on notebooks and writing and revisiting things

sitting by candlelight this morning

feeling very grateful to the Oregon College of Art + Craft

for having gifted me this residency

an opportunity to slow down, contemplate, revisit

and apply myself solidly to the work of making

with the possibility of working in other media

exploring some things i had begun a few years ago

during a series of classes at the Jam Factory in Adelaide

except that at that time i became completely seduced 

by the exquisite luminosity of blue glaze

being in one place for a period of time

allowed me to make things that need time 

as well as wander back through notebook pages

re-read and re-examine

although i WILL say

that my chillun are right.

my handwriting is appalling

[unless i am writing in upper case architectural style lettering,

then it goes into auto-pilot and looks much neater - although i won't vouch for legibility]

it took me a good nine minutes to work out that the word i had written near the top right [just under the line] of that image was supposed to be "timeless". the words are from Sandra Brownlee, let fall during her "Tactile Notebooks and the Written Word" class that it was my joy to participate in during my recent stay in Scotland.

which brings me to some exciting news for my compatriots

Sandra Brownlee will be teaching a class at Goolwa in South Australia

during the last week of October next year

at Jenni Worth's beautiful [former*] brewery home

if you'd like more information on this

please drop me a line through the contact page on my website

and i shall forward you email to Jenni

meanwhile i'm going back to my notebook

to practice writing with my non-dominant hand

it seems to be more legible than the one i usually use

* 'former' applies to the brewery bit, not the 'home' bit...