"At moments of great enthusiasm it seems to me that no one in the world has ever made something this beautiful and important"~ M.C.Escher

Happy Australia Day to fellow Aussies...as I am writing this you will all be coming to the end of your day off.  I know in Perth it has been a sweltering week with temps all around the 40° mark.  Today here we have a bit of a snow storm with winds of 54kmh and a temp of -4° but feels like -14° so say the weather bureau (however it is nice and cosy indoors), not much walking happening...even Perla is not interested in going outside today. The weather until yesterday has been lovely, still and mild with temps ranging between +2° - -3°.

Early Tuesday evening was crisp and clear with the most magnificent Northern Lights I have seen for a while, they were all around and across the top of the Old Post House...they appeared earlier than usual as it was only 6.45pm.  Unfortunately no matter what setting I put my little point and shoot camera on it will not capture the Aurora Borealis...but they were fabulous I assure you!

Last weekend  I finally got to run my Paste Paper and Japanese Bookbinding workshop with a very friendly and enthusiastic group of 7.

The Sat afternoon was spent creating the decorative covers and endpapers with the paste paper mixture for their book. Making paste paper is a gentle way to tap into your inner creative child and just allow yourself to play...it really is glorified finger painting, so nothing to be scared of, some were particularly surprised at just how creative they were and what they could achieve.

Being creative is not about making the perfect finished artwork it is about being in the moment, being enthusiastic about what you are doing and knowing that these little moments as Escher says are something beautiful and important.

My studio was a hub of creative activity.

 totally focussed on the job in hand

 
 everyone in their own world...playing playing playing!



The following afternoon it was all decision decision decisions..."which fabulous paper will I use to cover my book"




 

Once the decisions were made it was back to work...cutting and gluing.

  One side done...only one more to go!


Some are fast workers and in no time were on to waxing and polishing the surface of their cover.


 Heads down and into sewing the stab binding.

The final result of two creative afternoons

 Everyone went home smiling!

L-R Annabelle, Unnur, Sigga, Madara, Berglind, Bjarki

and Patricia