Mixing the old with the new

 It has been a long time since we visited the cottage in the Scottish Highlands.  We miss it so, and try not to think too long or too hard about when we might get back; and are forever grateful that we have kind neighbours and friends caring for it in our absence.

This work takes me back to when we were last there.

Back here, I chose the typeface, but was still struggling with the 'how to print'.  Eventually we got there.  I dreamed up weird and wonderful notions through the night; I woke with another way of maybe getting there; and so it went.  

Barry and I teamed up to do it - worked out how to ensure we were at the right place and that the paper would be straight and wouldn't move.

It meant that the two of us worked on each print (there were 10 of them), so Barry patiently worked away and I interrupted him to come and help after I had set each line of type.

The type had to be fairly high up in the chase. There was only one print per image, so it was changed after each print.

You can see how much the paper was draped over the top - this was the main risk. It could slip or just get dirty as it swayed through the printing process.

We did a lot of proofing to make sure it was straight, and centred. Each line of type was a different length of course.

The good paper and the good image go in. Barry resting the ruler on a metal bar, Fiona lining the paper up with a line drawn on the paper on the left.

And once again, hi tech attachment using scraps of painter's tape!

The first impression.

And here are a few of them.

This was a trial (and it worked out pretty well, just not quite centred as well as it might have been) along with the original I had printed a home on my little old Canon back in January last year.

Up close the combination of detailed, crisp, digital printing and the deeper impression of hand-inked traditional metal type letterpress printing on an 1890 press works well.  I have enjoyed bringing the two eras together and seeing if they can make something beautiful.

I am selecting the top 3 and getting them into frames this week.  Then hopefully they will head to the Editions printmakers' show at Nambour later this month. Unless I change my mind and include something else instead...

As ever, here is the proof that we really do need to proof!

February - tick! March begins...

 Well, I managed to finish my February hankie this week; so am now officially only a full month behind.  I am taking this as a sign of it is what it is, and I shall get through them as I get through them.  The important things is to record the small daily changes; and stitching them can take the time it takes.

And so, to February

February details over January

As ever, I am in love with the folds and the edges..

And then to choosing which hankie for March.  I realised March has a lot of stitching in it, so went with a hankie with a sturdier weave. I am sure it will hold the stitches well, but it does make for trickier tracing of the words. They are barely visible through the hankie.

Here is my hi-tech approach to handwriting transfer.

All transferred, with one error to fix.

First stitch made! I have begun!

Thursday Thoughts...

“Do not hunt for subjects, let them choose you, not you them. Only do that which insists on being done and runs right up against you, hitting you in the eye until you do it.” 

Samuel Butler

This is one of those circular type questions for me.  I certainly can't agree with the ONLY do that which insists on being done, although I know I spend a lot of time doing just that.

When the quiet voice suggests or guides me; when the gnawing sense of injustice explodes into particles that need to be gathered.  At these times, I know I need to make the work I need to make.

At other times, if those voices have quieted, I can find myself adrift, unsettled, fragmented and distracted.  At these times I find it helps to make for something; towards something; along the lines of something.

I struggle at times to make work for exhibitions - within the guidelines and with some notions of limitations.  At other times I find limitations fabulous for creativity and working within some tight lines can create magic.

I am clearly ambivalent about the ways of working; yet as I critique my own work and my own working life as an artist, I do know for sure that I can only make MY work - never anybody else's; and if my work is niche, or a bit off to the side, so be it.

Saturday

 The weather turned sunny late in the week, and the sun appeared after so many grey days.  And we enjoyed it.

Saturday morning was beautiful for gardening - planting sweet peas and removing the weeds that had gone bananas during the warm wet weather. So glad I had mended these old jeans... in my own peculiar fashion.

Saturday afternoon sitting stitching. Trying to catch up on my Covid diary - still finishing February and here we are at the end of March! Stitching is slow business, but oh so relaxing.

Part of me is astounded, as I read back over them, to see how many small moments of change, fear, backwards, and holding we have been through, and we are a fortunate country.  No wonder so many still feel on edge, and on uncertain ground.  Brisbane is facing another outbreak, so we all watch and hold our breath.

Returning from the studio on Saturday B suggested we plate up our planned salad and head to Barooon Pocket Dam for a sunset dinner. Gates close at 6.30pm so we were in and out, but enjoyed a delightful and delicious dinner, the light, and the quiet...

And the moon rose as the sun set...

Sunday I was in the studio doing this and that. Some of which worked, some of which may be re-worked!

Thursday Thoughts...

“We found in books the divine plop, the joy of settling down deeply into something, worlds and realities greater than our troubled minds” 

Anne Lamott

The notion of a divine plop.

And yes, I understand and relate to it so well!  With the inimitable style of a good writer, Ms Lamott manages to put two words together that would not normally be alongside one another, and they evoke the perfect sense of settling in with a good book. The divine plop indeed.

I sometimes think the definition of a book should somehow, somewhere, include the word escape.  The focus and attention we offer a book, a story, or a narrative means that we go away in our minds, that we do settle down under the doona of life and can move away from our troubled minds.

It is often with a sense of wonder or astonishment that I raise my head after a deep reading session and realise the world is there. The ordinary surrounds me.  The small tasks are still waiting.  I have been far away.

I wonder if next time I will hear that plop?

Trying something, and laughing.

Honestly, sometimes there are days.

I have to look at myself and just laugh and wonder 'what were you thinking?'. So here goes.

I have this idea of wanting to stitch a bunch of small cards together.

I want to hang them on the wall

I want to machine stitch them.

I want there to be a gap between them.

I want the stitching in the gap to be good, not chaotic.

Here is my layout. I spent a lot of time working out balances, distances between,  how they might hang; where I could stitch and how that would impact the layout and so on.

You can see with the cards laid out like this, the stitching lines all line up. Still to work out a sewing sequence...

So I thought about how best to pass these cards through the sewing machine. How could I stabilise them so that they were connected whilst sewing, then released and held only by the sewing thread when I had finished?

I had heard tell of something called dissolvable embroidery stabiliser or something so I searched.  Tracked some down at Spotlight (under the counter) and came home thrilled and excited.

And then realised. It dissolves in water. I would have to soak my paper. My paper may disintegrate. My ink might run. Whose idea was this again?

I wondered if I cut a piece big enough, could I tape the cards to it in position (with washi tape) and then sew and then see what happened? Maybe I could sponge it off gently?

It worked pretty well I thought.

Then to the notion of dissolving.

Or simply removing.

And yay, you could tear it away.

Leaving little piles of mess, but the washi tape had held it in place, and then the sheets came away.

Ah ha.... looking like I wanted it to!

I may yet do a test with soaking the paper after sewing and seeing what happens; but for now I have a solution.  I expect the soaked paper might look different and it might be a look I like so it is worth investigating I think. But seriously, I laughed at how I had failed to pay attention to the word 'dissolve' in all of the searching I had done!

All alternative suggestions welcome!

Here there and everywhere

At the very last minute (well with less than 24 hours notice) Barry and I headed to Melbourne last week.  On return I worked out that in the previous 12 days we had been away for 7 of them which is unheard of in the past year or so.

It involved our first trip to an airport and our first flight, and our first time leaving the state in over 12 months.  All kind of interesting and odd. But it felt absolutely marvellous to do something spontaneous again!!!

We were work-working and visited the wonderful OurCommunity House in North Melbourne.  It is a co- working space for not for profit groups as well as the home of OurCommunity - a social enterprise which supports not for profits and grantmakers.

And it is FULL of art.

The absolute joy I get when I wander in, look arounds a corner, visit the toilets, go to the kitchen and in each of these places see a few pieces of work I have done and/or Barry has done is revitalising.  It is so good to see them being part of so many people's daily work lives.

One of my favourite books from my collaboration with Susan Bowers (Pas de Deux) Endure is on display in the entrance and on a ledge looking out onto Victoria St.

I like to think that as folk pass by they can read the words  "the paper burns, but the words fly away..." by rabbi Akiba Ben Joseph.

We returned tired, but so pleased that we could make it back over the border safely.  Melbourne was warm and sunny; and we returned to more mist and rain and grey. However that means that everything is rather lush and green and blooming amazingly.

We went for a walk on Saturday morning and stopped in our tracks when we spied this wee beautiful thing. So gorgeously framed by those wild colours!

And yes the rain has seen an abundance of fungi growing in the mulch on the gardens too. Little transparent parasols...

Saturday afternoon, we hosted the first of our Celebrating Books Maleny events - the return of The Big Book Club! We had around 70 folk there discussing the book The Last Migration by Charlotte McConachy in small groups (Called Migrations in the US I think); and then we were honoured to have Professor Rich Fuller as our guest and expert in the plenary session. If you check back on our website in a week or so you will be able to hear his amazing conversation with Sue, about migratory birds, habitat, extinction of species, climate change and more. Some sad, but also plenty positive.

We all loved the book discussion and learned so much from Rich; it was a wonderful afternoon and everybody left feeling invigorated and excited to gather with books again.

Our next event is streaming of the Sydney Writers' Festival (30 April - 2 May) and there are 6 fantastic sessions and we look forward to hanging out together, talking books and writing again soon!

In the interim however, I am happy to just go slow for a bit and regather and renew...