Waiting

A long time ago I bought a box of 6"x6" canvases and promptly forgot about them as other stuff got in the way. Well, I found them again a week or two ago and realised it's been ages since I worked on canvas. 

Paper or board is often an easier option for the sort of heavily textured and layered pieces I like to make now because it doesn't have that natural give to it that a stretched canvas does and I find it easier to print or stamp or collage on. So a challenge for myself here, to see what I can do!

New Video - A Series of Postcards

Finally, I managed to get a new video filmed and edited. I'm working on a series of small postcard sized pieces here. I find that working on several pieces at the same time is helpful for quieting the inner critic and allows me to work more quickly and intuitively so it's something I like to do regularly if I can. Hope you enjoy the video!

Back To Nature

It looks as though we are finally having a bit of proper summer weather here this weekend and I have all the windows open to let the scent of roses into the house. Someone asked me the other day where I get the ideas for some of the more abstract work I do and the answer has to be, more often than not, nature. In my garden, on walks I take with Sam, I can't help but be fascinated by the songs of the birds, the way grasses move in the breeze, the colours and textures of leaves, trees and the landscape in general.

All this feeds into what I make and makes life so much more enjoyable too. When did you last spend time at rest in your garden or the local park? Do it today if you can, even if only for fifteen minutes or so. Just sit in a chair, lie on the grass, or shelter under a tree if it's raining, and pay attention to the sights, sounds and scents around you. I promise you'll feel all the better for it!

Learning Something New

There is a wonderful new artists' community you may not have come across yet so I thought I'd give you the lowdown on it. It's called One Little House and is the brainchild of my lovely chum Jeanette House. It has a growing number of video classes - paid and free - with more to come throughout the year, including some by me! They're aimed at all levels of ability and there are discussion groups where you can talk to the tutors and other students in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere.

For starters, you might like my free tutorial on making the cute little tag above. So if you'd like to watch and try this or something else for yourself just follow this link to join in the fun!

Tag Fun

Well, the beginning of another year and I hope it's going well for you all so far, yes? I have lots of stuff to show you but... I can't, not yet. I made a whole lot of little mixed media pieces over Christmas and New Year but they're all swappies for my fab girlies in Studio33 so until they've received them I have to keep the pics under wraps!

So instead I'll show you these: a tiny part of my ever growing tag collection. I recently got a 50-pack of large manilla tags which has revived my love affair with these babies. Tags are great tiny canvases for trying out products and techniques before you commit to a 'proper' project. If you don't already have some get down to Staples forthwith and buy a pack. Seriously, they're too much fun not to play with!

Grow

So here we are: the first rose of summer. This is Ispahan, an old Persian damask which is always the first to bloom in my garden. Every year it astonishes me with its beauty and overwhelming perfume and really kick-starts my summer garden.

And now it's being joined by more early blooming lovelies. This is a little perennial viola called Etain, purchased at my local market and adding a big shot of sunshine on those grey days we always get in summer here.

Remember the tags I was working on in the post below? Well, inspired by my wee garden I made a bunch of blooms to decorate one of them and this is what I ended up with!

Currently available here

A Cheapskate Idea

I love buying new craft supplies as much as, no probably more than, the next woman but some of the stuff I'd like is a bit spendy and I'm always on the lookout for cheap DIY versions of it. Soooo.. I thought I'd share this little tip with you in case it's of use.

I've recently been playing with Distress Inks a lot and I like the kind of watercolour effect you get when you dab the pads straight onto a non-stick craft sheet and then pick the ink up with your paper.

I'd rather not spend £10 on one though so the other day I came up with this quick alternative. All you need is a piece of mat board or cardboard, some freezer paper and sellotape. You can make it whatever size is most useful for you, just wrap the freezer paper (shiny side up) over the board and stick down at the back. 

Notice how neatly I folded and stuck! OK, it won't last as long as an actual craft sheet but it's practically free and you can just replace the freezer paper as needed. I've been using mine for a few days now and it's bearing up well. Just wipe with kitchen towel when you're done and it's ready to go again!

And here's some I made earlier!

Taking My Own Advice

A journal spread on the theme of encouragement. I'm sure I'm not the only one who looks at photos of themselves as a child and wonders whatever happened to that carefree, all-singing, all-dancing creature. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves of what we're about.

The Sea, The Sea

I am having repair work on the house at the moment. The improvements are wonderful but I'm not getting much in the way of arty things done. It advances the Master Plan one step closer though so I'm rolling with it. The MP, in case you haven't guessed, involves me and the sea - but more of that later.

I have a wee Folksy exclusive to show you. These cards are all one of a kind and I don't have them available for sale anywhere else. They're all original collages and make unique note or greetings cards. Or you could pop them in a frame and put them on the wall!

   

Ode to Joy

One of the things I most often write or say when someone comments on a piece of my work is how much fun it was to create. It's true, I love to paint, sew, knit, collage, make books and it is fun, a lot of fun! It's often also difficult and frustrating work if I'm honest, but I rarely if ever mention that, maybe because the two things seem on the face of it pretty contradictory and therefore hard to believe. The reality of work for a great many of us is that it's something we do 'out there' whilst dreaming of the weekend, summer holidays, retirement. We are very fortunate - I am very fortunate - when we can do something we love as our work because that can change everything! 

It can also, however, be a source of conflicts too; ones which lead us to feel awkward and needing to justify or dismiss our creativity in a time-equals-money obsessed world. Whether you work full time as an artist/artisan or squeeze your precious creative space from the remains of the day it may be hard to keep the faith that what you have to offer is valuable and unique. So, the other day I came across an article by Quinn McDonald which touches on this very subject. What she wrote struck an extremely strong chord with me, so much so that I wanted to share it here with you.

'We don't think our work has value in the "real world". We don't allow ourselves to think that art is "real work". When someone congratulates us, we are quick to point to the fact that we were having fun, as if that diminished our effort or talent. Interestingly enough, when history judges a culture, it doesn't do it on how fast business turned around jobs, but on art, music, inventions and other creative work.' *

I need to be reminded of this occasionally. It won't stop me telling people how much I enjoy what I do but it might help me remember that joy is a vital part of life and that far from diminishing my work it is a condition to be welcomed and cherished for us all.

* What Makes You a Professional Artist? by Quinn McDonald, published in Somerset Studio March/April 2008

St Mary's Penwortham

On the other side of the river the land slopes steeply upward and was once the site of a Norman motte and bailey castle. There is now a parish church there, parts of which date back to the 14th and 15th centuries, and very attractive it is too.

Some photos and info here if you like snooping round old churches. 

 

The Ginnel

 

We live in a terraced (row) house which dates back to 1875. There are a number of streets all pretty much identical but with subtle variations in the architectural details of the houses. They were originally built for the dock and mill workers; we are very close to the river here and it was once a thriving port as well as an area teeming with cotton production.

If I sit on my bed and look out of the window this is what I see. This is the back of two terraces on the next road over between which runs a ginnel, or back alley, and it's today's daily drawing. Let me know if you've got one to share!

Daily Drawing - Come And Play!

Sometimes it seems like life is conspiring to get in the way of what I want to be doing. Right now I'm trying to get lots more books made for my Etsy shop and other goodies for PAD but 'stuff' keeps happening which makes me have to down tools and deal with it. 

In the midst of chaos, I feel like I need something with order to it. For a while now I've been thinking about focusing more on regular drawing practice, both as a meditative, relaxing thing and as a practical discipline. So, I am challenging myself to do some drawing each day in my sketchbook and post it here. The results may not always be pretty but I'm hoping they'll be worthwhile!

What would be really great would be if you'd like to join in and share your own daily drawings. Maybe you already do this, in which case please feel free to leave a comment and link so I can see what you're doing! If you've never really done much drawing before then why not give it a go? No fancy-schmancy materials needed, just a biro or a pencil, some paper and a little bit of time. It would be really good to have you involved for inspiration and companionship on this journey. What do you say?
 

Paying It Forward - Part Deux

You may recall I mentioned Amy's awesome Pay It Forward Art Project a little while ago. Well, the box duly arrived here and I had a lot of fun rifling through its contents, not to mention choosing what I was going to keep!

So the top picture above shows my new goodies which include some beautiful prints and original art from Amy as well as a range of supplies, my favourite of which is the lovely bird fabric by, I think, Alexander Henry. The second picture shows the items I put into the box before sending it off back across the ocean to Andi.

Pay It Forward

What a busy week. Been dyeing wool, making books, knitting and filling custom orders so feel like my head is spinning rather! I just wanted to mention my dear friend Amy's Pay It Forward Art Project though. It's such a cool idea, go read about it and consider joining in! I have.

More New Camera Love

Took this late yesterday afternoon with my new Lumix. Needless to say the lighting was poor, a mixture of deep shadows with a few stray shafts of sunlight thrown in and I took the picture without the aid of a tripod. I have burned the background out as it contained the distracting clutter which lives on top of my work table and played around with the colours just a little for effect but otherwise this pic is pretty much straight out of the camera. I really am impressed with how well it handles low light and the lack of camera shake, and all this was on the default auto settings too - often not the best choice with a lot of cameras given the situation.

Anyway, there's a selection of my hand carved stamps along with three little African wood blocks which I picked up a few years ago. Today's been yarn dyeing, and over-dyeing, day and I'm pooped now. Time for another cup of coffee methinks!

Samphire Tower - WIP

I've had a hankering to draw this for ages but I only got round to starting the other day. The tower is a real structure on the south coast of England at Samphire Hoe. It's the creation of artist Jony Easterby whose work often combines architectural structures with sound installations. I saw an image of it a couple of years ago and was immediately grabbed by it.

RIP, Tony

When I was a child there was this curious art programme on TV called Vision On. Curious because it was ostensibly aimed at deaf children, the co-presenter being a woman who signed and interpreted, and back in the early sixties this was totally groundbreaking. I have no idea how many deaf children actually watched it but I, and a lot of my hearing friends, certainly did.

The other presenter, a man called Tony Hart, was the reason we watched. He was the artist and it was he who inspired us to go out and look, really look, at out surroundings, then come back and make art for ourselves. He would work quickly with all sorts of different media and materials, without any flash or fuss, and transform paper, objects, everday things into wonderful little (and sometimes not so little) bits of art, all the while encouraging us to have a go ourselves.

He went on to do several other series after Vision On and I have fond memories of watching these with my own daughter, now a very talented artist herself. All in all he brought the joy of creating to British children for nearly fifty years on TV and provided the template for modern shows like Art Attack. I am sad that he's gone, but so glad that he was there as I started on my creative path.

Happy New Year and WIP

A very happy new year to all my friends in blogland! Hope everyone has a prosperous - in all senses of the word - 2009.

I haven't been posting much art recently and that's because I've been in a bit of a slump, which is usually brought on by too many ideas oddly enough. Sometimes I get so many creative 'must do' notions running round in my head that I get paralysed with indecision over where to start and what to do first, so I end up doing nothing at all. It is starting to pass now (I hope!) and I just began a new drawing yesterday as you can see.

Well you know how fascinated I am by architecture and I've been wanting to draw this house for a while. It's called Troldhaugen and was the residence of the composer Edvard Grieg in Bergen in Norway. I was thinking I might do some notecards with this line drawing on maybe, actually I rather like the graphic quality of it so I'm undecided as yet about whether to add paint or more ink. Hmmmm.

'Tis The Season

I know it's that time of year when we're all running around like headless chickens (apart from those supremely organised individuals who have everything perfectly under control - hey there must be some, right?) so I'd like to share the perfect antidote to all that chaos with you. It's called Scribblecast and it's the brainchild of my dear friend Amy.

A series of videos, the episodes feature the landscape and wildlife of her beautiful Pacific NorthWest home, cooking tips and recipes and footage of her creating her stunning artwork. Try the one above out and then follow the link for more. No matter how busy or otherwise your day has been, sitting down and watching one of these short videocasts will chill you out and put a big smile on your face. Works for me.