Ca marche...

"The Journey to the Studio" is now 1.85m long. In an hour of stitching, it grows 4cm. This week I've been starting the day with some stitching (before checking emails!), so it's moving along steadily. I'm aiming to do another 30 hours on it before the degree show needs to be set up, as it might (or might not...) be part of the display. I like the idea of this long thing running from the top of the wall to the floor, but that could be simply an impossible fantasy. In any case, a bit of early-morning stitching is a good way to catch up with (BBC) radio programmes  ... this morning I listened to a couple of episodes of A Good Read and Four Thought; other times it's been Late Junction or The Essay.

But back to the stitching. Looking at it all laid out, I prefer the neutral sections -

 over the colourful ones -

Each has its reasons, and its aesthetic. "Next time" I'll choose a palette before starting stitching, but this time it'll just go on as before.

A compendium of scrolls

My "book" output contains, on review, several scrolls - or potential scrolls. The  pieced-paper one is currently on hold. Last year's "sky birds" piece contains a scroll -

This acrylic example resurfaced recently; it's part of my "research" on "line as text" -

This screenprinted scroll of chinese paper could turn into "something", some day -

Which takes us to Chinese scrolls...

The scroll David Hockney is looking at is not "A day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor"!

Years ago the film of David Hockney looking at a Chinese scroll (subtitle: Surface is illusion but so is depth) made a deep impression, and recently a stunning work by by Tang Mingxiu seems to have brought scrolls into my subconscious. 

New kid on the block

The latest is based on colour catchers (ie, it's been through the wash!) which I've doused with ink. Strips of daily newspaper, and the weekend Review section, are attached with running stitch. Once the little pointy edges, where the paper strips turn back on themselves, suddenly revealed themselves, I was good to go with this project. Using the fixed size of the colour catchers was the other decisive factor. In an hour I can stitch about 5cm, and before it can meet the world it needs to be at least 3m long (=60 hours!) - currently I'm listening to radio quite a lot -

 Its working title is "The Journey to the Studio"; below is a possible idea for display (if used at all) -

Yesyes, it looks like one of those woven rag rugs. The thinking behind it is multi-faceted [ie, not yet too clear to me!] -
(1) The various materials it uses each have a history, just as we carry our own histories with us as we travel through life. The prewashed fabric, the pre-read newspapers, even the threads, which  once belonged to someone who had learned calligraphy from Edward Johnston -

(2) As it grows, the journey becomes longer, but the path gets easier. 

(3) Front and back - recto and verso - are the same, but individual. 

(4) The folded newspaper is hiding much more than it reveals - quite apart from it being taken out out context [this relates to my "journey of memory" thread]. 

(5) ? 

(6) ??

Chicane points - where the "road" turns back on itself

The starting point for this piece was a discussion of how difficult it is to actually get into the studio, especially if "the studio" is a room in your home. There's always laundry or something that you "should" be doing. I think of this piece as being something I can use to "settle myself" into being in the studio - leave it out the night before, or have it in a box ready to pull out and work on while thinking about the other things to be working on later. Having a nice cup of coffee and jotting notes or writing a list, in little breaks from stitching, for that first hour. Getting into a mindset. Well, that's the fantasy...!

Book du jour

A couple of experiments that saw light of day when I gathered various "little books" -
The transparent scroll might have some life in it yet, but the squares-going-through-holes idea is about to be abandonned.

Eyes revisited

Moving north, upstairs in the British Museum, you pass through the crowds in the "mummy rooms" and then come to a corridor before reaching the back stairs. This Coptic scroll is in that corridor, and I always stop and have another look at those eyes...