I was actually wondering while watching the shorts how he managed to clamber down into the river crannies to create what he did.
Don't worry about the postcards, Pipp, I'm all for slow living and taking time to enjoy. It's not meant to be a chore (though the links, I appreciate can be).
I feel so much better about it now, having decided to limit my focus. I'm really enjoying going through Susie's stack, having started at the first post, I'm getting her story and the feeling of really getting to know her. I definitely want to do more of this. I still have favourites I like to read alongside it, so they won't be neglected, but it is a real pleasure to stay with someone for a while.
Thank you for introducing me to the work of Goldsworthy, Safar! I love his use of not only elements, but also directions. Creating for creation's sake, not for leaving behind a legacy. As writers, our work tends to be more concretized (or maybe that's just my perspective). Maybe if all our essays were written in chalk on a sidewalk, we'd have an idea of Goldsworthy's work. I have to admit that feels very unsettling to me, which means it's something valuable for me to contemplate. I also want to send out a big welcome to the new ravens in your area! ♥️♥️♥️ Such magnificent beings!
Now you've got me thinking. I was planning to create a tree of life with oak leaves in this central social area that I have (we have a lot of leaves). Instead of whole essays, maybe a poem or an idea based on inspiration drawn from the location you're in and then finding a way to write it - a condensing of the essay into its most elemental structure. With Goldsworthy, the stone is really soft so it works like pastels. I like that his art materials are actually drawn from nature too. Gosh, I feel really inspired by this!
The ravens, you have no idea how excited I am that they're here! I've never lived anywhere remote enough to see them regularly, but we're not far from a stark, barren mountain range they are drawn to. They seem curious, it feels like they are moving closer all the time.
What amazing art! Portals into the directions. And the ephemeral nature that this is. Like your last post that included the Tibetan Buddhist monks and the mandala. I have seen this twice when the monks came to the area that I live. Such intense concentration and devotion in the creating. The chanting before hand, art as the meditation, then the ceremony wipes it away! I have created nature mandalas and then left there to fall away on their own. Powerful to do this. And I took a picture. Still in a way a holding to it. A big lesson in the ephemeral ways of life.
I agree completely with your sentiment on mandala creation. The precision, dedication - so disciplined. It's what I love about Andy's work too, it's a path - he's not, 'I'm an artist, here's my work'; he lives and breathes every creation. He's so eloquent in the thoughts he has behind his work, like he is his own viewer and the experience of creation is all that matters.
I've been thinking a lot about photography as attachment (I love being behind the camera), so I want to challenge myself to not document the ephemeral - practice that letting go. Not sure how well that will go though 😏
Thank you, Julie, for sharing your experience and reflection on your own ephemeral creations.
Safar, I relate to the problem of your last part and congratulate you on the solution. I hope the abundance of good reading is so pronounced that none of us are missed when we read a little, disappear a little, read a little, and so on. I imagine something like this must be widespread.
I did come across others saying something similar (when mindlessly scrolling), so I think you could be right about how widespread it is. They definitely planted a seed in my subconscious to deal with when the time was right. For me, part of the problem was jumping into two and three year old stacks, where a community has already been built, and so much written, you're not sure where on the journey you just dropped in. Some of those are clear and standalone posts, but other times, you know you've missed the 'story'. I have a need to see the whole before the specifics - that overarching understanding helps me to fully engage. There is also something about spending in time in someone else's world for a while, like when reading a book, the immersion of stepping into another's shoes that I like about the let's spend time here approach.
Yes, they definitely do! Those followed by some of the earlier posts help with context too, and then you sort of find your way, get a feel for the writing etc. I particularly like your mudroom idea.
I liked the mudroom idea, too, but I never found a photo I liked for it at the top of my home page. I switched to a "Start here" post so I could give it a more beautiful photo. I found that every time I was on my mudroom home page, it felt too much like home and chores. 😂 But, to your main point, I do find those Start pages very helpful for getting me oriented in a new publication.
Funny the associations we make. Funny, at the time I read the mudroom post, and I was still getting orientated, I thought I was in Julie Gabrielli's Substack, due to the associations I had made at the time. The visual seems important too. I know they talk about branding and that sounds ever so commercial, but here has made me think a bit more about the overall impression and what the reader would go away with that would make them come back.
Oh, you’re right! With her architecture expertise, Julie could have a mudroom adorned with one of her sketches or watercolors. That’s much more coherent!
Before I launch into the topic of scrolling blindly in Notes here and any other Social Media site, I just want to apologise for taking so long to get to this post Safar. I only received an email notification this afternoon that you shared my publication or I would have been here much sooner… I’m so behind with reading which is something that overwhelms me even more than a full up inbox anywhere. I try to read and comment and share if necessary those that are kind enough to mention A Hill and I as fast as possible but we don’t seem to get the emails or notifications as the post is published.
So a huge thank you for sharing, reading and commenting on some of my early posts… I feel very warmed and emotional. 🥹
I may have said this before to you; I don’t really know what I expected when I posted my first letter, it was more of a ‘what have I to lose’ feeling than expectation I think. Now, a year on, I’m flabbergasted/overwhelmed/breathless and to coin the French phrase, ‘bouleversé ! Not only by the quality of writing but by the amount. I want to read it all and I can’t, a fact which has started to build tension and frustration. I don’t really know the answer either… other than I don’t think anyone expects us to read, comment or react immediately. There is no algorithm so there should be no feeling of need to be there the instant it’s posted. I’m trying to hold on to that…
Like you I always want to know the full story too, I need insight into who and how and where if possible, yet more reading but worth while. So, slowly I’m reading through all those I subscribe to. This doesn’t help with the gathering of new subscribers but as has been often said here, it’s better to have a handful of loyal followers who genuinely enjoy what we do than 10000 ghosts!
Lastly, and definitely most importantly, I love that you began your letter with this…
« How different would the world be if we tread so lightly upon the Earth that our existence evaporates like mist cast asunder by the breeze? »
and then continued with Andy Goldsworthy and his gentle journeys into wild art.
I was actually wondering while watching the shorts how he managed to clamber down into the river crannies to create what he did.
Don't worry about the postcards, Pipp, I'm all for slow living and taking time to enjoy. It's not meant to be a chore (though the links, I appreciate can be).
Re. Substack,
I feel so much better about it now, having decided to limit my focus. I'm really enjoying going through Susie's stack, having started at the first post, I'm getting her story and the feeling of really getting to know her. I definitely want to do more of this. I still have favourites I like to read alongside it, so they won't be neglected, but it is a real pleasure to stay with someone for a while.
Thank you for introducing me to the work of Goldsworthy, Safar! I love his use of not only elements, but also directions. Creating for creation's sake, not for leaving behind a legacy. As writers, our work tends to be more concretized (or maybe that's just my perspective). Maybe if all our essays were written in chalk on a sidewalk, we'd have an idea of Goldsworthy's work. I have to admit that feels very unsettling to me, which means it's something valuable for me to contemplate. I also want to send out a big welcome to the new ravens in your area! ♥️♥️♥️ Such magnificent beings!
Now you've got me thinking. I was planning to create a tree of life with oak leaves in this central social area that I have (we have a lot of leaves). Instead of whole essays, maybe a poem or an idea based on inspiration drawn from the location you're in and then finding a way to write it - a condensing of the essay into its most elemental structure. With Goldsworthy, the stone is really soft so it works like pastels. I like that his art materials are actually drawn from nature too. Gosh, I feel really inspired by this!
The ravens, you have no idea how excited I am that they're here! I've never lived anywhere remote enough to see them regularly, but we're not far from a stark, barren mountain range they are drawn to. They seem curious, it feels like they are moving closer all the time.
What amazing art! Portals into the directions. And the ephemeral nature that this is. Like your last post that included the Tibetan Buddhist monks and the mandala. I have seen this twice when the monks came to the area that I live. Such intense concentration and devotion in the creating. The chanting before hand, art as the meditation, then the ceremony wipes it away! I have created nature mandalas and then left there to fall away on their own. Powerful to do this. And I took a picture. Still in a way a holding to it. A big lesson in the ephemeral ways of life.
I agree completely with your sentiment on mandala creation. The precision, dedication - so disciplined. It's what I love about Andy's work too, it's a path - he's not, 'I'm an artist, here's my work'; he lives and breathes every creation. He's so eloquent in the thoughts he has behind his work, like he is his own viewer and the experience of creation is all that matters.
I've been thinking a lot about photography as attachment (I love being behind the camera), so I want to challenge myself to not document the ephemeral - practice that letting go. Not sure how well that will go though 😏
Thank you, Julie, for sharing your experience and reflection on your own ephemeral creations.
Safar, I relate to the problem of your last part and congratulate you on the solution. I hope the abundance of good reading is so pronounced that none of us are missed when we read a little, disappear a little, read a little, and so on. I imagine something like this must be widespread.
I did come across others saying something similar (when mindlessly scrolling), so I think you could be right about how widespread it is. They definitely planted a seed in my subconscious to deal with when the time was right. For me, part of the problem was jumping into two and three year old stacks, where a community has already been built, and so much written, you're not sure where on the journey you just dropped in. Some of those are clear and standalone posts, but other times, you know you've missed the 'story'. I have a need to see the whole before the specifics - that overarching understanding helps me to fully engage. There is also something about spending in time in someone else's world for a while, like when reading a book, the immersion of stepping into another's shoes that I like about the let's spend time here approach.
Do you think the “Start here” posts satisfy some of that need and create welcome in those longer archives?
Yes, they definitely do! Those followed by some of the earlier posts help with context too, and then you sort of find your way, get a feel for the writing etc. I particularly like your mudroom idea.
I liked the mudroom idea, too, but I never found a photo I liked for it at the top of my home page. I switched to a "Start here" post so I could give it a more beautiful photo. I found that every time I was on my mudroom home page, it felt too much like home and chores. 😂 But, to your main point, I do find those Start pages very helpful for getting me oriented in a new publication.
Funny the associations we make. Funny, at the time I read the mudroom post, and I was still getting orientated, I thought I was in Julie Gabrielli's Substack, due to the associations I had made at the time. The visual seems important too. I know they talk about branding and that sounds ever so commercial, but here has made me think a bit more about the overall impression and what the reader would go away with that would make them come back.
Oh, you’re right! With her architecture expertise, Julie could have a mudroom adorned with one of her sketches or watercolors. That’s much more coherent!
Before I launch into the topic of scrolling blindly in Notes here and any other Social Media site, I just want to apologise for taking so long to get to this post Safar. I only received an email notification this afternoon that you shared my publication or I would have been here much sooner… I’m so behind with reading which is something that overwhelms me even more than a full up inbox anywhere. I try to read and comment and share if necessary those that are kind enough to mention A Hill and I as fast as possible but we don’t seem to get the emails or notifications as the post is published.
So a huge thank you for sharing, reading and commenting on some of my early posts… I feel very warmed and emotional. 🥹
I may have said this before to you; I don’t really know what I expected when I posted my first letter, it was more of a ‘what have I to lose’ feeling than expectation I think. Now, a year on, I’m flabbergasted/overwhelmed/breathless and to coin the French phrase, ‘bouleversé ! Not only by the quality of writing but by the amount. I want to read it all and I can’t, a fact which has started to build tension and frustration. I don’t really know the answer either… other than I don’t think anyone expects us to read, comment or react immediately. There is no algorithm so there should be no feeling of need to be there the instant it’s posted. I’m trying to hold on to that…
Like you I always want to know the full story too, I need insight into who and how and where if possible, yet more reading but worth while. So, slowly I’m reading through all those I subscribe to. This doesn’t help with the gathering of new subscribers but as has been often said here, it’s better to have a handful of loyal followers who genuinely enjoy what we do than 10000 ghosts!
Lastly, and definitely most importantly, I love that you began your letter with this…
« How different would the world be if we tread so lightly upon the Earth that our existence evaporates like mist cast asunder by the breeze? »
and then continued with Andy Goldsworthy and his gentle journeys into wild art.
Your whole letter just made me sigh…. X