Paper Ponderings

Things Japanese

2012-02-01T15:41:00.002+10:00

Its interesting how you can travel half way round the world to another country and end up finding yourself spending much time connected to another country far far away. That's how it has been for me with New York and Japan.

Apart from the beautiful Japanese Designers we saw at the Museum Art and Design, I have been tracking down a couple of Japanese shops. First of all, I love Muji, and their pens and the only store I am familiar with is in Singapore, so I was thrilled to discover there were three stores in NYC and that yes, they sold the pens I like. (Sadly not the tea bags nor the rice crackers...) so here's my happy pack of pens.

The next store on my list of "it would be nice if..." was the Japanese textile shop Habu. It looked like bliss on the website and I thought it would be lovely to pop in and browse if we got the chance. And we made the chance today, on our way to the Centre for the Book Arts. Such beauty and wonder in this tucked away little shop. My funniest moment was arriving downstairs. There is no street signage, I only had the address. We had to go in and look at the building board to see if Habu even lived there; the guy at the desk looked at me in my felted purple hat and asked "Habu?" I said yes! How funny he picked me as a Habu kinda gal even tho there were 10 floors in the building and loads of other lawyer-like businesses!

And gorgeous it was - quite the bliss. Here is a quick snap of the shop and here is the stash I got. Yum! It includes things like printed silk gima; knitted rami knitted linen tape; raw silk wrapped paper; linen paper cotton ; and Gear linen. What delights await me over the coming months!

And finally but not least in any any way; is the Noguchi Museum. On Barry's birthday we ventured over the East River to Queens and found our way to this very special place. A place of quiet meditation, reflection, and peaceful energy. We spent quite a few hours there gently and slowly walking thru the beautiful spaces created by his work and for his work. The perfect birthday.

And nothing whatsoever to do with Japan - just a quintessential NYC view - night time from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building.

A Letter a Week 2012 begins

2012-01-31T17:34:00.005+10:00

Well I am feeling quite chuffed with myself as I have managed to get stuck into my letters early and am on track. Not ahead of myself, just comfortably on track. I managed to get the first four letters done before we headed off for our holiday.

I am also feeling good about the alphabet I am doing and have some weird and wonderful ideas in mind for the final piece. So you can tell I am feeling happy and inspired by this little project this year!

As ever, with ALaW, there are two alphabets to complete in the 52 weeks, and one of these has some rule or guides around it. It has to be a polka dot or pixel or dotty alphabet. That leaves things pretty wide open for folk; yet also gives a bit of coherence to the finished pieces if we ever get to display them somewhere.

I went for white on white (one of my all time favourite combinations) and pierced the letters through the paper. I only had the i-Phone over at the shed studio so the colours appear more dove-grey on dove-grey; but the sense of them comes through I think.

Here is where I have gotten to so far A, B, C and D

And this is what they looked like lined up together on a piece of blackboard - yum! Back to NY transmissions soon!

And then just because I am who I am - I took a shot of the multi-pierced piece of mat board I had been using to pierce into - the lovely pattern left was too good to ignore!

You never know your luck...

2012-01-29T11:18:00.000+10:00

In the big city! We are having a wonderful time in New York, seeing so much and experiencing some very mild winter weather. But today was special; because not only did we go to the Museum of Art and Design - we went with Jennifer.

I felt lucky that we were able to connect - she came down from Connecticut and together we enjoyed a couple of exhibitions at the gallery and an open studio there as well. It was a great reminder of how wonderful the world of blog is, as however else would we have 'met' and then been able to 'meet'?

We had coffee, we wandered, we chatted, we photographed, we had lunch and then we walked together thru the streets of NYC until our paths took us our separate ways. Just special.

Necklace by Janna Syvanoja - used telephone directories

Fragment - Co-Twisted by Ishida Tomoko

Fiona & Jennifer, photo by Barry

We have seen many sights and heard many sounds and here are just a few of the sightseeing variety...

Barry at The Cloisters

Winter on the High Line

Statue of Liberty - shrouded in mist

911 Memorial - a well of tears

New York Public Library

Thursday Thoughts...

2012-01-26T17:28:00.007+10:00

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

Melodie Beattie

I think that gratitude is one of the quietest yet most powerful of virtues. I tried to find a word other than virtue - it has some funny connotations - but in the end I couldn't quite work out what gratitude was - an emotion, a feeling, an attitude, an approach, a path, a way of thinking or being or ??? Whatever it is, it is quiet yet powerful.

It is also very personal - no one else can do it for you.

I like the bit "It turns what we have into enough" Isn't that perfect? I don't even need the more - just enough is perfect for me. It helps stop the comparisons with others; the envy or desire to have more and keeps reminding me that all shall be well.

Melodie Beattie writes about alcoholism, co-dependenc and recovery from addiction and I guess she understands gratitude on a daily basis. There's a whole bunch of folk out there who go on with "an attitude of gratitude" and I don't want to be part of some movement; I just think its a good way for me to try and be.

Calligraphy by Helen Irving. Photo and adjustments Fiona Dempster

PS A big bit of gratitude in my life - Barry. Happy New York Birthday B!

Red thread stitching

2012-01-24T18:16:00.001+10:00

More red thread.

Once I started using the sewing machine to stitch on paper, I then of course wanted to experiment some more. I started stitching on heavy tracing paper to see what that would do. It was really sturdy and felt strong beneath the sewing foot. I tried to experiment beyond my tendency for straight lines and did some swirls and curves and let it just wander around basically, making tracks.

Then I remembered I had just bought some glassine paper and I thought that might be fun to try as well. It felt really different to the tracing paper - it was much lighter and tended to want to crinkle more.

At the end of each run of stitching I was able to 'extend' the stitches (lengthen the threads) so the paper sat straight(ish) again. That was just me running my fingers together from the middle of the row to both outside ends of the row simultaneously. I now feel as if I need to do a youtube video to explain myself better!

Anyhow, the experimenting continues...

We are on a bit of a holiday now so there won't be many progress reports on this work; maybe some nice holiday snaps instead!

Red threads

2012-01-21T17:50:00.002+10:00

I have been continuing to stitch paper using the sewing machine - despite the fire-risks - and am happy to report it has all been plain sailing since the smoking paper episode.

I am making progress on the piece I am testing out and am really enjoying the process and some of the off-shoots of it. Mostly these wonderful red threads that dangle off the side.

As you can see, I've stitched a lot of lines on paper!

Thursday Thoughts...

2012-01-19T18:08:00.000+10:00

At some point in life the world’s beauty becomes enough. You don’t need to photograph, paint, or even remember it. It is enough.

Toni Morrison

I like this and I like remembering this at times when I think I need to grab the camera and take a photo and get fussy about getting it right and in amongst all the hoo-ha; I miss the moment. Not the "Kodak" moment; but the real moment. The realness of being present; of absorbing the beauty around me or the marvellousness of something I am seeing and just accepting it as a gift. For me. For now.

We sometimes regret leaving our cameras or phones at home when we come across something; but in the end it's OK to not have a record of it. It's OK to have simply seen, experienced, reacted, felt and wondered. As Toni says, I guess you don't even have to remember it - it is just what it is and it has been in your life.

Blogging has really changed how I see things and record things - I often think "I'll take a photo of that and blog on it". Things I might not have noticed before; or things that now seem intriguing or funny or worth sharing.

I also think visual artists' blogs are about the images - the feast of beautiful things we get to gaze upon as we visit each other's blogs and websites. So I am totally for photographing, sketching, painting and capturing images and the sense of place or a moment. I just think at times, we shouldn't get so bound up in the recording of it that we miss the point of it!

So how to come up with an image to illustrate that thought???? In the end I chose one of the first photos I ever took of our valley. It was dawn, the clouds and mist were still pooling in the valleys and the mountains were serene. I see a variation of this scene nearly every day and I never tire of it. It is always changing, and every day is different; but mostly now I just sit and gaze, and am still.

The whiteness...

2012-01-17T18:45:00.001+10:00

We are in summer here and it has been a topsy turvy one to say the least. Last week we sweltered in high and record temperatures; this week we are sitting inside with jeans on as we watch the white mist and cloud and rain surround us.

Last summer was very wet; our state was badly flooded, and we even had to rescue our local Library. We have just passed the anniversary of the worst of it. This summer they also predicted a wet one so we have been lucky to have avoided it thus far.

In anticipation, one day I was at the hardware centre I collected a stash of white paint cards; thinking I could take a photo of the mist each day that we woke in a white-out and compare it to a colour card. I had some cunning plan to put the imagery together somehow (maybe in a blizzard book!) and call it "The Unbearable Whiteness of Summer". This worked quite well in theory - I took a photo each day (3 so far) and then tried to compare to a card. I had seriously gotten ahead of myself.

My camera settings and my printer settings are not things I fiddle with much and to cut a long story short - the photos all printed grey (the same grey) and looked nothing like the mist or the colour cards! Laugh.

So in the end I just selected the cards that looked most like my mornings and here's the first couple scanned.

Saturday 7 Jan 2012 - Mink Scorpio Half

Monday 16 Jan 2012 - Silent Delight

Tuesday 17 Jan 2012 - January Dawn

Imagine my surprise when I saw that last one's name! How weird - January in Australia should be blazing bright gold and blue (and being woken up at 4.30am by the sun streaming in...). Perhaps it's a northern hemisphere colour?

It seemed like such a fun idea at the time, and given I have this enduring fascination with paint colours, I thought it would be brilliant! Never mind. Don't you just love that it is somebody's JOB to name colours? To allocate words to describe a tone or hue? More Brilliant!

A miscellany...

2012-01-15T16:13:00.002+10:00

Isn't miscellany just a lovely word? It has also proven quite handy this weekend as it helps me do a blog post about stuff I've done and thought about, or found out about, without having anything really concrete done!

Thoughts about "A subversive stitch"

As part of BookArtObject this year I have chosen the title "A subversive stitch" to work with and have been thinking and pondering and bringing together all sorts of ideas. There are clear links to women's work and stitching, darning, samplers, garment making, and embroidering. There is something in it for me about censorship and letters written home during the wars where sentence were blacked out, leaving the safe words showing. There is something about stitching to remove words and leaving others; and something about history where men mostly got to write it and women weren't featured. What a ramble; but welcome to my head! So it's been fun so far and a few solid ideas are emerging.

Some of these images have helped:

The Great English Letter Writers (detail) by Lauren DiCioccio, 2009

Red Tower, by Yuri Avvakumov and Yuri Kuzin, 1986

Hand embroidered newspapers by Lauren DiCoccio

Exhibition open

My next random mention goes to Gallery East in Fremantle - whose Artists' Book exhibition opened last night and where my book "Learning my Lines"is now on show. For anyone in the west - it is actually at Gallery East (not the partner gallery in Midlands). They have promised each entrant a catalogue and I am looking forward to receiving mine.

A smoking machine
And for the final random instalment...there I was on Friday afternoon happily and totally engaged with my new found fun, stitching paper on the sewing machine when I began to smell a funny smell. A bit like baking/burning but not quite. Then I lifted my eyes away a bit and holy moly - the sewing machine had smoke drifting out of it all over! A quiet "Barry do you have a minute? - yes, what for? - my sewing machine is on fire" brought Barry running downstairs with a fire blanket. Not needed, but an excellent precaution. I turned it off and sat it outside for a bit, investigating - but it wasn't an electrical burning smell and the machine wasn't hot at all. I think in the end some paper scraps ended up getting too much friction somewhere. It has been behaving nicely since altho the smell lingers.... I wish I'd had my camera handy, it was quite a sight.

Thursday Thoughts...

2012-01-12T20:20:00.000+10:00

Books are frozen voices, in the same way that musical scores are frozen music. The score is a way of transmitting the music to someone who can play it, releasing it into the air where it can once more be heard. And the black alphabet marks on the page represent words that were once spoken, if only in the writer’s head. They lie there inert until a reader comes along and transforms the letters into living sounds. The reader is the musician of the book: each reader may read the same text, just as each violinist plays the same piece, but each interpretation is different.

Margaret Atwood

For those experiencing winter the sense of frozen voices and frozen music is closer to home than for those of us sweltering, but the images Margaret Atwood conjures up and the beautiful way she expresses them reach me wherever I am.

The sense that a musical score and black alphabet marks are inert until we interact with them make me think about the power of engagement; the power we have to bring things into being, simply by our playing or our reading or our speaking. I am sure there are whole arms of philosophy and/or science that seek to explore the idea of whether something exists without our interacting with it - at what point does something come into being of its own and so on. I don't need to ponder the depths and details of that; I just want to sit with her ideas of readers being musicians; and how each reading or playing produces a different interpretation.

There is something marvellous in the written word and in the written music that leaves room for interpretation, and our own personal experience to be brought to bear and change the way the music or the book is understood. For that moment.

Leaving things out

2012-01-10T16:41:00.001+10:00

For me, one of the absolute best things about having studio space, a separate place to work in and create in; is that I get to leave things out. I no longer have to sweep away and tidy up whatever I am working on in order to re-create and reclaim the space we call "dinner table". When we built the house we made sure we had studio spaces and I am forever grateful that we did.

It's the ability to leave things out that I love. I work on something and then put it aside; not away. I leave things out and let them talk to me. I am intrigued by how often I find that something that has been sitting there for a bit, suddenly goes - this is what I need. And for some reason, having sat with it, walked past it and glanced at it casually over the time its been out; I have internalised something, made some connection and then it's good to go.

I was working today in the studio with a friend's daughter and we had a ball. While she was doing her work; I kept glancing at these pieces. They have been there for a few weeks; waiting to tell me what they need doing with them.

For all true calligraphers out there; you will note that my italic is rusty and that's why I chose to do these little pieces. I figured I could get back in the swing of writing again if I just did words, rather than stress about doing a whole piece, with layout issues and regularity to worry me. Each piece is only 5cm x 1.5cm.

They were fun and enjoyable - and I am still enjoying them lying around the place, whispering to me occasionally - put me under semi-transparent fabric, stitch around me onto a cover; make me like pebbles swimming in the fabric. The conversations I have!

As ever, I'm not sure where they're going yet....but I'll keep leaving things out and listening.

Sittin' stitchin'

2012-01-08T17:07:00.002+10:00

We've had a weekend of recovery - restoring the house to a semblance of order and continuing the spring clean we began oh, back in Spring! We sorted the office which was most necessary - all that work-work had just piled upon the floor; on desks and all over; so now we can start the work-work year in a tidier frame of mind.

I did a few wee bits and pieces - nothing major, mostly fiddling (non-musical) and playing which is wonderful. I have been too long away from the studio space.

I started stitching on paper, machine-stitching on paper, and discovered the many joys of bobbin tension and paper and keeping the machine clean. If anybody has any particular tips about stitching thru paper (its quite heavy, 200gsm) feel free to share!

Of course I kind of loved the mess I made...

With all the mistakes and cut threads left dangling...

Here I am writing notes to myself again as I go - keeping a bit of a record on the actual trial piece, but in classic Fiona style, actually stitching over some of my notes to self. Laugh!

And this is kind of where I'm going with this piece. Like the pages I burn holes in and leave particular words; I'm trying to stitch away the words. Will see where this leads.

Thursday Thoughts...

2012-01-05T18:44:00.000+10:00

The universe is a self-surprising arrangement, so as to avoid the monotony and boredom of knowing everything in advance.

Alan Watts

At the moment, most of my days appear to validate this idea. It seems to me I have a bit of an idea of where they are headed or what might be happening; but in the end - off they go on some completely unexpected or unintended path and then they're done!

I had thought that the time between Christmas and New year would be quiet and empty and therefore ready to be filled by things and thoughts artistic. Instead our life and world has been filled by family and friends and visitors and entertaining which is all wonderful in its own way.

I like to have a bit of a plan; but I also think its good to be open to whatever appears; to take up unanticipated opportunities and revel in those serendipitous moments that magically arise. I agree with Alan Watts - to know everything in advance would be akin to death by boredom for me. Despite having a preference for control (I can hear friends laughing and see family nodding) its good that life still surprises us and reminds us that we shouldn't, for a moment, really think we are in control!

This piece always makes me smile - it's called Budgerigar Dreaming by Ewari Nungala; telling the tale of a journey of the ancestral budgerigar spirits and the flight of the budgerigar.

Ordered paths with a little bit of chaos...

Working things out

2012-01-03T20:45:00.001+10:00

I adore other people's art journals. I love looking at what seem to me to be works of art and glorious colour and control. I probably suffer from journal-envy if the truth be told.

As I was working on the pieces for the nuns, I smiled to myself as I realised how I go about making a piece of work, and wished for the umpteenth time, that I was better organised and good at keeping things tidy and together. I never seem to have the book I try to keep things in with me when I need it, and I'm too lazy to get up and go find it, so off I go scribbling ideas and jotting thoughts and sketching things in the most rudimentary way on pieces of paper and literally, the backs of envelopes.

Sometimes its not laziness - its just that I have to quickly grab the idea and express it before I lose it in the jumble of my mind.

This is typical of how a piece develops - Barry drew this on the back of an envelope and I know exactly what he means with his scribbles and hieroglyphics.

This one shows a few notes to self on the back of my daily To-Do List, which is on the back of recycled paper alredy. More scribbles and notes that I understand.

I wonder how other people work? Do they set it all out in a book - keep their ideas and plans together and make notes as they go along?

Does the piece emerge in a logical and sequential manner - with the next steps clearly falling out of what went before or is every step forward an opportunity to head off in another direction? Do other people have nice tidy minds or are they as jumbled as mine?

These two show my first doodles and notes on the printed out email where I was asked to do the pieces.

This is the bit that really made me think about my process. Laugh! Here on one of the little spare cut-outs I jotted down all the measurements for stitching the pieces onto the backing mat-board. It means something to me and I knew what I had to do and could happily refer to it when I came back to stitch another piece a few days after finishing the previous one. What I plan to do now of course, is to collect all the scraps and paste them into the book for future reference. Fingers crossed...

I'd love to know that I'm not alone in my random and occasionally chaotic approach, but will still be OK if I discover that all the owners of those beautiful journal pages and all my other blogging arty friends are organised and ordered...

The New Year

2011-12-31T18:14:00.001+10:00

Like most folk Barry and I have established a couple of family traditions, one of which is to send out New Year cards instead of Christmas cards, and to use the days between Christmas and New Year to fiddle, design and make them.

Barry has gone for a gorgeous iPhoneography theme (but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see them), whereas I stuck with the pebble mood that overtook me in the latter part of the year and used a photograph of my 2012 pebbles.

So with wishes for a happy, creative, peaceful and inspiring New Year...

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-12-29T18:43:00.000+10:00

Don't think about making art just get it done. Let everyone else decide if its good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.

Andy Warhol

I love it! Even tho I am a real thinker and ponderer about my art - I hope that's what I am and not a procrastinator - I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment. In the end, you just have to go make art.

I am part of BookArtObject again this year and have chosen the title "A subversive stitch" to make my edition of books around. What I expect will happen next is that I will sit and think about it, sketch a few things here and there; see some images that inspire; keep thinking; change direction and write a few more notes. This could (and probably will) take months. But I know in my heart I then just have to go make it - I just have to get in and try and fiddle and make mistakes, and change direction and create.

I don't quite know why I get this sense of comfort from all the preceding pondering, but I do and its who I am and how I do it. But I totally agree with Andy that it doesn't happen in your head; it happens when you do it - and just let everybody else spend their time considering it; whilst you just duck away and go make more art.

Often the best and most inspired pieces I do actually come from not thinking - from just looking and seeing and doing; playing and trying and exploring. It works both ways for me.

Off you go!

2011 favourites

2011-12-27T18:04:00.000+10:00

I try to stop and reflect on the year as it passes and am often amazed if I stop and sit and look at what I/we have been able to do in a year. This has been a year of great opportunity and travel for work-work but in amongst it all we found some time to make things; some of them things that I love and care about; some of them things I am proud of; some of them things that just make me smile...

I do love a list. They get me thru each day, each week, each month and guide me though the year. They are in recycled notepads, on A4 sheets of paper; in books and on pin-boards. They give a sense of order to my chaos and remind me if its on a list it'll get done!

I also like to organise my thoughts into lists, so I have pulled together a list of my top ten favourites of the pieces I made this year. It's a nice reminder when you feel wrecked and exhausted to look back and see the beauty in things you created.

I can't put them in an actual order of priority or preference as that's like choosing your favourite child kind of thing, so they are in alphabetical order instead.

1. Absences - a book that speaks of my great-grandfather's death in Flanders Fields...the poppies, the bloodlines, the huge hole he left behind.

2. Cartogrpahy I - a piece about journeys, maps, hidden texts and stories. I just love the warmth, the hidden stories, and the way the pages said turn me around and put me like this - I don't want to be a book! I also love that it now lives at my best friend's house so I still get to see it!

3. Commission for the nuns - 5 large pieces with beautiful words and shadow-play. The simplicity and elegance of these works appeals to me.

4. Folded Heart Book - I was thrilled to discover how to fold these books and have started to work on an alphabet...

5. Fragments of a journey - lots of little pieces, embossed with marks of journey-making. No one else seemed to get them; I just loved them!

6. Learning my Lines - old worn books, leather and metal strapping, so warm and friendly. I was overjoyed when this piece was finished and it worked.

7. No Return - another book about Flanders Fields and journeys there with no return. It was a real case of this book led me and I just showed up and followed what it said to do next...

8. Paper Wrestling - my first ever Edition!

9. Pebble Scrabble - my studio has exploded with 'pebble scrabble' and there are pebbles everywhere. I even created and wrote a proper scrabble set of pebbles. What fun to play with it!

10. Possibilities - I loved the words, I loved the book this came from and I loved playing with encaustic and watching a piece emerge.

Thanks for putting up with my personal review and reflection on the year of art. I really enjoyed stopping and reflecting and smiling and remembering...

Peace and Joy

2011-12-24T14:37:00.000+10:00

As we stop and take a breath, I wanted to say thanks for the year of friendship and support in this interwebby world where we read and share and write and show. It's a privilege to have made the connections I have made and I value and appreciate all those who share this journey with me.

I wish all my blogging friends and colleagues across the globe a peaceful, gentle, joyous time at Christmas and many wishes for happiness and creativity in the year ahead.

Wherever you may be, and however you may spend the time - may you travel safe, enjoy the moments and celebrate life.

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-12-22T20:36:00.000+10:00

A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called “leaves”) imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person — perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic.

Carl Sagan

I read this and thought - I have nothing to say; it says it all.

But I'll probably say a little bit about how it transports you to a page; in a book; with black squiggles; which mean something; and which lead you to hear a voice in your head; helping you understand those squiggles; maybe a voice that comes from hundreds of years ago; and it works. It makes sense, and hundreds of others over time and across the world, have shared your joy, your ah ha moments and your frustration or revolutionary angst. Proof that humans can work magic.

Ancora Imparo by Fiona Dempster, photography by Noela Mills

a little bit of fiddling fun

2011-12-20T18:09:00.000+10:00

The world is just too crazy at the moment for me to even contemplate real or proper pieces, but I did manage to get into the studio momentarily and make a bunch of book marks for my book group members.

We had our end of year lunch today, chatted about the book we had been reading and I was able to give everybody an embossed star bookmark.

They looked really nice all grouped together and are just a small token to say thanks for the fun and for putting up with me being absent so often this year...

I've finished alaw for 2011

2011-12-17T18:52:00.001+10:00

This is pretty much the same post as I did over at a letter a week 2012, so feel free to return to whatever you were doing before if you have read that one already!

I had planned to include my letters in some form of pop-up book and had even tried a few options and play-books. Of course as soon as I picked up my completed letters to see how they would go - I realised they were not going to look beautiful and/or shine in that format - in fact they would look silly and bent and wobbly.

So...the next idea happened along as I sat in my studio thinking about something else. Luckily this one pulled together right and off I went.

It's a kind of stacking, playing, fiddling, building, sculptural kind of book. It's a favourite format of mine because it lends itself to so much interaction; so many variations in form; and it offers a little bit of something for everybody.

I used sturdy black mat-board which I cut into 10cm x 10cm squares, and then I glued the letters onto the black - a strong contrast I thought. I chose to bind it with rainbow coloured threads as well which I think adds a bit of fun.

I had to unpick my first go because I had placed them alphabetically in 5 rows, reading left to right. I started stitching and realised that the binding actually works more like a snake - row 1 left to right; row 2 right to left; row 3 left to right; row 4 right to left and row 5 left to right again.

I like this option better - the letters flow as the binding does; and it also means that the rainbow stitching lines up in sequence as well. It's the little things that make me happy...

So my folded letters have become a way out folded book and all is well with the world. I am always thrilled when I hit a deadline and am super-happy to have completed my second alphabet for the year before the end of the year. Phewwww!

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-12-15T19:53:00.000+10:00

“Songs are really just very interesting things to be doing with the air.”

Tom Waits

Today's Thursday Thought is supposed to be about life. Following my sequence that goes art, life, books, art, life, books we find ourselves thinking about life today. What I thought I would be writing about was something like - SLOW DOWN NOW! But I couldn't find a piece that resonated with just how I really felt ; nonetheless, this one caught my eye and played with me a bit.

Truly, what a fabulous thing to think of - that songs are really just very interesting things to do with the air! Like books are just very interesting things to do with paper. Like love is a very interesting thing to do with your brain. Like a splendid meal is just a very interesting thing to do with heat....

It's a bit about air being the basis of songs that are sung I guess and that being creative with how you use and express and expel air creates the song. It reminds us of just what can be achieved when we bring our experience, talent and skill, and add it a simple thing. Like air.

It kind of ignores the very interesting thing that people did with their brains when they put words together with music - but the expression of a song is a very interesting thing to do with air; in fact one of the most interesting I guess.

On a less than literal level however, I think it shows a degree of flexibility in thinking about things that we do. It makes me break things down into their component parts; and it also acts as a gentle reminder whenever I might get carried away with whatever clever thing I think I might have done; to remember that in the end it's all pretty simple, and to keep it simple.

Here's to simplicity...

Book Art Object - next edition

2011-12-13T20:12:00.000+10:00

Sara from DoubleElephant blog fame who also organises the Book Art Object 'project/event/challenge' has set up the next Edition and it's general approach and rules over at the Book Art Object blog. She has also sent out a request for newcomers - so if you are interested in joining up for this year, read on and then pop on over to BAO where you can read more about it and register on-line.

There are a hundred titles and each person who registers will work on a title, making an edition of around 12-15 books to share firstly with the group they are in (there is an allocation process), and secondly with the author of the book-titles, with a few spare to share around for exhibitions and collections (and selling if you so desire).

Individuals post to the blog with updates, and share the process of their books' development.

I really enjoyed my first foray into edition making and have received some wonderful books as part of the group I was in this year - working with Claire Beynon's poem "Paper Wrestling".

If you are a book artist with a bit of a desire to make an edition, work with a set theme, and share your books with others it's a wonderful project to get involved in. Participants pay their own costs for the making of their edition, and for sending their books off to other participants and to Sara for collating and sending to the author and exhibitions etc.

You then end up getting books in return from the other folk and your collection grows. See books from the first three editions here.

It's starting to feel...

2011-12-11T17:54:00.000+10:00

a lot like Christmas! Well kind of, sort of. Anyhow the tree is up which is something and the presents are generally bought and wrapped which is a fine thing.

I decided to go with an old book-page and silver theme this year. My friends know that it is one of the big things each year - what's the colour theme?!?! The older I get the more minimalist I seem to get and at this rate, one day soon it may come to pass that there are NO decorations on our tree! I shall endeavour however, to avoid that particular sadness.

So I played with the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone to take these shots - somehow the mood it evokes worked for me with the simple tree and its even simpler decorations...

I present...Christmas 2012 in the Dempster-Smith household!

Folded paper hearts from an old book of Irish melodies.

And gifts wrapped in the pages of the old book, some in hand-made envelopes from the book pages, and each person's name scribed into a piece of aluminium shim. I also made an aluminium shim heart for the top of the tree as well - just a little bit of bling!

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-12-08T18:38:00.000+10:00

I cannot afford a Constable, or a Picasso, or a Leonardo, but to profess a love of painting and not to have anything original is as peculiar as a booklover with nothing on her shelves. I do not know why the crowds and crowds of visitors to public galleries do not go out and support new work. Are we talking love-affair or peep-show?

Jeanette Winterson
ART OBJECTS Essays on ecstasy and effrontery 1995

Jeanette Winterson is such an insightful writer. She can be pithy and acerbic and I think generally catches the notions of things so well, expressing them 'just so'.

I have now gone out to purchase this collection of essays as I think they will add to my thinking on art.

Two things caught me with this quote and kept me in...firstly the comparison between loving art and reading; and secondly the peep-show comment!

It really struck me how odd it would be to know a reader and lover of books who didn't have books in her home. Winterson's ability to then translate this notion to art and suggest it's hard to be a lover of art and not have some original work around the place sort of tracked my journey into this arty-life.

I have only really come to spend time with art in the last 5 years, since we left the busy-ness of high pressure jobs and decided to work for ourselves on our mountain top. One thing we really wanted to achieve by that move was the chance to focus more on our art-side, our creative side and our personal expression of art.

Simultaneously we have gone about the purchasing of original art as our spare time is spent looking at art, appreciating it, visiting galleries and talking and conversing with artists. I didn't own much original art at all until perhaps 8 years ago - and so this thought made me reflect on my journey into seeing art and loving it, and making it. Art is a much bigger part of my life now than it ever has had the chance to be; and I think of myself more and more as an artist; rather than as a something else.

The peep-show comment! What a funny way to bring us to think of ourselves in a less than positive light. I think she was having a dig at all of us who wander galleries and observe and talk about the high-falutin' arty stuff; but don't buy emerging artists, don't have around us some pieces by friends that we have swapped; or pieces we bought as prints because we just fell in love with them; or pieces we have saved and splurged on for a special occasion. I think I will carry the idea of a love affair or a peep-show with me for all time!

This is a photo of one side of our entrance, just as you come in the front door. The left hand niche has a grouping of Kim Schoenberger's works (a local artist and friend); the central niche has a tile by Mel Robson and wee vases by Shannon Garson (another local artist); and the right hand niche has a carved wood panel by Robyn Gordon (aka Art Propelled) from South Africa, and some raku -fired horse-hairburnt place-card holders by Mieke van Sambeek (another local artist). It's never really that dark, but it looked dramatic!

A couple of nice opportunities

2011-12-06T17:51:00.002+10:00

I was thrilled to hear back from Gallery East last week, letting me know that my book "Learning my Lines" had been accepted for showing in their exhibition called "Between the Sheets - 2012 Artists' Books Exhibition".

The gallery is in Fremantle (the other side of the country, near Perth) and it looks lovely (from the inter-web view I have managed). The exhibition will be shared with the Midland Junction Arts Centre just north of Perth as well, and I'm not yet sure where my wee book will be.

I am fond of this book and hope it enjoys its trip across the Nullabor and its interactions with the folk who wander past it. If there are any friends or arty-book people out there who might be in or around Fremantle or Midland between 13 January and 5 February 2012 please let me know if you get to go along - it's too far for me to make this trip this time.

I also recently packaged up another book - this time my book "Absences" is headed to Kyneton in Victoria where it will be displayed as part of Stockroom's exhibition called "You are here - a group exhibition exploring location, mapping and the artist's role in the world". The exhibition runs from 10 December 2011 to 8 January 2012, and again, if any friends or arty-book people are in the area I'd love to hear how it looks and how the show goes!

On another note, but also speaking of opportunities... it looks as if we'll be doing a A Letter a Week again in 2012. Most of the current folk are hoping to continue, but we would also welcome any newcomers who might be interested in participating. We have sculptors, calligraphers, textile artists, ceramicists, graphic designers and other folk who just love letters...so if you'd like to join in the challenge for 2012 - please contact me and I will get in touch to let you know the details...

Give-away winner(s)

2011-12-04T19:37:00.004+10:00

Thank you to everybody who shared their thoughts on blogging and why they enjoy either reading blogs or writing blogs - that sense of connectedness across the world is a fine thing!

One of the nice things I think about a give-away is that it encourages folk who don't always comment to leave a comment, and then you can follow up with them and their blogs and see what they get up to. I've had some very nice visits this week checking out fellow bloggers all over the globe.

But down to the main business...

I was thinking to myself, that seeing as how it's nearly Christmas, and I didn't get around to doing a 300th post give-away, and I noticed this week I had reached 100 followers, and well what are give-aways for if not giving away... I would change the rules and give-away all the gifts.

So I entered all the people who like Bush Glyphs the most in one draw, all of those who liked Stormy Rainbows in another, and then all those who like the pebbles into another and Barry did the honours and drew out 3 names.

Bush Glyphs will be heading to Vicki in Iceland... an Aussie living in the freezingness.

Stormy Rainbows is going not quite so far, but over to Annie in England.

And the pebbles will make a shorter trip "across the ditch" to Louise in New Zealand!

So... if Vicki, Annie and Louise would like to get in touch and let me know their mailing addresses, I shall endeavour to pop these pieces in the post to you all this week, and hope they arrive in time for a kind of Christmas-type present!

Fascinating isn't it that all three are leaving the country - the perfect example of blogging connections across the miles...

Oh and for those who aren't already subscribed, I have just set up a subscribe to our occasional newsletter button on the right hand side of my blog. We only send the occasional newsletter; its just another way of keeping in touch...

COMA exhibition - 12 days of Christmas

2011-12-02T17:30:00.003+10:00

We delivered our works and our words to Ken this week and helped hang the exhibition at Maple 3 cafe here in Maleny on Monday. Tomorrow we all head into town for a cuppa and a bit of a catch-up chin wag really. It runs from 28 November to 28 December and all pieces are priced at $120.

In the end I went for a most minimalist piece. Gosh, I could hear the noise of you all falling off your chairs from here! Laugh!

I had played around with different arrangements for the rings, but they all felt uncomfortable and I just couldn't get the balance and the feel of them right. I finally asked myself what they would look like in a line - and I felt better immediately.

So I have painted the canvas a lovely dove grey colour (the photographs do not do it justice) and then attached the rings. I ran 5 lines of a crimpled metal thread around the canvas as well to give a bit of a change in direction for the piece.

Its certainly not all that Christmassy; but I figured its pretty much me.

PS - Two more days for the give-away!

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-12-01T20:20:00.001+10:00

I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word.
Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine.

Emily Dickinson

I wasn't planning on this one - I had a much funnier one I thought I remembered, and then this one just smiled at me and said - oh yes, choose me please!

What a lovely, lovely thought and so beautiful expressed. I am in awe of people who can use words so beautifully, elegantly and evocatively. It is a true delight to be in the presence of real wordsmiths who can stitch together the most wonderful expressions and leave you with words rolling around your tongue just for the pure joy of saying them over and over again.

I have several friends with just such a skill and I really enjoying reading their notes or emails or letters or blog posts and engaging with exploring language and challenging myself to use more accurate or expressive words - rather than opting for the safe and easy.

I sat here and imagined Emily Dickinson sitting quietly and gazing at a word she had written, her eyes opening wide as it started to shimmer and shine; what an wonderful experience. Did it dance and move as well I wonder?

Not only do words have the power to shine, but they are powerful tools as well, sometimes reverberating across the world and down the generations...

The words themselves don't shine - more the golden panels they are written on - but it's kind of the same. This is another of my made-up calligraphic scripts; where the number and style of pen strokes is the same for each letter as we do in a Roman alphabet, just mixed up a bit.

PS - don't miss the chance to go into the give-away draw! Drawn Sunday night Australian time...

Gifts for a life of giving

2011-11-29T18:52:00.001+10:00

I am pretty sure that none of the nuns who will be receiving these artworks will in any way be reading or observing this blog, so I feel fairly safe sharing with you some of the works they will receive for their years of dedication, commitment and service to the community.

There are five nuns and the order has four guiding principles - hospitality, compassion, justice and community. The order was founded by a sister McAuley and so we decided that each of these words would be used in an individual art piece.

They are incredibly hard to photograph given their size (about 80cm wide) and the subtlety of the lighting and the folds. So here they are kind of...before heading off to the framers.

And here are a couple of them showing the beautiful box frames.

And here are some shots of why I love them so...

Celebration, Thanks and Give-away!

2011-11-27T18:08:00.000+10:00

A funny thing happened as I posted my most recent Thursday Thoughts - I passed 400 blog posts! Sadly I missed the moment when I did 300, so I am a bit behind in my give-aways.

It seems timely for a give-away based on a series of blog posts to appear around Thanksgiving time. In Australia we don't celebrate or mark Thanksgiving, but because so many connections and friendships have been established through this wonderful world of blogging, I am much more aware of the day and get to think more about what it means to stop, pause and be thankful.

I am always grateful and thankful for the networks of support I have developed with people who blog and with people who comment on my blog. The feedback is a really helpful things along the way. For many artists we live somewhat isolated lives, not able to participate fully in an art-based world because of real jobs, other jobs, other duties and roles. So we often beaver away at home, in our studios, in our spare moments and without exhaustive networks and connections and the time to promote, and publicise, don't always get to show our work in a public way to gauge and get any measure of how it is received.

Blogging has changed all of that for me as I have found kindred spirits who respond to my work, who 'get' my work, who encourage me and often overwhelm me with their kindness. For all of that I am grateful.

So to mark my personal milestone celebration and in the spirit of giving thanks to those who support me, I have decided to offer a give-away where you get to choose which of the offerings you would like if you win. Kim S did this and I thought it was brilliant (even more brilliant because I won!!)

So firstly I am offering one of my "BushGlyph" books - single page binding, hand bound, hand embossed with fragments of photographs of my favourite scribbly bark.

Secondly I am offering a set of 7 small blank journals titled "Stormy Rainbows" They are held in their own box, are stitched with waxed linen thread in rainbow colours and the pages are Canson Mi-Teinte - perfect for scribbling in.

And thirdly I am offering some pebble scrabble letters - five words spelt in pebbles.

In order to go in the draw, all you need to do is leave a comment, telling me what you love most about blogging (if you are a blogger) or what you most enjoy if you are commenter not a blogger. Please also say which piece you would like to have ( Number 1, 2 or 3) if you won.

I will choose the winner next Sunday night (Australian time) and am looking forward to hearing from you all!

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-11-24T20:49:00.000+10:00

…This web of time—the strands of which approach one another, bifurcate, intersect or ignore each other through the centuries—embraces every possibility. We do not exist in most of them. In some you exist and not I, while in others I do, and you do not, and yet in others both of us exist. In this one, in which chance has favored me, you have come to my gate. In another, you, crossing the garden, have found me dead. In yet another, I say these very same words but am in error, a phantom…Time is forever dividing itself toward innumerable futures…

Jorge Luis Borges (1899 - 1986) Garden of Forking Paths, Ficciones.

I might often joke about thinking I have slipped into a parallel universe when somebody behaves completely out of character; or something totally unexpected happens, but it nonetheless is an idea that appeals to me.

I try not to have regrets about the past - things done, not done; things said, not said and so on. I try to learn and not repeat mistakes. A little part of me does enjoy thinking about the paths not taken, the opportunities missed; the decisions made that may have led me down completely different paths, some of the "what if" moments.

And early in the 20th Century, there was Jorge Luis Borges also exploring the possibilities of time splitting and dividing, opening doors, clearing paths... I guess as one tries to explore and understand the concept of time, there will always be an attraction to considering it non-linear, non sequential. Rather like in so many aspects of nature, paths splitting, courses dividing and multiple options being taken.

Borges characters describe multiple futures simultaneously, as opposed to forks in the road which encourage us to take one decisive action that sets the future path.

Apparently there are whole fields of quantum physics and studies into theories like the "Many Worlds" theory (Everett) that attempt to apply scientific rigour to these sorts of thoughts. Me I just ponder what happens in those others lives of mine, where I made different decisions, different choices...

Paper fiddling

2011-11-22T16:37:00.001+10:00

Whilst I have not been a totally successful participant in an arty gesture a day this month, I have found that the idea has helped me think of being arty when I might not otherwise have been so. That might not make make a lot of sense, but I did enjoy having a few paper folding things on the go as I cooked dinner last night.

In between checking on pots and pans, I would pop over to the dining table and fold a few bits.

I made lots of hearts out of old book pages - and am thinking they might become Christmas decorations for our minimalist tree perhaps...

I also made quite a few wee envelopes for cards out of the same pages. The flower fold ones didn't quite meet in the middle, which would have been problematic for posting (rain might get inside I thought) so I used the strip from down the side of the page to create a band - which also acts as the place to write the address. A simple and elegant solution I thought!

ALAW almost done

2011-11-20T18:40:00.000+10:00

I have completed my letters so that is an achievement in itself in amongst the total madness that has been our life the past while. I have enjoyed folding the paper and now have to think about how to present them. I assume I'll make a book.

I think I missed a few iterations, but here's the end of it all...

The gorgeous kaleidoscopic jumble of the finished letters - now to create some order from the chaos

Whilst most of the folding worked out using the same sized square paper to start with, clearly the "U" had different ideas. How squat! I kind of liked it and thought I'd keep it, but in the end, I went for uniformity and re-did it. See beyond a bit.

The re-jigged "U" with a slightly more elegant torso, although the dots were done sans eyeware and will require tidying!

I think I missed showing you these previous ones, in particular the lovely fold on the "Q" - if anybody knows the name of the cross-bar on a Q, I'd love to hear from you. So far I have "qua" and in French "queue", meaning tail. I just wondered if calligraphers or typographers might have a more professional name?

COMA Christmas exhibition

2011-11-19T17:57:00.000+10:00

Our local bunch of fine and fun art folk COMA - the Collaboration of Maleny Artists - is holding a Christmas exhibition this year. This is our tenth joint exhibition, previous exhibitions have focused on weeds, scratching the surface, between the lines and quite a few others.

This time we are all being asked to create a piece linked to the the song The Twelve Days of Christmas.
All works will be 2-D (wallpieces) and will measure 30cm x 30cm (12 x 12 inches). They will hang in a local coffee shop for a month around Christmas.

Given my less than sense of delight when it comes to drawing, and to figurative drawing no less (all those maids-a-milking, pipers-piping and drummers-drumming etc) it was a no-brainer for me to think about the 5 gold rings.

I had quite a few ideas which had me turning the canvas over and filling the hole left behind; stitching things through and onto canvas and plenty of others. As ever I went this way and that and in the end, was influenced by something I found.

I came home and found a few bibs and bobs lying around and they became the focus. Here's a bit of the progress of my 5 gold rings...

A long way from golden, but I thought these rings had potential!

And so I got down to work - I had earplugs and goggles on and gloves, and used pliers to hold the smallest pieces as they got hot (but clearly hadn't tied my hair back!) as I got down and dirty with the polishing. A typical background scene on our block.

The contrast was just stunning and my hope that underneath the gunk lay some 'gold' was fulfilled.

5 Gold Rings underway, now to work out what to do with them!

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-11-17T19:53:00.000+10:00

…usually, I start from how interesting the material is…what its suggestions are, why I like it, am I remembering something?...does this remind me of anything?...and as I work it usually hardens into something, usually…

Rosalie Gascoigne

It's back to Rosalie this week...

Because she worked with reclaimed and discarded materials these questions make perfect sense to me as they connect so strongly to memory and remembering and association. Working with things that have had a former life, somehow for me, also makes me wonder about them, why I am responding to them, what do they signify for me, why do I love that rust so? How do they make me feel, what am I thinking about as I play with them and explore their potential?

I rarely get this way with new materials, but certainly the used or worn ones send me off on this path of wondering what it's all about. I don't have many answers, but I just know I love them so, respond to them and want them in my life and art.

The little bit that kept catching me with this one tho, was the final "usually...".

I found it heartening to read into this that things didn't always go as planned for Rosalie; that the process usually got her to a resolution, but not always. I sometimes find myself down a path and attempting something and having to stop. Drop it. Turn around and start again. So it's nice to think that I'm probably not Robinson Crusoe on that one.

I think most of us listen to our materials and the tales they have to tell...

Art and about in Perth & Adelaide

2011-11-15T19:54:00.000+10:00

We are home. After a whirlwind 6 weeks we are finally sitting quietly on our mountain appreciating the beauty, the quiet and the nurturing of this place we call home.

Barry and I managed a walk most mornings whilst we were away and again enjoyed discovering the art in the public spaces of the places we visited. We don't often get the chance to visit galleries and museums when we are away for work as we are...working through the day. So we get a lovely feel for things as we wander the streets instead.

Some visual highlights from Perth included this fragment of a wall piece in the foyer of the building where we were working by Brian McKay. I loved the soft colours, the strong geometric designs, the scratched into surface and the forms and letters. The foyer of this building (which had about 26 floors) was also hosting a photographic competition, sponsored by the building owner, for all the people who work in the building. It had several different categories and was a great show - but also created a real sense of community within a normally business-like environment.

This is another fragment, this time a stainless steel cut-out over rusted corten steel of the top left hand corner of Western Australia by Tony Jones. I loved this look and it gave me lots of ideas.

This was part of an art piece celebrating the life of Sir Charles Court, a former Premier of WA who established a lot of ventures and centres during his term in office. I love corten steel (rusted) and I love letters, so it was nice to see words cut into the steel, by Tony Jones again.

This is one of a series of about 8 bronze and copper sculptures we found one morning when we were hunting for a place to sit and have a cup of coffee. We sat in this park (fake grass, between several buildings) and were thrilled to see these lovely pieces by Andrew Kay (2006).

I didn't take my phone with me both mornings in Adelaide so I only collected a few images, but I did enjoy this one of a stack of books, at the feet of Dame Roma Mitchell along North Terrace.

And it was the lead up to Remembrance Day and I was touched, as ever, by this display of poppies and crosses, row on row...

Hopefully I'll be back making and doing art for myself soon and can share some of that as well. Apologies to all folk who I normally 'visit' but who have been neglected as we travelled here and there.

Frame-making

2011-11-12T16:59:00.002+10:00

I have spent my occasional moments at home recently working on some lovely pieces which will be going to some nuns who are retiring. I know nuns never really retire; but these women are retiring from running schools and shelters, and handing their work over to community groups. In recognition of their amazing efforts, one of the Boards is giving them some art.

I found out a fortnight ago that they were due in Melbourne on 29 November - minus a week for transporting and two weeks for framing and yep, I've been busy!

But back to the framing.

I needed to house the works in box frames and our local framer Phil, had previously hand-built the frames for me. When I popped in to the shop the week before last to let them know I would need five large frames built and that I could give them 2 weeks to do it in, I was saddened to hear that Phil was heading to hospital for a month the next day. He and Jennifer worked with me to problem solve some options - nobody knew anybody else who could build them. We came up with the solution of purchasing 23m of moulding, cutting one of the rebates (ledges) off and gluing them together, thus making it deep enough, and only one rebate. Jennifer worked the phones and found the lengths, and arranged special delivery and freight to get them here.

That was Wednesday, we went to Perth. We came back Friday and had to ask my dad to go in to collect them as we got caught in traffic driving home from the airport.

Barry and I got out the band saw and cut the rebates off 12.5m of moulding on Friday night. Then spent Saturday gluing them together and clamping them. Sunday we were at a course all day. Monday we delivered them to the framers for them to cut up and make the box frames. Tuesday we flew to Adelaide and beyond.

I'll show you the pieces soon - here are the soon-to-be-frames!

They arrived in a box, individual lengths wrapped. Apologies for the thongs in the shot...

After the sawing - one length with rebate on, one with rebate off and rebate in hand as well!

We bought these fabulous quick-release clamps and they worked a treat.

A bit of a close up showing the two together...

I was thrilled with what we achieved in the timeframe - Phil and Jennifer helped me find a solution, Barry and I carried it out and the frames are being built. Hopefully all in good time for delivery to Melbourne.

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-11-10T18:33:00.000+10:00

Life is a horizontal fall

Jean Cocteau

To fall. To stumble. To drop. To be weightless. To lose control. To lose contact with the earth.

And to think that life is a horizontal fall. That we are somehow moving along a continuum, from birth to death, some nice little pencil line, and in reality, we are stepping off the edge of a cliff each day - into the unknown.

I like the sense of perpetual movement inherent in this thought; of life being about moving forward, and also that sense of living life like an adventure, not really knowing what will happen next, but stepping into the void each and every day, and discovering what the day holds.

I admire the man for thinking of life like that and for being able to describe it so well - never in my wildest dreams would I have come up with a horizontal fall.

Fortunately for most of us; the fall is not an extensive one, not a sharp drop onto rocks. Most days we fall a little bit and step across the breach that isn't so deep or treacherous and we place our feet upon firm and solid ground once again. But still we don't know before we begin. Some days we do fall. Big time, into voids and worlds we never knew existed and we find ourselves resident in some very tough places when we touch the earth again.

But hopefully, its mostly horizontal and we pick ourselves up and keep going.

A few artistic gestures

2011-11-09T17:13:00.002+10:00

Here are a couple of the little things I tried to do last week - trying to so something arty every day.

Barry has begun developing and designing prototypes for a new range of jewellery for men - see here. He is having fun and I think the pieces will work well.

I have turned my head to some of the packaging possibilities - nothing too fancy; nothing too flowery kind of thing, so I fiddled around with a packaging prototype where the pendant sits within its own cardboard package with an opening highlighting the piece.

I think it might work...

We were invited to dinner at a friends' house and had a delightful time with her and her two daughters. We sent a little thank you note before we hopped on our next plane, and here is the envelope.

A little bit of personalised envelope art is always a bit of fun I think.

I have a good friend who asked if I could do a calligraphic piece for her and it is her birthday this week so I offered up a birthday gift certificate with the promise to make the piece for her after we have had some chats about colour, style, size etc.

Having Ronnie's little challenge in the back of my mind has meant that instead of just typing and printing something I have gone for the hand-written which is nice. A little encouragement and then you realise it's not too tricky to spend the time being creative in small everyday ways...

Jewellery play day

2011-11-06T18:20:00.000+10:00

As madness would have it, despite having done trips to Melbourne, Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns (Melbourne again for Barry), and Perth in the past 5 weeks, with another departure appearing on Tuesday, we booked ourselves into a one-day aluminium and perspex jewellery workshop held at Cooroy Butter Factory, today.

It was run by Christine O'Reilly who is a talented metalsmith and jeweller and we had loads of fun experimenting, playing and discovering how aluminium works and reacts, and learning how to put pieces together.

I was thrilled to finish a set of earrings, complete with stainless steel threads and hand made copper rivets. Christine taught us how to anneal, and fold the aluminium, then how to create different surface textures and then how to join the aluminium to the perspex in my case.

I created a lovely shiny folded piece of aluminium, learning how to heat the metal with a blowtorch, then pop it into water to cool, then place it in a vice to fold it, hammer it, anneal it again then pop it back in the vice to unfold it and then do it all over again!

I was pretty chuffed, going from a shiny piece of aluminium like that on the left below, to a folded piece with a lovely warm and burnished surface on the right. BTW, can you tell that my iPhone has an orange case?

The warm burnished effect comes from heating olive oil on the aluminium - I loved the warmth that it created. So then I used that piece of aluminium to cut out a few strips and attached the strips to some smoky perspex which I had cut and filed the edges on, by creating rivets from copper wire. Little copper rivets made my heart skip - delightful!

I also enjoyed beating these two little cups in a shallow hollow. Not sure what they will be or where they will go; I just wanted to see if I could shape some metal.

All in all, a great day - one where we totally immersed ourselves in creating, learning new things and the right brain just had a lovely old wallow. Tomorrow will be here soon enough for the left brain to get back in charge...

Wedding Celebrations

2011-11-05T14:45:00.003+10:00

My brothers and I are in the midst of getting things done for mum and dad's 50th wedding anniversary celebration in December. Mum and dad of course, are busy getting things organised as well; but we kids are doing a few things here and there. Mostly we are laughing at all the old photos of ourselves and thoroughly enjoying the nostalgic trips down memory lane.

One of my tasks has been to do the invitations. Its always tricky working out what folk might like and so I started off with quite a few test runs and options for them to think about - some with intricate folding and envelopes; some long and thin, some more regular, some embossed, some with a photograph and so on. Any designer knows the process!

Little by little we got some clarity about what they were imagining the end product might look like and we grabbed some firm ideas early; others sort of appeared over time.

Barry and I sat down together one night right at the beginning and hand-embossed the 50 onto the front page of the card. I cut two templates form the sides of plastic milk containers and we sat side by side in companionable embossing mode.

I then had to do quite a few roughs to try and work out how much info we could get on a card; what size to write it; what bits to embellish, what style of writing to do and so on. Any calligrapher knows the process!

And then I had to try and work out how to get the final words onto about 35 cards - and I struggled again with scanning and with Photoshop so I ended up printing/copying each one from the original.

I worked out how to get the gold 50th onto each card - again after I tried all sorts of options and all sorts of pens and styles. And then decided it needed a little bit of something, so did gold diamonds by hand on each of them; and then right at the end, decided that I needed to separate or highlight "Graham and Adrianne" a bit from the rest, so tiny little gold diamonds were added alongside their names to each one.

I found the gold paper and envelopes in town - excellent! But there was only one sheet of paper and I needed about 15. So luckily we found more in Melbourne on one of our recent work trips. I cut each printed page down to size, each gold sheet down to size. And attached the gold to the card. I didn't dare attach the printed page until I had hand-written everybody's names in case I mucked them up. I didn't want to have to throw the whole card away.

Then I attached the printed part to the card and we were almost there. The envelope selection came next and we tossed up white, white with gold or gold and Mum chose gold, so we bought all the envelopes there were in town. Then the issue of how to address them - labels, handwritten, all calligraphy (eek) or a bit. We settled on a capital letter and the rest just hand-written by me, so it showed a bit of care and creativity without being over the top, for which I was grateful.

They were popped in the post and have been received across the country. Phew! Now down to the party...

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-11-03T16:09:00.001+10:00

Stories you read when you’re the right age never quite leave you. You may forget who wrote them or what the story was called. Sometimes you’ll forget precisely what happened, but if a story touches you it will stay with you, haunting the places in your mind that you rarely ever visit.

Neil Gaiman

I was thinking to myself - that name's familiar - but only in that "I think I might have heard of it before" way; not "that's someone I know but I can't place them" kind of way. When I checked him out online I worked out that he is a comic writer and I have on occasions been asked to search out his works on behalf of my niece - if we are o/s and can get access to them before they are released here in Oz.

Phew, glad I got that sorted.

Anyhow, I like what he writes about those books that touch us and reach us when we are young and so open to all that is in the world. So open to the worlds that are in books. So open to learning about different ways of being, to having our imaginations fired up; to seeing who we are and how we are played out in a story; or to see the person we could be, or aspire to be take the role of a character. And how we remember those things and they stay with us. I read loads of the Famous Five books and always loved "George" the best - a rough and tumble tom-boy of a girl with no fancy pants stuff - that was me.

Its funny, I thought he was talking about childhood reading because he mentions age and that's where my head took me - but as I go back into I think No; its the right book at ANY age that matters. And I really like how he says that the story touches you and stays with you, even if you can't fully recall the detail or who the author was. You recall how it made you feel. That's me and books in a sentence.

And just to finish with a smile, I've mentioned my brothers and I are trawling thru photos at the moment - I've titled this one "She always did like books". Me as a tot reading in my pyjamas.

An art gesture begins

2011-11-01T18:32:00.010+10:00

I was reading Ronnie's little challenge to herself over the month of November - to do/make something arty every day. Nothing big or dramatic or impressive, but just spend some time doing something artistic or creative. I loved the idea of a gesture - the perfect word to describe it.

So I thought I might try to keep her company in a small and probably slightly random and chaotic way... I am not sure how I'll fare given our travelling schedule over the next wee while, but I think its nice to have the daily mind set that I WILL do something creative today!

I probably (let's be honest - definitely) won't get to blog every day, but I will try to record and share my forays and whatever they produce.

I had some recent inspiration to kickstart me. I was reading Carol's blog and was really taken by Carol's iPhonography with a couple of apps, and went and bought them both (0.99 cents each). Barry has also been playing with iPhonography since we went to the NT earlier this year and has achieved some amazing effects as well. Carol's kaleidoscope one really impressed me, so I started to play with an image of my old torn and tattered books and here are some of the results...

The old book image is on the bottom left. The way it worked was that the app started doing all of these kaleidoscope movements - it just morphed from this to that and then to that and you had the option to take a screen shot, which I did every now and again.

I am not sure what the print clarity would be like - but they seem to me that they could make lovely card images or swing tags or gift tags, and also some interesting bits for collaging or even writing on.

Art and about in Cairns

2011-10-29T15:39:00.006+10:00

We visited Cairns through the week for work-work. Mostly we went from airport to taxi to hotel to work in hotel all day to taxi and to airport. But, each morning we went for a walk. The sun gets up very early in the North and so we were out and about with loads of folk enjoying the sunshine and the Esplanade.

Wherever we travel Barry and I love looking at the public art, the work that people place in our public spaces to tell a story about the place, to celebrate it or just to make the space a nice place to be.

We saw lots of lovely things in Cairns - here are few of them...

Cairns thinks about itself in terms of the Rainforest to the Reef - with majestic rainforested mountains looming above it and the great Barrier Reef a boat ride out to sea. These are just some tiles, in a plain grey wall that speak of the rainforest and the reef.

Don't you love the way the sun is peaking out from behind that cloud and the way it shadows the water. And the beautiful heron!

Community art perhaps? I loved this tree that had been strewn with people's sandshoes (sneakers) and the odd bicycle tyre. It was very reminiscent of the mango trees in town covered in fruit bats...

And this big beautiful mosaiced shell by Dominic Johns called "Telescopus". I'm not usually a huge fan of mosaics but this piece was jewel-like and shimmered; and really made you want to touch it.

Along the boardwalk there were 8 of these copper panels, each engraved with a particular animal that lived in and around the shoes and amongst themangroves. This is of Australian pelicans, and the artist is Brian Robinson. Barry has some close ups of the panels on this post here.

Brian Robinson again, "The Fish", are in the swimming pool by the beach. I've always admired them - the simplicity of those folded, woven paper fish - upscaled into these fabulous sculptures and formed out of steel.

The 5 colourful Jelly Babies by Sophie Cadman were out the front of KickArts ready to welcome folk and generally make you smile. At night they were lit up and looked great!

All in all we did pretty well for folk who weren't out and about when shops or galleries were open - we did no shopping and didn't get to wander through any galleries but we saw some great art!

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-10-27T17:18:00.000+10:00

The imagination should be allowed a certain amount of time to browse around.
Thomas Merton

Life gets very full and very busy and at times seems to be more about getting from place to place, doing all the things on the to-do-list, remembering to be here and to do that.

When my brain gets full of left-brain things, focused on checklists and sequences and arrivals and departures and sorting things out I find it gets over active and doesn't have the down-time it needs to just float freely, to wander from random thought to random thought, from inspiration to idea, to concept to design, to excitement and to wonder. That sense of purposeless browsing from which wonderful art can emerge.

Thomas Merton lived a life committed to peace, social justice and quiet pacifism and I have often enjoyed his writings. This simple statement can conjure up for me the whimsical image of an imagination popping into a shop somewhere and letting the assistant know it's "just browsing thank-you"!

On the other hand, it gives rein to the need for an imagination to not be active 24/7 as the parlance goes, for an imagination to not necessarily be focused or directed. Rather, for an imagination to come into play and do what it does best, it just needs to go a'wandering sometimes.

We are busy at the moment and fighting off colds and lurgies and bibs and bobs that all take residence when one is run-down and on the move a lot. I just need to be reminded in amongst the busy-ness and sense of frantic activity at times, to just stop and let my imagination go for a browse around...who knows what wonders it might discover in this mode.

This artwork Competitive Ground by Peter Hill, can be found at Understory in Northcliffe, Western Australia. I wonder what my imagination might find if it climbed one of these ladders and had a browse around...

Lovely, lovely bits and pieces

2011-10-25T15:39:00.002+10:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's wonderful to have friends who are artists and to make friends and connections through the blogging world with other artists. It means that more beautiful art comes into our life.

We are on the road again this week with lots of work-work so are not getting to do too much creativity at home. Which is where the talents and skills of others come in!

Here are some lovely pieces called "Seed" that we recently bought online from Trace Willans (Soewnearth). They are three beautiful individual pieces which we will frame together somehow and hang somewhere.

Trace always uses earth-friendly materials and creates wonderful and stunning effects. And they smell divine with beeswax lingering...

Trace always generously includes extras in her parcels and here I have used two of her gift-pieces to make book covers for a pair of mini-books. I have used rusted papers for the pages and stitched them with two coloured threads. I'm thinking they are tempting enough for even me to maybe draw in them!

And here is the latest outdoor piece. What a stunner. Called "Window to the soul" it is another piece by our friend Kim Schoenberger, and now graces our front door, acting as a guardian or sentinel. I stayed out of negotiations, but between them, she and Barry happily exchanged and traded bibs and bobs, and this is our end of the deal. Lucky us.

Oh and a little detail of the rusty nails on the bottom piece of timber. Yum.

Linear I & Linear II

2011-10-23T14:48:00.001+10:00

I only realised the other day that I hadn't blogged on these two books which are in Melbourne at the moment in our exhibition.

I really do like the sense of metal books - the steadfastness and resilience implied by the material, and the structure that is clearly so bookish; yet you just don't really expect metal books.

I also like to work with rusted steel; somehow the worn nature and patina of it appeals more than bright shiny new copper or steel. I had these pieces of rusted steel sitting around for ages, and laid them out and thought they would make lovely pages.

I then shellaced them to protect them a bit and to stop the rust falling off all over your hands. I quite like the long thin nature of these books. Whilst I am inordinately fond of squares, if a rectangle is called for then I love it to be long and thin!

Linear I is a book that reads a bit like a western book; it is stitched on the left hand side and opens in a beautiful and sculptural way. I have engraved lines and paths along each page and like the contrast of the shiny metal appearing in a meandering manner.

This book can be read like a book, or can act as a sculpture in its own right and I love how it displays.

Linear II is deliberately stitched more in the Tibetan style; flipping from the top in effect. Again it has similar markings to its sibling, engraved with a dremel tool, and stitched using waxed linen thread and a single page binding.

Linear I has found a new home, but as far as I know, Linear II is still looking!

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-10-20T18:28:00.000+10:00

A book reads the better which is our own, and has been so long known to us, that we know the topography of its blots, and dog's ears, and can trace the dirt in it to having read it at tea with buttered muffins.

Charles Lamb, Last Essays of Elia, 1833   

I think this is a lovely thought about how some books on our shelves can be navigated. Any book that has already been read once or twice brings with it at each new reading, a story, a narrative of where and when you read it previously. Perhaps the tell-tale marks are there; perhaps they are not so obvious...

Each time you re-read it, you may recall where you were, what was happening and how it made you feel; how it comforted you; how it may have given you a sense of courage; or how it made you angry enough to get up and take action! Sometimes you might just recall that you were sad, or that were happy at that time - it may just bring back memories of times ago, not necessarily remind you of what the book did or didn't do for you.

I don't have too many books that I can navigate through their blots, or marks or food spillages such as tea with buttered muffins, except my recipe books.

My favourite pages are all splattered with ingredients that go into their making, tomato sauces that boiled and bubbled, butter that was dropped and left grease stains; bits of flour here and there. It wouldn't need a detective to work out which recipes in some books were favourites that's for sure.

I think that books bring with them a history of you as a reader, whenever you re-read them, and it's nice to take your younger self along for the journey the second or third time around.

Art auction in support of Japan

2011-10-18T15:21:00.002+10:00

Rosebed St Gallery is small gallery in a small town near us called Eudlo. The Gallery is holding a 2-day online eBay auction to raise funds for Japan following the tsunami back in February.

The auction will take place on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 October (Australian EST). That is, next weekend.

NEWSBREAK!! - It looks like bidding has begun on some pieces, so if you are interested, please head on over via this link and join in the fun. I have my eye on a piece....

Both Barry and I have donated pieces to the auction and you can see the 'catalogue' for the auction here.

If you email them, they will keep you up to date with the auction action. Promise.

Our friend Kim Schoenberger has also donated some raku ceramics, and another friend Christine has also donated some artwork.

Here are our pieces in case you are interested...

Proceeds from the auction will go the Sunshine Coast's Sister City in Japan - to the mayor of Tatebayashi and will be distributed from there to artists in and or near Fukashima, which is in the prefecture next to Tatebayashi. Its about trying to replace so many art supplies which were lost, and to give people a little bit of hope and creativity, rather than just the absolute necessities of life.

Please support it if you can...

Summer Storms

2011-10-16T17:52:00.001+10:00

We are having a busy work-work time again; and are travelling interstate and around the country each week; but at least we manage to find ourselves at home most weekends. Just enough time to do the washing, pull a few weeds, catch up with friends and family and pack all over again.

This weekend we were witness to some stunning summer storms - the first one came thru at 4am on Saturday morning; the second series came thru about 5pm on Saturday.

One of the joys of living on an escarpment, up on a mountain with a big valley below us is that we get to watch the weather in all its majesty and wonder.

Here is a series of photos, stitched together using a iPhone app that show what we sat on the deck and watched yesterday afternoon...

This first one shows a couple of storms to the south (and the tip of one of our water tanks to the left)...

A little while later the storms had shifted to the East a bit and a few more had joined from the West... and the biggest mountain Beerwah had disappeared...

The storms had almost all passed to the East and the sky was clearing to the west, and the puddles of clouds were lifting from the valley

And then the sun was setting and the puddles of cloud seemed to be settling more than lifting (and I caught the edge of the roof)...

So being home for even just a little while was pretty special.

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-10-13T18:54:00.001+10:00

Wisdom begins in wonder.
Socrates

I have always loved this quote and this idea. I think the truest expression of living a good life is to retain a sense of wonder at the world; the mysteries of humans; and the majesty of nature.

To wonder at the leaf that manages to curl itself into the letter 'C"; wondering at how the smoke stains the sunset a vivid red; in awe and wonder as you regard an echidna roaming the block looking for its next meal.

Retaining that sense of wonder in the world keeps you fresh and open to new ideas; keeps you grounded in the realisation that you are not the centre of the universe (disappointing I know) and that there is always something out there that you are yet to discover, are yet to be amazed by.

Socrates was a pretty wise character and I think its pretty special that he put so much store in wonder. Without wonder we tend not to be invigorated by the idea of exploration; without wonder we can feel either pretty self-satisifed or pretty unhappy. Sometimes I need a nudge to be open to wonder; when I am feeling flat or overwhelmed; but when I am mindful of it - it opens up so much and keeps me light.

Now as a segue to the photograph, my brothers and I are are getting organised for our parents' 50th wedding anniversary, and are therefore trawling thru many photographs - some more embarrassing than others.

This is one of my favourites, taken way back when my niece was a dot (she is now 19). In my mind, the title of the photo has always been "the world is full of wonder". She and my brothers are looking into a rockpool and I imagine the boys are pointing out the mysteries within. They have all stopped and are gazing, with wonder, (and a wee bit of trepidation perhaps) at whatever lies within. I love it.

Colour burst

2011-10-11T15:05:00.001+10:00

During the Open Studios back in August I did some demonstrating of large pen italics, layering letters over each other and creating a pattern.

I am finding myself drawn more and more to lettering as pattern - the indecipherable nature of the letters or words; the mystery contained within and the beautiful layout or design they create. When letters appear like this, they don't immediately engage my left brain and make me want to read them left to right and interpret or decipher them. I am more likely to respond to the image, and then go in and see if I can make some other sort of sense out of them.

The 'reading' of them becomes secondary to the design, whereas with straight calligraphy, the reading is often the primary element and purpose.

When I have been able to grab a free moment here and there for the studio, I have found it really relaxing to go back to that sheet of letters, and fill in the negative spaces with watercolour pencils and watercolour.

It's like a jumble of colour, a kaleidoscope, a starburst of confetti.

I also love the pen-strokes where the ink didn't go all the way thru; the wash-outs or bleed-outs.

I don't know how I will use this - whether I will cut it up into smaller pieces, whether I will do some fine lettering over the top, or whether I'll over print it with some negative spaces leaving the colour coming thru? Who knows...but it's been a delightful and relaxing way to do something creative when I haven't had time for a real piece of work.

Contented sigh...

2011-10-08T14:51:00.002+10:00

Well, here is the final expression of those torn and battered books. I have enjoyed bringing this piece to life in so many ways.

Developing up an artwork or piece is such a journey. Oftentimes it starts with this idea, then wanders over there, comes back to the original but with a twist, or takes an even longer detour and finishes up well off the map.

I would love to be able represent the thought/idea to realisation journey in a graphic or visual manner sometimes. Mine would be most often be a messy doodle; with the occasional and rare straight-ish line. I think that creativity often feels like a leaf or a tree - with bifurcations taking you off to here, choices and decisions taking you off there, each branching moving you a little bit further away from what you originally intended.

At other times; it's just like everything falls into place and it goes from A to B without a hitch!

This piece fall somewhere between a straight line and completely off the original map. The final piece holds to my original vision, but needed a few adjustments and detours along the way.

It is called "Learning my Lines" and is part of our Light and Lines exhibition which opened at Hand Held Gallery in Melbourne on Thursday night.

You can now see why we were playing with the metal strapping last weekend!

I was really, really happy with the way this worked out and have lots of ideas to pursue along these lines. Sometimes it just feels like you got it right. For me, this is one of them. Contented sigh.

The Show is on!

2011-10-07T19:54:00.000+10:00

Well we have returned safe and sound from our Melbourne jaunt and had the best time. We were really happy with the way the gallery space worked and after setting up and fiddling a bit here and there, we thought to ourselves; "That looks like us" and I don't think you can really want more from an exhibition than that can you?

You want it to feel like the work has come from you; that you feel an affinity with the way it is displayed and the sense it gives people when they look at it. You want people to recognise it as yours and for it to have that quintessentail essence of you in it somehow.

Hand Held is a small gallery space but one that displays and shows the work really well.

We had a lovely gathering at the opening - only small - but they were mostly good friends and people we were thrilled to see. The most wonderful surprise came for me when my bestie Sue showed up! She lives in Canberra an hour and a bit away by plane (about 700km) and had flown down for the night to surprise us. Fabulous doesn't do it justice!

Here are some shots of the space and the gathering...

Dear friends from Melbourne came along to support us as did some Maleny friends who were in Melbourne for a wedding.

And a number of these wonderful folk also bought our work - which was very very special. Thank you all - we really appreciate your support of us and our work.

All images taken with iPhones so apologies for the lack of clarity here and there; but I was thrilled to have mine back as I left it locked in the gallery for about 24 hours. Note to self; I CAN live without my phone...

Now back to checking out everybody else's adventures and replying to a few folk!

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-10-06T18:39:00.001+10:00

What you need in an art work is to awaken an emotional response, a blow in the solar plexus, something that moves you. You don’t have to intellectualise : what does it mean?

Rosalie Gascoigne

I agree with Rosalie here - it's about moving people, taking their breath away; stopping them dead in their tracks, making them still for a moment, or bringing a great big smile to their face. Now that's art!

This brings me to my dilemma when viewing art. The labels. My preferred way of viewing art is to enter into the room or space and be with it. To gaze and seek, and respond. To let it settle over me; or shout back at me depending on the work - but to have that first innocent, raw and uninfluenced look at the work. To experience it fresh and anew; without too many preconceptions.

I no doubt have preconceptions before I arrive - the name of the artist or the show; or the location of the works, each tell us a little bit about what to expect and set the scene somewhat.

I prefer after my initial viewing and experiencing, to then, and only then, turn to whatever has been written about the work and seek to understand what the artist was on about. In part I think this is because I really dislike too much art-speak and often the works is described in flowery or over-the-top ways. I also don't like to be told or preached at, so working my own way through something is my preferred approach.

The other side of me does like to read and think about art, to discover something else I might have missed; or something that adds a new dimension to my reflections and understandings. My official art-training is light-on, so I often do learn something I knew nothing about when I read the descriptors. Hence the dilemma.

I think art is very personal, and not all of us will have the experience that the artist thought they were portraying or expressing; but its good if we have a response. I think good art moves us - it might make us calm or angry or distressed or joyful; but it makes us feel something.

Andy Goldsworthy

Sometimes beauty is enough

2011-10-04T16:22:00.006+10:00

It's fascinating to stop and observe or consider your own responses to art; to works in progress and to objects.

I have been really enjoying having the book stacks around - with their worn and torn beauty. And it really is beautiful to me. I don't know what it is, but I feel calm and warm and gentle and peaceful when I look at the stack of old books with their spines ripped off and their inner stitching revealed.

I would love to understand what it is that happens, that produces that sense of warmth and relaxation almost. It would be a good medication to patent I expect as it feels like my heartbeat slows, my blood pressure drops, stress falls away from my being, muscles relax and lengthen and that everything is smooth and calm. I likened it once to feeling like warm, flowing caramel inside.

So here they are again, but this time only their corners, just because they are beautiful.

And just as a final shout-out - Barry and I are off to Melbourne tomorrow to set up our exhibition at Hand Held Gallery in the city! The show will open on Thursday 6 October, from 6pm - 8pm.

The exhibition is on from 6 October to 29 October, and the gallery is open Tuesday-Sunday 12pm - 5pm, just in case you get to fly by or drop in!

Work in progress...

2011-10-02T17:30:00.000+10:00

This is a bit cheeky, but I wanted to show you some of the things that Barry and I got up to on the weekend, without letting you in on what they are intended for. Sneaky I know, but down the track I think you'll appreciate the finished piece!

I am very fortunate to have Barry in my life to help me get art pieces from A to B. He doesn't even mind some of the twists and turns in between. He knows so much about fabrication of things and is very 'handy' as the expression goes. He has good tools and good ideas and understands art, so that is a deadly combination when it comes to me trying to fully express an idea or design.

So here I learnt to rivet - in the old fashioned way with copper rivets. None of this pop-rivetting tool kind of thing; but hammering and 'setting' first, then 'doming'.

Then on we went to the making putting a few bits of rusty metal strapping together in weird and wonderful ways...

And then turn them upside down - as you do!

This has been a great example of me having an idea, but not the skills to fully execute it. Barry came up with the solution; he taught me how to do the things and together we worked out the details of actually doing it. You wouldn't think that there could be such different approaches to finding the centre of something - but as ever, we came at it from opposite directions, yet still found the middle path.

I hope to be able to show you the finished piece towards the end of the week...

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-09-29T19:00:00.000+10:00

I read like the flame reads the wood.

Alfred Döblin

Not many words were needed here to get his message across - so clear, simple and evocative. I think I chose this one because it reflects how I read, and the message resonates strongly with me.

I am a fast and voracious reader, making my way through plenty of books and as often mentioned, I need the security of a few book-companions whenever I leave home for any length of time in case I get thru the first one or two too quickly! I can read whole books in one sitting if I'm on a plane for a few hours with no distractions, and often find myself turning off lights at night much later than anticipated, as I have been swept up in the urge, the desire, the need to read the rest of the story.

It has ever been thus, and I'm not always sure it a positive trait - the speed with which I get through books sometimes means I don't process the information fully or remember every detail. I often read and have a general response to a book - and might not be able to recall every character's name or place.

On the flip side; I nearly always finish the books in time for book group!

Alfred Doblin was a novelist and a man who must have loved reading by this description of his habits. 'Flame reading wood' conjures up images for me of total absorption, being engulfed, overwhelmed and utterly consumed. I think its that sense of being consumed by reading that fits for me - that the rest of the world can go by once I am committed to a book.

A Letter a Week - a few instalments

2011-09-28T18:55:00.000+10:00

I have been somewhat remiss in not posting my letters. I have been doing them, but not in any systematic way, I'd have to say that this year has not been a systematic kind of year. I can hardly believe its almost the end of September, and we are beginning to make Christmas plans, end of year plans and well into next year plans - how did that happen?

But I digress...

Here are some more of my fun folded letters. The rainbow effect is coming through and I am still loving the spots in the negative space. They are certainly each unique and individual and I continue to enjoy the making of them. Its intriguing to see how the different folds will produce the different forms. Letters are a constant source of fascination for me and its been lovely to explore them in such a different way - no pen in hand..

I probably need to get my act together and start on the finished piece - in the sense of designing it and building it and then getting onto adding the letters to it. I think they look good against the black and will hopefully use a black background for them - still working out if I can manage to make them pop-out somehow! Even if I don't, I expect they will still make me smile.

There are some amazing and fabulous letters and alphabets appearing over at a letter a week 2011 - its worth a quick visit for a lovely wander.

Into the unknown...

2011-09-25T17:30:00.000+10:00

I continue to be intrigued by the creative process and am sure I will never fully understand how it works, but then I guess therein lies the magic.

Whilst we were away recently we visited a couple of great 'tip shops'. That is, the shop they have at the dump, the tip or the waste transfer station - whichever way we currently describe where all the rubbish goes. People working there identify the odd bits and pieces that could possibly be used by others and rescue them, then sell them at a very small price at the 'tip shop'.

At one such shop I bought 3 old books - ratty and tatty and without their spine coverings, but I thought they looked lovely.

I brought them home with no real idea what I would do with them; I just loved the look of them.

They sat there and I thought about them, imagined them wrapped with thread, or wire. Envisaged them somehow showing tidelines in the sand and just enjoyed them acting as a small inspiration, something to focus on in amongst the madness of the work-work world.

Over the weekend I began to play with them, found some other books that were quite dilapidated and started to get those exposed spines together and looking good.

Barry and I have fiddled with them, looked at them and pondered where they go next...

I'm not exactly sure what happens next, but I am loving the process unfolding, no clear direction, but interesting options, and sharing that exploration with B.

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-09-22T20:16:00.000+10:00

A curtain is dropped once the sun disappears. I love a night of its own colors, where green becomes myrtle, blue becomes violet, and crimson, a maroon. But most of all, I love a night where the moon is the absolute white, like the course sail of a grand ship, and, I love watching it steer, like an infernal comet, into a sea of stars.

Bedlam 78 (was bedlam408.tumblr.com)

First the apology for not being able to attribute the words and quote to anything or anybody real (ish). I came across it on tumblr a while ago and when I went to find the original posting; the page had gone, had disappeared and I don't know who they are or who they were. But I liked their words.

I thought the imagery of this was beautiful. I stopped and imagined that a curtain does fall at sunset; a sheer, slightly dark curtain that changes how we see colour. That deepens it.

The curtain gets slipped over the landscape, like a sensuous or mysterious cloak and things appear somewhat altered. I am not sure what colour myrtle is, but I imagine it deep and rich and velvety dark green. Things go from blue to violet and crimson to maroon - each time a hint of black being added to create the new colour. But it still holds the richness and beauty of its origins. It is never completely overtaken.

And then the moon. What a wonderful thing it is; what a marker of time, of seasons, of days, of weeks, of months. I am sure I have gazed as it steers into a sea of stars.

I'm not quite sure where this one came from or why I pondered on it but I simply loved the way it let me stop and re-imagine my world; to remember those moments when I had seen or felt as they described. The way things don't disappear into the darkness, but take on a new life.

Strangely it speaks of darkness again, and in a way that is welcoming and friendly and another form of beauty. Perhaps I am just drawn to dark beauty this week...

Dark beauty

2011-09-21T18:29:00.001+10:00

I don't often get very dark for which I am thankful.

And I don't often stop to think about the beauty that lies within the shadows, the darker tones of the world that I pass through daily. I think I'm an optimist - not Pollyannish - I tend to see more the sun than the shadow kind thing.

When I mostly think of beaches I think of brightness, blue, searing gold and yellow... and yet on our recent trip the beach we visited most was closely connected to dark rocks and dark sands.

I found it beautiful to behold so much black in nature; and quite the contradiction to find so much dark at the beach. I wandered around merrily looking at the dark, where it joined the light, marvelling at the blackness of the black.

Here are some images of the dark beach beauty...

Sand on a black rock...

Black rocks at the base of the cliff...

Black pebble on the beach...

Early morning beach...

Travel Lines

2011-09-19T17:37:00.001+10:00

We are well on the way to having all the bits and pieces together for our exhibition Light and Lines at Hand Held Gallery in October.

I had been thinking about what to do with some small wall pieces I had made for an earlier exhibition. They were lovely and intimate; but I wasn't sure they were ever going to sell or find new homes. In the end I decided that I am mostly an object person, rather than a wall-piece person. I thought that whilst the look of them suited me; the style of them didn't, if that makes any sense.

So, I took them out of their frames (with Barry's help) and re-made them into a book. I had to get a couple more pieces of mat board cut for covers but in the end it has turned out to be a nice sturdy book, which feels good as you turn the pages.

Many folk will recognise the pieces, and I hope you think they look OK in their new format. It's a bit like recycling I guess...

The cover is the wordless piece; and I added a rusted washer...

I glued the mat board pieces back to back to make sturdy pages, and used a single page binding...two tones!

I interleaved the sturdy pages with some of my favourite rusted braille pages...

Which I reinforced on one side...

And just because I love it so...a close up of the cover piece...

The main technique is incense-burned holes in the pages of an old book, covered with used teabags and encaustic-ed (I know, it's a noun not a verb, but I still like to think about it as a verb!).

Glyphs and moths

2011-09-17T16:07:00.000+10:00

I think I mentioned that Barry and I ran away for a few days recently. We went to the beach; but there were lots of national parks around as well, and we went for a walk one morning.

We came across so many fabulous scribbly bark trees. I don't know if anything like this lives anywhere else in the world; but here in Australia we have clever little moths, whose larvae live in this particular type of eucalyptus haemastoma (gum) tree and make these fabulous marks and glyphs and tracks in the bark.

These zigzag tracks are tunnels made by the larvae of the Scribbly Gum Moth (Ogmograptis scribula) and follow the insect's life cycle. Eggs are laid between layers of old and new bark. The larvae burrow into the new bark and, as the old bark falls away, the trails are revealed. The diameters of the tunnels increase as the larvae grow, and the ends of the tracks are where the larvae stopped to pupate. Thank you wikipedia.

I must admit I get amused by what appear to be completely random journeys; and where things go awry and they have to turn back and go around another way...but the marks they make are beyond beautiful.

And then the calligrapher in me was absorbed by how people also chose to graffiti these trees themselves. As if the handwriting of the larvae was an invitation for humans to try their hand as well?!? Anyhow, despite my preference for them not to destroy or wreck the trees, I found myself a little bit fascinated by how the carved letters appeared almost like scars and I imagined their scabs falling off as the bark shed and leaving only hint of the original writing.

Sometimes nature just gets it so right.

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-09-15T22:15:00.000+10:00

Art is longing. You never arrive, but you keep going in the hope that you will.

Anselm Kiefer

It seems to me that if Anselm Kiefer feels as if he has never arrived then its probably OK for the likes of me to still be longing to.

Three simple words - Art is longing - encapsulate so much of the sense, the feeling, the experience of art. They hint at the eternal quest, the pilgrimage, the seeking out of perfection or truth or beauty. They make it very much a personal journey not a destination.

The longing is so real - that feeling inside which so wants to create or express the moment, the sense of something in perfect poetry, or with simple elegance, or for others, with a loud and exciting vibrancy. Longing to feel as if our work that has emerged from within has made a connection and resonated with others in some way.

Longing to achieve the perfect expression, whatever that may be.

To know that we may never arrive, doesn't dampen the desire to try. And you certainly keep going in the hope that you will. For anytime we experience the moment when it does come together, when we feel fleetingly or briefly that we have achieved something special, those moments are worth pursuing.

Anselm Keifer, The Secret Life of Plants, 2002

A flurry of fun

2011-09-13T14:45:00.002+10:00

In between the serious business of preparing artworks for an exhibition, I have really enjoyed some play-time with letters and envelopes.

A young friend turned 10 on the weekend and here is the cover of his card. I was totally inspired by Jane Farr's envelopes for her children and even managed to buy some glaze pens here in Australia. I didn't go back and look at Jane's post until after I'd finished; but there are some real similarities for sure! Like the chunky letters and the coloured in letters...

My brother Al and his fiancee Lorraine had their engagement party on the weekend, and we travelled to Brisbane and stayed overnight. We had a great night and I also had fun making up the gift-card-envelope thingy. Technical term.

It's Japanese-inspired and uses some paste paper I made as well as fragment of light Japanese papers that I did some Itajime dying of when we were in Calgary last year.

I sometimes need reminding about how much fun it is to play - to make folded envelopes, to write people's names for their birthdays. I know how much pleasure it give me to receive such hand-made and hand-written wonders, and I wonder why I don't do it more often myself?

Lineal book completed

2011-09-11T18:44:00.000+10:00

Despite a trip to Brisbane for happy Engagement Party on Saturday night I found time to make the final book that I posted about last week.

I was able to recall all the little things I wanted to do in the final piece (notes in journal helped) and I merrily set off to make it. It all worked out fine and with no dramas. But interestingly, because I was trying to follow the pattern, the idea I had created last week it wasn't nearly as much fun!

Even tho the final piece has all the same features of the trial piece - and is actually an improvement on the model - there just wasn't that buzz as I went about it. I figure NOTHING can replace that high, that sense of magic that accompanies those moments where the work is leading. Its definitely not the same when the work is following - even tho the product is better! I think that means I will continue to seek out those moments; those little epiphanies...

I really like this end-on shot of the book, with the rusted scrolls acting as ties.

Here is a shot of the book open - you can see the weaving and the way I hand stitched around the edges, to enclose the scrolls and make it sturdy.

And here it is wrapped up. The colours aren't great here - the paper is strong and deep turquoisy green with dark mottling and a waxy feel. It looks strong and bold.

This little book is now ready to join the others in preparation for our exhibition "Light and Lines" opening at Hand Held gallery in Melbourne on Thursday 6 October. I managed to make significant progress on three other books as well so I am nearly there...

Now THAT is exciting!

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-09-08T21:04:00.000+10:00

For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you.

Anne Lamott

I am fortunate to have a beautiful good friend who captures thoughts like these and keeps them together "for Fiona" and then sends them on. She knows so well what moves me and makes me think; and makes me smile.

I received this one this week and loved it. We ran away for a few days - a mini-break to re-charge our batteries - and I received it whilst we were up the coast. It made me smile because the one thing we did before leaving was go to one of the secondhand bookshops in town and buy 7 books just to be sure we would be OK whilst we were away. On top of the 3 or 4 other books we had as options - for three days away!

The other thing we packed was wine - says a lot really, but we felt prepared for the worst the weather might throw at us!

I really loved the description of small, flat, rigid squares of paper - so true so simple yet I've never thought of books that way. What she goes on to say about the unfolding worlds rings true, and is a source of ever-wonderment to me; that so many folk can put so many thoughts down in such a way that we are carried away to different worlds.

And that books can make you cry, fear, get fired up, laugh out loud, smile quietly to yourself - that ability to move people is one of their greatest gifts. To take us out of our world and our understandings and show us other places and other ways.

Tantalising glimpses..

2011-09-06T17:15:00.001+10:00

I began serious work on a prototype book over the weekend, working with those lovely rusted scrolls that in the end, didn't become scrolls...

It's nice to have the time to have pieces sitting around, letting you wander past and ponder what they might do next, what they might become. These long snake-like strips told me the other day that I should pull threads and make lines. The title of Barry and my show in Melbourne in October is "Light and Lines"; Barry is doing the light, I am doing the lines. So pull threads I did.

And then I began to dream about weaving them in and out of the pages in a book. I found some stunning paper in my stash, folded it and started snipping slits in it. Then I began to weave the scrolls thru....ahhh the magic began.

I played for ages with these pages, changing where the slits would start and end; pulling the fabric taut and loose; working out how much would show and how much would be hidden. Discovering how to finish it off and overall just having one of those magical sessions where the piece kept unfolding before my very eyes, within my hands, and I had to jot down notes as I went as it was all happening with such thrill and speed that I feared I might overlook something in the final piece if I didn't capture that moment of inspiration!

Here's a final tantalising glimpse of where the prototype got to...

A Brush with Silence... Japan

2011-09-04T16:18:00.002+10:00

I spent the half hour it takes to watch the video below turning my head this way and that, marvelling at the beauty of the scene, the setting, and the lettering that was appearing.

Modern, traditional, Japanese, Roman capitals, gestural writing, brushes, nibs, ruling pens - such beautiful expressions of language. The mastery each of these calligraphers has is exquisite to observe and has reminded me once again why I love lettering!

I picked this video up in a thread from cyberscribes - an international lettering group, and thought non-calligraphers might also enjoy the moments of beauty....

文字書く人たち from Japan Letter Arts Forum on Vimeo.

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-09-01T18:18:00.000+10:00

She seemed to have no inkling that life wasn’t as orderly as her pencil case and that everything is chance and at any moment any number of remarkable things can happen that are totally beyond our control, events that rip up our maps and re-polarize our compass –

Kate Atkinson, Emotionally Weird

This is such a pertinent quote for me today - when life got turned upside down in the nicest possible way and who'd have thought it would turn out like that?

I really enjoy Kate Atkinson's novels - she takes you to some interesting places and creates some good characters. I love the use of the word 'inkling' here - I don't think we say it often enough! And I also love the idea of a very ordered pencil case where you can find just what you are looking for.

Life sure isn't always like that in this household. I seem to have a penchant for filing by piling - I get some degree of comfort from knowing that if something is within my vision I probably haven't misplaced it. Heaven only knows what things will look like when I really start losing my memory...

I guess here, she is also talking about those events that sideswipe you, lead you through a dark and difficult time, and again, who'd have thought? Who could see them coming?

But for us today it was a happy re-organising, an unexpected re-gaining of a lot of time. A job we had committed to do for work-work had to be moved and changed and in the end, that meant we couldn't do it. It was an intense load - over 5 weeks travelling all across the country, following by weeks of analysing and report writing so we are excited to now be staying home for a bit. Such pleasure and delight to be sitting on the mountain and not packing a bag to fly away.

So here's to those random happy moments when life gets turned upside down - to happy dances and tidy pencil cases!

Photo reblogged from tumblr; originally posted by labirintus

Calligraphic happiness...

2011-08-30T20:55:00.000+10:00

One of the nicest things about having connections to and with calligraphers is that you sometimes get very very lovely snail mail!

In the last two weeks I have received two gorgeously-addressed envelopes that have made me smile, and then want to show everybody near me!

The first is a thank you from Tania; a talented Gold Coast calligrapher, and the second is a thank you from Helen another very talented calligrapher, this time from Buderim.

It's such a happiness to receive these lovely envelopes and the handwritten cards as well - so thank you both. I just had to share these little moments of joy...

Creative Spaces - Open Studios IV

2011-08-28T20:55:00.001+10:00

OK, its official, we're exhausted!

After another amazing weekend we feel tired, satisfied, weary and exhilarated - a heady mix! Today we counted 100 people coming through and visiting us which seems truly remarkable; after having seen around 80 people yesterday as well.

Yesterday, the mist and drizzle set in, offering visitors the very special mountain magic known as "mizzle" in the Dempster-Smith household, and still they came.

Today dawned sunny and bright and the studio looked great - photo taken from the house.

We found it very special to share our world, the way we think about our art, what we are hoping to achieve, and the different ways we go about it with the different folk who visited. Today I had lots of interest in the calligraphic side of things - from calligraphers, through to sign-writers, to young folk fascinated by Japanese kanji scripts to lots of people who have enjoyed picking up a pen a long time ago and writing beautifully.

I was doing a little practice piece throughout the day - writing each letter of the alphabet in layers on a single piece of paper so it became quite abstracted - and we talked about abstract versus literal calligraphic art. This piece offers me lots of options and in my spare moments I pondered if it would have watercolours added to it, if it would become a background piece for a print or if I would add more letters or words to it in different ways. Just a joy to be fiddling and playing and pondering...

One of the nicest things to happen was as I turned around to start tidying and packing up at the end of the day; I realised somebody had left a message in the pebbles!

And here we are, two tired artists, with paper rusting mess in the background; rusted wheels and timber in the foreground, pleased to be sitting and having a quiet cuppa at the end of it all.

Many thanks to the many people who visited and talked and shared - our lives are richer for your visits.

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-08-25T14:35:00.001+10:00

An artist’s duty is rather to stay open-minded and in a state where he can receive information and inspiration. You always have to be ready for that little artistic epiphany.
Nick Cave

Nick Cave is one of Australia's most interesting exports...his work/music can appear dark and damned at times; but he has also written some of the most exquisite and sublime lines and songs, that make you stop and just want to be with him in that moment.

The bit I like in particular about this thought is the final idea of the little artistic epiphany. I can almost visualise it, see it appear, feel it happen and hear it go 'pop'! Those moments when we suddenly realise this is it, it's working it's coming together and here I have made my own special brand of magic.

The epiphany can be an understanding as well - the moment at which we finally 'get' how this comes together, what it takes, what it is about the work that nourishes our soul. An insight, a truth, an ah-ha.

The other theme that resonates for me is the need for openness - to be willing to be empty in a way, in order for the inspiration and little guiding moments to make themselves apparent. A bit like needing silence in order to hear things.

Sometimes a regular routine of exercises might get us into this zone; sometimes just going and sitting in the studio can help; meditation, yoga, exercise, all things that help clear and empty our minds of chatter might make it easier; going places or simply choosing to be observant or allowing for a free-thought flows of connecting...all encourage us to be open to inspiration.

Creative Spaces - Open Studios III

2011-08-22T20:59:00.000+10:00

Well, what an amazing weekend!

Saturday dawned warm and bright and after getting Barry down to set up the art4place placemaking art event in town and back, we settled in to meet and greet, show and demonstrate.

We had about 60 visitors each day, and everybody was friendly, interested and inolved. People wanted to know what we did, why we did it, how we did it. Cups of tea and coffee and biscuits were offered and people gathered around to watch Barry beat metal and fold-form leaves.

I did some monoprints, some stitching and some calligraphy; but there wasn't much time to pursue a single project and just have people watching you - we were talking about all the different aspects and elements of our art, and luckily hopping up and down to make sales!

As we had hoped, the pebbles and inspirations were a big hit and we both need to make more before next weekend. Barry's bowls and leaves and feathers all featured and a couple of my monoprint journals sold as well.

We got lots of lovely comments in our visitors book and lots of people interested in coming back for classes and workshops, so we'll be having a think about how we can do things...

We were amazed that people kept on coming on Sunday - the weather turned a bit foul and there was rain and mist and wind...but we love that folk persevered and came along and met us, shared our space and engaged with our work. Here's to next weekend!

And thanks to Noela for taking the top two shots - we never got the chance to pick up a camera and snap - in fact we missed lunch all together on Saturday and worked out we had two breaks on Sunday - one for 5 minutes and one for ten!

Creative Spaces - Open Studios II

2011-08-19T18:31:00.007+10:00

Here we are, the night before the Open Studios and we are rip-roaring and ready to go!

I really like that this is as much about showing people what we do, inviting them to enter our working and creating spaces and to share the experience of art in the making, as it is about selling work.

We are not sure if we will have hordes of folk descending upon us, or a trickle of interested souls who want to chat and talk about what it is we do, how we do it, why we do it...

I think we sometimes forget in amongst our madness and busy-ness and angst that other folk find the idea of an artist, and their studio exhilarating and exciting. That magic happens in there, and that somehow they might be privy to watching the process unfold.

I know I love looking at other artists' spaces; how they work, the little talismen they have around them to inspire them and keep them going; the tools they need, the mess they make.

Its a privilege to share this time with the people who drop by, and we look forward to sharing our space with them.

Having said all that, we are also conscious of the fact that people often like to take home a little something; a touchstone or link to the visit and so have made a few pieces that folk can purchase without emptying their wallets. The wallet-emptying pieces will also be there should anybody feel moved to do so!

Here are some cards we had printed locally, using some of our own images of a few pieces.

And here are some of Barry's wee "Inspiration in your pocket" pieces - shiny bits of recycled metal with inspirational words stamped on them. In fact they are so shiny they pick up my skin reflecting like its sunburnt!

And my pebble letters - hand written on each pebble is a letter, and you can choose to write a word or just carry your initial with you...there are a couple of bowls full to play with.

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-08-18T18:44:00.001+10:00

If someone suggested the idea of public libraries now, they’d be considered insane. If you said you were going to take a little bit of money from every taxpayer, buy a whole load of books and music and games, stick them on a shelf and tell everyone, ‘These are yours to borrow and all you’ve got to do is bring them back,’ they’d be laughed out of government.
Peter Collins, The Secret Life of Libraries

Brilliant! Don't you just love this thought? In amongst the madness we call the sophistication of the 21st century, this is so true - people would say "no way, you can't do that!!".

And yet, the pubic library is the best thing we ever did (a big claim I know, and I'm on shaky ground to defend it, but it feels true to me).

I love that libraries are there for everybody; that they don't discriminate. I love that with the big institutions like the National Library of Australia they take it upon themselves to collect every single book published in Australia, so you know if you ever need to find it or read it - they will have it.

I love that public libraries have free wi-fi access and computers for folk who need to log on for half an hour - and it's free! I love that they are knowledge hubs for our communities and create spaces that welcome folk and encourage us to read, explore, discuss and feel happy.

OK so I'm a raving fan, but they truly are special places.

Our local library lets us hang art exhibitions every month and the place is filled with toddlers having story time and experiencing the magic of being read to; parents learning how good it is to read to their kids; older folk practising how to upload photos to computers and email their grandchildren; teenagers doing social media in the afternoon and borrowing music; middle aged folk reading newspapers in the mornings and everybody borrowing books left right and centre. If you need access to a Justice of the Peace to sign your official documents, the Library hosts them, and if you want to volunteer to read at the aged person's home, the Library can arrange it. If you need practise with English skills - library volunteers are the folk to help you. They are truly good places.

In honour and support of public libraries!

This is a photo of me (with short hair) teaching a book making workshop in the suspended 'pod' in Brisbane City Council's library - how cool is this?

Spring is calling...

2011-08-16T15:26:00.001+10:00

I heard Spring whisper it was on its way this week...

I popped my head around the corner and found this poppy had bloomed and was letting me know with all its colour and style that winter is on the wane.

Here it is getting closer, whispering louder and then gleefully announcing - Spring will soon be with us!

Creative Spaces - Open Studios

2011-08-14T14:24:00.001+10:00

Preparations are well and truly underway for the Open Studios. Books are made and stitched, pieces are presented and priced and the shed studio has been given the once over and is looking stunning - you can even see the mountains through the windows now!

Here are some shots of the space getting sorted - it has been a bit of a mad time... these are in between shots (not quite before; it looked a lot worse, and not quite after; its even tidier now and a number of those covers are now real books)

and some lovely shots of some journals I have stitched, using Ken's handmade paper as covers... I did some monoprints on the some of the covers - feathers, string and ferns.

Ken is also on the map so to speak and I recommend anybody coming up our way also drop in and see the magic he creates in his studio space.

So August 20 and 21, and 27 and 28, 10am - 4pm - if you are nearby, drop by! We'll have the kettle on and some home baked biscuits if you want to sit and have a chat about what we do.

And sign our visitors book!

Book Art Object - the thinking behind it

2011-08-13T15:08:00.000+10:00

I recently showed you all the pictures of the book when it was finished and promised to talk about the thinking behind it sometime. That time is now (altho if you also head over to the BAO blog you'll find a similar, quite similar, post over there!)

Reflecting on the journey, this book has been a constant thought companion for nearly a year; with sketches made here and there, ideas and options tested and trialled. At times I thought I would never settle on an approach and get started; but bit by bit, I narrowed down the options and made decisions.

These are some mid-process drafts...

The book is a response to Claire Beynon’s poem, rather than a rendition of it. If I had chosen a rendition I would have used the whole poem throughout the book and made it the focus. By highlighting particular lines or phrases I created my own personal reading of the poem in a calligraphic way.

There were certain words or phrases that jumped out at me, and told me the underlying story of the poem in a way, and I chose these words/phrases to include in my book.

I am fond of squares and chose to work within the square format. This choice was supported by the covers I found in a funny little art shop which then set the format and colour scheme for the rest of it. Sometimes I need a little push from outside to stop exploring and make the decision, then continue to explore within the new boundaries.

I wanted to give the reader some opportunity to wrestle with paper in the process of reading the book. I also knew I needed/wanted to include Claire’s complete poem somehow in the book; and so the idea of having it held within a Japanese tato on the title page came into being.

Choosing which of these little pockets to use was a fun time in itself; and I had the odd disaster here and there as I trialled them in a remote Aboriginal community where I had no ruler or measuring tool; and the squares are actually formed from rectangular pieces of paper which require specific dimensions and proportions - none of which I could easily or readily achieve!

I did one original calligraphic version of the phrase or line I highlighted and then scanned each of them individually. I had hoped to be able to print the scans direct onto the pages but I ran out of time to master the set up of the pages in the software properly; so they are individually attached to each page. In the end, I like the hand-made and crafted nature of their attachment.

Here is my first test page of writing...

I knew I had to do a simple binding if I was producing an edition, so used a three-hole pamphlet binding and the beads on the outside just added a tiny decorative element.

The whole process was enjoyable, frustrating, perplexing and wonderful all at once and I can’t wait to do it all again!

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-08-11T15:49:00.000+10:00

If you were to put aside what you know because of what other people told you, how much of what you know do you truly know for yourself?
John Tarrant

I actually found this idea, these words quite challenging. My life so far has been all about learning, reading, listening, absorbing, challenging and questioning information and knowledge that others hold or have published or spoken.

So what do I really know for myself?

I often say to folk - let me make my own mistakes, then I'll know for sure or understand. I seem to be one of those real concrete learneres - for whom the experience of making or doing or seeing or feeling is what makes something real and makes that something stick in my brain.

I have learnt a lot from others, but have gone on to do things myself by which I can happily say - I know this. So after an initial concern that I knew nothing that I hadn't been told by someone else; I have spent time thinking about all the things I do know for sure, the truths I can attest to and the knowledge that is mine, pure and simple.

Its been a fun exploration, and in the end quite re-inforcing. Sure, I don't really know how electricity works for myself, but I know lots of things that are important and help me live my life better - not just make my life better.

Reward for weeding and pruning

2011-08-09T16:18:00.000+10:00

Barry has already posted on this little fella, but I think he deserves a double spotlight.

On Sunday we were busy preparing for the Creative Spaces - Open Studios, which are taking place up here on the Range the last two weekends in August (20 & 21, 27 & 28). About 25 studios with 30 artists will be open from 10am - 4pm on both weekends, with lots of interesting things happening and doing. Both Barry and I are opening our studio 601 MVR, click here for Barry's page and here for mine.

One good thing about this event, is that we will be working; getting dirty, rusting paper, making prints, stitching quietly or whatever takes our fancy, during the four days which makes it a bit more interesting for visitors I think, but back to Sunday.

We had done a lot of weeding and pruning, had fished one leech off Barry's leg already, viewed an exquisitely bright green spider under the mulch and kept on going, when Barry said - "come and have a look at this little guy..."

I figured, a slug, another spider or maybe a bird, but I never imagined an echidna!

We spent a blissful hour or so following him or her around the block, trying to make sure it was safe from Sunday drivers, and just watching it at work, getting enough ants for a meal. It was a precious time.

I have never spent any time with an echidna before - they usually seem quite shy and in a hurry to get away from folk, but this one was content to go about its business in our company; coming about 6 inches away from me at one point.

Here are some shots and maybe a video...it covered a lot of territory and ranged across the whole block.

For some obscure reason, the video setting was on kind of black and white, which makes for interesting viewing...

A Letter a Week - beginning again

2011-08-07T16:18:00.000+10:00

I am hopelessly out of synch with my second alphabet; it has been fits and starts and moments of chaos, but over the past few days I finally settled and sorted and got things back under control...

I have chosen to do a folded paper alphabet. I had hoped I might be able to pull off a 3-D pop up alphabet but I don't have the time or head space to sit down and really work thru the logistics and logic of creating a stylish 3-D alphabet at the moment.

So I went for paper folding. I also reverted to one of my favourite things in the world - a rainbow - and am creating a rainbow of letters. I knew I needed something on the underside of the paper to contrast with the plain coloured paper of the letter, and as I drove into town on Friday I saw spots, and decided I'd do spots! No idea where they came from, but I think they work.

I like the way the letter is plain and almost in the negative space, and that the pattern appears in the blank of the letter. An interesting effect.

I also love them on the black background, and think I'll work with that in the final piece.

It's all good fun and just what I needed to get doing something.

I love that about this project, whenever I've been away for a bit and am back in the studio, it is a lovely gentle, small thing to get me back in the groove...no fear of producing a major work, no need to have hours up my sleeve...just sit down and play with a couple of letters. Perfect!

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-08-04T16:57:00.001+10:00

Creativity is subjective, and your art will find its tribe. Your dream has its own heartbeat. Listen for it.

Patti Digh

I think the further I go along this meandering, occasionally rocky path called art, the more I realise the truth of these words. I began in a place where I thought if I only had time to be an artist and make stuff, then the rest (fortune, fame and fabulousness) would follow.

Naive. Guilty as charged.

I had a major realisation about a year ago - that I work in a very very niche way. I don't do landscapes. I don't paint portraits. I'm not an abstract artist. I make calligraphic and printed and stitched books. I love rust in all its manifestations - on fabric on paper, on itself. Sometimes I make things for walls too. Oh and metal books are a favourite; and I like pebbles and timber as well. Words and poetry and text and pondering make me happy.

Eclectic is me; yet there are also clearly markers that make the works mine. This is my dream's heartbeat; this is the art that I make.

Blogging has been a wonderful way to discover 'my tribe'. In amongst the millions and billions of folk living on this planet, I have been able to find people who belong to my tribe; yet who live thousands and thousands of kilometres or miles away. Over oceans and mountains and prairies and deserts, through forests and canyons, and metropolis'. The tribe can be found in all of these places - we recognise kin as our works whisper "s/he's one of ours" to each other.

Its a great reminder that creativity is subjective - some folk will love it others just won't get it. Not many people will actually buy it. It's great to connect with the people who get your work and how you approach it and think about it. It's great to know you're not alone...

Rusted fabric scrolls in the making

2011-08-02T14:28:00.000+10:00

I was playing in the studio with a beautiful old metal container a few weeks ago and thought how perfectly some paper scrolls would sit within it. I made some, and thought I'd encaustic them to give them some rigidity. And then I didn't really like they way they worked.

I started pondering rusted fabric scrolls and set about wrapping some muslin strips around rusty bits from Barry's rust pile , tied them up with string and soaked them in vinegar for a few weeks. Well, basically I forgot about them so that was a good thing - they got to rust well!

I took them out recently and left them to soak in the rain to wash some of the vinegar away. Here they are post-unwrapping and draining.

Just what will happen next I'm not sure - I think there will be stitching; but beyond that is yet to be revealed to me.

Here they are hanging on our trusty furniture trolley - used mostly for moving Barry's large logs and sculptures and posts around the block! In the background his workbench, the rusty bits, some pumpkins and general 'junk' that will often become beautiful art.

A couple of close ups of the strips as they hung on the trolley handles...I like that the rust has really worn thru the fabric in parts; there is a sense of decay and disintegration happening.

Looking an awful lot like the snakeskin we discovered a few weeks ago; here they are lying in the rain on our driveway soaking away some of the vinegar.

It's moments like this I realise we take weird photos, but surely we're not alone...

BAO - completed!

2011-07-30T14:11:00.001+10:00

Here we finally are at the end of a wonderful journey. I was thrilled and honoured to be accepted into this latest edition of Book Art Object, having followed the progress of the first participants last year.

I loved the idea of working in a collective yet independent manner, to produce unique and individual books based on a a theme - a poem that was common to the participants - and to gather around me a collection of these works. How special!

I have really enjoyed the collaborative nature of the group, the sharing and the support along the way. It's always good to know you're not alone when it comes to the struggles of creativity and I must say I am keen to go again!

I am hoping that by now, Australia Post has done its thing and dutifully delivered to those amongst us in Australia, and that others have transported them across the waters to Canada and New Zealand, so it is OK for me to show the whole shebang without ruining any surprises for anyone!

The mention of New Zealand reminds me that one thing I love in particular about this edition is that a copy of each book is also going to the author (in my case Claire Beynon in NZ). I think it would be quite interesting (and rather lovely) to receive artists' interpretations of your work...

So here it is, 1/18, each and every page...

I think that's image overload, so will keep any talk about the book and my interpretation to another day. I hope you enjoy it - I am happy to have made it (and it's 17 siblings...)

Thursday Thoughts...

2011-07-28T16:16:00.003+10:00

There are books so alive that you're always afraid that while you weren't reading, the book has gone and changed, has shifted like a river; while you went on living, it went on living too, and like a river moved on and moved away. No one has stepped twice into the same river. But did anyone ever step twice into the same book?
Marina Tsvetaeva   

I love this opening line - the thought of books being out there, whilst you're not watching, living lives of their own accord, visiting places and meeting people, changing their minds about how they'll proceed...just makes me smile.

But the part that holds true for me in particular is how you never step into the same book twice - either you have moved or the book has moved; I think mostly you have moved. So often you bring quite different experiences, understandings, expectations and wisdoms to a book when you re-read it.

I quite like re-reading good books; I often get so much more out of them the second time. It might be that I take a completely different angle on something or that I have had experiences that let me understand things in a different manner - allow me to empathise where previously I dismissed; or enable me to share in angst or ecstasy I had never previously understood.

Barry and I regularly cull our bookshelves; we try to pass books on, re-circulate them, give them away or whatever; and it's always interesting to me to see the ones I keep - that I have either read a few times or know I will read again.

In a way, I also think that no two people ever step into the same book - and isn't a book group a great demonstration of that! Books that some have to race out and recommend to their nearest and dearest; others of us have to say please may I never be forced to read it again. Some of us find a book deeply moving and poignant; others think it was self-indulgent claptrap! So a book is never just a book is it? It's a heap of words and a story written down that we then get to interpret and bring our own loves, prejudices, dreams and fears to.