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.......

playing with paper and thread

Time is of the essence.

My 'to do' list has 'food' on it. Signs that doing an MA distracts from normal daily activities.

I have to keep a reflective diary, and this week's homework is to play with paper and thread to see what 'book' forms I can come up with.

A book can be almost anything if you choose to take the loosest definition of the word.

Already I am confused about what a 'book' actually might be; it has elements of

•  order
• binding
• sequence

but these might not relate to pages in a traditional book. A group of people telling stories..., a film, sedimentary rock, to name but a few of the suggestions I have come across so far.

I have been asked to make a book about a certain space/place. I have 2 weeks to do this. I have also been asked to play with paper folding and thread to see what variants of book form I can come up with.

I started with a palm leaf binding of some images about a walk.

very simple, and allowing the images to be kept in sequence while being able to view them as a sequence if the thread is long enough.

palm leaf binding

concertina with pockets

concertina

folded concertina and a paper cover

a more rigid structure with pockets

loosely bound pages using needle and cotton

It is possible to fold paper very intricately and mathematically.

If you have no other tasks in life, then that might be for you.

I enjoyed loose sewing and crushing; more in line with my fuzzy photos.

But for my space related book task I have chosen the seawall at Camber Sands. Rigid concrete on a massive scale dividing farmland and the sea.

 A place to breathe.

A short stroll on the shingle in search of ideas for my book revealed evidence of people making their own creations from natural and man made objects; stones, feathers, shells and a poppy stalk.

Is this a book?

I collected some bits of string, wood, stones and seaweed .

The structure of the book needs to represent the wall; strong and linear.

The content is going to be about the feelings and thoughts that I had while walking along the wall. Words that came to mind....

• wind
• sounds
• space
• dogs
• birds
• you get the picture

I had better get on with it.