Friday, 7 January 2022

a very welcome new year .....

I love that time of year when a new year turns the page and all the weariness of the end of the last year fades away, or begins to fade away as the new year strides along.  We are already one week into 2022 and I have been giving the studio a big clean and sort in readiness for some teaching to start here in February. Exciting.  It is always such a joy to teach artists the joy of making books and sharing my books to show that there is an abundance of opportunity to turn their work into something quite unique.

I have not worked in book form for a while - though skipping back through my posts and not looking at the dates you would wonder if that were true.  When I was working on my self imposed 'book a week' project I stopped after 26 books as the discipline had done what was required - it got me into the studio and anxious to work.  I became absorbed in drawings rather than books and though there is little shown on my blog about these drawings, they do exist and I may pull one out everyone and then for show and tell.

Now that I am back posting to this blog, I am reminded of my reason for starting trademarks in the first place.  It was to record my studio activity and keep a digital visual diary of what I was doing - rather than the effort of keeping up a 'drawing a day' which was another way I recorded visually for some years.






I should really have taken some photos of the clean desks before I filled them with work.  Next week I have a few artists coming here for show and tell before we begin our lessons.  I have tried to break my books down into four categories/techniques which I tend to employ more than any others.  The plan is to begin with a commitment to four lessons after which I will see who is still keen to continue and who is not.









Well I for one am excited - and busy practising stitches, or variations thereof, which I haven't used for ages. I am out of practice taking photos while I work but I have just completed a small coptic binding with a header stitch which I undid three times before I was happy that I remembered it well enough to teach. I kept looking at a wonderful postcard Fiona Dempster made which reads ...

BREATHE

HOPE

PERSIST







8 comments:

  1. while leaning in for a closer look, my eye caught on your embossed logo (is that the right word?), which reminded me of those I have seen Fiona and Barry's Deckled Edge Press pieces ... would love to know a little more about all that as I'm thinking I might do something similar to stamp or stitch on cloth

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    1. Hello Liz - yes my logo is the same idea as Fiona and Barry's - all bought from the same company. In order to have an effective 'embossing' you need to have a high pressure embosser (ours are metal with long arms) and also a thick gauge of paper. I can't imagine how that would work with fabric but certainly having a logo representing yourself, say printed onto fabric, which you could sew into all the work you produce would be wonderful. I think people love to see a 'maker's mark'.

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  2. so good to see you back in bloglandia and gosh your studio looks fabulous!

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    1. Thanks Mo. I was so sad to read on your blog that 'Old Man Crow' had left the stage.

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  3. Great to see you back so enthusiastically, wished I lived a little closer to take a class or two. This isolation, although it suits me most of the time, is finally starting to affect my own work. There must be a limit to how many "Black" books I have in me??. Have a great year Susan and keep your blog going. Looking forward to seeing more.

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    1. Hello Jack. yes, I am back and though enthusiastic to make the work I am completely out of practice at blogging. Imagine I will post once or twice a month. Have only recently worked out how you now accept comments to appear on the blog, and then I need to revisit and reply to those who have taken the time to leave a comment. I will get there .....

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  4. I'm also happy to see you posting again - I have looked through your blog posts several times and enjoy them very much. Your books are beautiful and words inspiring!

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    1. Hello Jillayne- it is such a warming thing to picture you over there in Canada taking time to look at and appreciate what I do. Thank you for leaving a comment - it means a great deal to know there are still people out there who are following my blog.

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I appreciate your comments - thank you!