Thursday Thoughts...

"Art was the last thing I considered; I couldn’t paint or draw so I couldn’t hope to be anything as glamorous and interesting as an artist." 

Rosalie Gascoigne

It's been a while since I pondered Rosalie Gascoigne's words, but they always make me nod my head in agreement. This soooo reflects my own sense of self and my thoughts about art and why I could clearly never ever consider myself one.

I have only one art-related memory from school. A friend's mother was an artist and she came in to give classes. There was something about weather and skies; and I tried to paint a storm. It was a dark, black and deep green mess. My recollection is that I felt that it kind of looked like what I was trying to express, but it clearly did not meet anybody else's expectations of what weather or the sky should like.

I recall feeling if I could have another go at this I might be able to control the paint a bit better, and be a bit more delicate or controlled, but I was never selected to go back to those classes and so I figured I really wasn't any good at art.

And yet here I am, being an artist in a completely different way.

I also like the reference to the glamorous and interesting artist.  I oftentimes forget that artists and their studios can seem a little bit magical and special and that lots of people don't often get the chance to spend time in them. I guess we can appear a little bit different, altho we all know we're not glamorous!

This is close to how I remember it from circa 1976... my palette has definitely changed!

The hope of stitching

 In an unexpected way, two strands of my creative life came together here.  I have been slowly doing my blind-basting for some textile work with pebbles, with slowly being the operative word.

I took some photos of my progress yesterday and thought there really hasn't been much. But this morning when we did our weekly ritual we call "Biblio", I pondered how two things could go together. 

But firstly - Biblio.  Each Tuesday morning we walk to town, have breakfast at a cafe and spread out books and journals and notes to do what we call Biblio. It is shorthand for the notion of "Bibliomancy" that I learned about from a course I did with Ruth Hadlow called Poetics of Place back in 2019. I have referred to it here here and here as well. It is quite influential on the way I work!

Today I was going back through a poetry journal and came across a couple of poems I had drafted about hope.  I had been following a prompt to take an abstract notion and make a concrete description of it. I had wondered and wandered, and landed on a familiar activity - a woman slow stitching. 

In the end I found I had come up with lots of thoughts and ideas and gatherings of words. None are what you would call complete, or final, but here are some of them...

HOPE

Hope is a woman slow stitching.

With no pattern or guide, 

Letting her needle weave its way.

Slowly looking ahead,

To where the needle goes next, 

Focussing on making the small stitch. 

Sometimes an error, 

Stopping to fix, 

And continuing.

She may not have a full sense of the final result, 

But she knows something awaits as she goes along, 

That each stitch is taking her closer. 

Trusting.

HOPE

 

Hope is a woman stitching slowly

Seated, eyes focussed, needle in hand

Counting threads, calculating distance, choosing the point.

Looking at the infinitesimally small distance where the next stitch manifests

Deciding where to pierce the weave

Creating a new piece of the wholeness

Taking her one stitch closer

To a beautiful becoming

HOPE

no pattern or guide,

the needle weaves its way

truth north

intermittently pausing

reviewing,

reversing.

slowly looking

invisible steps ahead,

the final form unseen

trusting quiet knowings,

hope carries her forward.

 

HOPE

Never fully knowing

What the outcome will be

Guided by the moment,

What came before

What it might become

Simply trusting she is taking

Tiny stitches towards it.

Which left me reflecting on sitting quietly yesterday.

A woman stitching...

Tiny stitches towards it...

Embossing circles and pebbles...

 A while ago I was gifted some copper remnants from a jeweller friend who had cut disks out of the sheets to use for enamelled earrings. I fell in love with the multiple circles.

This pair of small sheets (about 10cm (l) x 5 cm (w) seemed to me to talk about being book covers somehow.

Somebody suggested maybe they would make beautiful embossings...

And I quite liked what they did. Afterwards, I fiddled around with making marks on the raised bits, using watercolours on them, and simply couldn't find a way to use them. So it's back to book covers I think.

However, as I looked at them on my desk, they did make me wonder about embossing pebble shapes...

Part of me loves how when you have an idea or are thinking about something, you suddenly see it or possibilities for it everywhere!

So I drew and cut 25 pebbles shapes out of tracing paper and drew up a grid in my journal and wondered. Placed randomly in the grid, I liked their subtle movement and individuality.

I decided to cut an embossing plate from a desk mat as a test.

And I chose three papers to test it on - Fabriano Rosapina, BFK Rives and some handmade paper.

I thought they could work well, but I didn't like how the roughness of the handmade paper showed through as pebbles texture. Which made me go - Oh! What if I embossed the shapes, rather than the template??? That way I would get smooth pebble forms maybe.

And so I did. And with a bit more pressure, I think I would get a lovely flat pebble look.

On this one, the shapes moved as I placed the paper and two of them touched.

What a field of exploration has opened up!  I expect one of my next jobs will be cutting out the rest of the pebbles from a desk mat and seeing what patterns they could make...

Thursday Thoughts...

"Reading fiction is important. It is a vital means of imagining a life other than our own, which in turn makes us more empathetic beings. Following complex story lines stretches our brains beyond the 140 characters of sound-bite thinking, and staying within the world of a novel gives us the ability to be quiet and alone, two skills that are disappearing faster than the polar icecaps." 

Ann Patchett

I really enjoy reading Ann Patchett's books, and her writing about books and the like.  This quote set me off on a wander in my mind about the links (if any) between reading fiction and creativity. This came about because of her mention here about imagining, which I think is key to creativity.

Linking imagination to empathy is something I have always believed about fiction; yet her last two thoughts are less embedded in my understanding.  I hadn't given much thought to the value of following complex story lines - which of course is a good work out for the brain.  Reading, understanding, and holding complexity is such a different function to scanning and flitting.

Her final point I quite adore. Staying within the world of a novel allows us to be both quiet and alone.

For somebody like me, these two elements are critical to my wellbeing; even tho I never actually feel alone when I am reading a book.

My kind of place...quiet and alone.

Continuing with calligraphy

 Having been a bit excited by the calligraphic play I finished up with in my journal back here, I wanted to see if I could expand the notion a bit.

So I got out some better paper, drew some lines, sketched the letters in pencil and then drew the words with a fine liner pen.

Thinking that at some point I might like to try and cut the letters out of paper, I thought to thicken the lines and try to attach the dots above the 'i's. no pencil this time, hence the slightly angled lines. Done with a 3mm calligraphy marker.

Together the page was looking good, although I did write many an edit/idea on the second one.

I wanted the G to be wider to balance the N+ E at the other end better, but overnight I dreamed of curves and tried them out a bit.

 

And no, the F will not continue below the line!

I then coloured it in. Interesting.

Having played with curves and filling in bits of letters, in the same night time awakening I remembered I had some ideas from my online works shop with Brody, back in December-January. I followed up with one of them, using a William Mitchell #5 nib. Handwriting to extended and looping writing to filled in pieces. And ink blots.

To finish them off and see them properly, I went and rubbed out all the pencil lines.

I used some white-out correction fluid to hide the blots a bit.

 

I didn't rub out my notes to self.

And was very happy with the options that were appearing. I am not sure how they might be used, but there  is some lovely imagery within them.

I was over printing some peace weather grams in between times and as I cleaned up, I thought to myself - why is it that such lovely random marks can appear as one cleans; but rarely when one tries?

Unusual to say the least

A couple of weekends ago a friend stopped by the studio so I could return a basket she had loaned us; but she brought with her the most intriguing gift.

I had never seen nor heard of these before; but they were watercolour 'stamps' used to hand tint black and white photographs. It felt somewhat serendipitous seeing as I had been spending so much time playing with watercolours and swatches.

They came in a book, with perforations just as stamps used to, and the idea is to take a stamp or portion thereof, add water, create the tint colour and then apply to brighten the photogrpah.

I simply adored the booklet as a beautiful object, irrespective of what it could do: the curling fore edges, the rusted staples, the foxed paper...

I read the directions. 

And looked at the colours. I learned that the colour is actually on the back of the stamp.

I took out an old school photo and tried to come up with some colours that might suit. You'd have to say the colours are pretty loud and proud; not a real lot of subtlety within them, and I wasn't yet confident to mix them too much.

So I tore off a few bits; and added water.

What a hoot! Everybody ended up with quite bright hair! Still, I kind of like the funny effects they produced and will think about using them again on something more substantial.

They definitely give a sense of an era I think.

This was the other photo I found - gotta love the gloves and the handbag and the socks! Not sure if I will simply let it be, or have a go at making me smile.

Thursday Thoughts...

"All you need is less". 

Unknown

Ahhhh the interweb and the great maker, writer, and speaker of quotes "Unknown". I tracked down two books with this title (by Vicki Vrint and Michelle Moore) but no firm originator; however,  I like it and so here we go.

I think it's a bit clever because we all know the Beatles song and can imagine the last word being Love. Less starts with L and and therefore you are into it before you realise in a way.

I also think its clever because we are so used to commercials and advertising telling us just what it is that we need now - the newest thing, the thing we never knew we needed, someone has decided we do! So when it turns that around and says this reverses that expectation, I like it.

But I definitely like the sentiment.  For the past few years we have tried our darndest to de-clutter, to reduce, to simplify. Our living arrangements, our banking arrangements, our transport and more.  WE try to grow food, we try to make and re-make, we try to only buy when needed, rather than when wanted. Except books, I fail on books.

I also like that it is simple and easy to remember.  I guess I am a bit of a fan of some of these apparently trite and super simple sayings, oftentimes because they actually hold real truths.

A recent sun shower on our herb boxes.

More ways with pebbles

 I am remaining true to my goal of attempting to 'play' with pebbles and stones in as many ways as I can without actually landing on anything decisively. I have painted pebbles with watercolour, and am stitching pebbles onto fabric. I most recently began to play with wrapping cement-cast pebbles; and have started to do some calligraphic renderings as well.

I think I first started wrapping pebbles a decade or so ago... just for fun.

I had these two cement-cast pebbles sitting on my desk which I had wrapped, in my own fashion, with some Habu threads. I had popped outside the studio and found some twigs from the lilly-pillies that grow there and tucked them into the wrap, and I thought to do some more.

I liked the idea of using the cement pebbles that we cast at home; with Habu thread, rather than the more traditional way with actual stones and cane that goes on wet, and shrinks to hold onto the stone as it dries. 

So I have done some more. I used brown string, some different Habu thread and a black silk tangle that I managed to get a few lengths out of!

I also used some heavy duty cotton thread that I would normally use for tying blocks of type together.

I love how this one looks...

What to do with them I do not yet know.  As per my desire to push further, go sideways, don't simply sit and think I have finished, I am considering how I might be able to use them in a larger piece. It's hard.

And so I turned my mind to words. Last year I wrote the beginnings of a poem titled "Grief is a stone" and soI thought I might play with those words and see what  sort of shapes they might make.

My notebook is a place for sketches only - no proper work can be done in there as the paper is pretty ordinary, but I did want to just try a few sketches.

Playing with background colours and shapes.

Here is the before I wet the watercolour pencils - sorry no after shot!

Because I had had done watercolour pebbles in a circle I wondered if the words might look good in a circle - this would really need more work and attention than I gave it here!

I think I could curve the letters more gently - the G and the S both offer a curve and I think I could make the E and the F could also curve. Something to explore

As is so often the case, the more you do, the more you think about what else you could do and I then began to think it might simply look nicer in a straight line.

I repeated the angled G in the first line, but decided I preferred a more upright look for the second, and also a narrow - wide variation. I think this gives me something to take further and refine as well. At the last minute I added in the downward serif on the G and I don't like it.

Again, no idea what I will do with the words, but it gets your brain active in a bunch of different ways and helps you not shut anything down too early...

I like the way I went with a stone shape for the O. It just happened as the pencil went onto the page and I love those moments. In the bottom one I like how the baseline is flat and there is movement in the upper area... we shall see.

Speaking of pebbles...

 As mentioned previously, I am trying hard not to get ahead of myself; and instead am trying to spend time exploring the notion of pebbles and stones.

I asked myself the question - how many ways/techniques can you use to make pebbles?

This led me to think about fabric; appliqué, hand stitching, machine stitching...the list went on.

So I spent a lovely afternoon hunting through my fabric stash and trying to find some fabric that felt like it had pebble potential.

I found quite a few fabrics that I had tea dyed with rust so many years ago in fact 10 years ago, and which I had re-discovered and sorted out just last year.  These soft fabrics felt like they might work and toned together beautifully.  Also some fabric a friend had gifted me was added to the group.

I got a few others out that I had printed with a corn cob, also a few years ago and think that the calico might work, and possibly the grey at a pinch; but that the dark grey with its black weft or warp would be too much. Always good to check these things.

And so I began to blind-base two layers of the lovely soft fabric together. 

This takes time, but I was lucky enough to be travelling on a plane during the week and had some time to simply sit and stitch.

I had that moment, as you do, going through security and hoping that they wouldn't mind my needle and my quick unpick. I chose my oldest quick unpick (1978 I bought my first sewing machine, second hand, and it had this with it and at that point it was fully intact) and hoped they would figure the damage I could potentially do with it would be very limited. And yes, I got through without question.

The back of the basting.

It will still be some time before I can actually start thinking about the pebble part, but I am pushing it along gently, and not racing ahead.

I feel as if I have actually slowed myself down and am now simply exploring techniques and possibilities, not attempting to solve and complete. This is good.