothing is complete, and everything is a work in progress...

The first batch of red threads arrived. The trick was that in the end, the small spools at the bottom were actually the same 'catalogue' colour as two the large spools despite coming from different companies and having different names, meaning I didn't have the requisite six different colours for each piece.  

So the hunt was back on. I  called the guys they said yep, but we are away and can't post until Monday. Not going to work. Hunted down some new folk; they said yep we can have some to you by Friday. Tick. They arrived, but boy howdy the online samples looked different!

I think I can scrounge enough from the collection now to make the six figures, six times, in differing combinations.

Working on the dining table means I can stop and start at the oddest of hours, which is kind of how things are rolling at the moment.

Storing things on the kitchen bench is also the go. A quick snap has caught some Christmas bush flower, the tape measure, a yearly planner, a recipe  and the ubiquitous masks well. Life!

Part of some work involves angel's wings...testing out options.

And in the studio I have printed heaps of cards that have been neglected (another way to say that would be that they have been popular!).

Now they have dried its time illustrate them and inventory them. These are the beginnings of "Outstanding!!!". One bird in the line gets coloured in...

Hand drawn and coloured bunting for the babies. I think I have a wedding one, a birthday one, and a grief one to go.

And then glimmers of the garden  - also a work in progress as the magnolias bud, burst and change shape alongside weathering weather grams and peace doves.

And as Barry was preparing dinner last night the backyard just looked lovely in the fading light.

A new commission begins...

 The Red Thread has been successful in so many ways.  We have had lots of people coming through and enjoying the work - the variety and the skill, and the differing interpretations.

One visitor was taken by my Four Friends works and wondered if I could maybe make a series with six friends?

So we looked at time and the logistics of delivery, and thought yep, we can do that in time.

Logistics and delivery are such a thing now - if you are waiting for supplies - how long might you wait? If you need to send the work somewhere - how long might that take?  Anyhoo, we have begun.

The wonderful 640gsm Canson Cold Pressed watercolour paper is such a strong support; but has that most beautiful of deckled edges!

Some of the available pegs (waiting for more...) about to get dyed with strong black tea to match to some others.

In a vase...

And now they are looking warm.

We discussed using some of the person's own embroidery threads, and that has turned out to be a beautiful way to weave them into the story.

And the first stitches have been taken.

Fingers are now crossed for all the stars to align and the delivery times to be on our side!