Flowers as we arrive...

 My last blog post before we left was about flowers as we go, so I am book-ending that for the moment with flowers as we arrive...

A balmy evening walk in Pitlochry and my favourite new thistle - with honey bee.

Delicate flowers growing in rocks by Loch Loyal.

This plant is everywhere along the roadsides at the moment - I delight in its vibrancy!

On arrival, the hebe still had a few flowers.

There were some sweet peas for gathering and bringing inside - the scent!

Heather is still in bloom, tho fading a bit.

A morning posie of some weeds and others...

Thistles against a remnant stone cottage at Sleiteil

Sea Pinks at Portskerra Harbour

Montbrecias and the last of the lupin seeds at the cottage - a bold and stunning arrangement.

So many flowers to offer joy. 

Thursday Thoughts...

Spend enough time in a state of frenetic shallowness and you permanently reduce your capacity to perform deep work. 

Cal Newport

Now this I can relate to!  At times when one is busy, finding only fragments of time to make, it seems as if there isn't time to sit, to dwell upon, to ponder, to really consider the fullness of what you are trying to do.

I can find myself taking easy options and making the simple choice. Not pushing it further, not turning it around to look in a different way, not asking the questions of it, not taking the time to enable something to be the actual best it can be.

I find that a bit with reading news or long form journalism. I am more likely than not to scan and to skim rather than sit for an extended period of time reading lengthy articles that explain in a fuller way - I sometimes grab the headlines and go.

This is a really good reminder that if you spend all your time skimming over things, never dipping deeply into them, you can lose that skill of working slowly and deeply. 

Go deep, Canada 2005.

Flowers as we go...

 There has been huge amount on in the past week, and as result,not much art! 

I have however had odd moments where I could practise playing with a setting on my iPhone and I have really enjoyed the drama I could create with this spotlight/stagelight effect.

We wandered through Dad's orchid house on Sunday and I managed to get these lovelies...

It certainly helps that there are so many beautiful orchids out at the moment; but I think this effect really showcases them too.

Peace weathergrams 2023

We are well ahead of ourselves here, with International Day of Peace still a month and more away, but we have deadlines to meet and other places to be.

We have packed away some peace flags and doves to take with us to Scotland, but until then we have hung this year's on our magnolia tree to fly and dance in the breezes.

Looking lovely in the late afternoon sun before hanging.

With this shot (altho a bit fuzzy), I like that there is a weatherlgram, and a dove, and in the background you can see a metal nest, a timber birdhouse, some rusty birds on sticks and on a dead tree, and a wee green metal bird!

Hanging side by side.

And looking glorious in the sunshine

Stretching to reach the high spots.

We do small things to build peace by piece, by piece...

Thursday Thoughts...

 "From listening to the stories of others, we learn to tell our own."

Margaret Atwood

I think there are a couple of things at play here and it seems to me that in part, Ms Atwood is saying that by listening to how people tell stories - the things they emphasise, the gaps they leave for imagination, the way they build anticipation, the comical anecdotes they include, the surprises they spring - we develop a sense of how to tell our own stories in ways that entertain or educate or engage.

But for me it has a deeper level as well - that as we learn of other people's stories, we can build and bring together things we may not have understood from our own lives, and make sense of our experiences or feelings. Sometimes we might learn it is OK to speak of things previously unspoken. We may learn that we are not alone and can therefore share.

For me, these words also bring together the notion of listening before telling.  So often we feel we need to tell other people things, and we commonly do so without first listening. Ms Atwood suggests first listen, then learn.

Finding my way home... 2010

Flax and stitching slowly

 I began basting this lovely fabric way back here.  I had in mind some work to trial and play with seeing if it was possible to do pebble -like things with it.

It took about a month for it to get done and in between times, lots of other ideas for it have floated in and I am now considering taking the scissors to some of it! Stay tuned.

Front.

And back. Love how wild the stitching gets in places.

Holding and thinking about the fabric made me to pick up some other threads. I had done the basting using a single strand DMC embroidery thread, but began to wonder about the actual stitching into and onto the fabric with this flax.

I had been gifted two skeins of flax on our last visit to Scotland and had wondered what I could do with it. I had grand plans for making a lovely cord like I made here, but may I say the flax had very different ideas!

Barry helped me to undo one skein and to try and pull a single thread out so that I could create some cord. That took quite a while and I realised that I was never going to be able to make cord.

This is the skein unravelled, but the next step of trying to extricate a single thread is so time consuming it is very hard to contemplate.

These next shots show what the flax does. It attaches itself to itself. It is sticky. It is knotty. It has absolutely no interest in separating itself from the skein. There must be a technical term to describe this tenacious characteristic.

As they say, nevertheless I persisted and over several days and nights sitting in front of the tv I managed to release a few metres of flax thread. You can still see how even wound onto the card it is still fluffy.

I hope it will be worth it as the thread looks like it will be the perfect shade for stitching onto the fabric I have prepared.

We shall see!

A collaborative column

 Both Barry and I are a bit focused on using up things we have around the place, rather than purchasing new materials for new projects.

With that in mind he set out to use up some solid timbers that he had in his wood pile.  He cut and routed a number of small cubes which are great for popping into gardens; and we decided that together we would create a tall post for the garden below us.

He routed and inked the meandering line around the four sides of the post, and then together we worked on adding rusty bits to each face. These are photos of B in action.

And of me in action!

I had hammered all these nails in, and we were about to fold the metal over onto the other face. Barry did the lovely folded edge on the left.

I learnt how to attach washers that had a big hole - by added smaller ones on top. Love the look!

It was a very iterative process. We would add an element, review, consider the space that was left, select something to fit or to balance. A really responsive approach.

I loved the cap plate on top of the post. Again the trick of attaching washers with large holes came in very handy...

Earlier in the day we had elevated the post-bench so that it was easier to get down to, and up from. And then with the help of our friend Faith, we positioned the post. 

The view as you walk down through the garden.

The view as you approach from the road below.

And unexpectedly, the view from our back deck! We love how it pops its head over the greenery.

And here is one of those garden cubes - used here near Dad's orchids and one of our garden sculptures. Dad requested it so that when he take the garden hose up that way to water the other orchids we planted around the corner, the hose doesn't damage the orchids or the sculpture. Form AND function.

If you also follow Barry's blog you will get a double dose of the post I think.

Thursday Thoughts...

“As soon as you start to turn within, as soon as you begin to listen to the still small voice within you, as soon as you start to practice self-enquiry, your life begins to change drastically. You become happy. You no longer search for happiness, for you are beginning to realize that you cannot find it externally. You may appear to find it, but it does not last.” 

Robert Adams

I come to quiet knowings...

I have nearly always understood that going inwards, and listening to the quiet voice inside is a way for me to feel grounded, confident and settled.

Whenever I need to make a big decision, or choose how to respond to something - I go inside, I go quiet and I listen.  It rarely lets me down; I have confidence that these quiet knowing are what I need to guide my next steps.

The idea of searching for happiness doesn't resonate as much; perhaps because I don't go searching for it? Perhaps because I am used to a sense of 'rightness' by listening to the quiet that I get some sense of assurance, and perhaps from there come happiness that I am doing the OK things? Who knows, but I do know I must listen for the quiet voice inside.

13 years ago I made and showed this work. I still like it.