Never mind the quality - feel the width
Buckle in - this is a bitty one
There isn’t a single piece of work to focus on, so it’s going to be a bit ‘what I’ve done’ and a bit ‘things I’ve seen’ edition.
I am board
AA’s definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. After 5 failed prototypes of Barry’s Bottles using spray mount and boards, I had to concede that the process wasn’t working and try something different. The new construction process is simpler and much lighter. It feels weird to not have boards in the board book, but I’ve seen other ones use the same approach. It makes the book much thinner, but I can live with that. I think. It makes it all feel less substantial, but perhaps that’s no bad thing.
This cover is washed out because it was printed on my home laser printer, but I think this new method is the way to proceed. The end is in sight.
It has to be.
Story bundles
When I’m bogged down in something really technical, I like the simplicity of writing stories by hand on an A4 pad of paper. I’ve drafted about six short stories this month of varying quality. A couple of them are real stinkers, but there’s some I really like. I often find that these really short stories are different approaches to a single question or theme and am considering whether I could bundle them together in little collections. Emphasis there on little.
Short stories occupy a weird space. Everyone says they love them, but sales of short fiction collections are notoriously low. I think this might be because they are usually packaged up to make the same weight as a novel and I don’t think that works. Somehow, those big collections diminish the space each story has to breathe. I think I’m going to try some different approaches and see if anything interesting comes of it.
Platform Bee
Speaking of little stories, I made a little hexagonal booklet for this story about a bee and a pair of shorts. It was sent out to subscribers last month. It’s a really small thing and I’m not even sure I’m going to write it up for the website.
“My biggest fear is the same as my biggest hope: That I am seen.”
Although my tendency is usually to make things myself, I have been submitting more work for publication with magazines and websites. This is mostly because a kick up the arse from George from TYPE! magazine, who was kind enough to devote an hour of his time to talking through some things that were on my mind about writing and the whole submissions process.
(If you haven’t checked out TYPE! Magazine, you really should - it’s a lovely free quarterly shaped like a bookmark).
Presenting work for external approval in this manner always provokes conflicting feelings, which are pretty much encapsulated by the quote above from Erykah Badu.
(It was cited in Austin Kleon’s newsletter. He’s the author of Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work, both of which are pretty good for a loving shove. I recently purchased his latest - Keep Going - which has some useful stuff in it. It was also quite validating. It’s nice to know you’re already doing at least some of the things suggested by the self-help book.)
I’m trying to have a more open attitude to work. My youngest sister used to call me Secret Squirrel because of my closed attitude to what I was doing. With this in mind, I’m experimenting with logging what I’m doing each day. I’m hoping that this will be helpful. The fear is that I’m crafting a new stick to beat myself with. Time will tell. You can find it here, if you’re interested but I don’t blame you if you’re not.
It’s worth saying that there’s a balance to be struck, though. One of the things I like about my mailing list is that people don’t know what they’re going to get, apart from the general guidelines set down by my other work. I don’t want to lose that, so the Log is probably going to be coded in generalities.
Islamic Artist’s Books at the British Library
I had been meaning to pop in and see this exhibition for some time, but whenever I’ve been near the BM the queues have been humungous. Now that summer is on the wane, it’s easier to get in.
The exhibition was smaller than I expected and I had forgotten that the BM is a lovely place to wander in, but a real pig to navigate when you’re trying to find something specific. That said, there’s some really nice pieces there. I’m adding some stuff here as a small gallery, including a linocut that’s in the same room, but not part of the exhibit.
Those cyanotypes made from starlight are lovely and provoke some ideas. I love the aesthetic of cyanotypes, but it is a wee bit boring seeing the same images of pressed flowers over and over again.
Emerald and Stone
I don’t usually like things that ooze, but this is great. Emerald and Stone by Thomas Blanchard was made with paints and oils. Worth putting on fullscreen just to luxuriate in the sumptuousness of it all.
Ongoing notebook obsession
I was very happy using these Field Notes gridded pocket notebooks until I lost one out of my back pocket somewhere around Tottenham Court Road. Their svelte profile turned out to be a deficit, not a plus. I feel weirdly exposed, knowing my scrambled thoughts are out there for someone to find and perhaps puzzle over.
There’s another one in my drawer (they come in packs of three and the first one was filled within ten days), but I’m not ready to be hurt again so soon. In the meantime, I’m back to the yellow Leuchtturm.
OK, that’s going to do for now. Hope you’re keeping well. Read some good books. Watch The Bear if you haven’t already. The first series was good, but the second is really quite something.
ta