Winter Light

Strange to think that in less than a week’s time it will be Midwinter and slowly, slowly the sun will start to return and the days will get longer. I’ve been thinking a lot about that strange and magical few weeks last winter and wondering at the rose tint of time that makes it all seem so romantic. The sun has been shining today and the sky is duck egg blue and vanilla, threatening an icy night ahead.

I’ve been drinking a lot of green tea this week and haven’t yet checked if it has caffeine in it…could this be why I was reading till 3am last night and then up at 7? Its 3pm now and after a day of cleaning, printing, wrapping, cooking and general sorting, I’m so sleepy I need to have a little snooze before going to yoga tonight or I will fall over. “Goodness” I hear you mumble, “whatever happened to the whiskey drinking, coffee brewing couch potato we knew so well? Green tea? Yoga?!” , well don’t worry, my default setting is still “cozy by the fire” .

I’ve been invited to a little vintage style coffee morning at the lovely Vicky Trainor’s tomorrow and we were all asked to bring a tree decoration to swap in a kind of Lucky Dip. I got carried away last night making this owly thing which looks like stained glass when you hold it up to the light, its a bit mad, I hope whoever gets it is pleased!

So much has been happening, what with the various giveaways and projects I’ve been taking part in, but the most exciting so far was my visit to The Dutch House, where Cecile agreed to take lots of my work. It is such a lovely place, I only wish it was closer, I’d be there all the time eating pancakes and wandering in the gardens. I’ve been offered a solo exhibition there next year and the chance to run some workshops! So this is very good news and I am now binging on Dutch Speculaas biscuits and wondering what kind of workshop I could run…

This news , as well as some lovely write ups, including this from Tiffany of the Curiosity Project , have given me plenty to think about as I plan how to keep the wolf from the door in 2012. Oh, that reminds me, I wanted to tell you all about the monster in the skirting boards , a terrifying game of hide and seek in a deserted building and the joy of being able to swim underwater…but maybe another time, I feel a nap coming on!

Meanwhile, here is a plug for my fabulous brother who has been involved in the photography for this beautiful Deluxe edition of Peter Gabriel’s new album, I’m very proud ( but where’s my copy York?!)

Who Killed Cock Robin?

December and right on cue the first snowflakes, icy roads and a dead robin on the doorstep- a gift from the cat or victim of a fight over the fat balls? Its been another busy weekend, with a surprise visit from Sara,a day at  Designer’s Marketplace and a friend’s dog to look after( the cat was not impressed and may have been attention seeking with the bird murder) . We also managed to squeeze in an eventful evening “down the pub” where it all nearly degenerated into a massive brawl when the singer fell out with the locals and the feeling was mutual. Rural Yorkshire life, you can’t beat it!

I spent Friday frantically baking mince pies and doing some last minute sewing ready for Saturday’s market. It was great to have Sara home to help me and it was certainly loads better than last year when the snow sent us all home early. You can see some photographs here, see if you can spot me and my mince pies! As usual the highlight was seeing some old friends and meeting some new ones, seeing all the other work on show and watching Its a Wonderful Life projected on a big screen; one day I must watch it properly, without sound it looked quite worrying! Anyway, the pies and free Port went down a treat and I had enough sales to cover the day so I’m happy enough. Thank you to every one who came.

Now, here’s a thing, this owl wallet has been the most popular item I’ve ever listed on Etsy, with 74 admirers and 7 treasury lists, yet no one has bought it! Today I listed a similar one and it sold withing the hour, bizarre. Anyway, now one lucky person is going to get it for free as I’m collaborating with Matchstick Molly in her “12 Days of Christmas Giveaway” . If anyone knows the secret of this design’s popularity, I’d love to know ( and how to translate that into sales). Meanwhile I flit from one style to another and my current cyanotype obsession continues.

So today I have:- listed new things on both Etsy and Folksy, baked a cake, walked through soggy, spongy birch woods with a Cairn terrier and enjoyed spending time with my lovely children, just relaxing and watching Frozen Planet. I’m really looking forward to concentrating on my Sketchbook Project now and thinking up some new plans of attack for the year 2012. I’m thinking maybe upmarket is the way to go.During hard times it seems that the rich stay rich while normal people tighten their belts and bear the brunt of the enforced austerity. So while some people are worrying about “How to Spend It “others are trawling charity shops and wondering whether to spend £12 on an owl wallet or save it to pay the supermarket bill… just a thought before I make another mug of chai and enjoy the last half hour of Guy Garvey flat out on my new yoga mat, (in the sleeping like a log pose).

May your December be cozy and prosperous and full of love. x

Listening to:- Guy Garvey’s Finest Hour on 6Music ( Doves “Sea Song” and Hilli with Lee Hazelwood “At the Top of the World”) Reading:- Mollie Makes and yesterday’s Guardian.

 

Drawing and Dreaming

Well its been an eventful few days. My wish came true and the fog was blown away by gales ; which also blew away chunks of peeling paint and bits of the window frames. Its ok, no real damage and anyway, the insides of the windows are all neat and freshly painted…you can’t even tell which bits are actually held together with scrumpled up Guardian newspapers and wood filler.

This weekend I helped Kev and Viv of ArtVanGo set up and take down, their stand at the Knitting &Stitching Show in Harrogate.It was hard work but even harder work resisting the urge to buy one of everything.Mountains of pristine sketchbooks and papers, racks of paints and dyes the colour of precious jewels, bottles of mysterious potions and brand new virgin silk screens. ArtVanGo also run a stand called Artists in Action where you can see …erm….artists in action, and talk to them about techniques, materials and so on. I was sorry to miss Dionne Swift ( who got me the job), but I did meet Ruth Issett who was demonstrating mixed media techniques ( here is a video from a previous year ) and who has written quite a few books on the subject. Jill Flower was another artist who specialises in textile applications on paper, making intricate lacey pieces inspired by Elizabethan ruffs.

Well, I was tempted in to buying the new issue of Selvedge Magazine , mostly because the cover fitted so perfectly with my idealised vision of Witchmountain, I would love to swan about in vintage lace and cozy wool with my pack of huskies and a few tame polar bears, before returning to my roaring fire to drink brandy coffee and eat turkish delight…oh hang on… I AM sitting by a roaring fire, drinking coffee and obviously when I next look in the mirror I’ll look just like the model in the pictures!

So, I’ve also been busy with this year’s Sketchbook Project and really enjoying using a combination of pen and ink with cyanotype.The subject is “Tears and Fears” but I’m being quite vague about it. I wish I had been able to afford some of those lovely inks and things from ArtVanGo but to be honest I don’t know what half of then are for! My other treat was a pack of inkjet printable cotton which will be used for making some more little wallets, probably, and a skein of beautiful orange wool which I’m trying to knit yoga socks with!!! ( no pattern and little patience)

Now I must leave you to do something productive, it is hard to set my mind to one task and tempting to go outside and do some strimming while the weather holds. This time last year I was snowed in, I feel quite nostalgic for those sparkly days of ice and isolation.

I’m sure there was more I wanted to tell you but it really is time to make more coffee and set up the sewing machine. Oh, but I just wondered, what is Cyber Monday?

Tumbleweed and Too Much Coffee

A blustery Autumnal day on Witchmountain and I find myself in my usual position, mug in hand, stove ablaze, deep in thought. Today I have good intentions to turn over a new leaf regarding butter, caffeine, exercise and positive thinking. Ok, so the mug is full of coffee and I only walked a hundred yards down the road before I realised I’d forgotten the egg money and had to turn back, but I will go later ( honestly) and on the positive side no butter has been consumed!

The garden still has some delicate late colour to cheer me up as I wonder how the “lawn” became a jungle and why the strawberries have decided to flower again just as the first real frosts meant I needed to de-ice the car on Saturday morning…
Saturday morning was the day of Designer’s Marketplace in Newcastle, and also a day of glorious sunshine , the most perfect an October day can get. We managed to get to the Holy Biscuit in plenty of time to set up and the drive only slightly terrified me ( multi- lane roundabouts are a shock after the moors where you only have to avoid aggressive 4×4 drivers,over excited sheep and panic stricken pheasants) .

Now I’m torn between bigging the whole thing up or telling it as it is because I think its more useful and honest? I mean, I think it is easy to be mislead by what you see on the internet, we are all  trying to sell ourselves as best we can and while I do write this blog in order to promote what I do and hopefully get work from it, I also write because I want to be open about the pitfalls, struggles, highs and lows of trying to make a living out of creativity. So, the truth is … it was deadly quiet and if I’d been a politician I’d have lost my deposit, even my “Bargain Box” in aid of Shelterbox  wasn’t going to save the day.Was it the weather, the entrance fee, the location? At least everyone was quiet , not just me, but that makes it even harder to judge myself objectively.On the plus side it was fantastic to meet the other stall holders, talk shop and eat cake. I was particularly impressed with Vicky Trainor’s work; she was one of my tutors at college and her vintage inspired cards and beautiful wedding favours must take her hours to put together, prompting me to question yet again how handmade work is valued and priced…

Have a look at this stunning set of wedding photos from Vicky’s blog. They look like stills from a film and I think I may have to make more of an effort with my personal grooming!!

Here are some of my newest offerings; a small wooden box with canvass lid and some new wallet designs derived from it. I’ll be listing them on Etsy and Folksy later and I’m thinking of making up some as sewing kits too. What do you think?

Now, I really must put this computer down as its burning my knees,I’ve already dropped butternut squash pate on it and I must try to run about a bit before darkness falls.

 

 

September Song

The first day of September is tomorrow ,today it’s windy and grey and my mood seems to have plummeted with the temperature. I’m listening to a radio programne about employment/recruitment and education which is confirming all my thoughts and fears at the moment. My lovely part time job in Helmsley Walled Garden Cafe ends in a few weeks, as the gardens close for winter, so I’m job hunting while the house slowly fills with framed art work and tiny owls and bears!

I have also been guilty of extreme naivety when it comes to “saving for my children’s education”, firstly because I had nothing to save and secondly because I truly believed that in this country education was a right not a privilege and that low income families would be supported in their decision to encourage continuing education. So, it has come as a shock as I count up the cost of even sending Jake to school let alone funding( with huge help from other family members) Sara’s college living costs. Like Simon Murphy in Saturday’s Guardian, I believe in the importance of learning for its own sake “choosing mind over money” and hoping that my children take full advantage of their education and end up in a better position than me! Meanwhile Jake looks like he may be ok if he can knock up this crazy recycled- bucket- sound system for ipod/mobile phone, in one afternoon .

So, Its time to put the coffee pot on the stove and get out some real paper for writing a letter to Sara, her room in Leicester feels like being in a boat because the canal is right outside the window, with a view over the park. I’m really hoping she loves her course and also wish all the new students starting out this year the very best of luck; I wish I could do it all again!

I’ll leave you with these scenes of purple and green and hope the coffee gives me a burst of energy to do something creative.

Reading : “The Summer of the Bear” by Bella Pollen

Nesting

Its a beautiful day on Witchmountain but along with the honey scent of heather it smells like the end of summer. I’ve got that strange nesting feeling; preparing for hibernation by painting rotting window frames, ordering logs and washing blankets! I’ve been having problems uploading pictures to WordPress this week so I’m writing this blind, hoping the picture above is of the little grey tractor at Westwood Studios and the one below of a surprise parcel that arrived in the post a few weeks back…

Karen Syms of the Tiny Gallery had posted some things back to me and in a separate parcel there was a little stripey lavender bag, hand knitted and deliciously scented. Its been under my pillow ever since as proof that kindness and generosity do exist and that a little something in the post can make someone’s day!

So, I’m on a mission at the moment to sort out my nest, organize all the junk and look at life more positively. I think its all been prompted by the fact that my lovely daughter is leaving home this weekend , to do an art course in Leicester, and we’ve had a massive clear-out of “stuff” in the process of packing.”Fresh fields and pastures new” as the Wombles once said! Its going to be very empty here but hopefully an exciting new start for Sara.

Its been a nightmare writing this, changing from Firefox to Safari, losing pictures, losing the whole lot when Safari “unexpectedly quit”  I’m going to sign off for now and apologise for my poor offerings. Hopefully I will discover the answer to all my technical difficulties, but until then I’m off to do some real work and maybe make a drop more coffee. 

Reading: “The Owl Service” Alan Garner ( again) Listening To: Samuel Yirga ………What are you reading?

Yorkshire Grit and Owl Obsessions

Yorkshire gritstone at Rylstone

I love North Yorkshire! Ok, so right now its pouring with rain and chilly as October, but just look what it was like on Sunday! These stones are at Rylstone in The Yorkshire Dales, where I was made to trudge for the good of my health, carrying a huge, heavy climbing rope tied to my back like a pack horse. I complained quite a bit about the lack of flasks of coffee/whisky/piggy-backs etc. but have to admit was worth it when I got to the top. Its an amazing place and definitely lifts the spirits, although I bet it can be a really eerie place too, like something out of “Hound of the Baskervilles”.

View from the summit cross towards Cracoe Memorial

My owl obsession continues and while I still have the borrowed owl I’ve been drawing late into the night, playing with the results on Photoshop and listening to “Gormenghast”. The owl did actually spike me with its talon and draw blood which was upsetting- if I suddenly get a taste for mice and sitting up trees I will be worried!

Photoshop design from original drawings

While the sun shone yesterday I photographed some new owl necklaces which I’ll probably be taking to Art in the Shed on bank holiday weekend to sell in aid of Street Child Africa. I’m particularly fond of the little orange owl who was based on the wonderful Arts and Crafts design by Voysey.

I think they look happy on this velvet devoré notebook which I was given as a birthday present years ago. It contains a kind of scrapbook of all my favorite recipes and was made by Dionne Swift. She recently held an exhibition and some workshops at Rural Arts in Thirsk; her work is  really lovely and almost impossible to resist touching!

Anyway, the lovely dusty,buttery colour seems to be everywhere at the moment and it reminds me of Wiltshire again and the mysterious corn circles that appear at this time of year.

Almost time for coffee and perhaps a trip to the shed to get some logs, its probably warmer outside but I don’t need much persuading to get cozy! I hope summer is still feeling summery where you are; keep your fingers crossed I don’t turn in to an owl or it might be necessary to move here!

Sara wants us to go on holiday here next year!

 

 

Verdant

I seem to have caught a cold, which has been a perfect excuse to light the stove and bake comfort food, while messing about on Photoshop with a doodle I did in Wiltshire. Actually, on Sunday I was taken on a magical mystery trip which involved driving over the Yorkshire Wolds, which are quite foreign to me. The landscape there is similar to Wiltshire in many ways, big and yellow and so different to the North York Moors only a few miles away. The Moors here are just starting to turn purple while the grey sky throws buckets of rain over everything and the garden is starting to look a bit mad and overblown.

It’s lovely to fill the house with flowers ,still wet from the garden ,and cobble together meals from the vegetable patch. But today I made a sad discovery when I found Lola ( previously Nameless Chicken) stone cold dead on the chicken house floor, she was quite an old lady so I don’t suspect fowl play (oh dear !) . Now there is only  Evil Penguin left so I suppose I’d better start looking for some friends for her,anyone have any Buff Pekins for sale?

I’ve just driven back from the village through big puddles, dodging the toads and hedgehogs who seem to be holding some sort of street party. I was going to spend the evening drawing the owl, who I still have after the gallery day , but I think I’m going to retire to my nest with a book and some hot lemon and honey.

I managed to track down the photographs taken by the Northern Echo and thought I’d be very naughty and share them with you. I’m not sure if I will get done for breach of copyright; obviously as a designer/artist this is an important issue so If I’ve done wrong could somebody please let me know so I can remove them…

The next event “Art in the Shed”, is planned for August Bank Holiday in Osmotherley and will be in aid of Street Child Africa.Hopefully I will have got some more work framed by then and there’s bound to be some lovely cakes on offer too since Jane is organizing it!

Goodnight and Thank you for all the votes!  x

Reading: “Cloud Atlas” David Mitchel   ” Griffin And Sabine Trilogy” Nick Bantock.   Listening to : JuJu “In Trance” and news of riots in London on Radio4.

Big Skies and Rounded Hills

Brooch with Lavender filling, hand embroidery and hand painted bird.

I have returned to the wonderful North after a lovely week in the West Country. It was a relief to escape from the massive stress and anger caused by BT failing to mend my phone (and hence internet access) for almost two weeks. It couldn’t have happened at a worse time as I struggled to drum up support for the Meet the Artists/Shelterbox fundraiser. Anyway, after driving for 6 hours in sticky heat yesterday it was semi- orgasmic bliss to run around my damp Yorkshire garden in bare feet, gorging on wild strawberries and breathing in the glorious scent of freesias, lavender and sweet peas!

Caen Hill Locks, Divizes

It feels as though we spent a week in a kind of heat haze. Wiltshire was all big skies, Paul Nash rounded hills, yellow ocre and golden brown, with the sweet dusty smell of straw and ripe corn fields. Craving cool water, we visited Caen Hill Locks where blue dragonflies buzzed about and I mistook a man’s comment that he had “rode all the way from Bath” to mean he had come in a rowing boat…until the kids pointed out he was on a bike.

Indian Mime/Acrobats in the Children’s Field at WOMAD

So, WOMAD festival and Lacock Abbey were  the cultural highlights of our trip;  also,seeing a Red Kite near Avebury was very exciting and reminds me that you are probably only reading this to find out how the owl drawing competition went….!

The Cloisters at Lacock Abbey

The day at Golden Brown Coffee seems ages ago now and I would have written sooner if BT weren’t so hopeless…

Owl drawing in progress.

In the end we received some fantastic support from companies such as Millican and Greene King. People turned up ( !) and seemed to enjoy drawing the owl and having a go at shrink plastic necklace making. There was even a photographer from the local paper prepared to take our mug shots ( I haven’t seen the evidence yet though). I’m afraid I gave my dad a hard task ,picking the winner of the competition, and yes, maybe there should have been a kids and an adults class, but with one voucher donated by a local art shop I couldn’t split the prize…

Mr William Tillyer faces a difficult decision with a smile!

The winner was eventually decided (top left)and the most important bit being that we raised £130 for Shelterbox  . (We saw Shelterbox at WOMAD so it was good to see what actually goes into a box and have a look in the specially designed tents).Thank you to everyone who came, sold or bought raffle tickets or donated prizes.

Now I’m off to breathe in some more garden smells and get the bread out of the oven. x

ps: I’d love it if you would vote for my blog in the Dorset Cereals competition, (there is a button on the right of this page),thank you so much. xxx

“She wants to be flowers, but you make her owls…”

Little House under a Big Sky. I was in a bad mood the other day and actually had to go for a RUN across the fields and up the hill ,where I paused, gasping, to take this picture of my little house .It was looking a bit bleak and overshadowed by the electricity pole and a tortured Holly tree.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, my paper owl had built a nest in a box of wool and was waiting for me to print out a friend to keep him company in there. 3EyedBear are really very clever and generous, some of their free pdf files are blank so you can make your own designs.Thank you 3EyedBear.

I’ve been busily embroidering and beading the lapwing piece and dreaming of a thousand other things I want to make and do. The awful truth is though, unless I start to bring home some metaphorical bacon, I’m going to have to look for a full time job fairly soon… unless I can make my gallery/cafe/bookshop/studio dream come true. I can see it now… walls lined with books and beautiful artworks, wood-burning stove, saggy comfy chairs and a shining coffee machine. Books would have library tickets so that people could borrow them and I would provide wonderful packed lunches with homemade bread and flasks of coffee. The mugs would be these owls by Helen Stevens at Surface//Philia and  probably the roof beams would house a whole flock of paper birds.

Well, enough daydreaming. I must warm up my paws with more coffee and get some work done.

I hope you are living your dreams. x