Studio Notes no. 205

Sketchbooks, stories & poems

Hello Everyone

I hope you are well. We are still experiencing damp and dismal weather, with hints of sunshine now and then - apparently sunshine is forecast for the week ahead.

This week I am sharing with you a mix of stories, recent sketchbook pages and poems.

But first a note about my next shop update:

I will be adding new artworks to my shop this coming Wednesday 25th Feb at 7pm UK time, with a preview from about 4pm. Expect to see a mix of new artwork.

photo: a new brooch - embroidery portrait

I am working on a collection of smaller embroidery brooches. I hope to also have some tiny paintings and perhaps one or two new book page artworks and drawings…. all these things are currently at the ‘in progress/ we shall see’ stage. So please do check my shop on Wednesday from 4pm to see the latest selection.

There is a link to my shop at the end of these notes.

Also, a note to say I hope to have my wool embroidery (french knots) collection of work available and ready for the beginning-ish of March.

And also to note - I don’t know how the changes to Trump tariffs (insert expletives of choice) will work out for businesses in practical terms of sending packages etc.. - but as far as I am aware, artwork will still remain exempt from tariff charges. So I will therefore continue to offer my work to US collectors and thank you always. I will certainly update you if things change, I find out differently etc..

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Stories & Sketchbooks & Poems too

Here now is a mix of stories, recent sketchbooks and poems - I hope you enjoy these. As always your encouragement and comments are always much appreciated. Thanks for reading. All writing is my own.

photo: recent sketchbook pages (and see story below)

A Lost Sketch

An afternoon spent sketching on brown paper, printing off wet paint, drawing, a no-goals afternoon with play at its heart. The sort of afternoon that makes my heart sing. I will let things dry and press papers in a heavy book, then tomorrow I may glean what might be ‘the better ones’ to use in sketchbook pages.

The next day I take the sketches, random papers from the book. Here is that hopeful spell: hoping what I find is not lacklustre. This is a more down-to-earth enterprise, sorting through and being ruthless. The putting together of my pages takes time, self-scrutiny, ‘murder your darlings’ and a good deal of stick glue. Here are the ones I think are pleasing but where is the jug by the window? I had this at the front of my mind.

I look again. It’s cumbersome, but I tip the heavy book upside down, as if the book has eaten my lost sketch. No luck. Coffee. I walk to the library via the churchyard and green space. Here’s bright sparkles of blossoms on dark spiny branches. I marvel. I think about the missing sketch. From library to bakers and home. I think: where the hell is that bit of paper. I spend time looking through everything. Then I flip over an unsatisfying pink sketch (why did I keep this one?) to reveal - on the other side - yes. Not the best thing I’ve ever made - that’s always still to come - but it’s going in the book. It’s the first thing I stick down.

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Three slips

It’s unusual for me to not know what’s next. This afternoon, I am pulled in three different directions. I cut three slips of paper and scribble: embroidery, book page, drawing. I fold the tiny papers and take them to my son. I explain my dilemma. There will be no wrong answer. He turns from his computer and takes his time to shuffle the three slips carefully between his fingers. I take a moment to look from his window: weather vane, shopper, crow, moss. He opens a slip of paper and declares the ‘winner’: embroidery. I thank him and return to my end of the attic to tell Margery the news.

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photo: recent sketchbook pages

A Perfect Skirt

It’s the sort of skirt that goes on and on, in length of time as well as weight and length. Warm in winter, cool enough on a warm day, its colour shifts from blacks to forest brown-green, with a hint of blue if the light permits. There are pleats but only at the waist, and then only sometimes. A very flexible waistband, no zip but absolutely pockets on either hips. Twin archives. A hem that stays and a swish that satisfies. It’s the sort of skirt for endless centuries, a time traveller might find herself within, reflecting the times. The kind of garment that allows her to stand tall whilst fitting in, whilst being quite herself.

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photo: recent sketchbook pages

Sketchbook Pages Stuck Together

‘Oh how sinister is the dream that wears a smile’*,

a sunny disposition, leading pastorale, leading

gentlemen, ladies along lost avenues. Rain, through

rain. The colossal things we make small and keep

pocketed, why I would not want to pass them to my

closed books. There are heavy voices in the crows today,

but still record-keeping with a fine feather is better

than the alternative landscape of botched greens.

I have seen him or her, walking from one dream to

a crowd of other dreams and it doesn’t go well.

Stay a spell and draw with me, the shape of a smile

coming up for breath, to fade and quiver lovingly.

Sorry I’m held up in this synchronicity

of stitches and birdsong. I’ll recount something

to you in bold blue thread

and you can close your eyes and pretend it’s true.

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*a line from Stevie Smith’s novel ‘The Holiday’

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photo: small book pages

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Oh Chair

This chair needs a little attention.

A few hours spent coaxing it back

into the shape of a chair, or at least,

something one might find chair-shaped.

It does not want to be anything else,

makes no demands on your hips or mine.

Come to think of it, I do see faces

in most pieces of furniture, don’t you?

It’s odd to think someone writing to herself

about herself could think a brittle chair

might be a new kind of handwriting practice.

But here we are.

photo: a chair I made many years ago now (ten? more?) - and it has travelled and been squashed amongst (ironically?) books. And yes I will repair it. I made a series of chairs all those years ago and now I might make more, who knows.

If you look on Pinterest you will see examples of the chairs I made in the past.

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Thanks for reading here. I hope you enjoyed this format - mixing the sketchbooks with the writing.

If you are interested in having a look through my recent sketchbooks I will be sharing videos and more about my process with my paid subscribers via my midweek notes. Thanks always for your kind support.

A coffee is always welcome