Every big city has its hip district. Canberra adopted this concept not too long ago, creating one in Braddon, right next to the city centre. Of the many cafés here, Lonsdale Street Roasters is my favourite. What does it have to do with winter? Well the coffee machine is close to the door that’s constantly opening and closing from 6.30am with the flow and ebb of coffee addicts, so on chilly July mornings even the barista wears long johns under his shorts.
Ben making coffee at Lonsdale Street Roasters!A little calligraphical time-passing this week
And the barista’s mother sits in her house with a large gas heater at her back, playing with pens and inks, writing out the slogan for the 21st-century coffee culture which she is happy to be part of.
Many months ago I joined a group of women bloggers who wanted to contribute to a travelling sketchbook, the brilliant idea of Anne Lawson. The blank sketchbook was made by Anne in Melbourne and posted off to the first person on the list who posted it to the next one and so on and so forth until it reached me, the last one on the list. Consequently, being last, I had all the previous entries to follow. A hard act. Here are the creations, page by page:
Cover by Anne Lawson
Patchwork and calligraphy by Kate Chiconi
Machine Embroidery by Lynn
Poem by Sandi Worrall-Hart
Athena illustration by Marina
Pencil drawing by Megan
Illustrated map by Megan
Crochet by Jan Martin
Sketchbook quilt by Alys Milner
Eggplants by Sandra Gay
Embroidery by Margaret
Embroidery and letter by Constance
Patchwork by Sue Brown
Embroidery and calligraphy by Trish Worth
Kakadu sketch by Anne Lawson
Message from Usha
Painted patchwork by Usha
Lily sketch by Anne Lawson
Back cover by Anne Lawson
Crochet sketchbook pouch, side 1, by Jan Martin
Crochet sketchbook pouch, side 2, by Jan Martin
Map of the sketchbook travels
The sketchbook has now returned from its round-the-world trip back to Anne’s house. It’s been a unique pleasure for each of us to decide on a suitable contribution and then execute it.
For me it was an unusual day. I’d been wondering how I’d find time to think about my contribution let alone write something in the book. But I’d gone to meet a student that day who forgot about her lesson, so I unexpectedly found myself with a whole day free. I went home and set about writing a number of meaningful quotations with a calligraphy pen, ending up with ten. I chose the neatest one that best fitted the page size. Then I added a piece of machine embroidery I’d made for a textile art course years ago. It was freely embroidered inside a wire coat hanger, then cut away. I had made several of them and attached them to a shawl for the course assessment, but had this one left over. Now it isn’t left over any more.
I remember the moment I saw this verse in a calligrapher’s studio. Some friends were, at that period, busy making money, buying possessions and reading books about getting rich. The verse made complete sense and I bought a framed version immediately. Recently, a German calligrapher, a pen friend, asked me to send him a handwritten verse, so I picked this one to write out for him. Here’s my practice version of what I sent:
