ABCD January 2021
Twelve of the thirteen members of Artists’ Book Club Dove met for two hours in the Land of Zoom on 2nd January. Thanks to Thalia for the use of her account.
It’s taken me a week to lick my notes into shape and collect everyone’s photos.
There was a new energy in the air. In our separation we are meeting one another at a deeper level. Trees have been planted at the Dove. Some of us are taking online courses in a variety of different art-forms. Spaces are being cleared. We have rediscovered old diaries and commonplace books. We have been connecting, via stories and photos, with our foremothers. We spoke of the family stories behind many of our Christmas decorations. We are wondering how to pass our knowledge on to the next generations as a gift, not a burden.
Above: Clare’s decorations. Below: Carol Wood’s work on moths.
Below: Jane Paterson’s photos from her daily (and nightly) walks on Chalice Hill. All are worth clicking to see full-size. The moonlit view looks like a Samuel Palmer.
Janine Barchard has made a couple of blizzard books.
Judith Staines has made four photo-albums to commemorate a family wedding. The book-cloth is made from a bridesmaid’s dress.
Judith has been making inks and pressing seaweed,
and has inadvertently caused a spate of competitive wreath-making in her village.
Judith and I have been dyeing yarns with materials foraged on our regular walks. Judith walks along the river Dart and I walk in my local woodland (as well as raiding the compost-bin!) In the square photo, I’ve used ice from a watering can for a dyebath for bits of rusty metal wrapped in cotton cloth. Better than hard tap-water. Judith and Bron and I are taking part in Alice Fox’s course, “Place-making: Winter”.
Pauline Pearce has been weaving with paper.
Thalia Brown has made blizzard books for learning the Sanskrit letters, and a map fold for random reading of Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Long ago we had a theme … Midwinter. Here is one of the photos from my Midwinter book, courtesy of the Shetland webcams. Aurora Borealis and a shooting star!
This post is quite long enough already, so I won’t go into our new project about ancestresses just now. More next time. The dates of the next two meetings are 30th January and 27th February. And here are the eavesdroppings:
January Dove-droppings
old ones are best
nice and snuggly
it could be choir practice
they get burnt
they melt
brand you as well
on Leap Year Day
he usually wears a dress
he’s a good woman
full moon day
just last week
slows the drift
the circle is anticlockwise
extremely freeform
oak in the north
it’s as long as you want
bigger but smaller
dogwood ivy and rosemary
snowflakes were falling
the river rising
I made a wreath
golden elder
alder-buckthorn for brimstone
wild pear and crab-apple
bonded with my hawthorn
like having grandchildren
easier than stars
in the new constellation
my little fallen angel
celebrated my birthday
six Scots pines
and boxes of slides
what to do with the photos
how to deal with the photos
across the floor
and out over the roof
barleybooks 
I always love reading your news and seeing everyone’s creativity. I haven’t done any bookbinding , sketching or printing for ages, but I am into playing music and spinning wool at the moment, the rest will return sometime
Thank you Nina. It’s always good to hear from you. As well as spying on the Shetland weather and wildlife, I’m into knitting, and making bread! And I’ve got sore fingertips from taking up my guitar again. I think most of us are diversifying at the moment.