Artistic Licence

The sun is streaming through the kitchen windows ( highlighting the fact that they need cleaning) and on the sill my blue coffee pot is full of the first daffodils and willow catkins of Spring. The moment between seasons has always excited and unsettled me ; as Winter deposits me,slightly dazed from semi hibernation, on the doorstep of Spring  it feels like a clunky old machine has shuddered into life,rusty cogs and levers setting in motion another trip around the sun.

Well, enough introspection. last week my dad gave me this very beautiful engraving, which he had originally bought for his parents on an art school trip,in minute letters ( honestly the artist’s eyesight must have been incredible)  it says “Borrowdale from the Bowder Stone“(actually looking closely I now realise it says “Burrowdale”).This weekend we went in search of the viewpoint from which it was drawn but could see only this…

A terrifying ladder lead to stone polished like glass where I sat, (I could not stand!) and took this picture. It shows Nitting Haws and no lake or river, so we decided it must be a composite landscape, invented by the artist. The rest of the day was not the best for photographs, flat ,milky skies and fine, misty drizzle ;but nothing can ever really spoil the beauty of it all, not even the second hand pair of boots that began to feel like wooden clogs and a biting wind on the summit of High Spy that meant people were fighting for shelter on the leeward side of the summit cairn.We huddled behind a rock overlooking beautiful Borrowdale and shared a pasty and a “brick” of flapjack from the market in Keswick.

Lately I find myself hankering after a good camera, after seeing some of the pictures taken by a school friend of my son. Jake has been experimenting with HDR photography and getting some really good results, partly inspired by Joe Burn and his amazing shots of VW camper vans and local landscapes;at the risk of sounding massively patronizing, its so good to see young people with creative talent.

So now it is time to fire up the coffee pot and start up a production line ,as I realise I don’t have long before the Baron’s Vintage Fair on the 11th of March. I’ve been getting in the mood by washing all my precious antique lace and styling this mini photoshoot to show off the newest bear cushion- this one features Ursa Major and some lovely blue cyanotype. The photograph is a collection of family heirlooms…the blanket made for my parents wedding by my Great Grandma, my mum’s copy of Alice in Wonderland and my daughter’s teddy wearing a jumper I made for her while I was pregnant!I hope these cushions will become somebody’s precious heirlooms one day.

Have a lovely week every one, and don’t forget the competition on the previous post ends on March 1st;  your comments have been really useful so far, thank you.

Reading:”Goodbye to all That” Robert Graves   Listening To: Spring birdsong and something in the washing machine that shouldn’t be there……

A New Broom…

This weekend was one of thinking, planning and evaluating. My lovely daughter turned 20 on Sunday and it was important for me to think about where I was and how I got here ( * bursts into a rendition of “Once in a Lifetime” by Talking Heads) . Its such a cliché to keep going on about how time flies but when your children reach an age that you actually still feel , despite the wrinkles, it obviously prompts a bit of soul searching, not to mention panic,…just when will I feel “grown up” ? Here she is…

…and yes it seems like yesterday!

So,part of my “thinking and planning” has resulted in me booking a business mentoring session with the lovely Vicky Trainor  as I intend to get my besum broom out and give Witchmountain a good shake up and spring clean. Already, doing my homework in a brand new sketchbook, I have started to feel a lot more focused.It really does help to write things down and I do love making books.

As part of my homework I was asked to come up with 10 words to describe Witchmountain… I wondered if it might not be more useful to ask you, dear readers? I would be most grateful and to thank you for you valued opinions I will offer one of my little prints as a bribe…I mean prize…to the writer of a comment chosen at random (be honest though, you don’t have to use 10 words and they don’t even have to be nice words… no x rated ones though please!Just think about how you would describe this blog or my work to a stranger) I’ll pick a winner on March 1st.

Well, I think it’s time for a bit more cutting and sticking and market researching and I also have a batch of biscuit dough ready to bake so its time to dive back into the real world. I’ve spent most of the day finishing a lot of purses ready for the Vintage Fair in March, listening to Poirot on the radio and daydreaming about Bernina sewing machines!

These purses are made using vintage materials including some gorgeous green floral fabric that was my grandma’s,beautiful cotton lace and my own printed wool. I found the wonderful , half finished linen table cloth in Oxfam at the weekend. I love it and want to use it in my work…but will the blue print wash out? Have a great week where ever you are.

Reading : “The Cat’s Table” Michael Ondaatje  Listening To: “Odelay” Beck, “Leaders of the Free World” Elbow and ” Letter to Hermione” David Bowie.

Diamond Days in the North York Moors

I’ve been thinking about the importance of landscape recently, how surroundings affect mood, motivation and even character.So, while my latest creations rest, half finished , on the table next to me I thought I’d share a personal love story about the North York Moors. It may seem strange to those of you who know me as someone who lives in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by sheep and solitude, but I actually spent the first 14 years of my life in London. Visits to Grandparents in “The North Riding”  were idyllic and now seem tinted with that golden, over exposed hue of 1970′s photographs- Flying box kits on the moor, building dams in the River Esk, gritty picnics on Sandsend beach and jumping out of the car to drink icy water from a moorland spring and to breath in the sharp brackeny air at Goathland after a long , cramped, car journey from the South.

So the landscape kind of seeps into your bones and now, much as I love my trips to the city ,and proudly claim to be a Londoner, North Yorkshire has become a place of deep roots and family history, in the same way as  a tree grows angled by the prevailing wind I am now more more shaped by the North than the South!

This year is the 60th anniversary of the North York Moors National Park and I’m getting quite excited by a new exhibition this Summer that will include works by 5 artists including Joe Cornish, William Tillyer and Len Tabner whose work is all connected by a love of the North York Moors. Obviously ,for me, the work of William Tillyer has almost become my default way of seeing the moors around me, the atmospheric skies in particular, and is one reason why I never attempt to paint landscape!

The exhibition will include a re-issue of “The Furnished Landscape” , a  series of photographs which now document a lost way of life. Who can remember milk stands at the end of each farm lane? Some things don’t change though, the honey scented air when the heather is purple in August, the lichen covered drystone walls,wild garlic and bluebells in the woods in spring, curlews calling mournfully while the lapwings threaten to dive bomb anyone who comes too close to their nest.

Have I tempted you to visit this beautiful part of England? If you came between August 8th and September 16th you could also visit the Dutch House, where I will be having a little exhibition! And better still, my lovely friend Sam runs a fabulous website which gives you just about all the information you might need to plan your escape to the North in your very own North Yorkshire cottage!

So, it’s time to return to the sewing and the sketchbook after losing myself in a little journey around Gods Own Country. After singing its praises so much I think I’d better get my boots “Dubbined” and go for a bit of fresh air tomorrow!

” In a little woollen box..On the peg of a small cloud…”

It always feels a bit like waking from a dream, when the snow melts and I have no excuse left for avoiding a trip in to “civilization”. Today I dashed out to post Etsy orders and buy some essential supplies (an assortment of coloured zips, some beer, some coffee and some avocado pears) before beating a hasty retreat from the half term madness back to my kitchen table where a large mug of coffee and a mountain of biscuits will sustain me as I write ( the biscuit recipe is from Daisy Cupcakes where Alison bakes the most gorgeous cakes you have ever seen).

Anyway my weekend was made perfect-despite the evil cold I was given as a present last week- by some fantastic atmospheric radio. I don’t think they could have imagined a more perfect audience for “Company of Wolves” than me in my isolated cottage, surrounded by snow and ice,embroidering a baby shoe and contemplating love, past and present. I was spell bound from the first lonely howl of the wolves and was considering bolting the door if it weren’t for the fact that I was waiting for Rupert to return from his climbing trip in Spain.These days I suppose I’m more likely to play the part of the granny who gets eaten up by the werewolf rather than the girl who tames him into submission, sleeping “sweet and sound between the paws of the tender wolf ” .

Clockwise from top left :- Ed Boxall, Julia Manning,Peter Gabriel”Ovo” album cover by Nils-Udo, Etsy blog, Birdsnest Stadium,Beijing by Herzog&de Meuron, Empty nest in apple tree.

This weekend I also started putting together some moodboards for inspiration. Always a favorite task at college, it is a wonderful way of gathering ideas for a creative project and ,as I said last week , I’ve been looking at empty nests in the bare winter branches and  thinking about the concept of nest building.It was lovely to discover the work of Ed Boxall whose beautiful lino cuts “Big Prints About Being Alone” have made me desperate to get lino printing again. At the same time I was painstakingly putting my collection of images together I was reminded about Pinterest and now have yet another online profile to maintain …only this one is for me myself, to feast my eyes upon a world of visual gorgeousness and I shan’t feel at all sad or lonely if nobody wants to  join me!

So, the icicles may have turned to puddles and the snow has been replaced by mud but I managed to get some good pictures of my latest creations while it lasted, perfectly wintery and in fact so cold that the cushions and purses were freezing to the table while I wrestled with my camera and crampons on the treacherous ground!

So now I have to leave you because I’m working on another bear cushion and I’m dying to rinse out the cyanotype fabric that’s been developing on the windowsill all day. I’m sure it must be time for another coffee too.By the way, if you forgot to go to the shops for a Valentine card (although hand made is ALWAYS best) I’ve put some of my old card designs on a page entitled Free Things, so all you have to do is print one off (or all three if you have a hectic love life) and maybe add a few extra buttons or sparkle to make it your own. There, don’t say I never give you anything!

I will be taking all my new creations to this Vintage Fair in March and I’m really looking forward to it as a few very good friends will be there too. It would be great to see some of you there…

A Girl in Winter

We are a funny lot, us English folk,we moan about the weather constantly, especially in Winter,yet I can’t ever remember snow causing so much excitement and anticipation. There was such an accurate advance warning and since it was the weekend there seemed to be hardly any of the usual doom and gloom about stranded motorists and travel chaos.Exchanging pine cones and seaweed for Twitter and Radio4,I was able to work out that I had just enough time to dash in to Helmsley for the paper and a quick rummage in the charity shops before getting back exactly as the first flakes drifted half heartedly down.

I  do so love being snowed-in  and with everyone away I was all alone in my little fantasy world…perhaps those footprints belong to a bear? Perhaps I will jump on his back and fly East of the Sun and West of the Moon? This stone in the field reminded me of a scene in The Owl Service and if I lined myself up properly my house was perfectly framed in the circle. The rest of the time I sewed and listened to murder mysteries on the radio, read the papers and baked bread, feeling all the while that I NEED this. In the same way that some seeds need to be left out in the frost in order to germinate, or that some people need to give up booze for a month; snowed-in-ness is my January detox ( in February).

Part of my feeling of outrageous contentment comes from working on something which I am actually really proud of. This cushion was a special commission and the brief was so open that I wasn’t really looking forward to it. I had to make a cushion that would really be a piece of art, for someone who wasn’t allowed to hang paintings on their walls.

I couldn’t have wished for more perfect conditions to photograph my newly finished polar bear cushion and I’m so pleased with it, in all its recycled wool and soft pom-pom edged glory! Resting on a piece of lovely vintage linen I found in the charity shop (along with a huge bag of assorted lace, tapestry wool and teddy bear fur) I think it sums up all that I love about Winter and also put me in mind of some beautiful mood boards and photoshoots by What Katy Did Next and Vicky Trainor,as well as Issue 43 of Selvedge Magazine.

I must leave you now as I’m supposed to be trying to make stock for this fair in March and I already have two new bear cushions waiting for their embroidery details,as well as a pile of purses and prints to finish. I hope you enjoyed the snow, if any landed near you, and I wish you a very happy new week from Witchmountain.

Reading:- The last chapter of “IQ84 ” Haruki Murakami  Listening To:- ” New Blood” Peter Gabriel, ” Odelay” Beck. Singing:- “Oh England, My Lionheart” Kate Bush (because I can when I’m alone!).

Happy Wedding Anniversary this week to the Tillyer parents, inspirational, unusual and generally wonderful.

 

“We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden…” or Life Outside The Window

I woke up this morning and peered with bleary eyes at my phone screen thinking, “that’s funny Millican must have taken a picture from the exact same spot as me” before realising that it WAS my photograph and that they had included several of my Lakeland shots in their lovely blog. I’m very flattered, especially as “Dave the Rucksack” is an essential part of my adventures.

So I leapt out of bed in a good mood; improved further by the glorious frosty sunshine and the prospect of a new commission to begin, as well as more polar bear bags to make. I forced myself to turn my back to the window, like the Lady of Shallot, and get down to work…

Working from home is such a luxury…endless supplies of coffee, the ability to spend much of the day in pyjamas ,or wearing a giraffe-antler hairband, the freedom to shout at, or sing along with, the radio; and of course I am very lucky to live and work where I do- a little piece of heaven.

So, I turned my back on the sunny outdoors…for a while.The entire time I was being watched ,by a pair of accusing eyes, they told me to make the most of the beautiful day, sewing can wait until dark and ,more to the point, the lonely chicken and enormous cat were going to eat each other if I didn’t provide something else.

So, there is a downside to working from home, the fact that it is almost impossible to concentrate for long periods of time without getting distracted by the washing up, the stove refusing to light, the conversations on Facebook and ultimately the view through the window of a hill that needs climbing.I laced up my boots and raced to the top of Hawnby Hill ; do you blame me?

It really is time to get on with things now ,so I will leave you with a little bragging about my baby brother. York sent me a copy, yesterday, of the new Delux Edition of Peter Gabriel’s “New Blood” which he took all the pictures for.I’ve really enjoyed listening to it today ( and showing off to anyone who’ll look/listen!) .

Oh, I also had a mention on Lynn Holland’s blog today, after she bought some of my baby shoes for her nephew, so all in all, its been a lovely day.I hope yours was too. x

Cailleach

Well its been a funny old day on the mountain today,starting with a grumpy message from an Etsy group who are kicking people out for not being “active” enough.Excuse me? Isn’t it the creating that’s the point? Aren’t people’s real lives more important than forums and chatrooms? Networking and promoting are very important but its no good if you end up with nothing to promote because the studio has been forsaken for the “office”.

Ok, I’m feeling argumentative but I’ll snap out of it; because I know you only really want to know if you’ve won a polar bear bag! Well, I’m writing this at 11.30 pm so I won’t be picking a winner until I get to the end of the page but I would like to thank you all for entering and I wish I could send one to everybody who left a comment; it really does mean a lot you know.

Today I’ve celebrated the first of February ( Imbolc) by eating alot of chocolate cake with red sugar sprinkle icing and running ( yes running)  to the postbox with booking forms and birthday cards. It is said that if the weather is fine and sunny on Imbolc ,the Cailleach can gather her firewood and therefore intends to make winter last longer! Its been a clear and frosty day here so I’m glad the logman came last week. I also listed some of my little khadi paper prints on Etsy today and searched the hedgerows for bird’s nests . I have become sightly obsessed with the imagery of abandoned nests in winter trees…

Now I’d like to congratulate OLIVE whose name I have just picked from a pink cereal bowl. Your polar bear will be on his way to you just as soon as you message me with your address. If you missed out you may like to know that they will be in the shop later in the week.

Thank you again. I’m off to bed now, I have an appointment with Haruki Murakami and an electric blanket!