and all of a sudden we find ourselves driving along our dike, almost home, almost back home and the long week we were away is like a distant memory; after a hasty unpacking I unfold the treasures (I share only a couple in this post) I bought and found on the island: the Merchant & Mills workbook I bought in Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh; it contains a collection of basic, versatile sewing patterns I'm hoping to be able to put to good use: the home-dyed fabrics will become home-sewn items of clothing
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I particularly fancy the Curlew dress and the Heron wrap top - isn't it absolutely wonderful the items are all named after birds |
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bought in lovely bookshop Atkinson Pryce Books in Biggar on our way to Edinburgh; the young woman helping me in the store mentioned she had studied this poet, however I wasn't paying proper attention to what she was saying exactly, excited as I was upon finding a poet who had written such lovely poems on Toad, Frog and many other creatures I so love, so I don't quite know what it was she had to say about him, other than that she admired his writing a lot. from the book:
Toad Stop looking like a purse. How could a purse squeeze under the rickety door and sit, full of satisfaction, in a man's house?
You clamber towards me on your four corners- right hand, left foot, left hand, right foot.
I love you for being a toad, for crawling like a Japanese wrestler, and for not being frightened
I put you in my purse hand, not shutting it, and set you down outside directly under every star.
A jewel in your head? Toad, you've put one in mine, a tiny radiance in a dark place. |

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Summer weather here is very similar to what we've been exposed to in Scotland, the day begins grey, blue bursts of sky between the clouds, drizzle and then all of a sudden the sun comes shining through and the day ends softly with a moisture rich air |
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I was thinking this fabric could be used for the dress making; it's cotton, avocado dye, metal washer/coin clamping in copper pot, been left to soak up the juices for the past 10 days and revealed itself today |
this is a pot of red earth I collected in the field below, proof of me holding same pot in said field, the exact location of which is a Secret! At Glen House we met another artist Viv and we got to talking about herman de vries a Dutch artist representing the Netherlands at the Venice Biennale this year and I told her how fascinated I am by this man, whom I had not heard of until I read about the Biennale and Viv mentioned that she had actually met him years ago at a gallery in Edinburgh, 1990 to be precise; at the time she'd promised him a jar of red earth, as this is what he collects from all over the world and uses in his art (read more about him here)

so now I was even more excited, for if one could paint with the earth, surely one could dye with it as well! Viv very generously gave us instructions on how to get to this field with the Red Earth and she wrote it all down for us and a few days later we were on our quest, found the field, where I jumped out of the car and ran along the tractor grooves, scooping up the red dirt into the jar, whilst the three men waited patiently for me to finish my happy dance; I felt content at having accomplished the small and at the same time big thing at this exact spot - secretly thinking, maybe this is why we came here -