don't forget the cones..... adventures in Applecross

My best Christmas present was a felt cone.

A reminder from my family to keep looking for cones, and not to get too bogged down in the seriousness that MA book art has become.

A cone to keep on my desk.

Youngest child and I have plans for a book of cones.

cone

I also have plans for a book of street cabinets. Those street furnishings that go unnoticed until you try to camouflage them.

cabinet, Vancouver

MA book art thinks otherwise.

I am going along tolerating this situation, becoming more and more unsure that this is the way forward.

We shall see.

I have ventured into the world of abstract minimal.

and printed onto expensive Japanese, hand made paper.

All of which feels like progress in the sense of producing work that is aesthetically pleasing; to me at least.


I am trying to think in terms of 'book' rather than individual images.

Sequence is one way to go.

Here is a stroll along the road in Opinan, Scotland.

a stroll in Opinan

I am also thinking about what I choose to look at. The tendency is to look out to sea.....

Here is the same view at 180 degrees from the above images.

Not quite as exciting, I think you will agree.

These images are taken at 20 step intervals.

All of this is part of my 'research'

I am not sure it is getting me very far.

I prefer my animal pictures.

cows

bringing the sheep to the ram

crofter

collie

dinner's up

sheep in Applecross

samll holding

sad pig

As you can see, it is a very different world up there in Applecross.

I know a lovely young man who would love a book of farm animals.......

christmas is coming........

Santa in Bromley

OH ( my other half) is in trouble.

For many, many reasons.

He has been away for a week on business, somewhere warm and sunny, ( India) staying in a 5 star hotel.

And CHRISTMAS IS COMING.

I made a cake

While he has been away I checked the calendar to find out when he will be home. It says today.

Apparently that is not correct.

It also says he will be in for dinner tomorrow evening.

That is 'not correct' either.

Meanwhile, back in the UK I am trying to prepare for Christmas.

a christmas cake

I have collected a tree and sawn it's bottom off so that it can drink water. Outside, in the dark, all by myself witha rusty saw.

I have unwrapped the new Christmas lights ( pressure is on in the street and I have succumbed to the increasing blingness that surrounds me.)

The new lights were in a muddle even before we have used them....

I have chosen a new tap to replace a broken one, and purchased a loo roll holder that I will have to put up myself in out newly refurbished loo.

I have found the washing bin joyously empty for a whole week.

I have lived on what is around, and decided to forgo the 2008 brandy butter, the 2010 christmas pudding and the 2011 chestnuts.

BUT ALL IS NOT LOST

OH sent me a postcard.

Of a Christmas tree in a swanky hotel.

It wished me a Happy Christmas and New Year.

So he has thought of me between his crab dinners and festive breakfasts.

The wording suggests that he may be staying away until 2017........

In which case I wont have to tidy all the very many surfaces in the house that are currently covered in book making materials and scraps of paper.

And can continue to live on toast and avocado, remembering my wonderful trip to Scotland.

scottish cows

scottish scenery

scottish leaf

some photos from Applecross - a journey on the north coast 500 route

I am recently returned from Applecross.

Journey one for my north coast 500 project.

November 2016.

I switched my camera to a high contrast black and white setting in order to focus on shapes and shadows.

Looking for themes and ideas about what draws me to this part of the world.

I have selected some that I feel represent my days in Applecross.

Roads, paths, fallen leaves and markings in the fields. Frosty leaves and snow white houses.

Lines and circles

And a blackbird singing in a tree.

How to make sense of it all for  a small book?

I will start by concentrating on shapes, and see where that leads.