Your final words chime with me, I have always said that you have to lose ‘self’ in the work in order to listen to what it is whispering about what it wants to be. That period when it becomes a separate organism with its own life evolving.
What a lovely reminder of your time in Japan, and the paintings - both yours and Winifred’s are filled with light and hope. Truly joyful. Hope the brush doesn’t wear out, and maybe when you’ve finished this monumental task the brush should be framed and hung too!
What luminous colours, and light-filled recollections... I love Winifred's yellows, and your paintings seem to have that same quality of light.
My partner has just (late last night) returned from a few weeks cycling in the northern Highlands, culminating in a few beauty-filled days on the Orkneys 💙
Ah, wonderful - I passed a cyclist packing up his little tent when I was out for a run, early one glorious sunny morning last week. We exchanged a cheery greeting - I wonder if it was him! Ask him if he pitched his tent behind a wall just past the Point at Birsay, and was surprised by a middle-aged woman lumbering past in a bright yellow running top! (PS, it’s always ‘Orkney’, just the one, for all the islands, none of which, rather confusingly, is called Orkney!)
Oh, I knew the biggest one is called 'Mainland', just to be confusing - but hadn't realised that about the name 'Orkney'.
No, he did his wild-camping between Edinburgh and Dunnet (the Pictish Trail), and rewarded himself for the 500 miles with a few hostel nights on Orkney, before the overnight ferry to Aberdeen and 13 hours of trains to get home to Aberystwyth last night.
I spent a good five minutes or more studying May 18th and May 19th, trying so hard to spot the differences but I couldn’t pick out how they were even similar. Then, on reading further, I realised I was looking at the wrong photos! 😂 I can see the difference of one day’s hard work, after all! Absolutely beautiful.
It was a wonderful ‘slow down’ exercise for my morning, trying to see if I could remember a line or section of intermingling light/colour to see if it was different on the other detailed view. I feel part daft (for not realising I was looking at the wrong images) and part delighted (for spending so long meditating on those two images). I’m sure my brain and nervous system are healthier for it!
What a fabulous story, and oh that painting, it’s luminescence, detail, absolutely gorgeous.
Thank you Sarah, for the words of encouragement - I see a shift in it today.
Process, create beautiful things every day, and someday they will transform into a big beautiful thing.
Sterling advice Paul!
Incidentally, the painting is moving about wonderfully.
Thanks John, I think it has turned another corner this morning!
Your final words chime with me, I have always said that you have to lose ‘self’ in the work in order to listen to what it is whispering about what it wants to be. That period when it becomes a separate organism with its own life evolving.
Yes, that is exactly what it feels like - and then it is almost like it starts to 'set' and harden and doesn't want any more tinkering....
What a lovely reminder of your time in Japan, and the paintings - both yours and Winifred’s are filled with light and hope. Truly joyful. Hope the brush doesn’t wear out, and maybe when you’ve finished this monumental task the brush should be framed and hung too!
Good idea! And thank you, Liza.
What luminous colours, and light-filled recollections... I love Winifred's yellows, and your paintings seem to have that same quality of light.
My partner has just (late last night) returned from a few weeks cycling in the northern Highlands, culminating in a few beauty-filled days on the Orkneys 💙
Ah, wonderful - I passed a cyclist packing up his little tent when I was out for a run, early one glorious sunny morning last week. We exchanged a cheery greeting - I wonder if it was him! Ask him if he pitched his tent behind a wall just past the Point at Birsay, and was surprised by a middle-aged woman lumbering past in a bright yellow running top! (PS, it’s always ‘Orkney’, just the one, for all the islands, none of which, rather confusingly, is called Orkney!)
Oh, I knew the biggest one is called 'Mainland', just to be confusing - but hadn't realised that about the name 'Orkney'.
No, he did his wild-camping between Edinburgh and Dunnet (the Pictish Trail), and rewarded himself for the 500 miles with a few hostel nights on Orkney, before the overnight ferry to Aberdeen and 13 hours of trains to get home to Aberystwyth last night.
He was raising money for the local Samaritans 😊
I spent a good five minutes or more studying May 18th and May 19th, trying so hard to spot the differences but I couldn’t pick out how they were even similar. Then, on reading further, I realised I was looking at the wrong photos! 😂 I can see the difference of one day’s hard work, after all! Absolutely beautiful.
It was a wonderful ‘slow down’ exercise for my morning, trying to see if I could remember a line or section of intermingling light/colour to see if it was different on the other detailed view. I feel part daft (for not realising I was looking at the wrong images) and part delighted (for spending so long meditating on those two images). I’m sure my brain and nervous system are healthier for it!
A lovely read and view, as always. Thank you!
Thank you, Siski, for the gift of your attention this morning (and I must label my images more clearly in future!)
Such beautiful and transcendent works - yours and Nicholson’s. 🤎💛
I dare not compare myself to WN, but I aspire!
"Offer due attention to the texture of everyday life, to the
particular quality of morning light raking across the table
top" — the Nicholson phrase you've quoted has stayed with me.
From the twelfth floor in Tokyo I have a building four meters
away and a window that changes its brightness in increments I
did not initially believe were worth documenting. The photograph
Kai sent you — the departure in the snow, one specific moment —
is the argument Kamo no Chōmei was making in 1212 about why the
hut is enough: it is enough because it holds the particular, not
the general.