“Sing Me To Sleep”

Here I am shivering by the stove as if it were still winter; frost and hail outside battering my newly emerging seedlings. Oh well,it doesn’t take much to keep me snuggled on my kitchen bench, I’m thinking I need a live-in personal trainer to make me do exercise…or at least keep me awake!

Here are some random doodles from my late night sketchbook, playing with the “Inktense” pencils I got for my birthday.

On Sunday I had a night in with 6Music and discovered this Gallery page linked to Guy Garvey’s show ; people send in artwork inspired by music played  that night. I love this idea because music is does have so much power to inspire and provoke emotion… I often wonder if there are people who get the same kind of “shiver down the spine” that you get from music by looking at a piece of art. Anyone?

Really, these computers are fantastic windows into the world, but they EAT YOUR TIME so I’m off to get inspired by some music ….or possibly just to make more coffee. Congratulations to all this years Textiles and Surface Design final year students who have just handed in their FMP’s, the degree show is at Hartlepool Gallery, Church Square from June 3rd-12th.

(Reading: “Taming The Black Dog” Patrick Ellverton Listening to: 6Music)

4,708 Miles West

Today I got down on my knees in the vegetable patch and searched for signs of life… I found microscopic beetroots and tiny spinach seedlings. It’ll be a long time before a meal can be made from that crop! We had a lovely evening walk and came across a woodpecker’s nest full of screeching babies, some tiny pink flowers I’d never seen before (must look them up) and a gamekeeper who invited me to his wedding.

I’m enjoying just randomly doodling in my sketchbook at the moment. The green cow parsley and flowers are a heat transfer sketch for a t-shirt and the page also includes fabric collage and stitch as well as bits of a map of Canada.The bear is a quick sketch of brown bear from Berlin Zoo which I saw on TinyHappy earlier in the week. ( I’m not sure how I feel about zoos though, bears need to be free I think)

Time to head up the apples and pears now and read a bit more of “Atonement”.Don’t forget its CCAD‘s degree shows (including Textiles and Surface Design at Hartlepool) next week; opening night is the 4th of June.

Motivation Radio

These are some thoughts from Witchmountain, as the year comes nearly full circle and I’ve been writing for almost a year…

“When all else fails ” we must go and work in the garden” ( “Candide” Voltaire)

“( for if you’re not afraid how can you be really brave?)” ” The Exploits of Moominpapa” Tove Jansson.

So I just wanted to say…Good Luck to all those final year students at CCAD.Don’t stress too much over Easter!From what I’ve seen this looks like being a vintage year and I’m looking forward to the Degree show in June (?) although I’m a bit worried about the competition! Have a look at their blogs and see what you think.

( sorry if I missed some out, but follow the links on those pages for more CCAD talent!)

Anyway, these drawings are part of something I did in first year when we were asked to illustrate a song or poem using the techniques we had learned that year (collage, heat transfer, stencil, cutwork, stitch and watercolour, amongst others). The song was by John Martyn ( “Fern In The Spring” -I’m not sure if thats the official title…)and those in the know will understand why I chose to post it now.’Nuff said.

Take care everyone and by the way Louise Broomhead and Melissa at TinyHappy are both offering fantastic giveaways on their blogs so get there quick. I’m going to do something similar towards the end of the month to celebrate a year of Witchmountain ( just need to decide what to giveaway…)

Flowers

 
Hello, since I have no more images of recent work at the moment, here are some flowers I painted in first year as part of Visual Studies. We were told to use two different styles to depict the same subject, so one is thick, drippy acrylic and the other is water colour,and really thinned down acrylic.For me it was the first time I’d tried to paint on a large scale(A1) and using media I don’t normally use so I was surprised and pleased by the end result.
I have to confess I’ve been feeling a bit gloomy this week (see Lyndsay McBean’s blog for notes on negativity!) We started producing the degree show catalogue and it’s hard to imagine how it will look when its done…hand printed on waste board with “show cards” for each student.It could look fantastic and very original,I hope so because its got to reflect the hard work we’ve all put in and the fundraising we all did to pay for it.I think I’ve been really worrying about the “What Next?” thing too, but this weekend I’ve been sorting out business cards and thinking about who I can send cv’s to.There is a temporary job at “Oilily” which I would LOVE, its my dream job, but its in the Netherlands…I will send a cv anyway but would have to leave the kids home alone with 6months supply of Pot Noodles or something!! No harm in dreaming though.

Thursday ( Beltaine)

 
Happy Beltaine. Now it really must be spring although I’ve been so busy with college work I totally forgot to light a huge bonfire and dance about in the garden!
Well, Its already Thursday and I’m here in Hartlepool doing a bit of embroidery and computer work. There really is so much to do. Everybody seems to be getting some lovely work done and I’m quite looking forward to seeing it all at the Degree Show which is at Hartlepool Art Gallery from June 5th. Then we all go down to London for New Designers at the beginning of July.

Talking of exhibitions I should mention that Jane Thorniley-Walker from Osmotherley is showing some of her new paintings at Mount Grace Priory this month.Go and have a look if you’re in the area …the Priory isn’t bad either.