March/April
Time has flown by, on swift wings and it is almost the time when the swifts themselves return to the air above our land, bringing joy with the sound of their call.
In March Tamsin and I went to Alnwick for Alnwick story Fest. I had been wanting to go for an age. We met Rachel Joyce and went to Barter Books and met up with our friend Anji. On the way back Tamsin and I went to Durham Cathedral, seeking sanctuary.
Shortly after heading North Tamsin and I headed for Dulverton and a relaunch of Wild Folk with the wonderful Seven Fables. The book has been rescued by Chelsea Green who have published it in UK and USA. Currently they are selling the remaining stock printed by Unbound before they sank, but once these sell through they will reprint. I am so pleased that they didn’t follow the usual trend of publishing, which is to pulp the stock. So wasteful. A small crime against the environment every time it happens, and it happens more often than you might think. Seven Fables wrote about this on their blog, so beautifully, so I will post some photos below, but do go to their posting to read about the Wild Reading walk.
The beautiful black fox ring above was made for me by Rachel Bayley.
In between travels I have been working, painting, trying to tidy my studio and complete work before The Book of Birds launches. I needed to complete the work for In Thin Air, the new music from Spellsongs, launching for pre-order soon, do the Help Musicians Card and begin work on a series of paintings for Skylark coffee.
So, my studio started like this, the two photos below. Usually I would tidy after every book, but birds took seven years and I don’t really remember stopping after Lost Words, or before, and that would be 11 years. I like to move desk space, to get my head from one dreaming area to another. I had two reasons for cleaning, three if you count hygeine. The first was, I wanted to do a big piece for Help Musicians ( always good when short on time to go huge and complex and detailed). I had a journalist coming from Canada, to interview me for House of Anansi ( didn’t know at the time that he was bringing a photographer, so he was lucky that the first of the reasons held such sway). The third reason was that Penguin were sending a videographer……
Make no mistake about this, my studio was filthy.
I discovered many things during the tidying, one of which being a carpet beneath the grime and how to switch on a hoover. The word ‘entrance’ is there to remind me, that is my job description. To en-trance through my work. The fragile leaf was one of the finds. No idea how it survived. Huge thanks to Robin for helping to move the plan chest and Anna Grime for keeping me going when I was flagging.
The photographer, journalist and videographer have all been and gone now and I am still taking time between work to continue with the clearing, as the space now opens itself and feels like a wonderful place to be.
The Help Musicians card is with the scanners and prints will be available from Seven Fables, as will the original.
All the time I was painting the Help Musicians card I listened to records. I had unearthed my record player and old and new vinyl. The ritual of putting on a record and then having to get up and turn it over was perfect. Karine’s music was most dominant, but others included The Cure, Jesus and Mary Chain, Bob Dylan, Dick Gaughan, Planxty, so many more, Martin Stephenson and the Dainties, Heidi Berry, This Mortal Coil…. time travel. It was such a lovely piece to entangle my head in. So many stories in one image.
In between painting there were meetings and podcasts and walks with cats. As you can see The White Cat has many friends and is not a fair weather walker all of the time.
This blog post is rushed. In the odd times I have had to settle to work I have been painting, and just wanted to give some idea of how busy things have been. I have just been to London for filming with Penguin and Waterstones as the bird book gets ready for release. Home soon. I arrived in London via a podcast with Countryfile ( at the wonderful, magical, mysterious White Leaved Oak), print signing in Hereford for Spellsongs, in Broadway for Aquarelle.
In London there was more filming, but also the film premiere of Lost For Words in the Curzon in Soho, where Rob and I did a post film q&a.
Before London, there was otter painting for Skylark Coffee. I hope some of the otters will also become prints with Aquarelle. They are based on a phrase, a wish, a desire, the words of which are also on a charm/spells bracelet I wear, written by me, wrought in silver by Eva John, available to buy from Seven Fables; I would be a leaf in water where otters swim.
I’m told the grasshopper warblers are back in Pembs, and also the cuckoo. Home again briefly tomorrow, but only to collect paintings. The exhibition opens soon at the Bodleian library. The book is landing with reviewers. It is a nerve wracking time. Fortunately I am rather tired by all of the above. So, finally for this post, here are some of my photos from London. A fox wandered past our flat where we stayed, a street away from Vauxhall Bridge road. Outside the window one day, a jay and a magpie. It was like listings from The Lost Words. I saw a ship a sailing, and a sea of blossom. Finally got to write Sue and Ernie’s names on teh covid wall, but only had a gold pen. Seemed fitting though.
I was so excited to read the big article about you in the globe and mail on the weekend! I love your work so much and am so excited to see you in Canada this fall! Do you have a newsletter or someway I can make sure I don’t miss that?
I saw your exhibition last fall in bath and it was fantastic. I work with children and artists in schools and loved how child friendly and accessible the exhibit was. Also you ha e beautiful images in this blog of stained glass. Can you possibly tell me the name of the store where you saw these ? They’re gorgeous!!
So excited to see you speak!
I don’t have a newsletter, but there is an events page on my website and I will update it. Also hope to have a ‘tour poster’ from Anansi.