Creative Joyful Thing No.8: The Results – Ashy

(The Brief for CJT8 is here and what Rachael did is here)

Here is what I sent to Rach.

First a little about my process…

I studied some Barnacles from photos I had taken at the beach. I also have some stuck to a mussel shell that my Mum found on the beach and gave to me. I drew some and then carved the shapes out of a lovely soft printing block. I was given this block by a good friend and have fallen in love with it. Unfortunately it is no longer made! It was very easy to carve (once I had doubled my original drawing size, as the way I started was just impossible to carve. It was far too small and detailed. I am a complete print-making amateur so it has all been trial and error). I tested the print with green ink and this helped me to see where the ink was catching and where I needed to carve a bit more.

I also created a pattern based on a photo I took of gentle waves coming into shore. I printed this with silver ink.

Once it was dry I added the barnacle shapes.

This was my initial intention for the finished project. I wanted to do something to mark (celebrate!) the fact that I now live on the coast, and just found the two patterns (waves and barnacles) and combined them. However, I recently attended a book-making workshop and thought that I could present this print in the form of a book. I flipped through my new book-making book (Making Handmade Books by Alisa Golden) and really liked the concertina design with pockets. I realised I could put two prints together and make four pockets. So then I needed to think of something to put IN the pockets. I know that Rachael likes poetry so I googled for “barnacle poem” not thinking that anyone would have written about barnacles. How wrong I was!

I found this beautiful poem by Sydney Lanier:

Barnacles

My soul is sailing through the sea,

But the Past is heavy and hindereth me.

The Past hath crusted cumbrous shells

That hold the flesh of cold sea-mells

About my soul.

The huge waves wash, the high waves roll,

Each barnacle clingeth and worketh dole

And hindereth me from sailing!

Old Past let go, and drop i’ the sea

Till fathomless waters cover thee!

For I am living but thou art dead;

Thou drawest back, I strive ahead

The Day to find.

Thy shells unbind! Night comes behind,

I needs must hurry with the wind

And trim me best for sailing.

Sidney Lanier – Macon, Georgia, 1867.

Here is how it looks ready to be folded into the book pocket:

I also found a Haiku:

Single barnacle.
What have you ever achieved?
But never lonely.

(http://hikoo.net/haiku/21992Cluemark)

and a quote from Marina Tsvetaeva from her essay: Poets with History and Poets without History:

The wave always returns,

and always returns as a different wave

And lastly I found a reference to barnacles in a book I have called “Longshore Drift” by Katrina Porteous (with fantatic images by James Dodds, a print-maker and painter):

Dog Whelk,

anemone,

barnacle

and shipworm,

Sea cabbage,

spotty dog,

brittle star

and keelworm,

Peelers,

Razors,

weevers,

stingers,

Featherweed,

coralweed,

deadmen’s fingers.

Katrina Porteous  – Longshore Drift

Deadmen’s Finger – a type of sea anemone

Spotty Dog – dog fish

Stingers – sting ray

Peelers – soft green crabs

Weever – a stinging fish

So along with the CJT8 brief, I had all four pockets filled.

I made a cover, and called the book “Littoral” which is a word I learned in French, it means “coastal” generally, but can also mean the area between the high and low tide marks that is undefined as land or sea. I like that there is a word for this space.

I cut this cover in half to make the front and back. It is made of a textured white card. The cut intentionally goes through one of the barnacle prints, so that even though the back spine is open, the design joins up when the two halves sit side-by-side.

The print-making process was very long and involved a lot of experimentation. As I made four books, and each included two of the silver prints, as well as a cover and each of the poems, there were a lot of prints to be made. I also had to plan how they would be made into the book pages and position the printing in preparation for that. There were some mistakes and some splodges but I had a limited amount of time, energy, paper and space! Some of the mistakes were carried over into the finished books. I had help from my partner with the print-making. She was absolutley invaluable as she fetched and carried the paper before and after printing so that I did not have to keep getting up, as well as cleaning and tidying up for me. It still took us hours!

Here is a picture of some of the prints drying (this took at least three days, as the ink is oil-based)

Here is what the finished product looks like. These pictures are of two books, showing what each side looks like.

This is the front cover and the book when open, showing the front and back covers, and the two silver prints inside.

I

Here is the front cover with the reverse side open, showing the pockets with the poems in them.

 

Creative Joyful Thing No.8: The Results – Rachael

(The brief for CJT8 is here, and what I sent to Rachael is here)

Here is what Rachael sent to me: First a little book about the process. I re-lived her thoughts and experiences with every flip of the page.

Then the actual prints! She labelled them for me…

First attempt:

Second (more careful) attempt:

Happy accident:

Variation on a theme:

 

My fave (disco remix):

They are cards. Inside each one was a message about our project and what it means to her. I love the messages and the prints too. Getting each printed card out of it’s envelope was like following the print-making journey. Fabulous presentation!

 

 

Creative Joyful Thing No.8 – The brief

Creative Joyful Thing No.8

 

*Make a pattern inspired by nature*

It could be repetitive and orderly or a random cluster of forms. If very abstract, please state/show your inspiration!

• You could use printing of some kind to make the repeat images, or not.

Enjoy!

See The Results here and here!

 

Book Project

I went to a bookmaking workshop recently and was asked if I wanted to take part in a project by the workshop leader. The brief was to respond to the title “Fragments of Memory and/or Desire”. I might say more about it later and about the wider context of the project, but for now, here is what I produced. She is asking lots of people to do a postcard sized response and will make them into a book to submit to the project.

I am really happy to be part of the project and that I managed to produce something in a very short space of time (the deadline has already passed!)

~~~~~~~

Here is some further info about the project:

Fragments of Memory and Desire

al-Mutanabbi Street starts here

On March 5th 2007, a car bomb exploded on

al-Mutanabbi Street in Baghdad, the heart of the literary and intellectual community.

More than 30 people were killed and more than 100 wounded. In July 2010, Beau Beausoleil and Sarah Bodman put out a call for 260 book artists to make work that reflected this attack on both the “street of the booksellers” as well as the ultimate futility of those who try to erase thought. And so the ‘al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here’ coalition was born.

This project is both a lament and a commemoration of the power of words.

http://www.al-mutanabbistreetstartshere-boston.com

One complete set of all the books will be donated to the Iraq National Library in Baghdad. The other two sets will become touring collections.

Proceeds from sales or other fund raising are being donated to the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres. If you would like to make a donation you can do so online:
http://www.justgiving.com/al-mutanabbistreet

 

 

Pebble Adventures

In the spring I went to visit a lovely friend called Amy. She gave me a beautiful hand painted pebble. I thought I would see what adventures the pebble might have. In the spring it went to my Mum’s garden:

Then the pebble had a rest for many months (apart from moving house)

And today the pebble explored the beach:

I post this one mainly for the clouds, but it also shows where I sat for most of the time – on a bench on the small sand dunes. It shows the concrete blocks which were put there to stop tanks in the war. Pebble visits these below.

Making pebble friends…

Yearning for the sea

The seaweed also looks inviting…

Yep, feels good!

 

 

Small Stones

This month I took part in a mindful writing challenge to write a “small stone” every day. I did not manage every day, and some were not good/interesting at all, but here are the best ones.

I did find it hard and did not work on them or polish them at all – I just had to write them and not worry about whether they could be better or I knew I would not have the energy/will to do it at all. It has been a hard month! On the plus side, some of them remind me of the better times and take me right back to being in that moment.

31 December 2012

Crows rising up,
Blowing apart
And regrouping in
A buffeted dance.
The taste of ginger
In my mouth.
The creak of the house
In the wind.

1 January 2013

Waves chasing forwards while
The wind blows them back
And the spray rises in the
Brightest forceful sparkling.
A large gull stands by the
Water’s edge, and others sweep past,
Over the beach;
Bright, with lines of water,
Shining wet sand and
Dark seaweed and rocks.
I can hear the waves in the distance,
Feel the cold wind on my hands,
But also the sun,
Warm on my face
Sheltered in my hood.
The wind is audible too,
Behind louder intermittent cars,
Shouts of people and dogs.

2 January

Strips of light and cloud catch my eye.
Dark greyish purple over pink
As the day ends, so winter-early
And yet it has felt so long.
Only now am I able to do
Some of the things I need to
After a bad night’s sleep.
I am glad to feel able now
And glad I have not missed this sky.

6 January

The smell of seaweed at my feet, and smoke.
The sound of the Sea King helicopter
That hovers low over the silvery water in the distance.
The sky looks like sunset, yet it is midday.
Smudged pastels and soft greys allowing light to filter through
To touch the waves and follow them as they roll towards the estuary.

~~

Waves so silver and bright
They make the white crests
Which break over them look dull:
Pyramids of light
Travelling towards shore.

8 January

An unexpected surge of gratitude
As my partner comes home
After such a hard day:
A day so full of discomfort
And where everything felt
So much of a struggle
That I did not expect to feel gratitude
For anything.

13 January

Extra carrots cooked for me at teatime
Waiting in a plastic tub with a blue lid for me
To reheat with my microwave lunch tomorrow.
How happy and glad I am to know you are there,
Waiting for me!

14 January

Snow is falling.
I fix my gaze on the hedge in the distance
And watch as my eyes are bombarded by flakes:
Large ones with lots of space between them
Right outside my window,
And smaller tighter flurries seen in the distance.
It is very calming and reminds me of childhood.

15 January

Under the ice-cold darkening sky at dusk,
Two girls, one taller than the other,
Set off across the snowy field
Carrying large, bright red sledges.

18 January

Watching people walking in the snow.
How does it feel?
Can I remember?
The sting of cold and ice hitting my face,
The blood pumping in my legs,
Breath laboured, and a
Feeling of exhilaration.

19 January

Gulls fly like they are shavings of the grey sky.
They are almost invisible on this dull day,
Save for their sharp edges
Tilting through space.

20 January

Pink grapefruit tang with an almost sherbet-like feel in the mouth.
How interesting to taste something really new and different as I start my 36th year.
I have never had sorbet like this before!

26 January

A drop of water clings to the tap,
Sun shining through it.
As I move I notice it turn dazzling red,
So I move from side to side and see
Intense purple, fresh leaf green and bright yellow too.
I move again and it is back to white light: rainbow gone.

 

Creative Joyful Thing No.7

In December we did CJT7 – an easy little bit of writing each week on a theme. I have been reading over them and they seem quite personal, a bit like a dialogue between us, so I thought I might just post a couple to give you blog readers a taster, but keep the rest private…

Here is what we wrote for “something beautiful”:

Rachael:

Winter is

Something beautiful to me

Most especially the clear and cold starry nights

With crispy glittering frost underfoot

And a coldness that makes me feel  brightly awake

Me:

A pheasant on the lawn:

Visiting dignitary.

The gravitas of a peacock

Beautiful feathers

Golden Rust

Green and white neck

Red face.

So plump and regal, with

Strong tail feathers out behind.

Shame, to be reminded of silly hats.