“A Heart Needs a Home”

I can’t believe its the weekend again already…does time speed up as you get older? Even the children have noticed it!  Anyway, time to take stock , work out what I’ve actually achieved and the plan of attack for next week …

At least I got those pieces to the framer yesterday, and on the way back picked up a cheque for the one I sold at the Saltbox ( goodness knows I need the money but I almost want to frame it just to prove I actually sold something in a gallery!!).

These two drawings are things I did for the Gocco printer and although I haven’t tried to print it yet, I have burned the screen for the bear one and it seems to have worked perfectly…I think we’ve cracked it! Such a shame that Gocco supplies aren’t easily available and affordable.

I found out last night , while browsing about the internet, that the artist Rob Ryan has an exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, until early next year. I’ve never been there ( hey, Yorkshire is a BIG county and Witchmountain is in the North Riding) but may have to plan a trip ,as having visited his shop in Columbia Road (and seen some amazing paper dresses in Vogue a few years back), I’m a bit of a fan.

Home IS where the heart is….and a heart needs a home. x

( Reading: “About a Boy” Nick Hornby and “The True Deceiver” Tove Jansson. Listening to: ” Earth to the Dandy Warhols ” Dandy Warhols )

Something Wicked In The Woodshed…

Today I ventured out into the garden, its pretty overgrown, I’ve been neglecting things I’m afraid. The shed was dark and gloomy and in the corner in an old lawn mower grass box I discovered someone hiding… no, not this bear…my neighbour’s big red hen. She’d obviously been there some time because when I tipped her out ,about 20 eggs fell out too! I wasn’t going to risk eating them (we once found a big hen sitting on about 40 GREEN eggs ,down the side of the oil tank!! eugh!) but tomorrow I’ll have a look to see if there’s a fresh one to make a cake.

The cards I ordered from Moo arrived this morning and I’m really pleased with the quality and super fast service.I’ve got quite a stock of cards now, including the Gocco owls, which are all hand coloured and over printed with heat transfer and collage.

Right now I’m doing some pen and ink drawings for the Gocco ( fingers crossed they work….) and trying to make up for the lack of heating by baking bread and pies like a slightly flawed domestic goddess!

Thanks for reading. x

Bleak House

Driving in the dark; the black road is edged in orange and russet as the larch needles fall like snow.Its wild and windy and a catalogue of small disasters has made it a bit bleak up here on Witchmountain ( the heating has stopped working, the washing has blown away and Jake accidentally knocked over a bottle of water in my room so that it has actually been raining on me ,INDOORS, smudging my drawing and almost killing my poor old computer!!)I can’t stop eating toast either, I’m going to end up big as a house.

Apart from all that, my new Gocco stuff came the other day ,so tomorrow I’m going to have another go with a new design and some fabric inks…as well as continuing to play with the old heat transfer dyes. This bird is a little doodle I’m going to try out tomorrow as well…that’s if I can brave the freezing house and don’t get tempted to stay snuggled up with Tove Jannson. I’m watching for the postman too because my Moo cards should be arriving soon….

( Reading “Who Will Comfort Toffle?” Tove Jansson. Listening to: the wind)

Little Pearls

Last night I nearly ran into an owl sitting in the middle of the road in the thick fog…he was lovely, with giant eyes and he didn’t move but just gave me a look as if to say “please dim your lights I’m very busy hunting for my supper”. November is grey, green and rusty brown; everything seems to be covered in spider’s webs and little pearls.

My Gocco owl prints needed jazzing up a bit so I added a bit of heat transfer,water colour and random bits of collage.Maybe I’ll be able to sell a few at the Christmas Extravaganza in Osmotherley Village Hall on December 6th if Lindsey will let me share her stand.

Since I last wrote I’ve been having another look at Holly Flanagan’s blog and  Facebook group, discovering her fantastic success since leaving CCAD. She’s designing for Hugo Boss and meeting all sorts of famous artists and designers so HURRAY for a Textiles and Surface Design success story!! I think she might be at the next Designers Marketplace in Middlesbrough so grab a bargain before she gets too famous!

( Reading: last weeks Guardian!   Listening to: Dandy Warhols )

 

” Why must she see owls and not flowers?…”

Heavy rain and multi-coloured carpets of fallen leaves and berries; the water at my house is undrinkable again, resembling watered down beer. On Sunday night I stood in the garden and watched the almost full moon racing through the clouds at a dizzying speed; concentrating hard to see the real picture…the moon moves slowly like an hour hand, while the clouds fly at break neck speed, and I stay still.

Anyway, enough ramblings, I’m writing to report my first Gocco success!! Annoyingly the design was a bit rushed and I’m kicking myself for not taking more care but it seems to be that you have to draw on the shiny side of the paper (thats the only thing I did differently).Unfortunately this is like drawing on waxed paper with a felt pen…there must be another way?

Here is a picture of Lindsey Murray, manning her stall at the Guild Hall last Saturday.We had a funny day, the event was a strange mixture of craft, bric-a-brack and knock off handbags (!) but was a learning curve. I think we learned that it is important to pitch your product to the right market so I’m hoping to work towards getting a stand at the next Designers Marketplace.

Now I’m going to have a look at my new book “Illustration Play -Craving For The Extraodinary” Viction:ary 2003, which just arrived today and is full of inspiring images of contemporary illustration such as collage, embroidery and amazing 3d paper cutting.Time for another log on the stove, there’s a chill in the air.

x

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.

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

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

Bookish

No new work to show you today as I’m working on designs for New Leaf…or I will be when I’ve browsed about the WorldWideWeb looking at a variety of lovliness on my favorite blogs.

I decided to stack up all ( or most) of the books I had read in the last few months; then on the radio it said that today is “Super Thursday” which is the day when more books are published than any other.Anyway, thank goodness for  Jansson, Murakami, McEwen  et al. for  making my nights a little less lonely. I LOVE BOOKS.

So, October is here but the garden is still clinging to summer. Yesterday all my winter fuel was delivered so now I’m ready for winter, bring it on! My Gocco Printer has been ordered so I can’t wait for it to arrive from Japan; a winter of printmaking and drinking strong coffee by the stove.

Time to get a bit of air before some more sewing.