Encouragement Files
(20-2025) Field Notes for Curious Minds
This is the 20th edition of ‘The Encouragement Files’, a weekly celebration of others. This offering is a chance to showcase words, publications and people who have inspired us. It might encourage you to celebrate the creativity that lifts your spirits, and stories that offer a counterbalance to the fractious edginess of an out-of-kilter world.
Just a quick reminder, the next edition will fly into your mailbox (and the Substack app) on 25 June; then it’s back to weekly. Until then, I on a month-long cycle to mark a milestone birthday - 2,600 kilometres from my birthplace in Scotland (Forres) to our home in rural France.
Beyond Substack
I N T E R I O R S
This week we discovered that Akari lamps - a modern day classic (1951) designed by Japanese-American designer Isamu Noguchi are still made today using Japanese washi paper and a traditional method from Japan's Gifu region.
You cannot understand good design if you do not understand people; design is made for people.
― Dieter Rams
A R T
Art comes in so many forms, with new styles popping into our eyeline all the time.
kindly pointed us towards the Dense Discovery newsletter which in turn guided us to land art by Dietmar Voorwold
Art will never be able to exist without nature.
― Pierre Bonnard (painter 1867-1947)
So Good We Saved It
We are delighted that
escaped from the perfectionism that imprisons him to write about how azineself-published book offered him a breakthrough moment. We’re keeping our fingers crossed it’s just the start.This piece by
explores the notion of ‘epic’ photography … it counters the argument that photography needs huge landscapes to qualify for the description.It is fascinating to read words by
about Hopper’s time in Paris, where he produced beautiful sketches of interesting characters far removed from the themes of loneliness and isolation he is better known for.It was a reminder of the first art-inspired fiction I wrote, an imagining of what happened ‘just out of shot’ from Hopper’s famous Nighthawks scene:
Murphy is a beat cop from the old school. Even on a cold December evening, he spends his time pounding the sidewalk. Not like the new kids they’ve been recruiting, wishing their shifts away in the comfort of all-night diners. Sure, he grabs a coffee from a favourite haunt if he’s passing. It’s a chance to keep his ears open. The snippets add up in the end. Gossip is gossip but it’s good to get folks talkingNighthawks by Barrie Thomson
We love interviews that offer a glance behind the scenes, hints about habits, ideas to absorb into your own writer’s practice (perhaps like us you think up your own answers in case you’re asked).
turns the writer’s eye to their bookshelf and the way reading has influenced their work.It is highly likely that
put us on to . We could include his knowledge and love of literature in every edition. When I mutter to ’the pobble who had no toes’, she looks at me pityingly, undoubtedly worried that my ageing brain is addled. But Edward Lear was a childhood reference point, brought to life in nonsense.
Brief Encounter
Postcard from Scotland (2021)
Travel … Broadens the Mind
(As I set off for a month on my bike - Scotland, England, Spain and France on the itinerary - travel tales abound)
Curiosity led
to explore how Samuel Walters, a distant relative - a Cornish lad - found himself in Bombay in 1878.Trawling through newspaper reports I discover that the 6th Dragoons were in Colchester before deployment in India in December 1877. They joined her Majesty’s Indian Troopship Euphrates in Portsmouth, embarking on 29th December 1877.You can rely on
to seek out the interesting, unexpected corners like the Museu d'Història and a celebration of women in art:
A R C H I T E C T U R E
Day dreams about cabins-in-woods and perfect hideaways led us to Cabin Anna
And finally …
Tom Gauld - as sharp as ever - honing in on the writer’s craft.
Barrie and JoJo
The Puffin Book of Nonsense Verse! Did you have that one Barrie? I dont think I let it out of my sight from the age of seven to ten years!!
The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bò was my absolute favourite... I think I drove my poor mum and dad mad reciting those verses...
"On the Coast of Coromandel
Where the early pumpkins blow,
In the middle of the woods
Lived the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bò.
Two old chairs, and half a candle,--
One old jug without a handle,--
These were all his worldly goods:
In the middle of the woods,
These were all the worldly goods,
Of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bò,"
I am so glad you found Jeffrey's fabulous post!
Safe travels, I hope you have a moment to pop in from time to time, I will miss these posts immensely! 💛
Thank you so much for the mention! By the way, those who follow me on Notes will see a daily posting of Edward Hopper’s sketches and paintings from his time in Paris!