Studio Notes no. 209
work on brown paper & poem
Hello Everyone
I hope you are well. We ‘lost’ an hour to our clocks changing overnight. I don’t mind. I have got used to these changes over the years. As someone who gets up early, I suppose now there will be a period of time when it won’t be quite so early.
I have been working on brown paper - I really do enjoy how gouache paint works on this surface. It is not the striped Kraft paper used for wrapping parcels. I am using heavier stuff. This is matt brown paper that comes in a sketchbook made by Seawhite. It still needs backing once the paint is dry. So I add a backing of black paper, just to help it lay a little more flat. Here you can see on the right a new work inspired by tulips - I was given a cut flower bunch - they are not flowers I usually buy, preferring to see tulips growing in garden beds. However, I really do like cut tulips once they start ‘going over’ and flopping open with their stamens on display - so I am looking forward to painting that next stage. The tulips in the work above seem more red on my screen than they should be - they are actually quite pink/dark red.
I am taking next week off from my usual pattern of work. This is not easy for me but I recognise I do need to schedule breaks into my year, so that I do not find myself too tired. I need to change things up, look about me, read, think, reflect. I will always want to be creative, but I will take it at a different pace. And yes I suppose there will be some spring cleaning. My week coincides with Holy Week - I am not traditionally religious - but I like to spend time reflecting on this time of year, observing all the new life. There will be many visits to check on the swans - yes we do have swans in our local stretch of river (see last week’s poem).
Here’s a recent sketchbook page. I hope to make time to put together more pages, quietly, next week. There’s something about putting together pages that makes me particularly happy.
And here’s a bit of mess that needs sorting - I am in the process of finding some kind of method to organising all my tapestry wools for embroidery. The small card boxes are tomato packaging and my way of recycling for longer use. Now I just have to get this desk looking less of a dumping ground. The pieces of work in progress you can see are things I have been working on, off and on, for quite some time, years. I will continue to add a circle now and then and eventually I will just say to myself: let’s finish it!
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Shop News
There will be no shop update this week coming.
My next shop update is planned for Wednesday 8th April at 7pm UK time - with preview from 4pm. Expect to see a mix of new work.
Thank you always for your interest in my artwork. It is much appreciated.
There is a link to my shop at the end of these notes. I have just reduced the price of the one drawing that has been in my shop for a while, as I would like it to be enjoyed by someone and not hiding in my folder.
New Writing
Just one poem this week - the poem is titled Palm Sunday but it is not a religious poem (please do not be put off from reading if that is not your sphere). My starting point was William Blake’s poem ‘Holy Thursday’ - which I will link to below. I feel Blake’s poem still means so much today with its final line ‘lest you drive an angel from your door’.
Here is my poem ‘Palm Sunday, 1789’. I decided to write a poem that is something like historical fiction - not my usual approach to poetry. But it is good to challenge yourself as a writer. My poem is about a procession with a donkey for a Palm Sunday gathering. I set my poem in the year 1789, which is the year Blake published ‘Holy Thursday’. But it could be about many other years, such is the long-standing tradition of palm processions in the Anglican tradition, here in England. Like I said, this is not a religious poem. I share Blake’s distrust of performative religion, but at the same time I welcome the continuation of traditions (if that is not being too contrary).
Palm Sunday, 1789
The farmer has promised a donkey,
but they are both sick. The children
will gather regardless, following on.
One child has a kitten in a basket.
We will permit her to have the kitten
as she is the granddaughter of the Lord.
The farmer has promised a donkey
but another has appeared, a stranger’s
creature with a dark, heavy coat.
There is suspicion
two men are disguised
but the children have gathered
with their hungry selves itching to sing
and we will not hesitate the procession.
We will make a sorry way through churchyard
until the meadow. And we sing, holy, holy
and etcetera. A raggle-taggle group are we,
fewer each year, observing daffodils.
And days later in the inn, the split donkey
will tell its tale until quite merry.
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here’s a link to Blake’s forever powerful poem ‘Holy Thursday’.
To conclude here today, some reflective light and bird song from early this morning. You will need the sound up a little. I hope you have a good week ahead and look forward to sharing more with you soon.
As always, thank you for reading and for your thoughtful comments and support.
A lovely poem, thank you for sharing. I like the story of the missing donkey.
Tulip, beautiful poem, and birdsong, thank you for bringing the English spring into my home in France.