SUN, SLEEP, SPIDERS AND STITCHING.

 

 

I’d fallen asleep out under the veranda, into the nonsense dreams of magic realism, and as the sun moved round one side of my face roasted. I’d done that earlier in the year when stitching in my studio during one of those rare days when the sun shone from a cloudless blue sky. Here in the far south west corner of Western Australia sun is the norm, so when I went in for my blood test the one thing that stood out as being different was my very low level of vitamin D. Half of what it should have been coming out of an Australian winter, but then I had just come out of a Hebridean summer. So, sun and vitamins is on the menu and I imagine the same could be said for all who survived the non-existent summer of 2024. I’ve put my feet in the Indian Ocean, and hope soon to undergo a total immersion. The pool at Charley and Lara’s is a great place to cool off and take the weight of my aching hip.

 After one refreshing dip my eye was drawn to the yellow center of a succulent plant and realised it was a superb yellow spider, probably a species of the orb weave spiders. Other more plentiful orb weave spider are to be found down in the chicken run, where they create their extravagant webs complete with extensive larders.  

The one constant in my life is my stitching and to that end I’m well on the way to completing another in the series of piers and jetties from Lewis and Harris. The latest is Gob Shilldims at Holm and I’ve managed to cram in both the large pier and small jetty. As usual with this series of embroideries I’ve taken a lot of liberty with the drawing so as to maximise the coastal features. Unlike the previous embroidery of Bable, where the crofting strips form a focal ark, here the land and single track road forms a central focus that leads to the pier. The vertical form would normal signify a statement of sorts, but here the road provides a story line that takes you through the restricted fenced in pier, past the concrete walled boat storage area and peat cutting, sweeping around the bay and up the hill towards Holm. Knowing when to stop has been an important part of these embroideries, as much as the restriction of colour. The structure is complete and there remains only few more hours of stitching the coastline and adding some colour to the boats.

 I’ve bought a landscape format sketchbook and pencils last week, and am looking forward to spending some time sitting, sketching places that have become very familiar to me over the past two decades. I started with a twenty minute drawing of North Point, just off Cave Road west of Margaret River. The rocks here are a rich orange ochre, set against an intense deep blue sea and featureless sky, hence the high horizon. I’ve often been asked by friends why I choose to visit Australia since my interests seem to be bound up in history. The western world still regards Australia as a recently discovered place with little history. How wrong can one be, when evidence dates Aboriginal occupation of these lands to 50,000 years? The three centuries of western occupation have proved disastrous for the environment and the mineral wealth of Western Australia continues to fuel prosperity with equally devastating consequences. It’s a vast land and there remain many wonderful sites. During the Christmas week this part of the coast will be flooded with tourists and so I hope to see as much as I can before the crowds arrive.          

HOME FROM HOME.

 

Tottie. Just received Tom's latest embroidery on my phone today and it lifted my spirits after difficult day. I’ve handed in my notice, had enough of Bill’s sarcastic jibes. He was off work for ten days with a chest cold, but I’m sure it was that new strain of covid, and I like to think it was me who gave it to him. It was bliss not having him prowling about the office, and since everything is covered for the Christmas issue I’ve had plenty of time to follow up on the family tree research. Found some interesting stuff, but most interesting of all has been the connection to Charley Nadin, in that we share the same Great Aunt Emily, and that is also where the family name of Cranston comes in. I emailed Charley and he seemed more intrigued that I knew his old mate Tom than the family connection to Aunt Emily. Filled me in on how they met squashing pennies on the railway line in Cambourne, while doing A levels at Technical College. They lodged together and studied Maths, Physics and Chemistry. He also mentioned that Tom’s mother was an excellent cake maker, and they would stop off for tea on a Friday afternoon on the drive back to Liskeard. I found myself wondering about my own lack of friends from school and college days. Too busy following a career, and look where that got me, stuck in an office with wobble bottom Bill. I now have a months’ notice to work out before I can escape this place, and Bill seems determined to make that as difficult as possible. It started the day Tom left for WA. Something about me missing my snowflake.

Tom. A home from home, familiar and safe, but in saying that my eyes picked up on all the little changes during my four years absence. The most obvious was the growth that trees and shrubs had made, as well as those that hadn’t made it through summer droughts. There’s a new bypass being built around Bunbury and the scaring of the landscape is horrific. It has caused damage way beyond the movement of earth. The work is far from complete and we can expect massive traffic problems come the Christmas break, but once Bunbury is bypassed it may well be the making of the place. While others sit in queues during the Christmas break I’ll be ambling between pool and beach.

 The weather has been mild and no great heat waves this far south. I’ve had time to acclimatise but have also been found lacking in vitamin D. Well, that’s hardly surprising after last summer. I have just completed the Toucan ticking sampler. The background sample stitching is the final stage which does mean working the design around the foreground. Not very logical, but then logic has seldom had any relevance in the way I approach the creative process. This particular ticking sampler has been made using a Sainsbury’s tea towel as the support.