a peep at 'branching out' ......

Tracemarks began as a way of keeping a record of what was happening in my studio - in a sense it replaced my 'drawing a day' books which were becoming harder and harder to maintain.  As such I am able to look back through my blog and see what I have been working on over the last few years and it can be such fun.  I also like the fact that because one includes photos in the posts, it has made me mindful to photograph my work.

Over the years I have been remiss and work has sold and I have no record of it at all.  Now I take oodles of photographs from all angles (I guess because books are like that) and have a memory track of the work I make.  This book below, 'Branching Out' is one that sold at the exhibition.  I have chosen a few of the many photos I took.  The book is smaller than my 'Standing on Fishes' book but still quite large as far as artist's books go.  Once again I have used film for the drawings, pen and ink and graphite, and layers of soft tengujo papers in between layers.

The sense I hoped to capture here was that of wandering through the forest and being entranced by the debris of the forest floor - the broken branches and their beautiful markings as they decay.  In fact I often spend my time in the forest/bush looking down rather than upwards!

These last few images are again of my 'Standing on Fishes' - still my favourite - which I finished in time for the exhibition.  I have used graphite and graphite pencils to draw some very simple lines and markings which seemed to tie the pen and ink drawings together.

When I posted on this book I had not in fact sewn it.  I chose a simple Japanese stab binding as it suited the aesthetic of these books and the front cover simply has a few lines embossed into it.  The book has a slip case of perspex and I also made covers for the books under which they sit for display.

standing on fishes .....

One of my most favourite pieces of prose/poetry ever.  I think I first came upon this on Leslie's blog though it is so locked in my heart I can't be quite sure.

Every now and then you make a piece of work that becomes 'the favourite piece you have ever made' and I think this is it for me.  It could be that I love the poem so much and hence love the book, but there is also magic that happened here.  I worked with pen and ink of some of my father's old architectural paper and magic happened.  At that point I did not know that this was to be the book I had longed to make for 'standing on fishes'.  The last image happened and as I looked at it once finished, I actually felt that sinking feeling as though standing on fishes.  I knew this book had been made, almost, dare I say it, made itself.

The deep parts of my life pour onward,

as if the river shores were opening out.

It seems that things are more like me now,

That I can see farther into paintings.

I feel closer to what language can't reach.

With my senses, as with birds, I climb

into the windy heaven, out of the oak,

in the ponds broken off from the sky

my falling sinks, as if standing on fishes. 

Rainer Maria Rilke

This book is rather like Fiona's and my collaborative book 'Silence' in that it is quiet and meditative. Because I had made the images on film, I used layers of soft Japanese papers in between the pages.  The book is large as far as artists's book go - 52 cms wide by 36 cms.  It is covered in warm white Fabriano Tiepolo, gently embossed and stitched with Japanese stab binding.

The Exhibition is drawing closer every day and I am still finishing off a couple of 'bits'.  I am editioning a couple of my etching books and so will still set aside time to finish the editions.  Other than that I am feeling more in control which is a good feeling.

We are still waiting for the invitations to send out by PDF but the details for the exhibition can be found here on the Noosa Regional Gallery website.

The Opening is on Friday 23th October 2015 at 6pm and it runs through until December 6th.

Fiona and I are also doing an Artists' talk in the morning of October 31st and a workshop in the afternoon where we teach a coptic binding technique of making a book but spend most of our time in the workshop working on collaborative page.  We have a maximum of 12 participants six of whom will work with Fiona and six with me.

ode to fallen angels .....

ON looking at these images you may wonder about the title of this post!  No clues in the graphics here ....  Many years ago a soul mate of mine died fairly suddenly and in an outpouring of emotion I wrote (scribbled) many of Dylan Thomas's poems in an obscure manner on three sheets of perspex which I subsequently printed.  They were never wonderful engravings but having come across them today, I decided that rather than throwing them away, I would cut up the engravings and make them into a book called 'ode to fallen angels'.

I am out of practice with blogging and forgot to photograph them before I cut them into strips, however, here are a few images of the 'pre' book and I hope in the next few days to show what I have done with/to/in it.

One of the many things I love about this form of digital diary, is that I have a photographic record not only of the finished product, but also about the way in which a piece is made or in a case like this, what the work looked like before I began to alter it.  Ultimately, I am hoping that the concept will look better as an artist's book, than as a series of engravings.

a few of my favourite things .....

I have been making artist's books since 1998 on and off and collecting them since then too.  I only have collected about twenty in that time and am going to make the collecting of these treasures my vice over the next few years.

Here are some of my favourites - just a quick glimpse.

a few from my 'Fiona'  collection

love this photo of Fiona's 'Subversive Stitch'

and this one ....

This is the first artist's book I ever owned.  It was given to me by Wim de Vos and Adele Outteridge for my birthday in 1999 and it is a collaborative piece they made with Madonna Staunton.

The book photographs well on my hot plate.

This piece is by Deslie Wain and below is a detail.

a couple more of Fiona's and a book by Alice Fox.

many of you will already be familiar with Alice's sublime work.

a couple of recent purchases on the left, a concertina book by Sandra Pearce and a quaint little book by Linda Douglas with snippets of maps and birds, sewn threads and marks.  On the right are a couple of the single folded page books by Patti at Missouri Bend.

Of course there are more but I will save those for another time.

e x 13 complete

Sometimes projects take on their own momentum .... this was one of them.  When the idea was conceived I think I had quite different ideas in mind for what each envelope could/would contain.  I wrote none of this down which was remiss and I could recall none of those ideas when I tried. 

As the time came close for completion, I decided I just had to start the work and let come what may.  As I began gathering bits and pieces around the studio, papers, small copper etching plates, embossings and so forth a storyline began to emerge and once I was into the first few envelopes, the creative energy just seemed to take over.  In the end the thoughts all came rather quickly and spontaneously.

I think I will title my project  'Searching'  - a very loose title which I think encapsulates the random thoughts I had along the way, mapping part of that search knowing inside that in fact I need no longer look.  That I belong just where I am.

the thirteen envelopes

first - etching seen in last post

second - etchings, writing drawings

second - envelope and internal details

third envelope - etching, embossing and markmaking

fourth envelope - etching, embossing and marks

fifth envelope - etching, embossing and marks

details of envelope six  - embossings on leather, stained and marked papers

luminous graphite markings

seventh - etching on rusted paper, scratchings on envelope

envelope eight - leather embossing and rusted detail with marks

envelope nine - sewn together, suggestions of something inbetween layers

detail of envelope nine

envelope ten - sewn envelope, embossing and etching, markmaking

detail of envelope ten 

envelope eleven is a bound folio - thread supplied by generous Jennifer

envelope eleven - embossings on sublime fine paper, and etchings, marks

more details of envelope eleven

eleven - details

envelope twelve - etching, drawings, marks and scratchings on transparent paper

details of envelope twelve

details - envelope twelve

the twelfth  envelope has two etchings on its flap

thirteenth envelope - etchings on envelope and one page, staining, marks and writing drawings

details of envelope seven - (the search is over)

I smile often when I look back over the collaborative work Fiona and I have made in the latter part of this year.  I think I like it as much as any of the work I have ever done.  I am not sure why that is but I suggest it is something to do with such a lovely energy between us, the encouragement we give each other and the profound respect and liking we have for each other's work. It is more than this I am sure .... Fiona brings out the quieter side of my creativity I think, or at least the timing of this collaboration with the fact that I am in a happy place in my life, seems to make my work my thoughtful and quieter.

I count myself fortunate indeed :-)