Experiments in gold

Fragments of gold cling to the rough outer edge of a striking blue agate. The once rough edge takes on a new appearance and is unrecognisable from what it was moments before. The transformation is almost complete…

Gold leaf and agates © Hazel Saunderson 2019

My partner Kevin’s sister recently had a beautiful small wedding in rural Scotland, just outside the artists’ town of Kircudbright. In preparation for this, she asked if I would take on the task of making the place cards. There wasn’t much of a brief, just an indication of the two main colours – blue and gold.

Learning Relief Printmaking

Four days of printmaking, three final prints, lots of cleaning up paint, good studio vibes, and creativity unlocked. This was how I spent my summer holidays. A staycation, but one spent learning new things and getting to know an inspiring new place – Edinburgh Printmakers. There was even some sunshine, so I spent one of my lunches sat outside in the courtyard and another looking out over the canal. Pretty sweet by all accounts.

Life is a jigsaw, relief print © Hazel Saunderson 2019

This was one of the prints I created during that week, a jigsaw print that started life as abstract sketches of beautiful flowers that I got for my birthday. On day two of the class, we were told to bring an idea for a jigsaw lino print on our third day of summer school. So I spent the night before sketching…

Late-night sketches © Hazel Saunderson 2019

I used the sketches to make a more detailed geometric drawing the following morning, with the idea that the central circle would be what helped to connect the jigsaw pieces once they had been divided.

Transferring sketch to detailed drawing © Hazel Saunderson 2019

Then I started cutting the design into the lino, the key being to remember which bits I wanted to remove to create bright white space and which bits to keep that would print. I tried to add some organic touches back in whilst cutting out the lines.

Cutting up the pieces © Hazel Saunderson 2019

Then the afternoon was spent inking up, lining up and pressing down to make a small print series. I really felt like I turned a corner on day three of class and was really pleased with how this came out.

That moment when all the pieces fit together © Hazel Saunderson 2019

Bowling through life

I went bowling with some friends recently, a rare occurrence for us; The allure of the glowing lanes and sweaty balls isn’t something that lures us out too often.

I was first up. I went in confident, tried to walk-the-walk up to the bowling line and launch my first ball down the alley with gusto. Then I watched as it started well, but soon took a spin to the left and into the gutter. Take two of this first shot happened pretty much as the first one. Then my friend got up and with almost startlingly little perceived effort, she dropped her ball and it rolled right down the middle of the lane, landing her a strike.

Inspiring places I visited in 2018

So last year I started a thing. I started to list the inspiring places I had visited during the year. I guess it was a way to keep track, a personal reference and a tool to remind myself I haven’t filled my full year with lazy weekends, although I had enjoyed a fair few!

Soaking in glorious pattern and colour. Bridget Riley and Jim Lambie, what a mix.

After writing the 2017 list I felt inspired and so have decided continue list writing. It feels good to keep a better track of places I visit and things that I look at.

When your head feels a little like this… Look at art. Look at nature. Look at people. Soak it all up. Soak it all in. Let your eyes wander and your heart open. Love more.

So here’s my 2018 list —–>>>

The two days I spent in Liverpool in August definitely helped populate a chunk of the list and were absolutely a highlight for me. The Double Fantasy exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool was one of my favourites from this year.

Imagine Peace. Double Fantasy at the Museum of Liverpool.

#5WomenArtists in National Museums Scotland’s collection

Justice, Dignity, Hope, Equality, Collaboration, Tenacity, Appreciation, Respect, Empathy and Forgiveness.

What a powerful set of words.

These words represent the ten values of International Women’s Day that took place earlier this month on March 8. Yes, yes, I’m a little late! However, although I believe that it is very important that this specific date continues to be recognised around the world. I also believe we should be building those values into the way we talk, think, write and act in regards to the role of women in our everyday too. Plus a few things caught my attention on March 8 this year, that I’ve taken a little time to reflect on…

Let’s fill 2018 with words

It is easy to think the last year slipped by within the blink of an eye.

Time seemed to speed up, and slow down at various points. Something would happen to get my heart beating faster, and then I would get just a little time to breathe before everything sped up once more.

I barely wrote a blog on here, but does that mean nothing happened? Actually, I think it was the opposite. So much was happening, that I couldn’t write.

It’s not that I didn’t have time. It’s that for a long time I didn’t have the inclination to write, which is unusual for me. As writing is where I do most of my best thinking. I was still thinking. In fact, I was still writing – more and more every day in work.  I just wasn’t writing here.

I’m hoping to change that in 2018. I’m hoping to fill this blog with ideas, inspirations, hopes and actions again. Not a resolution, just some general thinking out loud.

All words © Hazel Saunderson

A daily challenge #Museum30

 

One of my personal social media highlights of 2017 was taking part in the #Museum30 photo challenge on Twitter. A great museum-themed social media initiative designed by student Gracie Price.

The 30 day photo challenge I designed will launch on Thursday 23rd of November – plenty of time to start planning your first photo! #museum30
Share it around and get as many people participating as possible! pic.twitter.com/8ulbyAw6xP

— Gracie Price (@magnifyzoology) November 20, 2017

I spotted this challenge on the day that it launched and I decided to take part. I like a daily challenge, I find it can help give focus. I’ve previously organised Fun a Day Dundee, a daily art challenge, and I found it really helped to boost creativity for the year that followed.

Here is a round-up of the posts I completed as part of the challenge.

 Day 1 – Your Museum

Just went for a quick photo dash for #Museum30 challenge. Here's some @NtlMuseumsScot details & views. pic.twitter.com/RmaCLmOnAY

— Hazel Saunderson (@Hazler_06) November 23, 2017

Sometimes

Sometimes

Catching an idea, is as tricky as catching a fly.

For one lucid moment it is clear and crisp.

As it lands on my nose and catches my eye.

Lids wide open, I can see the crinkles in its wings as it lingers.

Then I blink and the movement startles. It is gone.

I stand up and try to grasp it. Even with both hands clapped together it evades me.

Clap. Clasp. clap. clasp. clap.

I can hear it wafting around the room. I just can no longer see it.

The crisp detail has dissolved into a vague outline.

I stop for a moment hoping that the calm will draw it back.

I close my eyes for a moment hoping it will slip back onto my nose.

But it seems this idea was fleeting.

I failed to grasp it. So it has gone.

——

All words © Hazel Saunderson

Museum colours: contemplating yellow

Colour is absolutely everywhere, but do you always see it? Do you have a favourite colour? 

Over the years there have been a number of dazzling shades that have caught my eye. I can still vividly remember being surrounded by the emblematic blue Monochromes of Yves Klein at the Pompidou circa 2006. It felt like being plunged headfirst into an immense pot of blue paint. The colour purple evokes elegant yet offbeat and quirky feelings for me, as I often associate it with the Jenny Joseph poem Warning which starts,  “When I am an old woman I shall wear purple.” However, when it comes to my favourites, those spots are firmly reserved for yellow and teal.

When contemplating the colour yellow, I’m not totally sure of the origin of its positive associations for me. I don’t think it has anything particularly to do with yellow butter, bumble bees, turnips or taxis, nor saffron, sweetcorn, bananas, buttercups or daisies.

Perhaps it could be the yearly awakening of daffodils, or years of studying surrounded by idea-filled yellow Post-it notes. Perhaps. What I do know is that I have a tendency to light up when I see things that are the colour yellow. It’s as if my eyes spring open and a switch flicks on in my mind to say ‘like’. 

“In visual perception a color is almost never seen as it really is — as it physically is. This fact makes color the most relative medium in art. In order to use color effectively it is necessary to recognize that color deceives continually. To this end, the beginning is not a study of color systems. First, it should be learned that one and the same color evokes innumerable readings.”

Josef Albers in the Interaction of Color via Brainpickings: The Magic and Logic of Color: How Josef Albers Revolutionized Visual Culture and the Art of Seeing

Amulet in yellow faience in the form of a wadjet eye: Ancient Egyptian, possibly late New Kingdom. Image copyright National Museums Scotland. 

I started wondering what yellow coloured objects I might find in the museum collection. The Spring Equinox was earlier this week and despite that being followed by a little snow here in Scotland, I thought this was a good reason to go on the search for yellow! I started by walking around the galleries, then followed this by adding some items to this Pinterest board. I was happy to find a vast and varied collection of objects in wondrous shades of yellow.

Read my full blog exploring the colour yellow at National Museums Scotland. 

 

WORDS: Pecha Kucha Night Vol 12

In May 2015 I was asked to speak at Dundee Pecha Kucha Night Vol 12, with the open invitation to discuss any topic. The only limit being the format = 20 images, each for 20 seconds. 

I selected to discuss words.

I planned what I was going to say. 20 seconds per slide really doesn’t seem like alot, it goes even quicker when you are on a stage with a couple of hundred people in front of you. So I didn’t keep to my plan exactly. However, I’ve embedded the words and images that I planned to say below. You can compare and contrast.