Thursday Thoughts...

"A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint…What I begin by reading, I must finish by acting". 

David Henry Thoreau

So true I think of a really good book.  One that stays with you. That you keep on your shelf. Or by your bed. That you write notes from. That you return to. One that has its corners turned over as reminders. Where pink sticky notes stick out along the edges.

It is these sorts of books that I think are the ones that that get under my skin, that make me want to try to understand something better, so that I might incorporate it into my way of being.  These are the books with life lessons that mean something to me. They may be aspirational; they may be simple and direct. They may be the same as three other books I have marked in exactly the same way but which I keep failing to actually implement the lessons from.

I like the phrasing "living on its hint..."  I guess that would be another reason for keeping them around - the hint of something, perhaps out of focus or out of reach for now, which may become clearer the more we return to it or try to respond to it with actions.

This. Baking bread. 

Symbolic of all the books I read and keep about simplifying, having less, buying less. Of making more and creating more. Of a simpler life....

Full circles and getting things done

 Some things take time, a lot of time.  Last year I began the conversation with Robyn about the most recent poems that would be printed to celebrate and honour her daughter Sophie's life. Over a number of years Robyn has selected a poet to honour Sophie.  We have worked together to then bring the poems into being, in a beautiful manner - beauty really mattered to Sophie (a highly accomplished young poet, who died aged 22).

Each edition is a numbered edition of 22 only, to reflect Sophie's age when she died, and I have been involved in different ways - sometimes large, sometimes small, but always with a sense of how special it is to be involved in such a beautiful honouring.

In 2019 the work was called Sometimes the Soul - see here.

In 2017 the work was a piece Sophie herself had written, Self Portrait as a Reflection see here.

In 2021 the work is called lips over a waterfall, by Nathan Shepherdson, a series of small, connected poems.

Once again I did the calligraphy for the title - simple, flowing, connecting lettering...

Along the way Robyn and I spoke of our delight in unbound books, allowing the reader to move through the book in their own way.  And this was the approach chosen for Nathan's poems.

Whilst Nathan does suggest a reading sequence, (starting with 22!), you are free to wander through the words as you wish.

For the second time, Robyn has also chosen to create a small poster with all of the poems within it - a chance for more than 22 people to enjoy the words.

Some pixelation is occurring in the photos; but the work is crisp and clear, and soft and beautifully velvety in the hand.

Robyn dropped them in on Sunday - a true delight!

Along the way, another glimpse of the most recent commission, from behind.

And the mundane continues - with lots of cards being printed and illustrated - here is a birthday bouquet!

The Red Thread finishes on Sunday - hard to believe.  The show has sold really well and it has been just wonderful to show the work of the four of us together; and to have so many people delight in it and enjoy the works. And purchase many of them.

I love seeing red dots, knowing artists are selling and people are getting to have beautiful art in their lives and their homes.

Here is a link to a video walk through I did the night before we opened - the show was hung, but nothing was yet sold.  Apologies for my rather bad voice over, but that's life! Enjoy!

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.

Thursday Thoughts...

“No one imagines that a symphony is supposed to improve as it goes along, or that the whole object of playing is to reach the finale. The point of music is discovered in every moment of playing and listening to it. It is the same, I feel, with the greater part of our lives, and if we are unduly absorbed in improving them we may forget altogether to live them.” 

Alan Watts

This feels like a gentle reminder. I pondered the opening line - imagining a symphony that was really crap at the outset - discordant notes, an awful rhythm or screeching instruments - that went on to become a thing of beauty and perfectly resolved.  I imagine a listener could follow that trajectory and make some sort of sense of it but one wouldn't call it a masterpiece.

I think I am more inclined to the theory that hopefully we DO improve with age; that we get better at knowing, listening, understanding and feeling, so I was not sure about completely dismissing the notion of improvement along the way.

Then I turned again and considered how much it means to be right in the moment with music - to not be anticipating or reviewing but to simply be in it and enjoying every inch of it as it happens.  I don't listen to music trying to work out ahead of time how to better position myself for what lies ahead; I don't try to anticipate it and imagine the goal. I just listen to it. At that point.

And with that kind of approach I could come to grips with the suggestion that life shouldn't always be lived in anticipation of what the future holds; how things will be; how they will work out; where we might be; what we might do. As ever balance is the key for me - being utterly absorbed by a yet to be determined future seems a monstrous waste of the joy of the moment; yet thinking nought about the future feels reckless and risky at times.

So here I am: learning to pay attention to the here and now; trying to enjoy and celebrate the moments as they happen; with reference to the past and its lessons; and with an eye on the future and its hopes.

Celebrating the moments, in the here and now...

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!

A beautiful commission

 In between the prepping and planning and general getting ready-ness for the Red Thread showing, I was asked to print some invitations to a memorial; and some memorial thank you cards. It took some exceptional planning and logistics as they are multi-phase efforts and I had have them all done and dusted and out the door before we hung the show. It was tight.

Cutting the cards, setting the type, proofing, printing the outside of the cards.  Letting the cards dry then setting proofing and printing the inside of the cards. Testing colours (so interesting that red was the main theme!). Then on to doing the same for the invitations.

The bit where I begin to worry - will these scratches do anything at all? Or just look awful?

Just add water...

And the bit where I always let out a big sigh of relief; when they appear whimsical and gentle and swaying in the breeze.

The invitations - about 65 of them.

Wrapped and tied with the DEP thread.

And the cards - about 35 of them - with envelopes, stacked and tied with a bow and all teh details printed inside.

People often ask if we do custom work or commissions; and we say we don't do weddings.  But we will always try to do some beautiful hand printed cards for a funeral or memorial...

Spring has sprung and we had a storm last night so on our walk this morning the jacaranda carpets were everywhere!

Whereas Saturday's walk was a two-feather walk!

Thursday Thoughts...

“The problem isn’t coming up with ideas, it is how to contain the invasion. My ideas are like uninvited guests. They don’t knock on the door; they climb in through the windows like burglars who show up in the middle of the night and make a racket in the kitchen as they raid the fridge. I don’t sit and ponder which one I should deal with first. The one to be wrestled to the floor before all others is the one coming at me with the most vehemence.” 

Werner Herzog

What an animated and lively approach to inspiration this is!

Occasionally I think about how to chart or track inspiration for work. Where did the notion arrive from? How did it arrive?  And then what did it become along the way.  I oftentimes find the How did it arrive the most variable.  Sometimes it whispers in my ear what about?  Sometimes I get a blinding flash of understanding and insight and an absolutely confident sense of knowing exactly what should happen and what needs to be done. Sometimes I argue along with the idea. Sometimes I resist. Sometimes I get swept away.

This description of an onslaught of ideas bickering for attention like a litter of lively, clumsy puppies is just great.  I felt this way recently when a friend sent me two books that she no longer felt a need for; on the off chance that I might enjoy them. And I did. 

In the lead up to the showing, with works to complete, and admin things to sort, and plans for display to ponder, I read one of them and got myself entirely carried away with a multiplicity of ideas for what to do next (also knowing full well that I have two major books to complete before the end of the year and that well, time really passing is swiftly!). It was like a cacophony of pinball in my head as my hand fought to keep up with the jumps and leaps and connections and ideas I was having.

I dealt with it by getting a new notebook and jotting down ideas; and promising myself that yes I could play with it all. IN THE NEW YEAR. 

A movie title perhaps, Invasion Of The Ideas...

Las Vegas at night, 2010.

The Warmth of Friends & Friends Gather

At last, some more stories about some of my work for The Red Thread. 

Starting with Friends Gather.

I had set Pauline's poem in  a small typeface, aiming once again for a layout similar to the one she uses in her book; to keep the rhythm the poem as close to the way she wrote it.

I printed it on a beautiful Japanese paper - Goyu.  It is hands down one of my favourite papers: strong and yet so light and ethereal.  I don't have much of it left, eek!

Here is the poem from behind - you can see how fine the paper is.

For the pieces called Friends Gather I printed the poem once, on differing widths of paper.  They dried and then I dipped them in the most beautifully fragrant bees wax.  It is warm as honey. And I rolled them into a scroll-form.

Inspired in my thoughts by my piece Memorial to Birds Having Flown, 

I gathered three scrolls together in pleasing combinations and wrapped a red thread around them. 

With The Warmth of Friends; I ended up using much longer lengths of the Goyu paper (hence why there is not much left I guess).  And I chose to print and overprint, to print the ghost prints and layer the words of the poem on top of each other.  The same process of dipping and rolling into scrolls happened next.

With these ones, I stitched the red thread into them as an anchor of sorts for the loose wrapping.

There are still some of these available for purchase (A$75ea for Warmth; A$75 for the trio of Gather), so feel free to get in touch if you'd like to work something out...