Bits and Pieces

It's hard to believe the school holidays are over and the kids are back at school today. We don't seem to have done very much... I guess we've been relaxing!!

I've been pottering along doing bits and pieces,

sketchbook pages

new flags in progress

playing with watercolours at my friend Alison's studio.

Now that school's back I won't be interrupted by requests for banana smoothies and cheese on toast...so I'm hoping to get my teeth into some of the projects I've been putting off!

A very kind friend has given me this beautiful book (THANKYOU NAT!)
I can't believe I've never heard of Mark Hearld before, his subject matter (parks, gardens, birds) and his techniques really resonate with me. I especially love his linocuts

and am fascinated by his collage work too. It has been making me feel nostalgic for England, one piece in particular of allotments in autumn, makes me want to go on my childhood walks past allotments to the local park in Leeds.

diary dates!

The tactile arts craft fair that was cancelled because of bad weather has been rescheduled. It will be held this Friday 6th Dec from 4.30 to 8.30, I hope that lots of people will go along. Unfortunately I won't be there as it's the same time as the dress rehearsal for Chorale. We're singing the Messiah on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon at the supreme court with the glorious DSO!!

Also on Friday evening is an exhibition by Nat (Smallest Forest) and Kris at DVAA, showing the results of their experiments with marbling, I will try to duck in on the way to rehearsal...

Yes, art making continues, here are some new cards, and hopefully a proper post next time!

slow progress (is still progress)

A month ago I showed you a still life I'd set up, with the plan to get painting, well I haven't got around to starting a canvas yet, but I have done a few sketchbook drawings, and a gouache. By now the flowers are dead and the aloe vera needs to go back out in the garden for while! So I'll have to make a new arrangement and try again!

I have just about finished the felt dolls I've been making for the group exhibition 'this way madness lies', it opens next Friday at Tactile Arts.

This is the 3rd doll, it took a long time to finish because of sewing all those tiny beads on - half an hour a night for a week, so that I didn't go crazy but I did make a little bit of progress each time.

Here's the blurb I've written to go in the catalogue -

I was a crafty kid, always making something, knitting, sewing, trying everything from paper-making to macramé. In my teens I discovered Degas and the Impressionists, then Van Gogh, Gauguin and Matisse, and fell in love with painting.

Painting, drawing and lino-printing have been my focus for 20 years or more, but recently I’ve been wandering off the path and dabbling in all kinds of things. I get seduced by colour, I had a stash of gorgeous embroidery threads before I ever thought of going back to sewing.

When I first made these dolls they were supposed to be angry, voodoo dolls, but they turned out more like love songs to feisty women. I approach them like drawing. Cutting into the fabric is a way of making a line, a row of stitches is another. Think of them as fertility goddesses, or like paper dolls that can be decorated a thousand ways.

The craft fair - almost 2 weeks ago - was a lovely day, I didn't take my camera, I couldn't bear to carry one extra thing that I didn't have to! But you can see a lovely photo of my stall over here on flickr taken by one of the friends I shared a stall with Nat aka Smallest Forest does amazing embroidery, book binding, painting and more, and writes the most entertaining blog around - do check it out!