At last the stencilling begins in our sitting room. I’d put the moment off for long enough. A slow start as I carefully measured up, and thereafter an hour during which I wondered whether the spacing was going to work. But my confidence grew as the birds multiplied, and already I’m getting faster. This is the kind of work that can be done at night with a good angle-poise lamp directed at it. It’s quite soothing now I’m in the flow.
The stencil, cut with a scalpel out of a fairly stiff sheet of transparent plastic.
Jack puts himself in the picture!
A diagonal plumb-line to keep the design regular. Grey shadows added free-hand.
I like the line of descent to this project. In 2004 for my exhibition The Temptations of Solitude at MoMA Wales, I explored the subject of Elijah and the Raven.
After seeing the painting, my friend Sigrid Muller sent me a copy of Seamus Heaney’s poem Saint Kevin and the Blackbird, which inspired me to produce a series of works on the theme for my 2010 exhibition Touch at the Martin Tinney Gallery.
Tender Blackbird (below) was the first of the Kevin and the Blackbird series, and it’s the bird… and the rowan tree… from that painting…
… that has become the motif for our stencilled sitting-room at Ty Isaf.
Thank you Sigrid!
(Click HERE to see some of Sigrid’s work.)
Clive Hicks-Jenkins' Artlog: 
People who know your work are going to find that an enticing room!
it’s looking spectacular! i love how a theme can move through your life like that…
*waves to jack*
The stenciling looks wonderful. I love seeing Jack up on his perch, right in the middle. I don’t think I’ve seen the painting, ‘Tender Blackbird’ before. It’s beautiful.
By the way. I’m typing this on a tiny screen and should be wearing my reading glasses. I see numerous typos, but I’m sure you’ll know what I meant to write!
I did a bit of cleaning up for you. My own eyes are well beyond being able to cope with a small screen, so I know how you’re feeling!
Thank you Bev. I’m so pleased that you like Tender Blackbird.
I tried leaving comments on your site about a week and a half back, and couldn’t get past a fault in the system. I’ll try again to see if it’s been corrected.
Bev, your site is still not accepting comments. I’m sorry about this, as it’s clear that you use it as a way of keeping in touch with friends while you’re travelling, and they with you. I’ll keep checking. In the meantime, I hope you’ve realised what’s happening back there, and that you haven’t jumped to the conclusion that no-one is reading what you’ve posted.
Clive- thanks for checking back on my site. I tried to have it fixed, but the website host tech people say they can’t find the error. The comment error problem all began after the whole server network was down for 2 days and they had been working on that. the odd thing is that the same thing happened about 2 years ago and I eventually ended up creating a new location URL for the blog. I did this again just before leaving, so there is now a mirror site which will accept comments (or should). The URL that I’m using to post here should take you there. If not, the URL is http://magickcanoe.com/blog14
I’ll be posting some kind of redirect at the old URL as soon as I have a chance.
Thanks for continuing to follow my journey!
Thanks Bev. I’ve adjusted my bookmark for your site, so shall be commenting there before too long. (-;
Very cool. Someday your house is going to be worth a mint!
Not before we spend a fortune bringing it back from the brink I fear! But thank you Dave. I’m glad you approve what we’re attempting here.