Tag: Lino printing

Secrets, Trees and Stars

Stillness

The addition of light – that feels so essential in advent – has, this year, been characterised by trees and stars.

As well as illuminated stars in Studio Hundy and our Girrick cottage window, this week I created a “sustainable” tree from garden bamboo canes. Whilst making the structure, as if on cue, a “Christmas” Robin visited to investigate and then drink from the bird-bath.

November had been a busy time in Studio Hundy, fulfilling a commission for 150 lino-printed Christmas cards. As soon as these were complete and we turned to December, I started to sketch out a new design for my own card this year – a Heron.

The stillness of the Heron in the lino print was inspired by a chapter in a wonderful book we are currently reading – an anthology of weekly contempations and practices for spirituality through the lens of psychology, inspired by the culture and mythology of the Celts in Britain and Ireland and their connection with nature.

“Psychologically, the heron represents a part of us who longs to penetrate below the surface of life into its Mystery for the long-forgotten memory of who we are, which we begin to discern in times of stillness”.

Wilson, Michael.  Portals into Deep Imagination.   Celtic Mythology, Nature’s Year, and the Quest for Soul.  Aeon, 2025

Finding stillness at this time of year seems all the more important as the outer pressures of the lead-up to Christmas mount.

This includes taking time to reflect on the year that is coming to a close.

  • APRIL – Clare’s show in Stroud
  • MAY – another performance, this time in Peebles
  • ….. and no hitches for me on the sound desk in Eastgate Theatre
  • JULY – installation of new wood burner and chimney liner
  • … and some congestion with neighbours
  • Also in JULY – constructing a new wood store
  • AUGUST – Edinburgh Fringe
  • Also in AUGUST – exciting installation of dip tank
  • …… and barrel sauna in the garden
  • … and the “must have” sauna spirit – Loylynhenki
  • SEPT – Sound residency – Deep listening to the rumble of the tide
  • … and listening to the “sound of stones”
  • OCT – harvesting pears, plums and apples
  • … preparing spicy plum sauce
  • NOV – full moon rising
  • … and shining
  • DEC – making natural firelighters

Quite an eventful year.

And the “secrets” in the title of this post?

Firstlly it refers to the mystery that lies “below the surface of life” (quote above); and secondly it takes me back over 12 years when Clare devised and performed her other solo show as part of LTP (Landscape Theatre Project). Clare’s Many Threads. Part exhibition, part theatre piece, it painted an intimate portrait of a landscape.

“What really lies out there in the hills and valleys? What lives in the trees and by the stream. Come along to LOOK, LISTEN and DISCOVER!!”

It was 5 years earlier, whilst collaborating with Clare in developing the methodology for LTP, that my interest in field recording was really sparked.

During a 2 week, immersive study of a local valley (Muckle Thairn) I experimented with my 1980’s Aiwa stereo cassette walkman, two basic plug in mics, mounted on an adapted paint roller on the end of a extended umbrella!! Very DIY!

I used this kit to record the soundscape for our first LTP scratch performance at the local village hall.

Who’d have thought 17 years on I’d be at an amazing ambisonic sound residency in Argyll! Sound of Alchemy

A year (and much more) to remember.

1980’s Aiwa Stereo cassette recorder – nostalgia

New Year – New Moon

New Beginnings

With the twelve days of Christmas past and 2024 now behind us, we have welcomed in a new year.

3rd January saw a fabulous new moon. A shining sliver appearing as dusk fell with just one solitary star above.

As darkness grew the image became more intense, with the face of the “man-in-the-moon” revealing itself more clearly.

A quietness descended on Studio Hundy after the hectic printing process that took place in advent came to an end.

4 colour reduction linocut print

Cold clear nights in recent days encouraged us to light our firepit, heat up some glogg and reflect on the year gone by.

The flickering flames and glowing embers created an atmosphere ripe for remembering what has passed and what maybe is coming towards us from the future.

Christmas decorations have been dismantled and packed away. This too gave chance for reminiscing – within a wider time frame – considering when each adornment arrived in our lives, and from whom.

Some remain as mere magical shadows in the memory, softend by the gentle glow of winter light.

We are not the only ones that have been enjoying ourselves during this festive season. When the ice melted (sometimes with a little help from inside our kitchen) the bird bath became the focus of a great deal of fun:

And then there were three – “Sparrow Party“

All good wishes to visitors to my website for 2025

Advent calling

Gathering inner light

A bright moon, clear nights, crisp frosts, blue sky days and intermittent grey rain – it is December.

Birds in the garden seek what they can. The Wren searches in the stone wall for insects, the Robin rules its territory, bouncing and flicking its tale to ward off intruders.  Buzzards wait patiently on telegraph poles – one such perch used on occasions also by a Kestrel.  Sparrows assemble in the hedgerow awaiting the bird seed or fat balls to be put out and then descend in great numbers, “squabbling” as they feed.  Blue tits seem to “fall” between branches within the pine tree to gain access to the nut feeder.   The 3 broods of Blackbirds that hatched in the summer nest by the shed are feasting on fallen apples.

The water bath outside our kitchen window, when not frozen, seems to be a welcome place to take a sip, a dip, or even a proper shower. 

Bringing in greenery generates a sense of freshness to a world now largely sealed off from the outside elements.  Windows tightly sealed, curtains drawn at 4pm, keeping in that vital warm.

Adding a little extra light compensates for the long dark nights.

Many hours in December have been spent in Studio Hundy engaged in the printing process.  This year I rose to the challenge of a 4 colour reduction linocut.   I discovered various things along the way, but am always delighted by the experience of seeing the image gradually evolve as each new colour block is printed.

As the earth “slumbers” and plant growth stills, the animal kingdom continues with its winter activities; whilst we, as humans, have the potential to experience the anticipation that advent brings.
 

See also: Midwinter’s nigh and Sounds of December