Time and place

The summer blues:

Hiding in my den

oaks loom. Me, counting slowly

trying to stretch time.

Tucked away in the meadow at the garden..will people leave the path and reach this haiku? Will they look? Does it matter? 

Next week going to the Folkestone Triennial - lots of site specific art around the town. Can't wait to ride in the water powered funicular up the cliff and listen to Martin Creed's contribution/walk on the Dover cliffs and eat fish and chips on the beach. Cut through reality? Holiday.

Trees and pyramids

Following on from the last sketch, experimenting with open bite (exposing parts of the plate to acid). Just revisiting what is so attractive about etching for me ..the mixture of chemistry/ timing/ and the sheer physicality of working in light/dark...all the mystique of old fashioned photography (yes lots of washing but plates not prints) without being stuck in a dark room. And at the end turning a handle to produce a print through the analogue press.  (Not that I don't absolutely love my computer).

A garden in summer? It has to be roses!

From a distance

In the sketchbook prints  I've tended to concentrate on the closeup. So feeling like a different perspective I took large sheets of paper, weighted down on the path with stuff I had with me and drew standing up bending over. It was hot..fantastic (the ink dried quickly).

Wheat and more

Giant horsetails and now wheat - big time and futures...

Spring wheat grassy shoots -

will gem grains swell and harden?

Look - our daily bread.

Location and opening times

Planted.

It was tricky placing the ten haikus carefully between the plants. The panels will change as the summer goes on, some plants will grow more/flower, change colour.The sun will create different shadows from the panels themselves and from surrounding foliage.

Opening times and location

Today's the day

Feeling a little stressed as today the haikus will be placed in the garden.

Plus a new addition to the sketchbook print collection - Berthe, one of the volunteer gardeners, was wearing a hat as it was sunny.

The challenge of process

 It has been challenging working on the woodworking for the display of the haikus. The early decision to use recycled wood and the choice I made..to use hardwood plywood that just happened to be flame retarded has meant multiple difficulties in my search to be a sustainable artist.

The flame retardant meant I could not use sustainable water based varnish. I used nutshell varnish on the supports and underneath but I now find that this will go black in the rain. This means it will have to be polyurethane for the display surface.

The flame retardant also meant I could not glue the board to the wooden support - and this meant screws..more dilemmas of choice. The solution was 2 discreet black slotted screws with the slots all facing the same way as the grain of the wood. And so it goes. 

Placement in the garden will be this week ...

Meanwhile I have continued working on the sketchbook prints- this one inspired by the irises that have flowered and then gone.

 

And a second inspired by the shadows of the meadow plants on my sketchbook.