“One For Sorrow” ?

A little bit of good news today as I got a call to say I’ve sold a piece of work at the Saltbox gallery!

The Magpie was a print and embroidery sample for Minor Project during my degree at CCAD and its sale has given me hope that my new policy of NOT saluting Mr Magpie every time I see a solitary one, is actually bringing me luck. On this basis I think I will turn all superstitions on their heads and make a point of walking under ladders, putting new shoes on the table eating late blackberries!

I’ve been messing about with my bear drawing, creating brushes and simple repeats. Now I need to test my printer to see if the nice man in Ink to Print has managed to unblock the magenta print head.

Tomorrow I will be in York, helping Lindsey Murray with her stand at the Guild Hall…an early start so wish me luck, I’m not so great at mornings!

Have a good weekend.Enjoy Halloween x

“The owls are not what they seem…”

I think Autumn might be my favorite season. The rusty colours, smell of musty leaves, damp earth and slight decay mixed with the smoke from the wood stove and seasonal bonfires.Even the food of the season is cozy comfort food in shades of orange and brown! ( Pumpkin soup, baked potatoes and toffee apples).

Yesterday was a murky,foggy day, darkness drawing in fast (” oh no not another of our trips out in the dark!” said the kids) but we went to Thorpe Perrow Arboretum and scuffled through the leaves, trying to catch the falling ones before they landed so we could make wishes ( I did, but its a secret what I wished for).Aren’t the white Rowan berries lovely?

I didn’t get any pictures but I fell in love with the huge Eagle Owls in the falconry center, with their giant teddy bear eyes….must draw more owls.

Back on the mountain during one of my coffee and inspiration sessions with Lindsey Murray, I decided to give up on Gocco for the time being and revert to my old favorite, heat transfer. The first print worked really well on a piece of dyed curtain fabric but I’m not so sure of the pink background below;and the second print is always a little paler.

Now I need to do a few household chores before I get ready for a rare tv night, watching “Natural World” at 8pm ( a documentary about…..BEARS, surprise surprise!).

Magic Beans?

Another Gocco disaster! Jake thinks the screens might be duds or maybe the bulbs, since the image was only partly burned onto the screen. I drew a much more bold design this time, thinking it would be more likely to work, but have ended up consigning another useless screen to the stove’s flames.My only hope now is to stock up on some new supplies and hope that solves the problem…any ideas anyone?

Well, today’s events at work mean I may be having to take my design and artwork a little more seriously which is not necessarily a bad thing. I’m pleased to say that last week I managed to complete a group of six designs for New Leaf and will be starting some new things tomorrow after a trip to town on the hunt for some fabric.There’s also the chance to take part in a few craft fairs in the run up to Christmas; so off I go to have a think about what to sell to make my fortune…what I need is a cow to swap for some magic beans.

“Meek Bears …Affable Wolves”

Messing about with my heat transfer paints today and brewing endless coffee on the stove.These two sad looking bears are quick doodles using left over heat transfer papers, I like the way you can keep layering and reusing the papers to get very subtle effects.

If I were fantastic at paper cutting, like Rob Ryan or someone, the effects could be amazing. Must invest in some new blades for my knife…

I just discovered the blog of Trend Bible who contacted me after my graduate show at New Designers (2008). In the end they didn’t use my work which is a shame because it looks like a really interesting publication; some great inspiration and research, and they’re based in the North East.

Well, its time to put another log on the fire and do a bit of stitching.

(Listening to : “The Imagined Village” Various Artists/Real World – a contemporary reworking of English Folk music, including a great version of Tam Lyn by Benjamin Zephaniah and Eliza Carthy)

Caffeine and Sugar

A wild party in the village to celebrate a friend’s 50th birthday this weekend,so it was nice today to have a quiet time getting down to some work and recovering from the excesses.

My motivation was helped by Lindsey coming up armed with a huge box of jelly teeth (an odd concept…toothbrush shaped sweets…) and a drawing board.Lindsey also works at the Golden Lion and is another of Osmotherley’s artists,currently in her final year of CCAD’s Textiles and Surface Design Degree. So ,coffee and sugar fueled we worked and put the world to rights all day. It really is so much easier to work sometimes when you are not alone and distracted by everything ;so thanks Lindsey and Good Luck to all the CCAD 3rd years!

Now I must do a bit more sewing and then I need to start the last Haruki Murakami  book on my list ” The Elephant Vanishes”, it had better be good, I’ve been saving it because the next one isn’t due to be published in English until 2011( I suppose I could try to learn Japanese before then!)

Until next time – here is a sign that I should have taken more notice of! ;@)

Fragile

Well I spent ages drawing this flowery bear last night but initial Gocco experiments were a total failure. I’m not entirely sure why , which is annoying because one of the major drawbacks with Gocco is that many of the parts can only be used once…and they’re not cheap or easy to find.After I’d ordered it I found out about another system called EZscreen which I’m wishing I’d gone for instead…oh well, you live and learn.

I’m not at work tonight because I’m still battling the cold…but here are a couple of images that have cheered me up today…a big fat bumble bee, busy in the garden yesterday and a funny group of characters outside a deli in Cape Cod that came in an e-mail from my parents today.I wish I could just jump on a plane and fly out there tomorrow, it looks fun.

I’ve just found out that today (Oct 15th) is “blog action day for climate change”. I was reading Olive Bites and will now follow some of her suggestions for eco computer use by switching off ( after changing my homepage to Blackle ) and going to bed to read “Sputnik Sweetheart” by candlelight.

Hibernation

Semi- hibernation here on the mountain as I have a cold which is making me feel very sorry for myself. So, “what’s new?!” I hear you say…Ok, I know, but this week all my new toys have arrived ,so soon I will be busy and inspired for sure.

I hung this piece of dyed and screen printed fabric on the line earlier and loved the way the sun seemed to make it glow. Its going to be a little skirt shape once I do a bit more to it.Yesterday I was supposed to take my work over to Les Prince’s to get framed but I just had to have a day with “Norwegian Wood”, hot lemon drinks and  a soft green blanket. I’m loving that book even more second time around,and with it all things Japanese , so it was lovely to get these beautiful stamps this morning when my Gocco machine arrived!! Now I just have to figure out the instructions ( not in English so hmmm…) and think of something to draw to make a print ( I’m guessing bears but …watch this space).

Its a shame some of the stamps and cancellations were ruined by the nasty sticker slapped on by Royal Mail. I think I’m belatedly turning in to a stamp collector, oh no,what next, train spotting?!

Wish List : A plane ticket to Canada so I can go to Nick Bantock’s studio/gallery in November.Or Spain in May?….

A space to work in that isn’t the kitchen!

A clear head.

Love, peace and inspiration.

x

“Honey Pie”

Today I had to dash out for another Haruki Murakami fix, having finished “After The Quake ” last night. One of the stories, “Honey Pie” was so good I ended up reading it about three times! You can read it on the link above and see if you can guess why I loved it…

The only one I hadn’t read wasn’t in the bookshop so I got “Norwegian Wood” which I borrowed from a friend years ago.Looking forward to getting snuggled up with that tonight.

I’ve been doing some wool embroidery on to the print I made the other day. I’m going to have to search for some more old blankets soon so that I can have a go at that winter coat I keep thinking about. Meanwhile I’m wondering what on earth to do about my printer because its refusing to print magenta, the print head must be blocked and no amount of cleaning seems to be unblocking it…

Here is a picture of the random magnetic poetry on my rusty old enamel bread-bin. Several ways the words could be re-arranged to inspire me whenever I make toast! Talking of inspiration here are a couple of blogs I’ve been looking at today; Dottie Angel and A Bun Can Dance.

x

“October, And The Trees Are Stripped Bare…”

Today a tree branch fell down and blocked the road, it rained and rained and almost overnight the berries have fallen from the Rowan trees,staining the road red.Although its not cold I’m enjoying the excuse to light the wood stove in the kitchen.

I’ve been making some simple stencils and screen printing with discharge paste on to some dip dyed wool. Later, when the heat transfer paint arrives I can use the stencils for that too;  I can’t wait.

This month my parents have taken a trip to Cape Cod to make some water colours.My brother just sent me this reminder of our childhood trips there in this MASSIVE  Buick, I thought I’d share it with you for a bit of retro stylee! ( 1975/6 !!)

Back on the home front I’ve been counteracting the smell of discharge paste and boiled wool(!) with yummy home made bread. The recipe, thank you little brother, is so easy it means you can have fresh bread every day for no effort at all…

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Put 3 cups flour, about a teaspoon of quick yeast, some sunflower seeds etc., salt and about  2 cups of water in a bowl and mix roughly until all combined. Cover and leave overnight.

Next day turn on the oven ( about 250) and put an ovenproof,lidded,casserole dish ( like a Le Creuset pan) in to heat. Turn out the dough on to a floured surface and fold over to make a round loaf shape (might need to add a bit more flour), no need to kneed (!) after about half an hour when its risen a bit, plop it in the hot dish, put the lid on and cook (take lid of for last few minutes to crisp up the crust).

x

The Printed Image

On Friday evening I went to the opening of “The Printed Image” exhibition at the Zillah Bell Gallery before ending up ,eventually, at a crazy club in Middlesbrough called RiffRaff. Luckily there aren’t any pictures from RiffRaff but above is an early screen print of William Tillyer’s called “High Force”-standing in front of it ,the blue is dazzling.

I had two favorites (but shortage of money and wall space!) one was a Norman Ackroyd and the other this collograph by Katherine Jones called “A House In The Woods”. She’s done a whole series of lovely ethereal prints based on illuminated shelters and greenhouses in woodland settings. As soon as I finish writing this I’m going to have to look up what exactly a “collograph” is!

This week I hope to take a few things to get framed for the Salt Box, start a new group for New Leaf using all my new heat transfer paints ( wow, SO expensive!) and find out more about Gocco ready for my new purchase to arrive. ( Anyone out there use a Gocco for textile printing?) Meanwhile I’ve been enjoying a blog I found tonight called Textile Swatches , nice to see lots of examples of eco and artisan textiles as I’m right off Illustrator at the moment.

Until later x