Posters, letters and back to sewing!

 I am re-finding my rhythms and beginning to test and try new ones.  Still a bit skittery scattery at times, but gradually focusing again.

Barry and I are holding a poster, mini-poster exhibition from November.  I figured I should probably get my act together and start printing a few so Friday saw me inning and printing.

I think these words are really important.  They speak to me of how we so often fear or vilify the other.  Those who are different to us; and the list can go on and on.  Making people "other" removes our humanity and our empathy.  I really wonder what a wonderful world it could be if we just stopped othering.

I did a few variations, plain, taped and untaped.

A few errors printing meant I cut down the poster to just this word.  Still deciding what to do with it, but I like it!

I was tidying the studio and simply strewed (is that a word? - I know that things are strewn, but the past of to strew is???) some cut letters across bookshelf for an artistic look. Probably the word I am really looking for is tossed!

I then went on to make a small poster of one of my mum's favourite sayings.

Laughingly I had to work out how to spell the word wimp.  And as it turned out, one of us had dissed the ds back into where the ps go and vice versa; so I had picked up a d which was a p and a p which was a d, so then had to take them out and switch them over. As well as turn an s the right way up.

I quite enjoy this one!

On Saturday I stayed home and decided to re-acquaint myself with my sewing machine. We have set up the second bedroom with a sofa bed; but its main purpose is on one side as a sewing room for me; on the other a jewellery making space for B; and in between a big bookcase.

I used up scraps from a dress I had made previously and made this simple top.  It is still one of favourite patterns and this time I added a small pocket along the hem because I make sure nearly everything I make now has pockets.  Them being political and all.

 

And then flowers.  I have made a commitment to myself and us to trying have fresh flowers in the house at all times now - scattered hither and yon.  The lavender is still going strong in the office and I refresh the larger vases regularly.  I decided on Thursday to try and  track down some beautiful flowers locally and  came across a newly opened florist shop.

I bought these Serruria Floridas and just love them!

And on our return walk from own this morning we came across these poppies and these bees.  I took photos, not the flowers.

So, yes we are working on slowing, on simplifying and on spending time quietly and gently and less quickly.

Thursday Thoughts...

“There’s the story, then there’s the real story, then there’s the story of how the story came to be told. Then there’s what you leave out of the story. Which is part of the story too.” 

Margaret Atwood 

What a delicious description of story in all of its guises. 

I often times think that we all tell ourselves stories about ourselves - I can't draw; I'm a fly by the seat of my pants kind of gal; I am not logical etc etc and yet when we dig deeper we have probably just told ourselves these stories because they suited us at the time; or they helped shield us from some other things we weren't ready for; or we didn't like the association with what we negating. Or perhaps we even thought the response made us sound more interesting than we thought we were!

The way Ms Atwood suggest that any story is the sum of all these additions, subtractions, calculations and  emphases feels to me like a truly accurate description of any story we tell.

Whenever we go to tell a story we select the highlights; we set the context by deciding which bits 'matter'; which bits add to the story best; and of course we leave things out.

I imagine for any writer, there would be an interesting mapping project to look back over the development of a written piece or a book, and track all the decisions that show what was left out, what was told, what was emphasised and dramatised and the decisions taken about how the story would be told.

A couple of recent Thursday Thoughts have been simple enough notions; yet their deep complexity in reality has really made me pause.  Pause in awe and wonder at how humans manage to develop, interact and mercifully remain mostly conflict-free in their daily interactions given the millions of decisions that take place about these sorts of things.

by Poppelwell, 2009.  Seen in Auckland in 2012. 

Re-working

 As we packed up we came across lots of small bits of art that we had bought at different times, and whilst we brought some with us; much was shared and gifted to friends and family, continuing the circle of art.

I wasn't sure what to do with these two wee prints from the Maleny Printmaker's Collectable series.  They are by Peter McLean and I thought they were just lovely. I brought them with us, not sure where they might head next.

One day I looked at them and thought they might have a future as a small book. And so on Sunday I sat with them and turned them into covers for a  wee notebook.

Thunderhead I

Thunderhead II

I did a simple dot-dash pamphlet stitch on lovely Magnani Map paper.

I was surprised by the colour variation when I did a close up!

Front cover

Back cover

Spine!

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.

Thursday Thoughts...

“If you have the choice between being right and being kind, choose being kind” 

Dr Wayne W. Dyer.

I think this is one of those little reminders that can on the surface appear to be a bit twee; a bit light; or a bit saccharine. Yet, despite its simplicity it holds a deep truth and a deal of wisdom; and a challenge that many of us fail.

For isn't it hard at times to set ego aside; to set aside appearing right, more knowledgeable or smarter than somebody else and simply let the moment be?

Rather than proving oneself superior (or right) to instead simply let the moment go and be kind.  Kind to the person; the group; the relationship or the friendship.  Kind to people you care about. 

In a competitive world it can sometimes be hard to not actively choose to win; but rather to be satisfied with keeping a level playing field; of keeping relationships intact and maintaining good relationships.

Oftentimes the point being proven 'right' is petty and of no real importance; the important thing in the moment to the person intent on rightness is in the proving that they are right.  

I know I have a tendency towards this, towards showing people I know what's what. And I know that it can be petty and I know the it can be pointless and I know that it can be painful.  So I try to be better, and I try to be kinder.

An inventory of sorts...

 The more time I spend in the studio space, sharing the letterpress with others and explaining how things work, the more I realise don't actually have a huge bank of knowledge about our presses.

It's not something I have ever sat down to study; nor is it something I have people on tap I can just ask a million questions of.

I belong to a couple of letterpress groups and every now and again enter the conversations by asking the dumb questions; and they are always so helpful.  From one of these groups I have learned that there are three different sorts of Adana Table Top presses.

So I decided in my spare moments I would try to assess which ones we have; and am beginning to try and develop an inventory of sorts.

Here are just some of the photos I have taken in an effort to differentiate between them.  

Comparing the clamps that hold the baseline bar (my own, not a technical, term) in place begins the process.

And the pieces/things that hold the rollers - a few variations here.

The rails on the rollers...

And quite a few other things to look for - how many parts the body was cast in; if there are bolts in the base for attaching to a workstation - and a few other things I am enjoying trying to discover. Who knew?

I think I have worked out what we own; just need to triple check.  Once I know, I am hopeful we won't go around swapping rollers from here to there and wondering why they don't work so well over there on that one!  

All over the place

 Feeling just a bit all over the place as I review the week that was art-wise.

It seems that a bit of this and that, including a fair bit of preparation for workshops, is my main game at the moment so no real progress on anything to show; let alone anything much achieve or completed.

But life isn't always about achievement; it is also about the journey. A skitty scatty journey at that, but it is about forward momentum.

This was a random act that kind of went nowhere; yet which was a bit of a fun explore. A fellow visited the studio and although tentative at first, found his way into what we did and really enjoyed a number of cards and postcards. We stopped and talked about the grief cards in particular for quite a while.

He let me know he was a parish priest and we chatted about this and that.  He was quite taken by the individual pieces of type and wondered if one could put together some words. So we did.

When flipped you can read the meditation he oftentimes uses.  You can also read that I mistook the C for a G!  

It was a fun thing to try and who knows if, or when, it might be a thing that happens; maybe not these words; but maybe the idea itself will go along with something else...

I am writing an article and need to take the odd process photo; so here is one.

I am teaching calligraphy on pebbles in a few weeks.  I was preparing more pebbles as demonstrations (and to back fill our supply as the word peace was sold a few times this week, along with joy and love - yay!). I took them outside to put the final protection on them, and then of course fell in love with the patterns left on the cardboard...

On Friday a young fellow joined me in the studio for a bit of a play and did some amazing work.  Here's a few of the words he was working with... don't they just pop from the black background?!?!?!?! 

As I cleaned off the rollers afterwards I played around with some stamping I had done earlier for no good reason other than to find out what would happen if...?

 I am preparing some more workshops and will be printing some posters for around the studio - the beginnings of one right here.  Although I think that 's' might be upside down...sigh. Luckily, not yet set or printed!

And even more workshop prep sees me printing these words. 

A life of art is varied and full and I oftentimes do not know where it will go next; but I am more than happy to go along for the ride!

Thursday Thoughts...

“The most important tool the artist fashions through constant practice is faith in his ability to produce miracles when they are needed”. 

Mark Rothko

Change the pronoun and I can connect with this much better.

And so to ponder.  These words seem to relate to artists with particular practices.  The ability to produce miracles when needed seems to be associated with deadlines - be they commissions or exhibitions.  

I was wondering if the words applied to me; then realised that of course they have. At different points in time when things simply have to be done in time for certain things to be achieved it can feel like a miracle may well be called for.  

Perhaps it's not just about being able to pull the work out of the bag in time to deliver it; perhaps it's about being able to create work you have never attempted before for somebody who has requested it (or paid for it).  When one has possibly overpromised; or simply held the belief that even tho you haven't previously done it; that you most definitely can and will.

The part that interests me in particular is how Rothko describes this belief in your own capacity and capability as the most important tool to keep working away at over time. I'm not sure if it necessarily requires miracles, or just a deep and enduring belief in yourself and your skills.

This project had both - never done it before - plus - have a deadline in it.  Taking handwritten words, transforming them to digital; selecting the right colour, determining the size and layout and then installing in a public place.