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...

Thursday Thoughts...

“Journeys are the midwives of thought” 

 Alain de Botton

I have been reading the Art of Travel by M. de Botton and enjoying some chapters immensely; whilst skipping over others in a trice. 

I enjoy this notion about how travel can enable some thoughts to be born, that might otherwise not have come to light or life. He was speaking in particular of train travel and how there is something special about the landscape steadily going by; the way in which you can see ahead of you and behind you for longer than if flying high above; or if actually driving yourself.  Something about long horizons.

I think not only do new horizons encourage to think differently; I think the process of moving between places and thinking about the here and the there; and the home and all of these ideas, can encourage new ways of thinking or being.

A daily commute offers new thoughts and thinking as well - even if some of them arise from pure frustration.  But I definitely think that moving between places - long multi hour or day trips; or short half hour trips all offer a little bit of this possibility of newness and freshness.

Taken from a moving train, between Inverness and Edinburgh...it's been a while.

Marching and thank you

Well, yesterday across Australia, a lot of women (and many men) marched for justice.  Justice for women who have been raped and sexually assaulted. Justice for women living with, and dying from, domestic abuse. Justice for women who are not safe from harassment in their workplace.

We travelled to Brisbane on the train and joined a couple of thousand folk listening, learning and marching and chanting. After such a dreadful few weeks, it was truly energising to be alongside so many good people.

There were many good posters.

Here we are about to get on the train in our protest t shirts.  Mine was an RBG one - Fight for what you care about, and B's references a long ago story. One of our radio shock jocks called a bunch of women 'feminist fright bats' claiming they were 'destroying the joint' - so we went and bought the tshirts and have worn them regularly since. Both proud feminist frightbats.

And in other quiet news - a commision for a farewell.

A gentle thank you card in a hand made envelope/pouch made of Japanese paper.

It had to be printed inside and out on the same day and I wasn't sure if the front would dry to allow me to print inside without smudging, so covered my bases with a separate thank you which was attached to the outside of the card, just in case.

I also printed on the outside of one so the presenter could have a choice.

Lovely quiet stitching time.

 

Days away...

 A year has passed since we went into lockdown here; a milder version than other places; yet very real just the same.

We have not ventured far in that year and nor have we ventured forth often. But we have tried to do some short circuit breaker trips to one of our favourite places - Cotton Tree.  It is a 45 minute drive away but feels a million miles from home in a way, so you get the feeling of holiday when you go for a few days. 

Here are some time away images...

Early morning sun across the water.

That big blue sky - and a palm tree that reminds me of tv's Los Angeles!

A fabulous tree shadow in Kin Kin.

Storms around sunrise

Stormy weather as we left.

And the moods of the water.

All very relaxing...

Thursday Thoughts...

“What in your life is calling you, when all the noise is silenced, the meetings adjourned, the lists laid aside, and the wild Iris blooms by itself in the dark forest, what still pulls on your soul?” 

 Rumi

Oh what a beautiful set of words.  

The words still me; they calm me and they make me want to explore that dark forest.

I guess in many ways this one could speak to life, but for now I have chosen to think about it in terms of art. What in my art life is calling me?

So often we (I) can get caught up in the multiplicity of things that seem to need to be done; or that seem to be really interesting to do.  Curiosity, inquisitiveness and all of that can see me get distracted by a bunch of options to try, experiment and play with.

But in the end they pull me away from what is quietly calling.

I regularly feel that I have raced away from what is important or what matters; and regularly feel as if I need to stop and listen to the quiet voice; the quiet tug and follow it along.

When I have removed all the clutter and all of the buzz, what is it that I need, deep in my heart, to do?

Such lovely marks and stories...

Armadale Horizons - testing and trialling

 I have had an idea for some work for a while (a long time!) and even blogged about it way back here.

These images of the sky and the sea and the in between from the cove near our wee cottage in Scotland...

In between times, in the year of times away from normal, I have played with them intermittently but haven't pushed through on any of it.

I am edging closer to doing something with them.

I have 42 images and I have spent time looking at each one and writing some words that link to it.

I have been exploring the notion of blessings.  As I think and write about what a blessing means for me; some of these thoughts emerge...

For me, blessings issue from one person to another, An act of kindness, they offer hope and company on a journey; in a moment; through our lives.  A generous encouragement, seeking the best for another, they  take us from being to becoming, with the most positive of intentions.

Blessings as benediction mine are not . Overtones of religiosity, invocation or annointing should melt away. We circle back to the beginning, to simply the space between two people and a gifting of hopes for another.

I have approached a person in town who can print digitally onto high quality paper and have asked him to print the imagery at 10cm x 10cm size; and positioned in a particular place on an A3 page.

Because I want to combine traditional letterpress printing with contemporary digital printing I was checking through our drawers for type that might wok with the imagery and be legible in a single line.

These were my four choices - Gloucester Bold Condensed, Granby Bold, Colonna and Univers. All 18pt.

Slightly fancy and with serifs, this is Colonna 18pt.

This is Univers 18pt

Heavier this time with Granby Bold 18pt (with a random y in may!)

And for whatever reason I must have dismissed Gloucester Bold Condensed as I didn't bother photographing it for comparison! 

 

Another combination - does the darker imagery suit the darker typeface?

Does the lighter typeface suit the brighter images?

So yes, lots of testing, checking, trialling, pondering, combining and wondering.

In the end I have come down on the side of the lightest typeface Univers 18pt.

It felt  like it would be legible, yet not attempt to confuse or dominate.

And whilst that seems like a lot of time spent, it  is nothing in comparison to the time I am spending fiddling this way and that trying to position the type in the right position below the image, and somehow fit the A3 paper through the Lightning Jobber; and keep the whole thing straight!

Still not solved or resolved so watch this space. About now I begin to wonder if I shouldn't have checked the likelihood of being able to print before I committed to all the other steps - laugh!

Rainbow Words...

 I have been undertaking the loveliest of commissions.

Someone has asked for 5 sets of daily words; each in rainbow colours with four sets of verbs and one set of nouns.

Each set has 70 words in it (10 of each colour of the rainbow) so that means 70 x 5 = 350 words.

Plus I decided to make an extra set of verbs just in case...so really 70 x 6 = 420 words.

And 420 slips of 300gsm watercolour paper,  cut down to size at 1.5cm x 5cm.  Lots of cuts and quite small to work with! 

I use my trusty Windsor and Newton watercolours. With the mixing palette at the top, my mixing and loading brush; and my nib.

And my trusty water jar.

I started with all the red words and worked my way through the colours from there.

Gradually making it through orange, yellow, green and blue.

Pushing through to indigo and violet.

Until they were all done.

My arms ached.  It took a couple of solid runs to get through the writing of 420 words.  My right hand gets a bit cramped holding the pen ; but my left elbow gets the sorest as I use my left hand to hold the tiny bit of paper down and steady as I write.

The point of my left index finger is still a bit numb from the sustained pressure!

My test sheets, my mistakes and my paper towel for cleaning my nib.

And after the few weeks we have had in Australian politics and the lives of all women who have been silenced, assaulted and not believed, there I was, late Friday afternoon, writing this word, in purple.

I decided to cut quite a few of the slips just in case I want or need to do a few sets more in the future.

I popped them in a cellophane bag for protection and looked inside and thought - magic!

Now for them to dry and for me to make a pocket for them and then send them on their way into the world...

Thursday Thoughts...

"A book is a gift you can open again and again."  

Garrison Keillor

Do other folk re-read books? 

I have always kept a bunch of books with me that I want to read again. Perhaps because they are beautiful and elevating; perhaps because they told me a truth I had not previously known or understood and I want to keep the reminder there.  Sometimes I keep them so that I can lend them to somebody else when the time is right.  

But re-reading can do two things. It can either make you wonder what on earth you saw in a book, and make you wonder who were you that you thought this was special?; or it can reinforce the message or the feeling and the delight and can be helpful and calming.

I have been reading some gentle, light, mindless books of late as I have found the external world far too daunting to challenge myself with difficult books. They have done their job... the familiarity of them; the comfort in knowing how it will end; and the escapism they have offered me has been just what I needed.

These books have indeed been, the gift that keeps giving.

Ahh, the love and comfort of books...

Pocket Book

First up, apologies to the kind folk who comment - it has taken me too long to respond, but I think I have now caught up again. I really do love hearing your thoughts and undertake to do better...

The wee pocket book is now complete. In the end an edition of 15 which was unexpected, but a good outcome.

Even lying flat on the floor, I like the look of them.

And as ever, I love the edges, and am pleased with the regularity of this stack - stitching and paper edges.

They were stacked in an alternating pattern when under weights, which also looks nice.

The title page in the green of the thread of the poster...

And a couple of spreads.

All up there are 9 pages with related paragraphs on them; a title page and a colophon, as well as a few blanks.

It is a grand little book and one of the first in the newly hatched deckled edge press editions!

The books will be for sale but I am just working out how and where and how much! Let me know if yo u are interested and I shall email you details.