The Wobbly Line ~ 19

Folktale week, patreon catch-ups and a big blue knot.

Hello!

Welcome to The Wobbly Line ~ 19. It feels both crazy that a whole month has whizzed by since last time, but also that so much has happened since. For me, it would feel negligent to not draw light to the occupation in Palestine and all of those affected by the tragedies unfolding there. It is not my place to educate anyone on what is happening, and/or give you my political views but for me it feels essential to bring this with me into the spaces I occupy and to be present with our collective humanity. Connecting with these feelings can be overwhelming, and can stir up loads of things for us so take time with yourselves, and do only what you feel you are able. Okay, in the spirit of somehow being able to exist in multiple head spaces (not sure I’m coping too well with this at the moment!), let’s show you my October (last minute as ever!) xxx

October ~ agenda.

1. Folktale Week catch-up so far.

2. Video: A flower for Palestine.

3. Patreon catch-up images.

4. Some extras from my month.

1. Folktale Week 2023

Folktale Week sketch comprised of different sketches.

This month the Folktale Week 2023 prompts were released, and they are brilliant! I love the prompts! I feel like I could make a million stories with them. I had done some prior reading of fairytales and the link between them and our psyche, according to Jung and Marie-Louise Von Franz. In this book, I found an Icelandic folktale about Prince Ring - you can read the story here - it’s quite long! But in short, in my simple mind, the story is about a journey of truth and adventure for Prince Ring - a chap who wasn’t the adventuring kind. He meets a doggo companion along the way, who goes by the name Snati Snati. Snati Snati is actually a human Prince, also called Ring, and has had a curse but on them to turn them into a dog. There are SO many elements to this story, giants, the sea, mountains, forests, golden items etc - too many to include in my story but I’ve made space for a lot of them. You can hear my full story and what I think it means for me here and a full process video of one of my folktale week pieces for this year here! I’ve also just remembered that a month ago me and my flatmate watched the Tenth Kingdom on YouTube, a childhood memory, with so many similar elements to the story of Prince Ring. PLEASE comment below if you’ve watched The Tenth Kingdom before, I feel like it was the best show ever and I rarely meet a human who’s seen it!

2. A flower for Palestine (Video).

Watch me create the header for this newsletter, in thought of those affected by the occupation on Palestine.

3. Patreon catch-up’s with Sarah Dyer.

This month I was lucky to have a ‘reading week’ from uni, in which I didn’t do a lot of reading. I changed the name in my mind to ‘knitting week’ and ‘illustrating week’ because I feel like I needed to do these things to rest and connect with the things I enjoy. I watched a replay of one of Sarah Dyer’s patreon zooms, and I joined another one live. I am blown away by the beautiful work everyone in Sarah’s community makes, I really don’t know how people can create such full images in short timeframes! As I get further into my illustration practice, it seems that I need more and more time to create something. Slow and steady! Here’s a few snippets of what I created, with full blog post and a timelapse of my process here.

4. What else has been making it into JB’s brain?

4a. A big blue knot.

Yesterday (Saturday) I stood in a one in one out queue. Not for a club, not for a pub, but for a yarn shop. In Edinburgh, just a short walk away from me is a tiny and full-to-the-brim shop called Inspired Fibres. It’s so small you have to wait your turn to go inside, and it still takes an agile human to not continually bump into the stacks of wool, and the other customers in the shop. I bought myself a skein of vibrant blue wool called Matisse blue - this one here. With this type of skein I believe you’re meant to either politely ask the person in the shop to wind it for you, or have some winding contraption at home (I have since learnt you can use a variety of make-shift tools to help you without the contraption). I, naturally, did none of these sensible options and just assumed I could do it myself. Within 0.5 seconds I soon realised the error of my ways and am now working myself through the biggest jumble of knotted yarn you’ve ever seen. I’m enjoying it though, even if I do have approx. 1 million other things I need to do. This big blue knot is illustrative of the therapeutic journey for me. I hope to write about it more in November.

4b. Ed’s jumper progress.

What isn’t in a big knot though is my current knitting WIP, Ed’s seal jumper. Not a huge amount to say about this one, except for that it’s such a nice thing to do in the evenings, especially now my raglan increases are done and I can just knit mindlessly. I take my knitting through to the living room and hang out with my housemate, watching tv and chatting. Ed’s jumper is being built slowly, and lovingly and is helping me switch off from having a busy brain after uni/placement. I hope to have it ready for Christmas time (but no promises Ed if you’re reading!).

4c. Autumn.

This month has been a lot for me personally, and it’s been such a privileged joy to be able to walk about under the autumn trees to try and clear my mind. If you are ever to visit Edinburgh please do so at the end of October, it’s beautiful. Sure, its sometimes rainy and very sometimes cold, but the colours of the trees brighten everything up, and there is so much green space here you can’t miss them. I love this city and I look forward to welcoming it’s bare winter branches too.

The end of The Wobbly Line ~ 19

Thank you for reading The Wobbly Line ~ 19! I have some nice creative tasks to do in November, and will send out a little November schedule soon so you can see what I’m offering. It goes without saying that the world is extremely loud right now, and rightly so. Please take care of yourselves, and your loved ones. Big love, JB x