Inspiration and Second Chap

Ma's work circa mid 1970s. Wool and net on linen.

My mum is a stitcher too - I just discovered this at her best friends house - never noticed it before. She said, 'oh, I only made it from a kit,' but isn't it amazing? Again, my phone's camera doesn't really capture it. The trees and sunset are made from layers of net - I love the effect and the colours.

My big sister, Elizabeth Ruth, 1978

My first chapbook is inspired by Elizabeth's story - Good Condolences. See earlier blog post. 

My latest stitching experiment. Cotton threads on canvas.

I tried to stitch the phone from Good Condolences' cover free-hand...turns out that with as few wobbles, I could. I am hoping to create a series of canvases to accompany my chapbooks. Watch this blog for more info.

Swallow - front

Swallow - back

And finally, my second chapbook is finally for sale on Etsy!

Free-stitching...

I wish I could do something cool like free-running, but I can't. I can do free-stitchin'.

Inspired by a college art exhibition in Mdina, Malta - I have had a go at stitching on canvas. My efforts are not any where near as good as those of the art student in Mdina, but whatev - she's probably got younger fingers. I wondered about drawing the design on first, but I thought it would probably show outside the thread lines. So, instead, I went for it free-style and stuck to shapes I was already familiar with drawing. Here are the results:

Autumn

Summer

SWALLOW Hirundo rustica

All three...

Looking at these on the screen, I am pretty appalled at the quality of my photography. Part of the problem is that it's dark a lot of the time and daylight is the only good light for photographing things, but partly it's because I am rubbish at it. These do look a bit better in real life - and will be for sale at No10 in Bath on Saturday. 

It was only when I came to doing the third canvas that I thought I could link to my chapbooks - I might try to improve my stitchery and make some more linked pictures. Hope you like them!

Cover and Coloured Card

Da-da! Below is Chapbook Two, SWALLOW Hirundo rustica

After another holiday, I finally got around to finishing the 'difficult second chapbook.' I don't think it's really appropriate for me to allude to writing a novel - I have never done it - and the idea gives me the shivers. But, I have struggled to get this second one finished, it seems like forever since I sat up late writing the actual story - all the other stuff takes the time. I think at present, though, I wouldn't have it any other way - I like making things start to finish. 

I am currently printing out a final draft with page numbers - the 'dress rehearsal copy' for my sister/copy editor to have a look at tomorrow. I had a lot of hassle trying to source recycled coloured card (that will fit through my printer - kindly given by my boss, Dan). I have found some lovely companies making lovely recycled paper and card - but so far none of it has fitted the bill. I'm really sad about this, because I would love to use recycled paper and card. I will keep looking...

I spent ages on the pictures in this book - I never realised I was a perfectionist until I started writing and I never knew that I was a special kind of perfectionist until I started making chapbooks.  


Still, SWALLOW will be on sale by the end of the week on etsy (I hope) and you can judge for yourselves if it is as good as the last one (if you thought that one was good). I am also sending a few copies down to No10 in Bath. There will be heaps of gorgeous things for sale with tea and cake. I can't make it, sadly, but my little books will be winging their way there shortly. 


Alongside the books, some of my embroidery will be for sale (photos coming soon). I was inspired at an exhibition in Malta to sew on a pre-stretched canvas - so I've been having a go at that. 

Sylvanian Families and a week in the Lakes

Early story-making - I had this very model of Sylvanian Families caravan - now a museum-piece! The beaver family lived in it - Mum, Dad and the little girl beaver, Lily. Beavers in a caravan - why not? It got a bit broken when we lived in Texas, but our neighbour fixed it with match sticks and glue.

Having bought lots of baby Sylvanians with my pocket money - and no parents to go with them - I had to build an orphanage for them. A lady rabbit was in charge - she was a very nice lady and not a harridan like the ones in the Anne of Green Gables books.


I saw this at a cafe in the Lakes. Something to think about when you're making art and trying to one day sell it, or not sell it, or give it away...or...

A very bleak but very exciting spot - Hardknott Pass in Cumbria. I couldn't help thinking of the lost 9th legion and how *cold* it must've been for those Romans used to the continental sun. Thank you Rosemary Sutcliff.

An exciting week!

When I started out at this writing lark, I wasn't sure what I wanted in the long run but I came to realise that I wanted my work to appeal to lots of people, not just a niche group. That sounds very worthy, doesn't it? I phoned my mum from a pavement in Norwich, walking back from a shopping trip, I imagine, and I said I didn't want to write something that only academics would want to read. I said I want people to understand it. My mum laughed and said 'well, you're not exactly well-versed in the classics.' This comment - along with the one about my being not stupid but lazy - has stuck with me, because it made me relieved and a bit cross at the same time. So I sat down to write with an eye on my rather small bookcase of half-read books and a smile on my face...

So this is an exciting week because I know a handful of academics liked my little book, but I also know that Lauren Laverne (of BBC 6 music and TV fame) loves it too! She mentioned it as part of  her column in Grazia Magazine, so I had a happy morning driving into town to pick up a copy and treating myself to a little gloat (I was sharing a page with Bridget Riley!!)

From Grazia 27th Sept 2011

Back to my project or 'blogject' - I have almost completed the images for SWALLOW, and I have started thinking about the third chap. 'Chap Three' will be a re-writing of a story I started at university - there will be clematis leaves and a bicycle.  

Couldn't wait till daylight to take a proper photo - but it's just a pastel sketch - I love a clematis!

The 'fragility of life' and a bit of embroidery...

I have been out of the 'information superhighway's blogosphere' a little bit lately and haven't felt like there's much to write about. But if I lose momentum with writing this blog it will be like all the skincare regimes I've ever tried - it will come to an end. 

I haven't managed to get much done on my illustrations, but have played a lot with my new camera... And have started thinking about chapbook number three. Since working in this medium I have noticed something quite interesting (to me) - I have been working on images sometimes before text and I have taken a lot longer over those images. I don't mean images of scenarios or stories, but cover images for the little books. An image for the cover of number three is forming in my head at the moment - it's a tingly feeling!

I promised myself that I would address another comment that came up after my reading at Greenbelt. Someone mentioned that both the extracts I read dealt with the idea of the 'fragility of life.' I'm sure this is right, and I fear that all my work is like that. One of my big worries is that I am writing the same thing over and over again, but I hope that someone will tell me if this is the case. Over the last few years, I have become increasingly excited by the seasons and the natural world. Not wishing to sound too much like Henry David Thoreau, I spent some time one summer repeatedly drawing the clematis leaves outside my window. There is, of course, a long, long tradition of 'writing about nature' (I'm sure there's an expression for this), but I have only recently begun writing with the natural world in mind. With the seasons in the back of my mind, then, the fragility of life comes to the fore whether I like it or not. And life is fragile, isn't it?

Below is a rather primitive embroidery project I started last year, my mum is a great one for cross-stitch, but I thought I'd have a go without a pattern and with just the threads an old lady gave me. It's drawing on fabric, with a needle. Some of the shapes are a bit dodgy, but I am rather pleased with the result (however unfinished)... I realised whilst doing this embroidery that I can do what I like with plants and flowers when I draw them. You can see here clematis leaves, rose hips and holly leaves - why not? They are all pretty shapes and I like pretty shapes!

 

Should have ironed this...

A bit of a close-up!

An Online Identity?

Top of the village - a telegraph pole and a dramatic August sky

Just over the village bypass there is a small hill where you can see several farms. There are big skies, winds, silences and telegraph poles. Work has halted on the Swallow illustrations this week, since I've been working on another little project, but I hope to get back on it soon.

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Continuing from my last post - Greenbelt 2011:

Last week at the festival I read passages from both my chapbooks. I always enjoy reading my work and I love hearing what people have to say about it. The questions afterwards were very interesting - not least one about my 'online identity.' I hadn't before consciously considered this blog or my website as my online identity - but of course, that's what they are. I associate myself with other writers by using quotations and making references. I don't know exactly why I bristled at the idea of my having an 'online identity,' perhaps I was thinking of online avatars or the Great Oz hiding behind a curtain. Perhaps I need to re-think my opinion of the Great Oz. I never meant to associate myself with other writers in order to suggest I'm as good as them or belong in their company (I'm only a beginner) - but I have always thought it a waste of time to re-write things that other people have written well to begin with. I'm not sure if I explained myself every well and perhaps I misunderstood the question - I'm still puzzling it out. The idea of being 'challenged' is overused, I think, but in the absence of a better expression, I will say that I was challenged and I like a challenge! I will try to explain and understand this identity I've created - I hope it's not a monster.

I got into the habit of beginning essays with quotations at university and I have begun sticking quotations onto the beginning of stories too - it makes them seem whole to me and also shows some of my workings - like in an algebra exam. I love other peoples words and I stick them all over the place, so I can keep them for later if I need them. I think my friends and family are bored of me putting them in cards and letters, so I'm going to share some on here instead. Perhaps the quotations work as prompts too - or reminders - like essay titles. Reference points to work back to while I'm writing. 

My two chapbooks include epigraphs. My mum always says (and my mum's mum) that once you've put on all your jewellery for the evening, take one thing off. So for example, if you've got your earrings, bracelets and necklace on, you probably don't need your tiara. So I had a huge collection of what I thought were appropriate quotations and whittled them down to three for each book. Three might sound like a lot, but I am greedy (you'll have to get the books to see what they are)! 


More ramblings soon - I'm going to put down my loud hailer and get back behind the curtain. 

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If you'd like to hear my reading from Greenbelt 2011: Letterboxes and Lighthouses, it costs £3.50 to download (proceeds go to making Greenbelt Festival). Last year's reading is up there too for download. I read from Two Lights, my collection of stories inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper.