a look on the bright side

[on the bright side, April 2023]

A tad later than planned, thanks to Covid, but here are some of the things which featured on the bright side of 2023.

Reading, enjoyable

Many good books. Highlight: I joined a Proust reading group here in Cambridge because I was desperate to talk about A la recherche with other people, having read it in 2020 with no-one to discuss it in all its amazing, funny, infuriating, ugly, beautiful, ridiculously long glory. We met once a week for ten weeks, and it was wonderful. The only other place I’d found good readers of Proust (as opposed to academics and those who have theories to prove, axes to grind, other academics to put down) was Goodreads, which came as something of a surprise. But, honestly, there are some brilliant, direct, natural, funny, thoughtful responses to Proust’s work on there, and not all bound up in academic bullshit and posturing.

Elsewhere: a mountain of Beatles books (it’s grown). Great music, great story, great clothes, great humour, messy end, but it didn’t stop there.

Reading, not so enjoyable

I have read some really bad books this year, with feelings of dislike and disappointment. I’m not naming names, but they have all been well-received non-fiction titles, lauded in the media, and all would have benefitted from a combination of proper, serious editing, and a lot less preachiness and fear of not excluding/offending anyone.

Stephen Bush was right, I think, in his article about the need for zero star reviews (not sure if the FT link will work, but it was 15 Dec). “My year of reading narrowly has been inspired by one thing above all: I no longer trust most reviewers…What is…necessary and urgent is that we use our limited amount of free time to find things we genuinely enjoy: that means both trying new things and having the ability to recognise when what we’ve just experienced truly stinks.” That’s my experience all over: books flung in bins then guiltily retrieved and taken to a charity shop, where no-one will ever buy them because of my annoyed/shocked/weary comments all over them.

[Grand Canal from Peggy Guggenheim’s palazzo]

Places

Most of the travel in 2023 was to watery places so I was in my element. Hong Kong and the Star Ferry across to Kowloon, and swimming in the South China sea. The Mersey and the docks in Liverpool, a multitude of lakes in Sweden, the Modernist white houses of Frinton-on-Sea, the lovely waterfront in Wivenhoe, the Jubilee Pool in Penzance, the lido in Peterborough, and water, water everywhere both in Venice and a soaking wet weekend in Stockport.

Exhibitions

Two themes here: photography and paper. The photographic highlights were two at the NPG: Paul McCartney’s Eyes of the Storm, and Yevonde, both totally captivating.

The papery favourites were Proust’s ludicrously long paperoles in Paris and a visit, at last, to David Parr House (above) to see the extravagantly large-scale, painstakingly hand-painted wallpaper in a small Victorian terraced home.

Colour

My best colour-fixes: immersion in David Hockney’s colourful world at the Lightroom (above), looking down and seeing bright yarn turning into brightly striped socks, socks, being paralysed by choice when buying quilt fabric for the first time in ages, and watching the lovely colour-saturated Rye Lane, and the candy pinkness of Barbie.

[smocking, temporary studio]

Studios

Much to my surprise, there was a strong theme of studios running through 2023. After years of meaning to but not actually going, I got to Cockpit in Bloomsbury and Deptford (both full of extremely talented makers), and made a one-day dash to York Open Studios (worth it just to see Mark Hearld’s place and have a Fat Rascal at Bettys). I took up the incredibly generous offer of a studio space for three months which led to a lot of wild smocking and confirmation that, as suspected, my home is my studio is my home. So I opened my home studio for Cambridge Open Studios in July, which felt daunting but turned out to be very worthwhile in terms of meeting so many nice people and selling my handmade books. My other studio of the year is the LCBA where I go to make books, use the equipment, meet talented bookbinders and book artists, have a laugh, freeze my socks off, and eat a lot of biscuits.

[cyanotype of gasometers]

Learning

My commitment to my own CPD involved nothing which would gain me any pay rises or promotions in the big wide world. A beginners’ Swedish course reminded me what it’s like to start learning a new language from scratch: bloody terrifying but well worth the frequent humiliations. I’ve signed up for a second term and am pleased to see we will be learning plurals, as I’d like to be able to order more than one coffee or a single kardemummabulle at a time (very odd that the introductory course widely used only functions in a singular, present tense world in the first term).

I finally worked out how to make cyanotypes thanks to two short courses, one at City Lit and one with Rosalind Hobley, plus a LOT of experimentation/blue spatters/disasters on sunny summer days at home. I made my first rag rugs with the help of Ragged Life and Lu Mason, taught myself new smocking techniques which make canvas look like plaited breads, and went to a workshop with Sarah Hibbert where I made wonky crosses which inspired me to…

Returns

…return to quilting with a quilt which turned out to be all I needed for stimulus, entertainment, and warmth when flat out on the settee with Covid. I also unearthed all sorts of early memories of Carl Larsson’s work with a visit to the Carl Larsson house. Best of all was the return of Alice and Wilson, after fourteen months away.

[rock buns]

Plus ça change

Some things never change, though, and 2023 included forced hyacinths, amaryllis bulbs, the fear that if I blink I may miss the short Seville orange season, daffodils and tulips, sunflowers and dahlias, rock buns and bread, French lessons, stained glass, dressmaking (an almost-finished Sanda coat has come from 2023 to 2024), bookshops, Wordle, Ordel, Le Mot, writing the Persephone Post and this newsletter. Thank you for reading in 2023. Here’s to 2024 🥂💃🏻

Happy New Year!