The Wedding Gift 1991, Desert Rose Franciscan place setting and teapot, blue linocut print © 2007 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
There’s a tree outside the window near where I sit. I don’t know what kind of tree it is; it’s almost winter and the branches are bare. But I notice it has what look like buds on the thinnest limbs — although, how could that be? Maybe these are bud placeholders, dormant points where new life will come in spring.
I worry as a writer whether my mind can capture and hold the names of trees. Here, I’ll list the ones I know: Cottonwood, Catalpa, Oak, Maple, Plum, Red Bud, Blue Spruce, Apricot, Apple, Peach, Cherry, Russian Olive, Ponderosa Pine, Juniper, Globe Willow.
Growing up we had a Sycamore tree that grew in a round-topped formation. The seeds of the Sycamore hung like itch-bomb ornaments, which we plucked and threw at each other or exploded on the sidewalk for fun.
When you go to a restaurant, do you notice the color of the plate on which your meal is served? Is it red, and if it is red, is it brick red or candy apple red? I sometimes check my fork to make sure there’s no dried food in between the prongs, but I usually miss whether the handle has a beaded edge or a plain one.
I can tell you that right now I’m drinking coffee and steamed milk out of a Starbucks to-go cup, the medium size (although I don’t remember, is that tall or grande?, because grande makes more sense to me, yet it seems Starbucks considers it a tall).
The point I’m trying to make is, you’ve got to have detail when you write. You’ve got to be awake to what is around you.
Do this. Sit down, take out your pen and notebook, and do a ten-minute writing practice on “What’s in front of me.” If you need something more, empty out your pockets and write about what you see.
And if you’re ever at a loss for a writing topic, use “What’s in front of me.” It will remind you to be present to your surroundings. The more you wake up, the more detail you can call on when you write.
Pieces Of Becoming A Missus 1991, black linocut print © 2007 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
[…] Dear Author: Romance Book Reviews, Author Interviews, and Commentary put an intriguing blog post on WRITING TOPIC – ATTENTION TOÂ DETAILHere’s a quick excerpt […]
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[…] TVB Musings wrote an interesting post today!.Here’s a quick excerptWRITING TOPIC – ATTENTION TO DETAIL November 26, 2007 by sloWalker [IMG] The Wedding Gift 1991, Desert Rose Franciscan place setting and teapot, blue linocut print © 2007 by ybonesy. All rights reserved. There’s a tree outside the window near where I sit. I don’t know what kind of tree it is; it’s almost winter and the branches are bare. But I notice it has what look like buds on the thinnest limbs — although, how could that be? Maybe these are bud placeholders, dormant points where n […]
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ybonesy, I didn’t know you did printmaking and linocuts. I just love these. I was so surprised when I took my first printmaking class, how much I loved it. I had a lot of trouble with the spatial aspects of it and the reversal of light and dark. But it was so much fun. I kept my drawings simple and it seemed to work.
I’m glad you posted these linocuts. Have you done any woodcuts? Detail is a great topic for art or writing. It’s interesting to think about simplicity as it relates to detail. You learn to write all the details, then cut where you need to. It’s a fine balance, what to keep in, what to cut out. But in practice, detail, detail, detail.
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Thanks, QM. No, I’ve not done woodcuts. Have you? Are they hard?
Back when I worked at the university, we could take any classes we wanted and get tuition reimbursement. (Later they stopped that practice and allowed only classes related to your job.) I took one or two printmaking classes. Besides learning a new method, it also got me access to the inexpensive yet good paper in what we called The Paper Closet.
Out of the printing techniques we covered, I liked linocuts best. They had a graphic quality that fit with my style. Later I made small linos and with a wooden spoon functioning as a makeshift “printing press,” I printed up cards. I hope I can find those. I made some fun images for the holidays.
You should dig up your old prints and post them. I’d love to see them. Dee recently did a very detailed Day of the Dead print for a t-shirt, and what she found was that she loved the simple designs much better than the detailed ones. But you have to really play with it to understand what works. Same with writing, yes?
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I love the use of this blue lino-cut for this topic. Being alive to detail is what makes each moment a momentous experience – we are surrounded by detail that when considered closely is as strange as a trip to the moon – full of surprises and fresh perceptions – but it take suspending the habit to call things by known names, maybe using simile and metaphor to circle around sniffing out specifics.
Ybonesy – if you want to try your hand at woodcuts – go to your local fine wood purveyor and get them to sell you a length of gelutong. It is lovely and easy to cut.
I want a print of this teapot still life – it is fresh and so direct and well balanced. Send me an email and let me know the specifics, how much cost and shipping, size of print. Also one of “pieces of becoming a missus”. They would make a nice pair to hang. G
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ybonesy,
Great Art!! Great title!!
sloWalker,
I’m with you, checking the fork tines, instead of looking at the pattern.
I do register the color of everything, with a name…brick red, chinese red, etc.
I have grown to rely on what I remember, or what my impressions of something are, rather than what “is”.
Thanks for making me look more closely…
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Bless your heart, G. I will send you an email. I have a few extra prints of both, although I have to say, I must have printed the black-and-white one with too little ink, because it has some light spots.
I did these in 1991, and part of the exercise was to do a print in process. So once I did these prints, I continued to scrape away at the linoleum until I had almost nothing left. Thus, unfortunately, I can’t do any more prints of them. But I happen to have several good ones of the blue linocut and a couple of not so good ones of the b/w.
BTW, G, what I enjoy so much about your writing *is* your detail. I think you must have an excellent memory, kind of like my husband’s. Not everyone has this capacity to recall the details. My husband’s memory goes back to when he was in a crib. It’s not all there, mind you, but his first recollection is of about age 2. Mine is age 6, and only about two fuzzy recollections. Then I don’t pick it up again until later.
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Ah, leslie. Your comment came in as I was commenting back to G. Another person for whom details seem to flow so easily. I *don’t* take notice of dinnerware, nor color, nor can I easily recall what I ate last time I went to a restaurant. This is why the topic appeals to me so much. I live in my head way too much, which can be a real problem for a writer.
You raise an excellent point about memories being more impression than what is. I’ll dig up an interesting interview on NPR with Diana Abu-Jaber, who wrote The Language of Baklava. That interview led to a dialog among writers about memoir and what’s real/what’s remembered. Especially in light of Frey’s controversial A Million Little Pieces. But this is a whole ‘nother post.
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I love the picture, too, especially the multicolored depictions along the bottom. ‘Hanging on to the names of trees’ was interesting to me, too because that’s what I feel I’m doing by a mid-afternoon of writing, sometimes. Trying to hang onto the names of things. I lose the words, and trying to hold onto a thought without the words readily available to get them down with is (oddly possible, but) difficult, like hanging onto the branch of a tree with one hand, and trying not to fall.
I wonder where words come from in the mind. I wonder what thoughts not cloaked by words might look like.
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amuirin, that’s a compelling question – what thoughts not cloaked by words would look like. I imagine these pulsing colors, kind of like those stereo speakers from the 70’s that had light connected to sound, pulsating to the music.
ybonesy, I remember that post I did about my parents when I was driving around with them Down South last June. They remembered all the names of the Southern plants, flowers, and trees we were passing in the cemeteries and along the old houses we would visit. It was so rewarding to my memoir gathering, those luscious details. And it seemed like something they each found great joy in sharing with one another.
I hope you do that post on the interview on NPR with Diana Abu-Jaber (The Language of Baklava). I remember how the interview led to the dialog about memoir and what’s real/what’s remembered. Good stuff.
About the woodcuts, I attempted one once and found it very difficult. I think the wood I was using was too hard for me. Though a traditional wood is cherry, it’s tough on the wrist. I love the way they look though, the grain of the wood with the ink.
G, what is gelutong? Maybe that’s an easier material to work with than wood. Or is it a type of wood? I’m unfamiliar.
The last linocut I did was my Christmas card around 2001. I had so much fun. I cut a small linotype, and rolled the ink out on my art table in the dining room. Then I inked the roller, rolled the linoleum with a brayer, and then brushed it by hand with a baren, kind of Japanese style. Then I hung them on a string across my living room with old fashioned wooden clothes pins. The print was not nearly as refined as yours, but I sent it out anyway. Ah, I’m getting hungry for printmaking just talking about it.
Your linocuts are such an inspiration!
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You’ll have to post that one for the holly-days, QM. The process sounds so cool. You can add in the post how you did it. Do-it-yourself linocut cards. I’ll do one, too, if I can find mine.
Egads, I realized I’ve traipsed all around this blog tonight saying, I’ll do this post, you do that one… Sheesh, I’d better stop talking.
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Your linocuts are beautiful. I’m sure drawing and painting contribute to your attention to detail.
This is a great practice. I tend to be a daydreamer, and drift off into my own strange inner stories. But it’s true, to inform our writing we need to stay awake and notice.
Okay, now for a nice long look out the window, and then some writing practice!
PS I remember throwing round, green powder-filled balls when I was a kid in Illinois. Your post reminded me of them. I haven’t seen them in Georgia. I wonder if they were the same as your Sycamore itch-bombs?
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I’m not a writer, but this post rang true for me. The best piece of advice that I was given on my wedding day was to pay attention to the details, as you so eloquently put it: “be present to your surroundings.”
As a reader, the thing that makes great writing stand apart from average writing for me is the use of unique but universal details. Use of a detail that we are all aware of but not consciously thinking about is a fantastic scene setter and attention grabber.
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QM – gelutong is a type of soft wood with a fine short grain and very easy to cut – it is great fun to work with. Also – yellow cedar is lovely to work but it helps if one keeps the chisels well sharpened. That is a must for one doing woodcuts and is a pleasurable foreplay to cutting. G
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aine, isn’t that the truth? “Unique but universal details.” Did you manage to be present on your wedding day? I hear that with large weddings in particular, it’s like a blur for the betrothed. My wedding day was small, intimate. I was so-so in terms of being present. Oh, now you’ve triggered a particular detail that I’ll want to write about at some point.
G, I have a couple of questions about woodcuts. First, have you done them and if so, will you publish any on your blog? I’d love to see them. Second, can you confirm this for me — my impression is that the biggest difference between a woodcut and a linocut is that the latter is more precise. Linoleum is so smooth, so easy to gain a clean line, that you end up with something perhaps more polished than you would with wood. Is that true?
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Yes, it worked for me on my wedding day. We also had a small wedding– it was held in a historical house. Thanks to that advice, I can still remember the quiet moments that I shared with my matron of honor in an upstairs hallway so vividly that I can close my eyes and be there again.
Glad I triggered an idea for you!
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One of my quick in and outs – apologies in advance I do like these linocuts – simple is my thing, as you know. wedding I don’t do, though I’m told that may have to change…
I posted something under my visit here (comments) – for you yb and QM – could you find a moment to check it out?
Best Regards
94S
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Did we already establish that you are an air sign, stranger?
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[…] Attention to Detail, 15 minute writing practice from red Ravine. […]
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These are strikingly stunning woodcuts. I will be back to read the text later. I usually end up reading and commenting after everyone has left the party, in one big binge. I’m such a blog binger.
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tiv, not everyone’s left the party. 8) We’re always just a click away. Sometimes it’s peaceful to roam around after the frenzy’s died down. It’s kind of like online slow walking.
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Yb
no we didn’t – that would have been St Exupery I guess! I READ your post this time – the idea of WORKING at my writing freaks me out – maybe just nightmares of school days – I was a little swot. I think I needed to be a rebel and truant about thirteen years, which sounds like a lot of unfinished business!
Question: are women better than men at doing practical tasks – like writing what’s in front of you, or writing for 15 minutes? You guys (i.e. gals) all seem so DEDICATED – I’m kind of envious, then another part of me is saying: do I really want to make writing into WORK? – crazy mixed-up stranger, feedback gratefully received, and BTW the sequel to ‘artistic inspiration’ is up in lights.
P.S. Yb – think compost!
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stranger, have you tried doing writing practice? I’m guessing you haven’t, because I don’t think you’d see it as work. Before I did writing practice, writing *was* a labor. It was hard to get my thoughts out. I was always stopping mid-sentence, wondering, “should it be create or produce or make?”
Now I just write. I edit later, and the process of putting together a finished piece can be hard work, and often is. That’s not to say writing practice is easy. Nothing’s easy. But it’s not like being in school again.
On the question of women and men and practical tasks, I think men like practical tasks more than women. I work with a lot of male engineers, and they seem to enjoy figuring out how to climb the mountain. I, on the other hand, love figuring out whether we should be swimming across a lake, tunneling under a hill, or climbing the mountain.
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[…] -related to Topic Post, WRITING TOPIC – ATTENTION TO DETAIL […]
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[…] What’s in front of me is the prospect of having to go out in the cold night to pick up a prescription at Walgreens that I meant to call in all weekend. In front of me the strong possibility that I’ll blow it off until tomorrow morning. In front of me Jim saying “you’re not going to make it to the store if you lie down like that.” I smile but don’t stop writing, years of saying “you see me writing in my notebook? — don’t talk to me” have fallen on deaf ears. -related to Topic Post, WRITING TOPIC – ATTENTION TO DETAIL […]
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Yb
thanks. if I reach the point of deciding I have reasons to invest in improving my writing skills, I will sit down and do my writing practice medicine. (I couldn’t resist tagging medicine on to the end of that sentence – sort of spoilt the effect maybe?)
P.S. I have the card ’emotion’ in my own Rainring profile – meaning I can only do things I feel like doing – terrible problems with what I should do, what would be good for me etc.
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You are such a rebel, stranger!
OK, I concede, it is practice, it is like exercise or practicing to learn an instrument well. See, this is why you can’t swallow it. I wasn’t be completely honest about it. It’s just that I’ve grown to almost require it, as a way to know who I am.
I have a little bit of this quality in me, where if someone wants me to be one thing, I purposely let him or her down. Non-conformist. I got it from my mother.
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But that’s different than what you describe as “emotion,” isn’t it?
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[…] up!” The second time was in the Log Cabin at Mabel Dodge in the December retreat. The careful attention to detail caught me clutching my throat. The poet sees in a certain way, hide-and seek between heart and […]
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[…] Topic was like the mother of all topics. It frees you. No writing about Pickles or Hair. Not about What’s in Front of Me, or Everything I Know About the Color Burnt […]
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