Emerging summer plans - a visual diary

A chance to find out about our summer book arts project

I have been opening up one paid subscriber post per season to allow folk to get a better sense of what my wee seasonal book arts project is all about. I hope that is helpful? The joy of Substack subsciptions is that it is easy to opt in and out of them as suits. By sharing the next season project ahead of its start date it allows folk time to consider whether it is something they would like to join or not. Each season I offer up a different project. My book arts space is a quiet gentle and deeply personal space. There is no chat, sharing or overwhelm. Members work at a pace that suits them using book arts as a way to express their creativity inspired by the seasons.

Over the years of being a teaching artist I have found one of the best ways to introduce a new project is via a visual diary. It is how I get myself into the creative space for the season to come and Substack has enabled me to share that ritual with all of you.

This coming summer we will be focusing on two things. The first is a hedgerow as close to our home as possible (and away from busy roads) and secondly the art of printing from nature. The outcome will be a meandering artist book created to pay homage to the vitality and importance of hedgerows in our natural world. I will wander along with you showing you different ways to print using specimens from the hedgerow as well as creating prints inspired by the hedgerow. There is a random element to the construction of the final book that will surprise and delight in equal measure. Next week I will be sending round a supplies list for this summer project. We always use what we have already and I only suggest folk buy new supplies once they have seen me working with them and feel it is something for them. If you are in the southern hemisphere this project works as well as a winter project as it does a summer.

We will be spending time with our hedgerows and creating site specific work in the form of the a visual journal. We then have that to hand back in our creative space where much of the printing and extended practice will take place.

So, if you are not already a paid subscriber but would like to join this project you can upgrade for the next three months and you would be most welcome to wander along with me. I share my practice through a balance of blogs, vlogs and visual galleries and pop up weekly with an offering. All my book arts offerings are on a dedicated page on my Seasonal Creativity site.

If you have any questions just pop them below as a comment and I will do my best to answer them.

I do hope this has been helpful. If you want to find out more about my book arts project including seeing some of the books I have made over the years it might be an idea to read the launch post for this project. As always I look forward to creating book arts that speak to our unique relationship with the seasons.

Fiona x