susangaylord.com

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Spirit Book #100

I thought there would be some special intention about Spirit Book #100 but it took me by surprise. Sometimes Spirit Books that I thought were finished are rethought or remade. I like that they evolve naturally and sometimes it takes a while for them to find their true forms.

Spirit Book #100 has a cradle made from wood gathered at the beach at Plum Island this past winter. The book was originally made for Spirit Book #92 in 2016. As I was thinking about the book for 100, I took the one from 92 and set it on top of the cradle just to see how I felt about making a book of that size. It turned out that I liked more than the size—I liked the book itself. I didn't realize what number it was in the series until I made the base and started to think about a name.

I have a little book where I record information about each Spirit Book and give it a name. I write out words connected with the materials and patterns. I look in my books about symbolism and the dictionary and free associate to come up with words for the name. In this case, I made notes about spirals (the patterns on the pages) and thought about where I found the wood—at the beach at the edge of the water. The name is Returning Embrace.

Spirit Book #100: Returning Embrace will be one of the works on exhibit at the Arnold Arboretum from May 4—July 22. The reception is May 19, 1–3 PM and I'll be giving a talk on June 2 at 3 PM.

Sunday, April 08, 2018

Studio Sunday-Memorial Lettering

Last week began with the scattering of my mother-in-law Lyn Gaylord's ashes at Mt. Auburn Cemetery, a beautiful resting place for a gardener who had lived a rich full life.

Later in the week, I did two pieces of lettering for an infinitely sadder memorial for the 32 year old daughter of a friend.

Her favorite color was blue. The lettering was done with a brush and Pearlescent Blue Lumiere by Jacquard that I had purchased for fabric project.

Sunday, April 01, 2018

Easter

Nature's egg coloring. Sometimes not planning ahead brings beautiful surprises. Happy Easter. Happy Passover. Happy Spring.

Sunday, March 25, 2018

Studio Sunday-Calligraphy

Lettering with Speedball C-5 nib and Higgins Eternal Ink

Inverted to White on Black (command I) in Photoshop

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Vernal Equinox

May we embrace the soft spirit
of the day's sharing of the light and the dark

Lettering with Pentel brush pen on natural baking parchment
combined with an image of a magnolia blossom in photoshop

Sunday, March 18, 2018

Getting Ready for Books in Bloom

It's time to get ready for Books in Bloom at the Newburyport Public Library on April 7. The year's book was a gift from my friend Ann McCrea. It contains haiku by Basho, Buson, Issa, and Shiki in both Japanese and English and is bound in the Japanese style. My original plan was to make paper flowers with a haiku on each one but a quick experiment made me realize that the idea would be harder to make happen than I had hoped.

At this point I know I will have a branch or two of some kind and haiku hanging from the branches. I may even use this one and add some small flowers—thinking of wax flowers. I wrote out this haiku on lokta paper from Chino Crafts in Nepal with sumi ink. The pen caught in a few places. My first inclination is to find another paper but I think I might like the occasional roughness. We shall see.