Thursday Thoughts...

Entering a novel is like going on a climb in the mountains: you have to learn the rhythm of respiration, acquire the pace; otherwise you stop right away.
Umberto Eco


One of the great things about being in a book group is that you end up reading books you might otherwise have left on the shelf.  Sometimes its all too easy to just get in the groove with an author or a style of writing or a genre even, and just buy your ticket and go along for the ride. You know how it moves, how it is paced and how you can expect to read it.

With many of the books I meet through book group, it takes me a while to work out how they will work. How is it paced? Is the writing style staccato-like; short stubby sentences that feel jerky or uncomfortable? Or are they long rambles that you read twice over just to make sense of it all? Is there so much description you nod off? Or are things pared down to the essence such that you read them quickly and then get stopped in your tracks as you acknowledge the perfection of it? Or does the richness of the language just add depth and understanding as the sentences get longer and you follow along enthusiastically?

This quote by Umberto Eco captures that sense of reading a novel being a bit like a dance where you have to learn the steps, respond to your partner, be guided here, take the lead there...to listen to the rhythm. A dance as you climb in the mountains perhaps?

Printmaking Workshop

Last weekend I attended a fabulous etching and printmaking workshop with Victoria Atkins of the Wallace House "Press Gang". The workshop was organised by the Caloundra Regional Gallery and held at the Maleny Arts & Craft Group building.

I wanted to attend this one because it was about etching without acid. Whilst I am enamoured of the etching process and the creation of prints; I am somewhat wary about having acid around the house and working with its fumes and burning and exploding potential etc, so have tended not to do much of it - in fact none really for 2 years. We learnt how to etch aluminium plates with a copper sulphate and salt solution.

We also learnt how to create depth of tone in our plates (something that has eluded me previously) and to apply chine colle and colour to our prints.

We worked with a small plate on the first day - testing techniques and different materials to block out the etching - bitumen, car wax, oil pastels, etching ink, contact, lithograph pencils, enamel aerosol paint and so on. We created a plate that was like a sampler of the techniques.  Using some of these techniques I created another small plate and added to it on day 2 with chine colle with used teabag; and colouring the plate with 'the dolly method'.

Overnight I looked at images and came across this piece 'Landline with vessels' by Lorna Crane.

When I looked at it, I realised that it was a perfect example of tone for me and would offer me a good chance to sit and think thru how the different dark and light tones, combined with marks could be created. I thought and thought. And then I wrote a step by step process to myself - trying to ensure that I covered off all the angles.

I was thrilled that I achieved what I set out to do with regard to getting the tones and textures right.  Any new process is tricky to get your head around, and for me the fact that things are reversed when printing, that what you cover up (make dark) will remain the lightest, and what you want dark must remain uncovered and so on, really made me slow down and think, not just do.

I then enjoyed applying colour for different effects; and not completely wiping the ink off the top surface to create lines and movement in a black and white piece. I would still like to do a piece and colour it using the dolly method to see if I can capture the colours as well as the tones of the original.

These pieces are just for me - to look at and reflect on my learnings - but you get to see them too.

A wee book

I have managed to pull together a sweet little book using some of the encausticed-rusted-pages over text that I have been playing with.

This one tells the story of life lightening - getting lighter as we move forward, emerge from tough times, and find our way back.

I combined the colour of the pages with the thickness of the pen and density of the ink to create a bit of a transition. In no way, is the book about being free of worry or drifting delightfully without a care in the world; it's simply about reaching a better place.

I interspersed the pages with other lovely rusted and textured pages and then created a non-repeatable Fiona binding using some lovely soft leather I found in the cupboard. It ended up being a combination of approaches, all of which needed to be modified in order to achieve the outcome.

Thursday Thoughts...

But there is something about Time. The sun rises and sets. The stars swing slowly across the sky and fade. Clouds fill with rain and snow, empty themselves, and fill again. The moon is born, and dies, and is reborn. Around millions of clocks swing hour hands, and minute hands, and second hands. Around goes the continual circle of the notes of the scale. Around goes the circle of night and day, the circle of weeks forever revolving, and of months, and of years


The Small Rain by Madeleine L’Engle

Keenly observant readers may have noticed that for the past while, my Thursday Thoughts posts have alternated between thinking about Art and thinking about Books.  Over the Christmas-New Year break I pondered adding another dimension to the Thoughts, along the lines of thinking about 'Life'.  Clearly enough scope in that one to keep me going for a while!

This gentle quote speaks to me of the timeless and ancient natural rhythms and cycles that we experience, and in a way leaves the subtle message that 'this too shall pass'.  Reading it, my breathing slowed, my brain slowed, my heartbeat slowed, my body relaxed. I read it slowly and thoughtfully. I sensed or imagined the stars swingly slowly across the sky and fading; the moon taking its time being born and dying. I glimpsed millions of second hands and minute hands and hour hands following their calling. I thought about those clouds that fill and empty and fill again.

Despite our sorrows, fears or waverings, tomorrow the sun will rise, a new day will await us and we will make our way through it. And then the sun will set again, and rise again. And another day will welcome us.

Maleny sunset sky © Fiona Dempster

Encaustic incense stick play

Every now and again I get this little moment of inspiration that suggests I try some things; and this moment brought together several of the things on my current favourites list.

I started out using incense sticks to burn away letters in book pages and the notes in music scores. I really liked the look. Every since we had a play day with Noela I have been burning incense sticks and using them to create holes in just about anything. Yesterday a piece just kept on burning so I threw it outside in the rain and it stopped, I did some more and had to 'apply rain' again and so on; but I got some wonderful effects...more another time.

Whilst I liked the look of the burnt pages, I wanted to add some depth, and wrote a few words on the page, then covered it with some beautiful thin paper that I had rusted and then encaustic-ed over.

So a list of my current favourites includes: rust, encaustic, words and incense stick holes!

Not quite sure where they're headed...

 Home is where the story begins - © Fiona Dempster

Heading home - © Fiona Dempster

Floodwise - it continues to rain, and the devastation deepens. Just when you think it can't get any worse it does. Toowoomba experienced an 'inland tsunami' yesterday afternoon - so far 9 people are dead and 66 are still missing. Gympie is underwater and Maryborough is expected to go under tomorrow; Ipswich is evacuating, Caboolture is evacuating and Brisbane is likely to go under on Thursday. They anticipate a further 9000 homes to be flooded in the next few days. The floodwaters at Rockhampton just won't recede and some small towns are being evacuated for a second time (the fifth flood in a month for some).

We are safe. Our town is sandbagged now (library included - so far so good) and we are experiencing frequent blackouts - we did another essentials shop today and did so in the dark - the staff had torches and guided us around. It is wearing and tiring and deeply saddening at times, but we know how lucky we are.

Best wishes to others experiencing the water and the bushfires near Perth. A tough country.

Flood update

A quick post to talk briefly about how the floods in Queensland affected us today.  Whilst we have been thankful that we live on a mountain top we have been deluged with rain today. By 6pm we had received 250mm (10 inches) of rain since 9am - more than an inch an hour. It's still going (10pm) and we are all very soggy.

The radio has mentioned all day that towns to the south of us, and to the west have been isolated and cut off - our nearest 'neighbours' down the hill, so we are conscious that waters are rising everywhere nearby. This is of course in addition to the massive and catastrophic floods that are affecting so much of the state elsewhere.

We have a creek, the beautiful Obi Obi, which runs through our town. We watched as the docile creek turned into a tumultuous whirlpool during the day - a day of many firsts. We had never seen it so high; seen water here or there; seen the paddock turn into a dam and so on.  At 8pm tonight we got a call - all hands on deck please as the Library, which resides on the banks of the creek, was in danger of being flooded and we needed to lift books and equipment to higher levels.

We took off and as is typical in a crisis/emergency I didn't take my camera, so the photos are from my phone which isn't brilliant, with the assistance of a tiny torch. But you can see how a team of volunteers appeared and sorted things in less than hour. Our Library is such a precious resource; we hope the rain eases overnight and it remains safe and dry.

Barry moving swiftly in the background...

My foot, from the boardwalk at the back of the Library - the water is about 10 cm (4 inches) away - usually it is about 3-4 metres (9-12 feet).

The top of a tree, submerged in the floodwaters...

Creativity - sometimes it takes time!

Yesterday I wrote about how creativity can flow; and today I find myself contemplating the flip side. Not the complete flip side when there is nothing happening; just a semi-flip side where creativity gives way to design and involves a lot of steps, planning and testing.

I have begun pondering my new alphabet for a letter a week 2011 and have started to play around with a few ideas. We have set parameters for one alphabet of being ' black and white and a touch of...' and I thought I would start with this one.

We are working with 7cm squares again and I saw in my mind's eye layering of black-inked letters on white, against a black background, with a dash of colour thrown in somewhere. So I began to test it. I'm afraid you get to see it warts and all this time.

I drew up some 7cm x 7cm squares, grabbed some nibs and started writing. Worked out early the big nib was toooo big - the 'a' and 'c' were fine, but anything with ascenders (like 'd' and 'b') wouldn't fit; nor would anything with descenders (like 'p' and q''). I did like the way the letters kind of danced together. Wrote notes to self on the page.

I tested out a few plain letters and size - all looking a bit ugly at this point with poorly formed letters to boot.

I got the nib size right here - one that would work for all letters within the 7cm frame, and began over-writing with different nib styles and sizes. Trying to work out which direction the letters should go in in order to create a balanced look. A few diamonds of colour appeared here as well - testing what the 'touch of...' would be for me.

Beginning to simplify and clarify what's going on; but was suddenly faced with the thought - should the over-written letters just be randomly placed, or should I follow some sort of pattern/order?  The top row is random; the bottom row is planned (except for the massive thick blob that appeared in the fine five-line nib's 'a'!!). More notes to self on the page.

I had chosen to write on a 10cm x 10cm piece of Fabriano Rosapina paper, so that letters would bleed off the page and be cut off etc - I like that look rather than all fitting neatly in a box. So I cut out a frame so that I could see what might be left when I chopped it back to 7cm a 7cm.

I then cut a couple out and stuck them onto a 10cmx10cm piece of black paper. (I folded them before I photographed them, hence the wobbly appearance)

Then I folded them properly and joined them in a lotus flower sort of fold.

So with that prototype under my belt, I think I'm on track to actually start making my letters. I am yet to decide on the random versus organised layout of the letters and which colour to add (red or gold). I'll ponder that a bit more! As a first step I have cut all my white pages and traced the 7cm x 7cm frame onto them whilst the black pages are still waiting for the chop.

Creativity - sometimes it flows

I don't know a better way to describe it than 'the flow'. I had a lovely day in the studio yesterday which reminded me of how important it is to be there every day, so that when these moments appear you can go with them.  I have committed to spend time in the studio every day - grabbing a moment here or there if needed, but also making sure I spend good chunks of time there as well.

I think Friday showed that some of the lead up work you do - looking about you, thinking about things, getting late night insights and so on can come together in the moment and allow you to create. It just happened, a few little connections were made in my mind - what about, why don't I try, and oh that's an idea...and off we went.

The results was these small squares of embossed paper - with journey-like marks appearing on them. I mounted them on foam core to give them some height.

They seem gentle and thoughtful pieces to me; so I tried them against several backgrounds, trying to imagine them matted and framed. Do you think the mood changes with the background? Do they deserve a dramatic statement or a gentle hard-to-see support? Do they need a contrast or to disappear?

I am reminded that even when the flow has been here, there are still lots of decisions to be made to bring a piece to being the best it can be. I guess sometimes that happens in the flow as well, but this time I've needed to stop and ponder.

A letter a week - second alphabet finished!

I have reached the end of my second alphabet and have completed the final piece as well. I had been building a concertina book which would act as an exemplar book for teaching.

I knew it needed a slip case. I knew it needed to be more than a concertina. I left it on its shelf for a few days and walked past it, thought about this, pondered that. Tested a few options with Barry. The process unfurled itself.

In the end its nothing too clever or flash - but it fits its purpose.  I ended up stitching through the valley folds, using the same thread I had used for the letters, making exterior stitches that I could thread tapes through. I made the tapes from two pieces of the main paper. I made a hard cover, covered in rusted braille paper then glued an inner lining to it, just around the edges. I left additional flaps on the concertina, and cut them down so they would slide between the cover and the lining.

It was nice to have the time to to explore all the options and not be rushing towards completion.

I like that it works as a book-book; you can hold it and turn the pages and see the different letters, and it can also be detached and spread out beautifully like a long concertina. I will be able to use it whichever way to display or show the teaching alphabet.

Now onto the first alphabet of 2011!

Thursday Thoughts...

Getting started, keeping going, getting started again—in art and in life, it seems to me this is the essential rhythm.
Seamus Heaney


A good friend shared this quote with me this week and I liked the ideas it contained. The idea that life has this rhythm of initiation, movement, then the need to start again. A sort of cycle at play and gentle reminder that very few things simply take off and fly all by themselves without needing a little bit of impetus to renew them.

Practising art is very much like this as well - not so much a stop-start paradigm; but that sense of having to get started again after you hit a wall, try something that doesn't work brilliantly or head off down an unsuccessful path.

Art is often about exploring - new techniques, approaches, formats. Not every time will we get it right, but we shouldn't be too dismayed by that. The exploration and attempting is as much a part of the journey as the finished product is, so we should just dust ourselves off and get started again. Sometimes we just need to start again after a break, an interruption or after a distraction that was fascinating but not actually helpful!

It helps me to realise that this rhythm is a part of the process, and of life.

I took this photo of a bug working its way across a leaf in Japan a couple of years ago. I think the meandering marks it leave behind reflect the starting, keeping going, starting again rhythm of it all.

Southern Cross University Artists Books

I find the whole applying for selection into exhibitions a bit stressful. I don't like to jinx the whole thing by talking about it much and it can be particularly tricky when there are two of you in a family who are applying.

Last year, both Barry and I entered books into the SCU exhibition; and the big excitement was that Barry's book 'Censored' was acquired by the University for its collection.  This year the rules changed and you had to be selected to exhibit; and the news came through early this morning that whilst my book had been selected; Barry's hadn't.

So its hard to be excited and joyful when one of you misses out. His book is gorgeous and stunning and probably 'not quite a book' for some folk - in that he tends to build sculptural books using timber and metal.

Here is the award winning 'Censored' from last year.

And the sadly rejected 'Spirals' from this year which incorporates a poem by Poeticmuse on metal 'pages' in a spiral form.

I was surprised that my little 'book in a box' My journey is my way home was selected. There is to be a catalogue of the exhibition this year, and here is my page layout. My first attempt at taking a screen shot of a pdf and converting it to a jpeg, sounding like geek girly buy hey it seemed to work, except for the weird border thing - please excuse.

Even when I am selected for something such as this, I am very consciousof the random nature of these things. Who knows what they were looking for? Who was on the panel and how do they personally define the artists book? Do they prefer certain types of books or bindings? Did they want to see lots of blue books this year?  Does the idea of journeys resonate with them when spirals doesn't?

I am pleased for me, but sad for Barry, but also know that being selected or not for something like this doesn't actually mean your work is better or worse than anybody else's. It just is.

Happy 2011

Barry and I have really taken to the idea of sending New Year cards rather than Christmas cards and it has been a 'tradition' now for nearly 6 years. It just works for us - we don't put the pressure on before Christmas (there is enough of that) and we use the time in between Christmas and New Year to design, make and send our cards.

This year I opted for a fairly simple affair again - some wiggly squiggly lines (reminiscent of our scribbly bark gum trees) with spaces left for different coloured numbers to spell out the year.

Here are my cards that are being sent out; and here are Barry's.

With best wishes for a fabulous, fulfilling and creative New Year. Peace, joy and happiness for 2011.