Teaching pebbles

 Which is a kind of strange title, but it's what I did during the week - taught my calligraphy on pebbles workshop.

My workshop table before we began

It was a fabulous group - we had seven participants which is a lovely number, allowing for more personal time with participants.  We were writing Versals on the pebbles - code for built up letters.  The letters are formed by pen strokes or pencil strokes and then filled in. Sort of like drawing for letters.

Everyone got a small jar of ink and a handmade pen (dowel, plastic tubing and a nib). I had n exemplar which had four different style son it and they all had some paper with lines ruled to practice with.

We started with pencils on paper, and then went to ink on paper... and after a short break we headed to the pebbles...

A before shot.

During...

And some afters...

It was great to see the variations that people tried.  Everybody felt more comfortable with one style than another and the workshop was all about encouraging folk to find their own style, their own expression. And they did.

We did a small group exercise so they all got to take some other folk's pebbles home with them as well.

In secret I then got them all to write one letter on a pebble.

Whilst those pebbles dried we made pouches for the pebbles from old book pages.  We made so many pouches!!!

And then the secret word was revealed as I finished the class and thanked them for their enthusiasm and effort.

And now to some of this week's flowers.  I have such a soft spot for leptospernum flowers; they are so delicate and I love the wispiness of the foliage as well. Some delicate white ones here paired with a delight small pink grevillea (names unknown).

My trio of vases go from white thru a blend of white-pink to pink!

Such delight they give me.

Thursday Thoughts...

"Art is a line around your thoughts". 

 Gustav Klimt

These words make me feel as if art is a bridge, which is odd given that they are suggesting a line around something rather than between.

I started visualising a line around my thoughts and feelings and and ended up with the sense that drawing a line around them helps you contain, express or show them somehow.  That by using art to circle these things we are providing an opportunity to understand them - to share them in a way that is meaningful to us and to others.

Art offers a different perspective around some things. It can be easier to say it with a painting than in  words.

So where I got to with this was that whilst art being a line around our thoughts helps encapsulate or tether them; it also enables them to be understood.

Tingari by Walala Tjapaljarri. One of my favourite of our Aboriginal art pieces.

Connections

 I am involved in a piece of work that requires me to work with some metal and have been pondering how best to represent this work. I had one of those lovely serendipitous moments late on Sunday afternoon, just as I was about to close the studio and head home, where I went Oh this, oh that, oh yes!

Some of the metal - I love its marks and wear and tear and the colours.

I was working out how to link the metal to a book; what the covers might be, what the pages might be, how I might tell a story.  And I thought to myself I should check if I have some brown Canson I can rust.

I went to the paper drawer and found excitedly that yes, there was plenty of brown Canson!  

And then I thought, but was it brown I wanted or was it a dark grey? I hunted out my Peace Emerging books and realised the base paper colour was in fact the dark grey Canson. And I went to the cupboard and the cupboard was bare.

But then I thought I might still have some leftovers (or did I throw them out when we moved???). A forage through the remnants drawer made me almost pump the air with my fist with delight! Yes!

 

Woo hoo.

I think they are indicative of that metal...

And will be a lovely base for some words.

Sigh.

And then I started playing with possibilities to join in and found some more lovely scraps.  

I think we might have something...

This wee tree at our new house has been struggling, and expectations were very low.  

And then against all odds... the very definition of Spring.

Or maybe hope in the dark or something - we all need it right now.

Posters, letters and back to sewing!

 I am re-finding my rhythms and beginning to test and try new ones.  Still a bit skittery scattery at times, but gradually focusing again.

Barry and I are holding a poster, mini-poster exhibition from November.  I figured I should probably get my act together and start printing a few so Friday saw me inning and printing.

I think these words are really important.  They speak to me of how we so often fear or vilify the other.  Those who are different to us; and the list can go on and on.  Making people "other" removes our humanity and our empathy.  I really wonder what a wonderful world it could be if we just stopped othering.

I did a few variations, plain, taped and untaped.

A few errors printing meant I cut down the poster to just this word.  Still deciding what to do with it, but I like it!

I was tidying the studio and simply strewed (is that a word? - I know that things are strewn, but the past of to strew is???) some cut letters across bookshelf for an artistic look. Probably the word I am really looking for is tossed!

I then went on to make a small poster of one of my mum's favourite sayings.

Laughingly I had to work out how to spell the word wimp.  And as it turned out, one of us had dissed the ds back into where the ps go and vice versa; so I had picked up a d which was a p and a p which was a d, so then had to take them out and switch them over. As well as turn an s the right way up.

I quite enjoy this one!

On Saturday I stayed home and decided to re-acquaint myself with my sewing machine. We have set up the second bedroom with a sofa bed; but its main purpose is on one side as a sewing room for me; on the other a jewellery making space for B; and in between a big bookcase.

I used up scraps from a dress I had made previously and made this simple top.  It is still one of favourite patterns and this time I added a small pocket along the hem because I make sure nearly everything I make now has pockets.  Them being political and all.

 

And then flowers.  I have made a commitment to myself and us to trying have fresh flowers in the house at all times now - scattered hither and yon.  The lavender is still going strong in the office and I refresh the larger vases regularly.  I decided on Thursday to try and  track down some beautiful flowers locally and  came across a newly opened florist shop.

I bought these Serruria Floridas and just love them!

And on our return walk from own this morning we came across these poppies and these bees.  I took photos, not the flowers.

So, yes we are working on slowing, on simplifying and on spending time quietly and gently and less quickly.

Thursday Thoughts...

“There’s the story, then there’s the real story, then there’s the story of how the story came to be told. Then there’s what you leave out of the story. Which is part of the story too.” 

Margaret Atwood 

What a delicious description of story in all of its guises. 

I often times think that we all tell ourselves stories about ourselves - I can't draw; I'm a fly by the seat of my pants kind of gal; I am not logical etc etc and yet when we dig deeper we have probably just told ourselves these stories because they suited us at the time; or they helped shield us from some other things we weren't ready for; or we didn't like the association with what we negating. Or perhaps we even thought the response made us sound more interesting than we thought we were!

The way Ms Atwood suggest that any story is the sum of all these additions, subtractions, calculations and  emphases feels to me like a truly accurate description of any story we tell.

Whenever we go to tell a story we select the highlights; we set the context by deciding which bits 'matter'; which bits add to the story best; and of course we leave things out.

I imagine for any writer, there would be an interesting mapping project to look back over the development of a written piece or a book, and track all the decisions that show what was left out, what was told, what was emphasised and dramatised and the decisions taken about how the story would be told.

A couple of recent Thursday Thoughts have been simple enough notions; yet their deep complexity in reality has really made me pause.  Pause in awe and wonder at how humans manage to develop, interact and mercifully remain mostly conflict-free in their daily interactions given the millions of decisions that take place about these sorts of things.

by Poppelwell, 2009.  Seen in Auckland in 2012. 

Re-working

 As we packed up we came across lots of small bits of art that we had bought at different times, and whilst we brought some with us; much was shared and gifted to friends and family, continuing the circle of art.

I wasn't sure what to do with these two wee prints from the Maleny Printmaker's Collectable series.  They are by Peter McLean and I thought they were just lovely. I brought them with us, not sure where they might head next.

One day I looked at them and thought they might have a future as a small book. And so on Sunday I sat with them and turned them into covers for a  wee notebook.

Thunderhead I

Thunderhead II

I did a simple dot-dash pamphlet stitch on lovely Magnani Map paper.

I was surprised by the colour variation when I did a close up!

Front cover

Back cover

Spine!

Moments in my days

 A month on from the move we are still settling, sorting and sifting.  Learning new ways; trying hard not to be too busy; and still waiting for furniture to arrive!

Still I am loving the moods and moments of the new place. As I drive to exercises early in the morning I am keeping tabs on where the sun rises, where the mist settles and am thoroughly enjoying discovering this new rhythm.

During the week I got sad.  The news that Helen Reddy had died sent me tumbling down a hill.  I felt as if the balance of goodness and rightness and strong women in the world was tilting and teetering and I felt a bit afraid. In the space of about 10 days we lost RBG; then we lost Senator Susan Ryan and then Helen.  Too much.

I blasted out "I am Woman" on the drive home and shed some tears, then went and picked a big bunch of bold Australian native flowers to honour and celebrate her.

I also picked lavender and thyme flowers to soothe me a bit. In the office they sit sending out their gentle vibes.

The sun and sky did some magic as well one evening.

And on Thursday the studio was tipped all akimbo as a film crew arrived for a two-hour shoot!  Lordy, who know where that will go and what it will end up like; but we gave it our best shot.

On arrival home on Friday the sun back-lit the clouds in a wonderful way.

And on Saturday morning the magic rainbows on the kitchen bench.

Moments of beauty; of sadness; of chaos; and of beauty again.  Moments in my days.

Thursday Thoughts...

“If you have the choice between being right and being kind, choose being kind” 

Dr Wayne W. Dyer.

I think this is one of those little reminders that can on the surface appear to be a bit twee; a bit light; or a bit saccharine. Yet, despite its simplicity it holds a deep truth and a deal of wisdom; and a challenge that many of us fail.

For isn't it hard at times to set ego aside; to set aside appearing right, more knowledgeable or smarter than somebody else and simply let the moment be?

Rather than proving oneself superior (or right) to instead simply let the moment go and be kind.  Kind to the person; the group; the relationship or the friendship.  Kind to people you care about. 

In a competitive world it can sometimes be hard to not actively choose to win; but rather to be satisfied with keeping a level playing field; of keeping relationships intact and maintaining good relationships.

Oftentimes the point being proven 'right' is petty and of no real importance; the important thing in the moment to the person intent on rightness is in the proving that they are right.  

I know I have a tendency towards this, towards showing people I know what's what. And I know that it can be petty and I know the it can be pointless and I know that it can be painful.  So I try to be better, and I try to be kinder.