Thursday Thoughts...

“If you think that happiness means total peace, you will never be happy. Peace comes from the acceptance of the part of you that can never be at peace.” 

Joss Whedon

I think there have been variations on this theme over the years and different folk have said similar things in slightly different ways.

I stopped and pondered peace within and tested how I felt about this explanation.

I certainly agree that happiness does not equal peace; nor does peace equal happiness. Peace within is definitely different. 

That started me off thinking if peace within means the same as contentment? Or is it like feeling calm within? If I am at peace, how else am I? Am I relaxed? At rest? Not really. And interestingly enough the word that kept popping back into my mind was acceptance. 

So I figure I was either influenced by reading this; or that for me peace within is about knowing that there is stuff I can't do much about, and just not fighting it. Accepting the things I cannot change. But then is it serenity???

In the end I think when I am at peace, I am accepting of the way things are, but also I think I am at peace when I know I have done what I can do; or that I have done my best. 

May there be peace within us and between us.

A train trip, Narratives and the sky

 For a few days last week Barry and I hit the train tracks and went on a wee adventure. My Dad had recommended the train trip from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh and really thought we should do it sometime. And finally, we got around to doing it.

We caught the train from Thurso in the North to Dingwall and stayed overnight there. On Thursday morning we wandered around Dingwall and found some lovely shops and food. On Thursday afternoon we caught the train across to the Kyle of Lochalsh.

At first we thought, oh yes, this is quite nice, but we weren't stunned. Gradually the high mountains appeared and rivers and some waterfalls, so it was getting interesting and quite lovely.

And then the sights came thick and fast. You know when you are always tapping somebody's shoulder or arm saying - oh look at that! Yep, I was glued to the windows by then.

The day was sunny and still, so we absolutely had the best of it.

And the bridge to Skye, from Kyle of Lochalsh was our end point...we had fish and chips outside as we watched the sun set. Pure bliss.

On Friday morning, we had to catch the early train as our mid morning train had been cancelled. That meant it was deepest dark at 5am when we rose, and still deeply dark by 6am when the train left, and still deep dark for about another hour or so, so we never saw the magnificent part of the trip again!

Waiting at the train station.

The two of us reflected...

As one exhibition ends, another one opens on the other side of the world. In our town of Maleny - there are 27 fabulous artists' books on show until 20 October. My book "Lost for Words" is part of it and tells the story in its own quiet way of how it feels to lose one's words...

And a final random thing for the post - last night I got another Aurora alert on my phone and thought I would check it out, even tho the sky was covered in cloud, 100%.

I was intrigued to discover no dancing, and no shimmering, and not many gradations, just this eerie green in the sky...

Fascinating!

Farewell Hame, and welcome...

 On Saturday, my exhibition Hame closed. Late in the afternoon, Barry and I headed down to dismantle the show and pack the pieces up.

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly a show comes down, after the time it takes to make the work and set it up!

Rolling up the scrolls and keeping them with their rusty tins.

Amazing how compact they become, after having drifty regally from the tops of their plinths.

Add in the cubes from Rolling the Dice and a folded up Postcards Home and a bundled up The Emigrants in their pouch and the whole show is nearly here!

Bundled and Burnt gets added in alongside the display case for Rolling the Dice. The perspex case for The Emigrants is pretty large; and Travelling Home the wall piece is also of a size so they do add a sense of heft (tho not shown here).

And it is done. We will be leaving the plinths with the Museum rather than carrying them back to Australia with us

And straight away they have a new role in life! I have moved my four hand stitched books onto the main table where they will accompany the work the High School students made in the workshop we did with them. I am so excited for the students that their work will get a public showing.

And on Sunday morning, Tracy, their teacher, and I set up their work.

Once more, the work is all about ideas of home and what it means.

So vibrant and mazing - so much to look at, to draw the eye. I really enjoyed displaying them and showcasing this bit and that...

I love all the shadows and the angles too!

I really want to go back now and have a good look through them. Some of the work was exceptional, sincerely thought through and well resolved and presented. So many complex ideas were considered, and so many creative expressions made of them. Always, young people will surprise you, and impress you.

This showing is on for two weeks, from Monday 7 October until Saturday 19 October. One of those weeks is the school holidays so hopefully more students will get the chance to visit and see their work on display. And hopefully there will be more visitors generally!

It has been a great collaboration between artists, the High School and the Museum. So good to have community working together to showcase art and talent.

Thursday Thoughts...

“Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it.” 

Ai Weiwei

Ahhh, the wisdom of Ai WeiWei. Hard won I am sure, but it is a great place and understanding to get to that art is life and life is art and the two are so intertwined that one could not separate them.

We often say to ourselves - you can't make living out of art, but you can make a life. And we certainly do. We see art and beauty and inspiration all around us. We seek out art and creativity as ways of connecting with people. We use art to express our concerns and our worries and our joys. Art features so often in our daily lives that we sometimes fail to recognise it as such.

We read about art, we look at art, we ponder art, we make art, we talk about art...it is certainly the organising principle of our lives. And for this I am grateful.  

Ai Wei Wei, Sunflower Seeds, New York 2012

Week 4 book, and beginning to think of new ones

Even tho the exhibition is going to be on show for another week, I decided to stick with my original plan to have 4 weeks of postcards and stitch them into a book at the end of each week. So this week, all four books will be on show at the exhibition.

Last week's question was "To make a home in a new place I would..." and I quite liked the open-ended nature of it. I felt it left it wide open for folk to write pretty much all sorts.

There are fewer people around in the Highlands now that Autumn has well and truly been ushered in; many tourists have gone; and the season is edging closer to close, so I was pretty happy to still get 20 postcards completed.

I love how they look displayed together on the herring barrel.

And as is often my want, once things are done or established, my mind turns to new options, new ideas, new things to say, new things to try and express...

One book has been filling my night time awakeness with questions re resolution. How could I? Would it work to...? Can I make this make sense? And finally I have managed to get my hands into the making and testing of an idea.

In doing so, one book became three. It seemed like it made more sense to try to say these things in these ways. One of my night time solutions proved to be impossible for the showing I was thinking of - you just couldn't 'read' the book satisfactorily. 

The front one here was a partial solution, but I knew it was clumsy and not finely resolved. I was sad and about to turn my mind to something completely different when I sat and had a cuppa with B and we chatted about what I was trying to achieve.

And as we spoke I said, I think it could work if it was supported and the legs sort of sat down... so I found a 'plinth' of sorts and tried to see what it might look like.

Quite liking that look, it then made sense that another one of the books could also work to be lifted up a touch.

And the playing around gave me heart to try again. I think here are probably several more prototypes

to go through as I test how to fold the works in and the make covers that work, but I have hope again!

During the week I was gifted these beautiful dried poppy heads by a young friend as we walked along near the Village Hall. The sun was out for long enough to reflect some lovely shadows.

The palette of a chaffinch

 In amongst the various commitments here and there we snaffled Friday afternoon for some arty play. I sat down to see if I could capture the spirit of a chaffinch.

I love these little birds, and nearly always stop as they hop around the window feeding on the seed we scatter. I love their colours and I just think they are so beautiful.

I have discovered that they are perhaps commonplace - they seem to exist across the UK in quite large numbers - but each sighting is still special to me.

So I set about playing with a stylised version of this wee bird. How could I get the individuality and the sense of the chaffinch across, in a small drawing? Drawing realistically is not my strength, and so I set about trying to abstract it in a way.

And then I tried to work out where the different colours might play.

And then I tried to workout my colour palette and how to make it, mix it.

And here is my plate of colour. It is a marvel to me how well nature produces and combines colours in such perfect way - these colour do go together so well.

Across the three - the swatches, the plate and the painting.

And where I go to with this wee one. I will go in again and put some softening washes over the top I think; but I was happy with the patches I drew for the different colours, and the colours themselves are pretty close to where I wanted to be.

And back to other moments of nature and perfect colours... the stormy sky on Saturday morning.

And some lovely news through the week - Hame has been extended by another week! So the show is now on until next Saturday 5 October, and I am thrilled that more folk will get to see it.

I spent some time hand-editing the postcards that are out and about promoting it.

Thursday Thoughts...

“Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader – not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.” 

E.L. Doctorow

A good book is definitely one where sensations and emotions are evoked.  I think if the writer is talented, they do manage to make you feel something; rather than simply be told something. They evoke rather than describe perhaps?

One of the best books I have read recently was the Booker Prize winning Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. I felt that this book was the epitome of evocation. With limited punctuation, you felt like you were rushing along. You felt as if you were inside her head - with thoughts about making tea; and getting the kids to hockey practice and the fear of the watchers on the streets. He managed to build a sense of fear and trepidation; of constriction and spiralling out of control so well.

They say a picture can paint a thousand words, and much imagery does evoke sensation. But so does really good writing.

Perhaps the anticipation of that storm arriving...

Week 3 and general loveliness

 I have gotten into the rhythm of collecting the postcards and stitching the book. This time, the book was stitched before lunch on Sunday!

I delivered it back to the Museum at opening on Monday morning and it has joined the other two books as an ongoing record of visitors' thoughts.

They are forming a lovely gathering.

I spoke to lots of folk through the week about this question, and so many of the adults were almost embarrassed to say they would take their phone.  We talked through how it actually holds lots of information as well as lots of photos; enables us to do banking; and may hold our passwords and apps to access so many functions. We all agreed in the end it was OK!

Photographs remained a priority for nearly everyone. There was discussion about how so many of our possessions are just 'things' in the end; but there was a lot of pondering about things of sentimental or familial value - taking jewellery for example that had been handed down thru the generations so that there was something for future generations as well.

So many interesting discussions.

Through the week we had some truly magnificent blue sky days. On one of them we headed to Tongue, to climb to Castle Varrich. The views from the top were astonishing.

I received an Aurora alert late at night on the night of the full moon and thought there was no chance of seeing the Northern Lights. The moon was so bright, and the streetlights in the village were also on. They were slightly stronger out the back where there is little or no ambient light; but here they are shimmering in the corner with a bright full moon AND streetlights! I was amazed that was even possible.

Taken at 2.03am

And last but never least, flowers keep me happy and they get scattered all over the house and as bunches get reduced. single blooms hold their own. A fading cornflower on our new kitchen bench.