Bettina Holland

Week 2 – Read and Study a Work by Shakespeare

Twelfth Night, or What You Will

By coincidence this encourages my New Year’s Resolution to make time to read at least one book every week. Any book. So why Twelfth Night? I haven’t read it before. I seem to recall seeing a travelling production, staged outside one summer’s evening, many years ago. It challenges me to read something I would probably avoid if at all possible. Sensibly I purchased a modern edition which provided a good introduction. Always helpful in setting the scene. On each page the awkward words or unusual phrases were numbered. Beneath this is a straight-forward translation and it helped me to better understand the characters and the plot as it unfolded.

Memorable Line

There is always one line or phrase which we know, often without knowing where it comes from. In Twelfth Night it’s the opening line. If music be the food of love, play on. The story is about love. Mistaken identity. The fascinating relationship of twins and, as with any comedy some larger than life characters.

Happy Ending

Yes of course. It all worked out just fine in the end. The text was not overly long – 75 pages in total. I was delighted to find a scene by scene analysis and further information to enhance my enjoyment of reading a work by Shakespeare. The play was possibly written and first performed around 1601. Has it time travelled to me here in 2023 or have I stepped into the time machine and gone back to the start of the 17th century? It is timeless and will continue to be so for centuries to come I hope.

Week 1 – January Weaving

The Back Story

Since the pandemic my life has changed. I miss having the time and energy for any creative space in my busy life. To counter balance this now, I have come up with 52 creative, engaging, inspiring or fun ideas. One for each week of 2023. I wrote the ideas on slips of paper, put them into a pot and drew them out on New Year’s Eve and assigned them from week 1 to week 52. Each one will be shared via this blog.

My January Weaving reflects the feel of January. There is a glimpse of the first daffodils which I saw on New Year’s Day. They were delightful and offer the promise of more to come as we move towards the spring.

My finished piece measures 9cm x 26cm. It has been hand woven and is made from mixed fibres. My other source of inspiration are a series of photographs taken in my garden during a previous January.

Moving Forward

I am looking back for references in order to move forward. I will be going through my sketchbooks and I am confident they will provide me with further inspiration and become part of this on-going process. Completing a piece of work is so satisfying and weaving has endless possibilities. Worked by hand there can be no two identical pieces. Using found wools, threads, fibres, cords, plastics or anything you can source from your own stock of materials or by asking family or friends for unwanted bits and pieces gives this a monetary cost of next to nothing. The sense of achievement and enjoyment during this cold dark first week of January is priceless.

An Invitation

So why not join me? You can use my ideas or come up with some of your own along the way. You can change the subject or theme and mix and match as the year progresses. I am sure I will want to give more time and energy to some of these ideas as I work through them. Starting small with something achievable and enjoyable is the first step. Regular engagement with my creativity is just what I need in 2023.

Happy New Year