Things found in trees

Old fruit and new buds -

 Bird boxes -

Blossoms, and bees -

 Last year's nest -

Sunlight -

Woodblock Wednesday

"Ikat" was the idea for a new block - perhaps to be used in conjunction with others and with stencils.

How could an effect from dyeing and weaving textiles be translated into a print made from the wood?

A few false starts...

 A better idea, which led to carving -

 Trying to be random -

 Printing on non-japanese paper (I'd already scribbled on it - a spasm of asemic writing) -

 But the main event was a series of pages for a book, shifting from one colour to another -

 Some were overprinted (by mistake!) and others turned round on themselves -

 Some had flat surfaces and in others the grain of the wood showed through -

Poetry Thursday - Biography by Ian Hamilton

Found in the library

Biography

Who turned the page? When I went out
Last night, his Life was left wide-open,
Half-way through, in lamplight on my desk:
The Middle Years.
Now look at him. Who turned the page?

- Ian Hamilton (1938-2001)


"Slender, enigmatic poetic output" was one description of Hamilton's Collected Poems:

"At 50 Hamilton put together a selection of just 50 poems. Ten years later it was 60. He died at 63, and it was never likely that he would be one of those poets, like Larkin, whose oeuvre dramatically increases after death."

I liked the brevity - and conciseness - of this poem ... but some of the others in the book were perhaps too enigmatic, first time round. Though that's one of the joys of poetry - the re-reading.

Message to the universe

It was garbage collection day. Did the note drift out of the recycling bin as it was emptied, or had it been left for "the guys", who do a thankless job....

Drawing Tuesday - St Pancras Station

Victorian architecture was all around

 and we were sitting comfortably in a cafe, so what did I decide to draw......

The aim, which I temporarily lost sight of, was to make a colourful background so as to use white ink to almost obscure it -

 ... sort of like this -

 It was very pleasant and soothing to make a simple pattern - or two -

Janet B used the subject closest to hand, and added a bit of infinite regression -

 Is it infinite regression to draw the other drawers? -

 Judith had done several views of the Betjeman statue -

 ... and some views of the cafe crowd -

 Sue chose brickwork detailing -

Joyce captured a few diners in the cafe, and then her pen ran out, so she had to change colour - which worked well -

Carol caught the metal gleam of the huge "lovers" statue, then deftly added some nice architectural detail -

 Janet K was outside at the British Library, with Paolozzi's huge Newton -

 ... and once inside, found an intriguing reflection -

Once again, apologies for the colour cast in the photos. We were sat underneath umbrellas housing some heaters that sporadically sprang into glowing life.

Crafternoon - days 3 and 4

Before a Crafternoon can get going, there has to be a crafty project in hand. This inspires me to sort through a bag or box or both in the studio, to see what comes to hand.

I found a few things lately - not all destined for finishing, in fact most must go to that Great Elsewhere, never to return. Yes I'm attached to the history of making, of the way they could lead to some other idea, or even be turned into "something useful" - but really, ask yourself if you're in the same situation: is that how I want to spend my time? Think about whether you'd be enjoying it, or just doing it out of some sort of Duty - and to what sort of duty - to an ethos handed down through the family ("waste not...") or to the time or money or both you've already expended. What about the duty to yourself of going forward in the best way possible? The duty of using your time well? Is this the best use of my time? What would I rather be doing?

Printed linen napkin - perfect for a grid of french knots

... with a labyrinth on the reverse

Stitching the characters in the right stroke order

Pure pleasure to stitch with silk on wool - and the moths
addeded some strategic holes

Potholders are always useful, and these just need binding

Includes fabric from Bob Adams' discharge workshop at FOQ, 2007

oh my, what was I thinking....

These never did become a Bookwrap

Nor did this ... 

... or this muddle of threadends...

Monoprint on fabric, quite fun

All that agonising simply stops once Crafternoon starts. Something gets Worked On, and it doesn't matter what.

A folded piece of fabric turned out to be a half-finished apron - I made several like this, years ago, for prezzies for friends and neighbours, and this is the final one, the ties already faced with other fabric because there wasn't quite enough -

Once it was done there were still a few boxes that had found their way to the work surface -

They'll be removed in time for Woodblock Wednesday.

One of my "helpful rules" for this reorganisation is to let sleeping dogs lie, but it's not a rule I'm good at following. So for some reason - ah yes, it was the need to deconstruct a bagfull of miscellaneous hanks of thread, gathered for a long-ago and long-forgotten project - I started work on the drawer with the rayon threads, most of which are variegated and look so very tempting in the skein ... but I've not really found a way to use them.

I pulled out the solid colours, which were in a bit of a tangle -

,...and pretty soon the drawer was all but empty, leaving room for the contents of that miscellaneous bagfull. Keepers are loose at the back of the drawer; hard-to-let-go-of are in the box lid; and an assortment is bagged up -

If you've ever been tempted by the lusciousness of threads at FOQ or other textile event, you'll know how quickly the ££ mount up. Often the greatest pleasure is in the choosing and purchasing. Oh, and the fondling...

For the next project, I turned to the hand-quilted lap quilt - beige! what was I thinking - started about 30 years ago -

Edging is on

There was a blob in the centre that needed covering, so I made pinwheels out of the little triangles cut away from the joins in the binding -

I stitched down a couple while listening to some Steve Reich and John Adams - but it'll take another Crafternoon to hand-stitch them all down.

What day is it today?

Greetings from my menagerie -