Studio Sale has been...

 I don't thinkI even got around to mentioning on the blog we were having a Studio Sale. Says a lot about the busy-factor here at the moment and for being remiss, I apologise.

We had an all weekend 20% off everything sale and had a really good time.  We had flurries and frenzies at some points; whilst at others had quiet times where we could sit and have a cuppa, chat to friends and do small tasks like stitch pages here and there.

So, to make up for my remissiveness; I want to offer any blog readers 20% off our online shop items for Monday 22 and Tuesday 23 November (Brisbane time). All you need to do is go to either

fionadempster.com

barrysmithart.com or 

decklededgepress.com

and search the shops and see if there is something you might like there.  Not everything we have for sale is online given the nature of packing and posting and other considerations, but there are still some gorgeous things there for unique and personal handmade gifts (for others or yourself).

Use the Coupon Code BLOGSALE at checkout to get your 20% off.

There may be a tad delay in getting things posted next week, but we will stay in touch and let you know.

Some images from the weekend... tired now.

Thursday Thoughts...

The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.” 

Carl Gustav Jung

I am pondering art again this week and I liked the way this quote linked a few ideas together.

In a right brain and left brain differentiation thing it suggests that intellect is not the driving force for creativity which I think makes sense. I can rarely think something into being by pure logical or rational steps. There are leaps and diversions and rewinds all the way through it seems.

I had never before pondered the existence of a play instinct and probably should go explore that more, but right now time is short and I can simply feel a little bit excited by the notion of an instinct to play.

This instinct to play arising from inner necessity also seems to me to show a pretty good understanding of many artists, creators and makers.  We actually have to be making or creating. It is the way we make our way through the world and yes I agree it can definitely be described as an inner necessity.

The use of the word object in the last bit is the part where I am not quite sure. I guess it all falls to the definition of an object and can an object be an idea or a drive to resolve something? This part seems a little bet reductive and directive to me. I think the creative mind plays with ideas and resolutions, rather than simply objects that it loves...

I had trouble finding a photo of an object that I love... so here is an idea my creative mind has yet to resolve. I have enjoyed heaps of time wondering about cloud puddles and reflections; the idea of upside down/inversion; how water does magic framing things, at the right angles...

Feminist postcards

 A few folk have asked if I might make my feminist posters into postcards - so they could send them to friends or just have them on their desk or fridge or...

So I took the seven in my poster series; and redesigned them using only metal type (many of the larger A4 posters use wood type).

Printed on heavy Gmund 300gsm cotton rag paper they look great!

I wrap the seven together of them with three threads - suffragette colours of purple, green and white - and include a brief explanation of the words and the impetus for using them.

The seven of them.

They are available over at my online shop; or at the Deckled Edge Press online shop. 

And will also be available at the studio sale this weekend!

Farewell the Red Thread...

 The beautiful showing that was The Red Thread closed this afternoon. All four of us were able to be there for most of the day - to share with friends and fellow travellers and to enjoy time together.

Beautiful red flowers/berries to celebrate!

Friends arrived and chatted having not seen each other for ever so long.  They enjoyed the art and hearing the stories...

It's always great to have the artists there to talk about the work.

A lull at lunchtime, and Barry brought us a heart each - the hearts that connect; the red threads that hold...

Now to tidy up the paperwork and the payments and tie a big red bow on the show!

And that's a wrap.

Thursday Thoughts...

"A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint…What I begin by reading, I must finish by acting". 

David Henry Thoreau

So true I think of a really good book.  One that stays with you. That you keep on your shelf. Or by your bed. That you write notes from. That you return to. One that has its corners turned over as reminders. Where pink sticky notes stick out along the edges.

It is these sorts of books that I think are the ones that that get under my skin, that make me want to try to understand something better, so that I might incorporate it into my way of being.  These are the books with life lessons that mean something to me. They may be aspirational; they may be simple and direct. They may be the same as three other books I have marked in exactly the same way but which I keep failing to actually implement the lessons from.

I like the phrasing "living on its hint..."  I guess that would be another reason for keeping them around - the hint of something, perhaps out of focus or out of reach for now, which may become clearer the more we return to it or try to respond to it with actions.

This. Baking bread. 

Symbolic of all the books I read and keep about simplifying, having less, buying less. Of making more and creating more. Of a simpler life....

Full circles and getting things done

 Some things take time, a lot of time.  Last year I began the conversation with Robyn about the most recent poems that would be printed to celebrate and honour her daughter Sophie's life. Over a number of years Robyn has selected a poet to honour Sophie.  We have worked together to then bring the poems into being, in a beautiful manner - beauty really mattered to Sophie (a highly accomplished young poet, who died aged 22).

Each edition is a numbered edition of 22 only, to reflect Sophie's age when she died, and I have been involved in different ways - sometimes large, sometimes small, but always with a sense of how special it is to be involved in such a beautiful honouring.

In 2019 the work was called Sometimes the Soul - see here.

In 2017 the work was a piece Sophie herself had written, Self Portrait as a Reflection see here.

In 2021 the work is called lips over a waterfall, by Nathan Shepherdson, a series of small, connected poems.

Once again I did the calligraphy for the title - simple, flowing, connecting lettering...

Along the way Robyn and I spoke of our delight in unbound books, allowing the reader to move through the book in their own way.  And this was the approach chosen for Nathan's poems.

Whilst Nathan does suggest a reading sequence, (starting with 22!), you are free to wander through the words as you wish.

For the second time, Robyn has also chosen to create a small poster with all of the poems within it - a chance for more than 22 people to enjoy the words.

Some pixelation is occurring in the photos; but the work is crisp and clear, and soft and beautifully velvety in the hand.

Robyn dropped them in on Sunday - a true delight!

Along the way, another glimpse of the most recent commission, from behind.

And the mundane continues - with lots of cards being printed and illustrated - here is a birthday bouquet!

The Red Thread finishes on Sunday - hard to believe.  The show has sold really well and it has been just wonderful to show the work of the four of us together; and to have so many people delight in it and enjoy the works. And purchase many of them.

I love seeing red dots, knowing artists are selling and people are getting to have beautiful art in their lives and their homes.

Here is a link to a video walk through I did the night before we opened - the show was hung, but nothing was yet sold.  Apologies for my rather bad voice over, but that's life! Enjoy!

Everything's a work in progress

 Life is full and pretty busy at the moment. We are enjoying promoting The Red Thread and having visitors and folk through.  I have a commission to complete by Wednesday and we have our Studio Sale in two weeks time which means lots of making and re-stocking must be done  In between times a shop owner friend has been away and I have been backfilling for a couple of rather full and busy days.

So nothing is complete, and everything is a work in progress...

The first batch of red threads arrived. The trick was that in the end, the small spools at the bottom were actually the same 'catalogue' colour as two the large spools despite coming from different companies and having different names, meaning I didn't have the requisite six different colours for each piece.  

So the hunt was back on. I  called the guys they said yep, but we are away and can't post until Monday. Not going to work. Hunted down some new folk; they said yep we can have some to you by Friday. Tick. They arrived, but boy howdy the online samples looked different!

I think I can scrounge enough from the collection now to make the six figures, six times, in differing combinations.

Working on the dining table means I can stop and start at the oddest of hours, which is kind of how things are rolling at the moment.

Storing things on the kitchen bench is also the go. A quick snap has caught some Christmas bush flower, the tape measure, a yearly planner, a recipe  and the ubiquitous masks well. Life!

Part of some work involves angel's wings...testing out options.

And in the studio I have printed heaps of cards that have been neglected (another way to say that would be that they have been popular!).

Now they have dried its time illustrate them and inventory them. These are the beginnings of "Outstanding!!!". One bird in the line gets coloured in...

Hand drawn and coloured bunting for the babies. I think I have a wedding one, a birthday one, and a grief one to go.

And then glimmers of the garden  - also a work in progress as the magnolias bud, burst and change shape alongside weathering weather grams and peace doves.

And as Barry was preparing dinner last night the backyard just looked lovely in the fading light.

Thursday Thoughts...

“No one imagines that a symphony is supposed to improve as it goes along, or that the whole object of playing is to reach the finale. The point of music is discovered in every moment of playing and listening to it. It is the same, I feel, with the greater part of our lives, and if we are unduly absorbed in improving them we may forget altogether to live them.” 

Alan Watts

This feels like a gentle reminder. I pondered the opening line - imagining a symphony that was really crap at the outset - discordant notes, an awful rhythm or screeching instruments - that went on to become a thing of beauty and perfectly resolved.  I imagine a listener could follow that trajectory and make some sort of sense of it but one wouldn't call it a masterpiece.

I think I am more inclined to the theory that hopefully we DO improve with age; that we get better at knowing, listening, understanding and feeling, so I was not sure about completely dismissing the notion of improvement along the way.

Then I turned again and considered how much it means to be right in the moment with music - to not be anticipating or reviewing but to simply be in it and enjoying every inch of it as it happens.  I don't listen to music trying to work out ahead of time how to better position myself for what lies ahead; I don't try to anticipate it and imagine the goal. I just listen to it. At that point.

And with that kind of approach I could come to grips with the suggestion that life shouldn't always be lived in anticipation of what the future holds; how things will be; how they will work out; where we might be; what we might do. As ever balance is the key for me - being utterly absorbed by a yet to be determined future seems a monstrous waste of the joy of the moment; yet thinking nought about the future feels reckless and risky at times.

So here I am: learning to pay attention to the here and now; trying to enjoy and celebrate the moments as they happen; with reference to the past and its lessons; and with an eye on the future and its hopes.

Celebrating the moments, in the here and now...

A new commission begins...

 The Red Thread has been successful in so many ways.  We have had lots of people coming through and enjoying the work - the variety and the skill, and the differing interpretations.

One visitor was taken by my Four Friends works and wondered if I could maybe make a series with six friends?

So we looked at time and the logistics of delivery, and thought yep, we can do that in time.

Logistics and delivery are such a thing now - if you are waiting for supplies - how long might you wait? If you need to send the work somewhere - how long might that take?  Anyhoo, we have begun.

The wonderful 640gsm Canson Cold Pressed watercolour paper is such a strong support; but has that most beautiful of deckled edges!

Some of the available pegs (waiting for more...) about to get dyed with strong black tea to match to some others.

In a vase...

And now they are looking warm.

We discussed using some of the person's own embroidery threads, and that has turned out to be a beautiful way to weave them into the story.

And the first stitches have been taken.

Fingers are now crossed for all the stars to align and the delivery times to be on our side!