Blessings of the Birds 2

The first edition of Blessings of the Birds has sold out, so I thought it would be good to make a second series. There are so many types of birds that I will be able to make a third and fourth series too!

I've used that same format to make the books, but with different paper. The covers are made using 270gsm Colourplan paper in Cobalt. I used a goose feather to 'paint' oil based printing ink and Indian ink loosely onto the surface. The title page is inkjet printed on tracing paper. After composing the eight blessings, I inkjet printed them onto copier paper, before cutting to fit the covers. Finally, the books were stitched using a Japanese style Ledger binding with wax coated thread.

I believe that if we think about the talents and beauty of all birds, our appreciation for them will grow and we will care to protect them in these challenging ecological times.

There are 12 copies of this book.

blessings of the birds 2

2024

14 x 3cm Inkjet printed on tracing paper 

and 90gsm copier paper

Cover: Hand painted on 270gsm Colourplan Cobalt. 

Here are three of the 8 blessings:

blessed are the red kites

for they rejoice in being saved from extinction

blessed are the pigeons

for although they were abandoned, they will be loved again

blessed are the owls

for their silent flight will carry wisdom through the night

 

Bristol Artists Book Event

It's been a week since the Bristol Artists Book Event (BABE) and I've been reflecting on the great time I had!

The event, at UWE Bower Ashton, had plenty of space for many artists and publishers to show their books and paper ephemera. There was a fantastic range of different types of book making and visitors and stall holders spent hours looking through the interesting work.

It was also a great opportunity to chat about handmade books, their concepts, processes and materials and I enjoyed catching up with a few familiar faces, as well as meeting new ones.

The event is a fantastic source of inspiration and I have come away with ideas for new handmade artists books.

I bought a small selection of books from other artists, which I have enjoyed looking through. See below:

'Uncoupled Derailed'

by Linda Parr

'Postcard No21'

 by Andrew Morrison

'The Teapot'

by Erin K Schmidt

'Pilgrimage: Communing with the Trees'

by Antoinette Moorby

Bristol Artists Book Event

The Bristol Artists Book Event (BABE) is taking place this year on Saturday & Sunday 29-30th of June and I'm delighted to be taking part!

The event will be held again at the UWE campus on Kennel Lodge Road, Bower Ashton, Bristol BS3 2JT. This superb location offers a huge space for artists to display and sell their handmade artist books and it fits in beautifully within the print department.

There is always a wonderfully eclectic mix of ideas, bindings, illustration and materials, with plenty of inspiration for artists and visitors.

This year I will be giving a short 'Show and Tell' talk about my method of extracting text and I'll be reading a sample from my book 'In This Grey Wind'. I'll have all of my handmade books on display for visitors to browse and I'll be happy to answer any questions. I will also have some of my prints, cards and badges and free bookmarks, and for the first time I will be using my press title of 'Wild Bird of the Ink!'

It's a great book fair and definitely one not to miss!

I hope to see you there!

BABE

UWE, Kennel Lodge Road, Bower Ashton, Bristol BS3 7JT

29th-30th June 2024

Wild Bird of the Ink

Isles at the Edge of the Sea

The Isles at the Edge of the Sea concertina book is a departure from my regular text based handmade artist books.

I was fortunate to visit the Outer Hebrides in May 2024; a place that had been on my bucket list for some years. I had longed to experience the wild, wind-wrapped isles, with their beautiful white sandy shores, lochans and hills.

They certainly didn't disappoint! Of the ones I visited, the most appealing were North and South Uist and, I'm sure I left a piece of my heart on Benbecula.

The inspiration for a drawings and handmade books came quickly. I did look into extracting text from online guide to the Isles, but my finished writing didn't have the flow I was looking for to describe how I felt about the place. An attempt to simply use place names also fell short of the mark, leaving the written words floating over the images. I think an audio piece would have greater impact on the beautiful Gaelic names.

The initial mark-making experiments were a joy! Using charcoal, pencils, ink pen, pastels and ink, I used my memories of the land and seascapes to quickly create scenes. 

The five finished eight page landscape concertina books are 80x8cm (each page 10x8cm) all hand drawn on white cartridge paper. Each book is a unique individual piece of art, with one side black and white and the other in colour. Having used charcoal and pastels, the books are quite fragile.

The images below are a selection from three of the books.

'Isles at the Edge of the Sea' 

2024

Concertina book 80x8cm

Stamp Album

Stamp Album is a new series of one-off books inspired by old stamp albums that belonged to my family. We would spend time on a Saturday afternoon browsing in the Stamp Shop and selecting ones to add to our own collections. Relatives who visited other countries would send postcards or bring back stamps for us.

Browsing through the albums now, I remember as a child I was particularly drawn to the stamps depicting exotic flowers or birds and I found the careful colour selections of different stamp values very appealing.

I pictured some of the stamps mounted on dark coloured card with wide borders, a bit like a painting hung in an art gallery. The idea for my handmade book Stamp Album then grew.

The cover is inkjet printed onto tracing paper, with an inside cover page of craft paper with an atlas page print. The next page features the original stamps mounted on to dark coloured card. The final, central page is my own text relating to the stamp, inkjet printed onto squared paper. 

The first in the series contains stamps from Canada with beautiful vibrant images of berries from Saskatoon. The following text is a recipe for jam!

The next album has stamps form Italy featuring Italian castles. The text includes a description of the castle and a story I wrote to accompany it.

There are only one of each album available. I plan to make more to add to the series. I have lots of stamps!

'Stamp Album' 2024

From cover 7x7cm.

'Stamp Album' 2024

Inside front cover, atlas style craft paper.

'Stamp Album : A Recipe for Saskatoon Jam' 1/1 

Page with original stamp on red card 

and title page.

'Stamp Album'

Centre page Ingredients and Method 

inkjet printed on squared paper.

'Stamp Album : Castles of Italy' 1/1 2024

Page with original stamp 

and description of the castle, 

and my own story based around the image. 

Here are a further two Albums I have added to the series. As with the others, there is only one of each.

'Stamp Album : New Zealand Plants' 1/1 2024

'Stamp Album : Butterflies' 1/1 2024

In This Grey Wind second edition

I have sold out of my book 'In this Grey Wind', so I decided to print a second edition. Fortunately I had a few sheets of Diana Wilbraham's paper 'blue' left for the covers and I was able to make an new edition of ten.

My book uses extracted text from 'Birds of the Grey Wind' by E A Armstrong, published in 1940. Armstrong wrote a beautiful account of his life spent bird watching in his native Northern Ireland. He describes the landscapes he visits, the knowledge he gleans from his hobby starting as a child, as well as wonderful descriptions of the birds he sees and their habitats. 

As I read the book, I picked out certain words or part sentences to form phrases or poems of my own. I wanted to create a series of poems that, when read as a whole, would form a narrative. Armstrong's writing was so beautifully written that I felt compelled to write a love story; one that would perhaps leave the reader thinking about both the relationships between humans and those between birds.

At times it was hard to focus on extracting the text because the book was so absorbing. However, I did finish it and then set about selecting and ordering my poems before printing them out, folding, cutting and binding them.

I hope to make more extracted text narratives from non-fiction and fictional books. 

'In this Grey Wind' Second edition of 10 books. 

2024

                              

                                I

                                sought out

                                the nightingale

                                the sweet air of

                                the

                                night

                                content

                                to know and love

                                attaining communion and

                                trusting implicitly

                                everything you have and are

             

  Excerpt of a page from 'In this Grey Wind'

2024

Walking Away

I really enjoyed designing and making 'Craving', which has now sold out, so I wanted to make another similar book using the same concertina style.

I love making the drips of ink on the paper and watching them roll down to form the streaks of colour.

Also like 'Craving', the text is quite powerful. It's always interesting to see viewers responses to the texts I write. (I have had two people cry openly.) I like to share some insights into my inspiration and processes, but sometimes when people connect so readily, the text speaks for itself.

'Walking Away' Front cover

Concertina book

6 x 54cm

'Walking Away' 

'Walking Away' Inside