photo: recent sketchbook pages - really into blue at the moment - blue with brown
Hello everyone, I hope you are well and have had a good week. I am feeling, tentatively, a little brighter. This is despite all the ‘orrid weather we have had. Rain, rain, hail, rain. So much rain the moss on roof tops is positively glowing.
I have quite a bit of writing to share here but want to make sure there is plenty of images too, so I shall cut the waffle and get on…
Write A Poem Every Day (at least in March)
Photo: A stitched poetry work I made in 2015 - sometimes the reverse side says more to me (sold)
I have given myself a goal for March and that is to write a poem each day. It does not have to be a good poem. All I need to do is fill a small page and perhaps another. My relationship with poetry writing is complicated by years of hope and denial. Now I would like to simply write.
A few days in and I am not disappointed by the energy I feel for wanting to write a poem. Giving myself the freedom to just write with no ideas in mind, with no need to worry about anyone else reading the poems. Though of course at the back of my mind is always the possibility that I might write something that matters to me.
I write with a sleek ballpoint pen in a small lined notebook. It is the same way of writing that I have always kept, since beginning to take poetry seriously in my early twenties. Nowadays, with no inclination to send my poems to an editor or a competition, I am merely writing because I might just find one or two singular poems amongst the thirty one scratchy poems I hope to write this month.
Creative hope can be a tricky friend. It is good to hope and to plan, to set yourself a task and to attempt to show up and give ideas a go. Just being able to hope to write a poem each day is a good thing for me; it means I am feeling able to embrace something beyond the boundaries of necessary. I may be feeling hopeful. Too much necessary stuff can feel suffocating.
Photo: a collection of spoons I made in 2009! I was and still am happily obsessed with the phrase: write a poem everyday (as you may see the central spoon holds this phrase) In case anyone asks - no I don’t have these any more.
I recognised this recently when I spent time one afternoon watching and photographing pigeons on the roof tiles outside my flat windows. I realised this was what I really had to do at that particular moment in my otherwise quite organised life. Something spontaneous and nothing at all to do with making anything to show to the world. It was also about connecting with my surroundings and getting to know my neighbours (feathered) better. It was a playful way of just letting go.
Similarly, writing a poem that does not require judgement, is about letting go of expectation and production values, instead focusing on process and the moment. I want to enjoy just writing words and feeling the edges of a poem. Writing a poem each day is about putting words down for the sake of exercising a part of myself that has felt undernourished.
Alongside writing a poem each day I want to read more poetry by a broad range of poets. And so I shall. I have plenty of poetry books to dip into but if anyone has in mind a poet that I might enjoy please do make your suggestions. And also, if you would like to attempt writing a poem each day in March then it is not too late to start today. Or whenever. Let me know how it goes for you.
Shop Notes
Photo: tiny paintings in progress on my work table
On Friday, the first of the month, I began to offer spring landscape lucky dips in my shop. I told myself if I sold three, say three or four, on the first day, I would be happy. After all, I am offering these until the end of May. There are months ahead. What I did not anticipate was just how many people wished to order on the first day. My goodness, it did surprise me in quite an emotional way and I want to thank you, thank you. By the evening I decided that with a good number of orders to fulfil I was at my happy limit for now. And so, I have put the ‘sold out’ sign up just for a few days whilst I am busy packaging, painting etc..
Spring landscape lucky dips will be available again from the middle of next week (Wednesday or Thursday) please check my shop or Instagram stories, which ever works for you. And thanks again for your interest.
I also have my postcard club back in stock.
There will be no updates today or next Wednesday. This is so that I can focus on both the above and creating new work.
And so my next update will be Sunday 10th March at 7pm UK time - this will be a mix of new artwork. Maybe stitch (I am saying that in a small voice).
Thank you to everyone who has kindly looked at my work so far this year, who has purchased something. Much appreciated.
Meanwhile, I also wish to thank the subscribers to these studio notes. I have two postcard sets to give away and will pick two subscribers this coming week. I will be in touch to ask if you would like to receive.
photo: as if by magic - tiny paintings completed
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A Few Small Stories
A group of about eight people, casually dressed men and women who appear to be tourists with their small backpacks and walking shoes, move along the narrow lane of shops. The old historical buildings have a quaintness an outsider might enjoy whilst town dwellers like myself never lose interest in the architectural quirky details. The group comes to a halt by the bakery. They peer inside the small windows and door, as if inspecting a doll’s house. There is talk amongst them in a European dialect I cannot name. One man seems to suggest he will go inside and so the others wait. I step inside also, as I always buy bread and cakes on a Saturday. The man stares about the place and points at a sausage roll. He purchases the sausage roll and leaves. I see him a short while later, standing on the corner with his companions. He is eating the sausage roll and everyone else in his party stands and waits, not engaging with the man. They are tolerant of their companion’s need for food. They stare idly into the frozen yoghurt shop.
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Bright singing voices and majestic organ playing a traditional hymn. It has been many years since I attended a church service but here I am, with a good friend, standing to sing (or to whisper, in my case). My friend is a dedicated Christian but neither of us have attended this church before. We are both impressed by the availability of warm blankets (it is cold in old stone churches).
Years ago I was a regular attendee at an Anglican church like this but then there was a Falling Out*. Now I am here because I am curious to know what the service is like, if I could be sought/ the sort. The lovely people sing and the vicar talks with intelligent wit, and I like him. But I know in my heart that I would rather be sitting quietly in a far corner of this church, or a woodland, or on top of a hill, or at home with a book of poems. I have attended and once again I know how scattered my faith may be, if faith is at all.
After the service we walk out into the churchyard with snowdrops now making their green seed pods, blackbirds singing, with the noise of a busy Sunday going on in town. There’s free car parking on Sundays, so it is almost as busy as a Saturday. People, good people everywhere….
*It’s complicated but involves ‘lifestyle choices’
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You can’t un-pickle an egg! A woman’s voice says with a laugh. I turn around to see a woman and two younger women standing by the florist market stall. The two younger women look baffled by this statement so the woman repeats herself: You can’t un-pickle an egg, that’s what your grandfather used to always say, don’t you remember? Mum, one of the young women say, you can’t un-pickle anything, surely? The woman shrugs and turns to look at the tulips. The young women shake their heads at each other.
For the rest of the afternoon I wonder about this un-pickling and why an egg, and why un-pickling. Is it just to suggest: what’s done is done? Like: you can’t undo something once it is permanently altered? I am truly baffled by this un-pickling egg analogy. I go to the supermarket and remember, just for a change, to buy eggs.
Photo: How To Write A Spring Poem - a piece from 2016 (sold)
I will stitch this poem again (a revised version) and share the poem with you soon.
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Thanks always for reading here, for your kind comments and likes. Much appreciated, always. If you would like to support my writing by buying a coffee this is very welcome indeed. Thank you.
beautiful poetry and ideas-also I like your blues and browns working together
The blues and browns are so nice. I love both postcard sets I’ve received. Maybe a chicks set, your chick paintings are always a favorite.