Studio Notes no.143

book page artworks and tiny stories

photo: new sketchbook pages - more quiet chaos in place

Hello Everyone, I hope your week has gone well. It has been an autumnal start to September, with several stormy days and noticeable a drop in the temperature. The horse chestnut tree is a little rustier.

This week I have been particularly busy with stitching, writing, painting autumn tiny landscapes and new book page artworks.

New Book Page Artworks

photo: amber bottles, autumn stems and birds - new book page artwork

I enjoy the challenge of  collaging the book pages together to make a surface for paint. And then there are so many ideas, but I have gone with what was at the front of my mind: autumn, faces, birds and stems/sticks. I have five new book page artworks and they will be available in my shop later.

photo: autumn walk with feathers - a portrait - book page artwork

photo: spiky dahlias in a grey jug - book page artwork

Working with just black, white and burnt sienna has made me think so much about amber and grey, about warm wood and smokey skies. I am thinking of other colour combinations in the months ahead. Yes, I do want to make more. They are a happy challenge to create.

photo: by the grey house - a portrait - book page artwork

I spend time working carefully to layer papers and like to choose different yellowed paper, with snippets of text, or the ghost of text coming through.

photo: jug with autumn stems and birds - book page artwork

A few (very) Small Stories

This week I am offering you a selection of tiny stories with less than seventy five words. Can I make sense, does it matter? Here we are anyway…

Big Rain

It has been raining all morning but now the rain has increased. Mighty raindrops hammer at the windows. Look at ‘em, big raindrops, look how big they are! The builder downstairs shouts from the upstairs of the house he is bricking up. His workmates laugh. Yeah, but they are really big rain drops! He says, laughing. And they are.

Little Rain

I am drawing a little rain who needs a rainbow. A sad face. A ghost with a French accent. I feel like I am six again and am sitting in the dark pretending I did not eat a green crayon. Not sure I should be wasting paint when I am in this kind of mood. It might be nap time. 

Paisley

I am trying on dresses to remind myself how dresses look. It has been a summer of linen trousers and that’s enough of that. Granny had a wardrobe full of dresses made for her because she could. I wish I had the same but cannot. I slip on a paisley frock. It is a frock, with a muted swish and there is no mistaking it: I am at one with the paisley. It and I will be timeless together.

Lightning

Lightning flashes above the church tower. It is just a tiny crackle. Three potatoes away comes the thunder. Later, at three-thirty, the church bells play twinkle-twinkle little star. Not until seven o’clock should they be playing this. I go to the fridge to find my phone. The storm has made everything just a little discombobulated today. 

**

Angry toothbrush

A man in the supermarket is angry. The self-serve machine does not like his choice of toothbrush. He shouts: can someone help me buy a toothbrush? I am grateful the reluctant assistant does not ask him to calm down. The last thing you should do when a man is angry about a toothbrush is suggest he should calm down. 

Gouache

I need more burnt sienna gouache paint, but the art shop is out of stock. The assistant takes my phone number. The next day my phone rings and I know it is the art shop. Will they simply say: your paint has arrived, or will they say: gouache paint. I prepare myself to hear the person say: gouache. Will they sound like they have been practising saying the word: gouache. Yes, yes. Magnificently yes.

Bites

Never mind how many lovely trips and holidays you had this summer. See these bites on my arm? I went almost nowhere but still they found me! No one is as delicious as I might just be. The pharmacist said: let’s just go straight to the hydrocortisone. Yes, it hurts, a little.

And one more - this is from my forthcoming little zine: a pocketful of ghosts (more on this soon!)

Same Book

She has a habit of buying the same book, over and over. Holds all the words dearly in yellowed paperback editions. She just loves bookshops and more shelves of trees. Loves a familiar, loves familiars without knowing, stories that are not really there for her. She has a habit of buying the same book over and over. Cannot remember a blessed word of it. Loves the covers, hates the ending so avoids the start. See here, she says, pointing to empty shelves: I gave all my favourite books away so I can find them again! She is dreadfully happy, just sitting alone with the same book, unopened.

**

photo: a new embroidery portrait - Fine Lady in Gold

Shop News

I am updating my shop today, Sunday 8th September at 7pm UK time - I will preview everything in my shop from about 4pm. There are five new book page artworks and two new embroidery portraits. 

Thanks to everyone who has ordered an autumn lucky dip. A first batch of orders went out on Friday and more will be going out next week. So very much appreciated! I do hope you enjoy unwrapping and seeing your tiny landscape(s).

Link to my shop at the end of these notes.

photo: A family portrait with midnight blue and copper - embroidery artwork

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Thanks for reading here and for all your kind comments and emails. I hope you have enjoyed reading and seeing the new artworks. 143 notes into this and I still feel a little anxious each week - will anyone read it, like it? But I am so grateful to all of you who do! And I am especially grateful to new paid subscribers and anyone who buys me a coffee. A big thank you.

I am now posting to Substack notes during the week - sharing photos of work in progress. If you would like to see these then the best thing to do is have the Substack app on your phone. I am using Instagram less in the future. I don’t care for how it makes me feel about the world. So here is where to stay in touch. Thank you.

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