I have been thinking lots about boundaries, edges and limits, partly around the use of electronics, my engagement with ‘the machine’, and my own personal energy. There have been some good posts over the last few months from several writers I follow here about their own need for, and strategies around, such things. I have found this a fertile and timely area of reading, and have a few thoughts to add to the collective mulling-over of this somewhat gritty topic. Last week, demonstrating making paint from badger-dug chalk, local red ironstone and some liquid gum Arabic, all pulled from a homemade basket, the audience could have been forgiven for thinking I live in some sylvan glade with little birds for helpers. And although that is occasionally the case, most of the time my work happens because I have been active online, letting people know what I am up to, where I am teaching, details of my book, writing this newsletter, or other screen-based activity. That’s the nature of being a self-employed artist or writer in 2023, which I am sure many of you will know first-hand.
First published here with full transcript, notes and more images, July 24th 2023.
Episode 37 - To know the tides you need an edge