Thursday Thoughts...

There is no need of any competition with anybody. You are yourself, and as you are, you are perfectly good. Accept yourself. 

Osho

This week's thoughts are about art - and at first glance this quote might seem to be more about life than art; but this week in particular I think it resonates about art.

I wrote this post in advance of Thursday, not knowing if I would have time to blog whilst in Sydney amongst the amazingness of the Sydney Contemporary.

Perhaps I selected it to be a gentle reminder to myself; that whilst I am in Sydney I need to not compare; to not measure my work against others; to not believe I am less when amongst such wonder.

To hold onto what I do and why I do it, and to know that there is no one else making my work. My work is unique, it is me and nobody but me could have brought it forth. And in the end I could have brought forth nothing else - it needed to be this.

Acceptance.

Such a hard thing for us all - trying to improve and be better, yet accepting who we are, where we are and what we do.

Our well-worn bowl of words. For over a decade, we have had a morning ritual of selecting a word each which we use to think bout or focus on for the day. Always an interesting exercise...

Exciting times and what will be waiting...

I am almost packed for Sydney - a few extra bits to collect,then we're all good to go.

After such lot of work and what feels like such a lot of time, it will be grand to get there and get into it. The event looks astonishing and I am excited about being part of it and being able to attend events and view amazing art.

On Thursday night last week, we travelled down to Brisbane for bit of a 'do'. The Mohawk Paper Show was in town and I was most excited when I got there to discover I was a national finalist with my poster "Justice".

Woohoo.

Pretty much entirely unexpected, it was an honour to be in there with some amazing work, and to see that traditional, hand-set letterpress was still valued in amongst all the contemporary gorgeousness which the big companies had made.

A few pics of the event.

And me looking a wee bit chuffed!

So the weekend was spent doing a variety of things - the Maleny Printmakers' collectables show is on for two weeks and there is some great work there. We bought a few pieces which made us very happy.

We did Father's Day things with my dad including orchid-purchasing; and I got organised and packed a fair bit.

And I stuck my head into the studio to just have a sense of what would be waiting for me when I return from Sydney - hmmmmm.

 Lots of tidying, cleaning and sorting I think!

It's been a ridiculously busy time so I forgive myself; and despite not loving the large job that awaits me; I know I will love having a clean and bright studio space again soon.

Thursday Thoughts...

"A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert".

Andrew Carnegie 

Andrew Carnegie founded many a great library; and I love his belief in them, and his commitment to them.

It is so interesting to see what great importance he places upon them as the number one thing a community can do.  I love libraries of all shapes and sizes. All over the world I visit libraries and soak up the wonder of them; the magic of them and the sense of community they create.

I think libraries offer people so much - a place to be,  to sit in the company of others, to research, to learn, to discover. So many great verbs are associated with libraries.

The idea of a never-failing spring speaks to me of renewal and I know that libraries are so clever at renewing themselves, their community offering, their availability and their services.

Sigh, I should just get badge that says I love libraries.

Cardiff Library - a great space and a great place.

When sewing is what's left to do

After packing off all my work, and unpacking my bags from teaching I felt slightly flat.  Not quite ready to go back into the studio and think about making and creating just yet, I stole a few hours and headed to the sewing machine.

A dress and a cardigan/jacket were the result.

As ever its in the details for me.  I love this neck binding where I left it unstitched, and it frayed and softened the neckline.

The dress/smock/tunic hanging. These will never be Vogue shots that's for sure; I am lucky to find a place to hang it for a moment or two! No styling. Sigh.

I wore it out the other night with a slim top underneath and leggings.

The jacket facing underway - so many pins!

Almost done - a button and button hole needed to finish it off.

Again, just a little bit in love with this binding on the sleeve edge.

And then just because I'm not really finished with paper, I stitched some pouches for my prints. Plan A is that if they sell, I'll be able to pop them in these pouches to protect them a wee bit; then into a bag they go.

I think the next month or so of studio time will literally be tidying, sorting, cleaning and re-imagining the space. Never as much fun as making, but oh so necessary after months of neglect.

But I might find time for a little something, we shall see.

Teaching and Packing and a re-visit

The title is pretty much the story of my creative life this week.

I taught the Year 11s on Wednesday - and the time flew.  I did not get any images of their stitching as we were packed up and off to lunch in a rush and a roar.

Still they were doing interesting artwork and enjoyed learning the Japanese stab bindings.

Some details of some of the artworks en route to becoming pages for books. Always fabulous to see young skilled people expressing ideas...

And then packing.  Tory Cathy and I met at Tory's studio to finish the packing of our work and sundry items we need down in Sydney, in order to pop them on the truck and have them delivered to us on 5 September.

It was strangely exciting and strangely terrifying. I kept having the notion that I hadn't packed everything and that in fact I had left half my work somewhere in Tory's studio.  Checking and double checking didn't seem to really help.

It seemed strange that months of work could fit in this box, and all in all it was a kind of surreal experience.

The next day they were collected by an art transport company and carefully laid down with bubble wrap and no stacking!

We received our DL cards though the week as well. Lovely design and hopefully they remind folk of us and our work, and to pop back and purchase some!

As I was working away at the computer I heard an odd noise - looked up and saw her hopping outside my window. Dashed to a sliding door and tried to photograph her through the glass - and here she is! Bliss. Barry has seen a joey in her pouch, but I am yet to spy it.

PS - I quite like the composition of this photo now I look at it - all those lines and diagonals and leaves. Unintended!

Thursday Thoughts...

“In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.” 

Buddhist Saying

For a whole bunch of reasons these past few months have been challenging and tiring.  Our world sped up and we were stretched in so many directions, for so many reasons.  At many moments it felt as if we were only just keeping our heads above water.

And here now, as the spinning slows (doesn't stop) and things settle in small ways whilst much continues to move apace, it seems right to stop and think about these words.

In the end - these are the things that matter.

I imagine the end signifies the end of one's life' but just as a saying it makes sense as well, and I consider the words at the moment - at the end (maybe) of a difficult cycle.

How much you love/d - am I acting with love? Am I caring for folk? Am I doing things that are hard from a base of love? Am I showing love with my actions?

How gently you live/d - Am I moving through the world gently? Am I being kind? Am I avoiding harsh and angry words and ways? Am I not being cynical and hard?

How gracefully you let go of things not meant for you - Am I clinging to things that are not meant for me? Or can I recognise things that should be elsewhere? That are meant for someone else? Am I hoarding things?

I found these words a lovely gentle reminder at times when I am caught up in all the demands and worries of the world; that if I return to these I will be better able to do the things I need to do with love, gentleness and grace.

Peace flag from 2013.

Preparations and garden visits

Preparations continue here for the Sydney Contemporary.

I said I'd sort the tablecloth for the display table - I have a couple here we use for different events and thought for sure it would be fine. And then I started to worry. After about 4 hours researching, phone calling and the like I discovered the table which will be supplied is an odd size and given that we want to go from the top of the table to to the ground to hide stuff we are storing underneath; I needed a new option.

No luck anywhere local, the Coast or online - to buy or to hire. I found one the right size, wrong colour for just over $250 and thought - "I don't think so".

So we went and bought a stash of fabric today and sewed one instead.

I say 'we' because Barry helped choose the fabric, helped measure the fabric, helped cut the fabric and helped feed the fabric through the sewing machine - a real team effort. It would have been so much more awkward and difficult without his help.

Trying to get it laid out straight on the floor.

Measuring and trimming.

Sewing!

Washed, dried, folded and ready to pack.

And then it was back to the studio to unpick and re-sew two books.  I had never unpicked like this before and loved the little animal bits left behind!

Here's the garden visitor - found this morning as we headed down to do some pruning...how lucky are we?

A real mixed day - finished by packing the car for an early start tomorrow to teach; and then to pack my work into the truck that is taking it to Sydney...

Preparations...

This week is a bit of a week for finishing a few things.

On Wednesday I will be teaching artists' books to the Year 11s at Grammar again.  The focus will once again be on telling a story and not simply stitching a book that you paste things into like a scrapbook.

For simplicity's sake we aren't going to do a whole lot of complicated layouts; instead we are going to use  single pages, and bind them with Japanese stab bindings.

So I did all  my preparations and packed my bags; and also made a few sample books.

But first of all I came across rainbow on Barry's keyboard!

Getting ready, choosing colours and making templates

The first few sample books. I thought that the purple one looked a bit weird.

And realised that I made a mistake, leaving out a few stitches, so I re-did it.

The final four samples - we will see which ones they choose to do.

And the paperwork for Sydney got down to tin tacks this week - printing off the documentation, printing off the envelopes, signing the documentation...

Books of stickers arrived!

New business cards arrived!

Mylar bags and acid-free card arrived, as well as photo corners, so prints were packed.

And envelopes and cards inserted.

 And then everything packed in bubble wrap, and put into boxes for transport.

The boxes for the books should arrive tomorrow so then I can be fully packed to deliver to the transport folk on Wednesday. Phew.