ARTISTS TALKING

# 61 [7 October 2007]

SUNDAY

Nipped Jeannie up to the allotment to get spinach and picked greens for supper.

Laid out the stem prints and they looked like sewing/sowing. This links with the seed collection and the seed table/seed pot. There is a seeding embroidery stitch. Will concentrate on stitches this week.

I wonder what will arise from the discipline of working on the plot; of the daily observation sessions and the plant drawing.

# 62 [8 October 2007]

SCHOOL AGAIN

We are gaining a rhythm together. Our discussions bear fruit. The invitations are ready; most have been sent by email because of the postal strike. But people can pick up a souvenir card at the Open Day on Tuesday 16th.

The Seed Table is complete and is stored against the rain predicted for tomorrow. Needlework on the timetable: I practised seeding stitch and stem stitch.

# 63 [9 October 2007]

DAY 6

Today: A cloudy start with outbreaks of rain. The rain becoming heavy and persistent at times, especially over eastern parts, but it should ease in the west later in the afternoon.

# 64 [10 October 2007]

TABLES

Rain yesterday meant a day to stay indoors, sort through material and data, and begin to put it into some sort of order. Also a good opportunity to identify areas where more information is needed.

Weather forecast good for the rest of the week.

# 65 [10 October 2007]

SEWING

Stitches. Lots of the names link with the allotment: seeding, snail trail, stem, thorn, lazy daisy, fern. Our roots are in the land and being here day after day brings this to mind. My head rings with the intertwining of ourselves and what we call nature (as if we were apart from the natural world): the names of stitches, the tree of life, wallpaper patterns, trunk and branches of trees in roofs and structures of buildings. I am drawing on the blackboard better. I drew stitches on canvas today.

Trillions of seeds are ripening. Judith is collecting and counting them.

Tonight I will make a seed cake.

# 66 [15 November 2007]

1. SKY DIARY

Record the changing sky at intervals throughout the day.

Log pictures in a Sky Diary.

2. ALLOTMENT WORDS

breeze rustle spikes cool tangle

earth drops dig grow green

red rust autumn bob struggle

weed push skeleton stick seed

strong survive eat lace pebble

# 67 [11 October 2007]

I LOVE MY ALLOTMENT

A rope joined me to the mullein.

We used garden canes to knit the string used in the survey of beds.

I slept next to the currant bush and kissed the love-in-a-mist.

Judith sewed me to the sunflower.

And we ate slices of seed cake for lunch.

# 68 [13 October 2007]

STAND BACK AND LOOK

Have we seen things differently on the allotment?

Have we made a kind of home?

Are we collaborators?

May the seeds grow?

Which stalks of the new work will develop?

Have we been back to school?

Have I learned anything?

Am I daft?

# 69 [15 October 2007]

OPEN DAY TOMORROW - TUESDAY 16 OCTOBER

We became attuned to the weather on the allotment residency. Open Day tomorrow may have to adapt to rain. Sent emergency email asking people to phone if it is raining. Our photos are stuck in the mail. But all other preparations are in hand. Seed cakes made. Exercise books stacked. Lessons marked.

# 70 [15 October 2007]

LAST DAY - FIRST SEEDS SOWN

I can't believe it's taken me this long to actually sow some real seeds! Although the last few days have been busy with preparations for Open Day, I've been anxious to move on with some of the ideas which are rapidly developing. Throughout the residency I have been repeatedly returning to ideas about the relationship between indoors and outdoors, as well as issues of control and order and the often idealised view of nature.

Yesterday I continued my experiments, sowing some fast germinating seeds in my petrie dishes on a base of moist furnishing fabric.

Open Day tomorrow: Tuesday - Heavy, persistent rain will affect southern England and much of Wales for much of the day. Elsewhere, sunny spells, scattered showers in the northwest. Winds easing and feeling a little cooler.

Oh well.