Still slowly...

 It has been an odd couple of days preparing for a cyclone that clearly has a mind of its own and is making it very hard to know where it might go, and when it might go there! We are fortunate to be to the North of it, so nothing like the torrential rain and flooding to the south of it, along with such strong winds trees are falling into power lines, houses and cars all over the place. 

So we have been a bit twitchy and distracted, but also have been using the time at home to get on with some making. And so the wee book continues. I worked from our studio space in the spare room, having brought all my gear home, anticipating that it might be too risky to be on the roads.

Setting up a template to guide my writing of the words on the pages. I didn't draw lines on the pages, just worked with space and a sense of the line.

Still playing with the notion of transparent paper! And trying to think of a good name for the book. This is not the name I ended up with...

And so I sat and wrote the words on the pages, enough pages for three books.

Despite feeling so distracted (I also re-arranged all teh art in the house that day!), I was really pleased ot have achieved this milestone.

The other evening we lined up to collect sandbags from our local SES depot. We were so grateful for such a great service.

We sandbagged the sliding doors at the studio and the rear wall, as we know from past experience that heavy rains can flow into the space...

We weeded, dug trenches and cleared the channels to let the water flow as freely as it can.

And so we wait to see what happens. It really doesn't look like the rain will be as much as we originally thought; and the winds not as strong, and I really do hope so.

The light and the dark

 The weather has turned towards winter. It has clearly decided to leave thoughts of summer behind and instead, make us all consider again the wintering, the closing down, the quietening.

The sun isn't actually rising where we are until almost 8am now, yet we still get up to go walking around 6.30am, which is relatively dark but with the sky beginning to lighten.

Here are some photos from around 7am during the week. I love the moodiness and the light and the shadows.

Mid afternoon sky on a wander to Sandside.

And then today. We slept in and went walking about 7.30am and were rewarded with the soft pink sky.

Which became a big blue sky... the light!

And sparkling reflections on a lochan.

So much variety, so much beauty in the dark and the light. The Highlands continue to surprise and delight.

Sunny as it was, the wind made it feel quite chilly; it still had the hint of winter about it...

The way of things here - this and that

Little bits of this and that.

Small things, making and thinking art in small ways.

Stitching. We bought a couple of pot holders, but they were too heavy and chunky for me, so I unpicked them and thought to maybe make 4 potholders instead of 2. With no sewing machine, I found some random bits of bias binding at a charity shop in Dingwall and went about hand stitching the binding.

And the last one is underway.

Pebbles.

My fascination with pebbles of all shapes and sizes continues, and I have bene pondering new jewellery opportunities for when we return to Australia.  During the week we wandered to the beach and collected tiny wee pebbles and some slightly larger pebbles which we brought home and sorted. we clearly also brought a fair bot of sand home with us!

The sort of thing I have been pondering...

Watercolour.

I have enjoyed having moments simply to play and practice doing different watercolours. I prefer the graphic look, I like a layered look and I like an abstract look. These are things I have learned as I have played. 

And so this week I tried out just random mosaic shapes.

I have a container of Koh I Noor watercolour palettes and there are 8 in the stack. I chose to work with just the colours in one palette for each window.

I expect I will take the masking tape away, and work further into them to add a bit more interest/distinctiveness, but for now it has been fun.

And just in passing, we thought to head out for our afternoon walk yesterday but thought better of it. A wicked tempest blew through and the temperature says it might have been 6 degrees, but it felt like -7!!

We stayed inside.

Bits and pieces, and burning

Another busy week and some great days at the Studio showing the exhibition to wonderful people who enjoyed the show, and looking around the studio space with all its lovely bits and pieces.

Here are some compilations of Susan's, Tory's and Steph's work which I was using to promote the show.

In between times I managed a few creative things, bits of this and that, and started to pursue  an idea about a piece for Scotland. It involved burning, so unfortunately the studio did smell a bit of incense on one day so I stopped doing it whilst folk might be coming in.

First up I wanted to see if I could singe a piece of cord/thread. I did pretty well, but it did burn through in a few places, so here it is knotted together.

A selection of burnt papers follows - it's always good to work out which ones will go whoosh! and which ones are more of a slow burn...

And this maybe is a video of me first testing how to burn the thread/cord - a bit of an unplanned and spontaneous idea which had the odd moment or two...

And if that didn't work; then here is link to the YouTube version...

Whilst this final image pretty well sums up the weather again this week - wet, wet, wet.

Harum scarum

 Helter skelter isn't quite right, but neither is hither and yon, but there is something about scrambling around doing bits of this and that I need a better description for! I've gone with harum scarum for now.

Life is full and pulling me this way and that. My making is partly trying to happen to a schedule with deliverables all looming closely; as well as trying to get ahead with heaps of work due next year. 

So yet again, things are progressing on multiple fronts, with nothing yet being able to be ticked off the To Do list as completed. 

Nevertheless, the simplest things give me pleasure. I recently purchased this stack of remnants from the beautiful Ink and Spindle in Melbourne, with the idea of making gift bags from the scraps.  

I felt very bold as I moved away from my usual neutral remnants to warm remnants... some beautiful screenprinted Australian designs on this lovely linen (and cotton).

So far, my plan is not what you'd describe as progressing quickly, but the enormous satisfaction I got from making this double drawstring bag is incalculable!

Meanwhile over in the workshop, I have some metalwork to get done for a piece in an exhibition next year.  Lucky for me I have Barry to guide me in the intricacies and alchemy of smelting and pouring metal. I am however, not yet particularly good at it and I think we may end up re-melting this first effort and trying again. I overshot the mould by a long way and the molten metal just splattered everywhere...

Sigh.

Next time!

And just for the heck of it in amongst it all, we had some weather. It has been stinking hot and steamy here, which has produced afternoon and evening thunderstorms which have been pretty wild. Friends have been without power for over 24 hours, and we got away with simply several large branches down.

This is how we walk to the workshop from our place. Not so much nowadays!

The fence didn't fare all that well.

Our nearby neighbour was lucky that this fence took the brunt of the branches - his roof is covered in debris, but no branches did any damage.

Who knows what the rest of the week will reveal?? There is certainly never a dull moment.

Week 1

 So we have made the trek up and across the globe and once again find ourselves back in our beautiful, restorative cottage in the Scottish Highlands.

The first week is always one of recovery and re-settling, remembering the rhythms, the places and the ways in which we move through this part of the world, differently to Australia.

Not much creativity has occurred as we re-adjust, so here is a sequence of images from our first week.

We stopped overnight at Pitlochry and the heather was beginning. We have seen only the tiniest fragment of heather further here in the Highlands thus far.

After a week or so of heavy snow, we were fortunate to be able to drive safely 'up through the middle' rather than hugging the coastal main road. The remnants of snow and the clouds and the sky were magnificent. We stopped frequently to photograph the wonder of it.

' 

 

On arrival, our stones at the front door welcomed us once again. I always think of this collection as The World is a Circle - and here somebody has placed a peace dove which may have been felled by a storm or high winds.

The rock garden was fairly spare - Spring has barely had the chance to begin, and it seems as if each timid advance is followed by the need to retreat and take cover for a little bit longer. The tiny, resilient cyclamen astonish me with their capacity to be covered by inches of snow one week, then blooming bravely the next.

Our first morning here we headed for the cove and were rewarded with this wondrous turquoise colour.

Back at home, the daffodils have begun to show their faces. There are so many waiting to emerge, I hope they can find their way to blooming.

As ever, the light captivates and the fishing net drying poles fascinate. And the silhouetted horses...

A different perspective on the cove as Barry heads out to the edge on the other side.

I stayed where I was and turned around to capture this bluebird sky and the fence line...

And then this morning - snow and hail! This was the first round of hail, gathering in our front door mat, creating a beautiful black and white checker board.