"I begin with an idea ... and then it becomes something else"
~ Picasso

Thursday 29 March 2012

a day with friends

along with the rest of the country
St. Ives has been enjoying a week of glorious sunshine
the most wonderful blue skies and very warm spring breezes

Sunday sunshine
this was the view as I walked down to St. Ives
to meet Andrea, a blog friend from Switzerland
and my friend Lesley from Art Space

Andrea last came to St. Ives five years ago
but always had a yearning to return as soon as possible
and so she planned her trip to coincide with my exhibition
and the opportunity to meet up with Lesley and myself

we had lunch at Ocean Grill overlooking the harbour
some yummy butternut squash and coconut soup … slurp ;o)

Lesley gave me this beautiful oil painting of a beach scene
in our fave St. Ives blues and wintry greys
I am delighted with it as I love St. Ives all year round
and sometimes in winter I love it the most

"wintry sea and break in the clouds"

it was a very low tide so after lunch we did
some beachcombing ... you know ... any chance I get ;o)

Andrea and Lesley

while the girls were going the long way around the beach streams
I just waded right in and up close to the pier

I'm really drawn to this pier at the moment
(the lifeboat launch pier)

with it's gently worn steps
full of character

the pier walls are covered in mussel shells
some of which were dark red and brown

alive alive o



and there were some pretty interesting barnacles too



we explored rock pools



and admired the diversity of natural colour
to be found in the little pools of sea water

I found a pink shell for Andrea

and some very interesting bits and bobs
but my most interesting find was this ...


can

you

guess

what

it

is

yet?

yes ... it's a roll of brown parcel tape
sea washed ... in and out with the tide
with wonderful peely bits

that I most probably will use to add texture in paintings
... the rest of my finds I will save for another day

later we watched these cute little sea birds
scampering about on the rocks
a nice end to a lovely day with friends

either side of my "day off" I worked on new art cards
which I took down to the exhibition on Tuesday
(and which ends on Saturday morning - 31 March)

and I made some new textile art hearts

this heart is a harp back to my global warming work
and represents melting polar ice and rising sea levels
which is a theme that still interests me enormously

melted textured chiffons (shimmering water)
were layered over white fur (melting ice)

an attempt to stitch the polar ice caps back together again

although a delicate subject matter
I've prettied it up with soft aqua and turquoise watery tones

decorated with free motion machine stitching
and a little hand stitching
it's scattered with seed beads and finished with
a beaded dangly with silver coloured fish charm

shimmering
my online etsy shop
will open again on Sunday 1st April

and this shimmering heart will be available
along with four other new heart designs
lots of new beads, art cards, prints and
my newest collaged and stitched pictures
(original artwork)

thank you for visiting
may I wish you a wonderful weekend coming up
enjoy the continued sunshine
Carolyn x


*****

hello to Francesca and Mum who came all the way from Bude to see our work. I'll talk about the new project we discussed in a separate post quite soon and will probably start showing that work from 1st May as have other things to share first. That will give you time to get your books together and think of themes

*****

hello and big thanks to Lesley's mum for the lovely bits and bobs

*****

hello to Gilli and thanks for showing so much interest in my Brooklyn Sketchbook Projects
- will be showing my book for 2012 quite soon

*****

and huge thanks for all the lovely comments here
on my blog and emails - thank you x

25 comments:

Ruth said...

I love barnacles and that tape is quite the find! It's amazing that the sea can turn almost anything into something interesting.

gunnelsvensson said...

Wonderful! I love these images!

Pat said...

I enjoyed your quilts, shame our weather wasn't quite as good last week.

Julie said...

Fabulous tape to play with and your photo of its edges filled with sand is fabulous and very intriguing. Lelsey's painting is beautiful and full of movement and your heart is very pretty (and your real heart too xx) I'm looking foward to your new projects. xx

Dottie said...

I cheated and came to your blog to find out what it was!!! Hehehe... roll of tape, who would guess that?

Jensters said...

Wow what a special time Carolyn and the painting is amazing along with your finds....just a little over a month now before i reach your neck of the woods :}

Peggy said...

can't wait to see what you do with that tape.

sea-blue-sky & abstracts said...

Lovely to see this pictorial record of our day Carolyn - you've captured everything and more! Seeing the flock of Turnstones as we left the beach was the icing on the cake. It was great to spend some time together and to meet Andrea too - so pleased that she had such good weather for her visit. (Well, we ordered it specially, didn't we?). x

sea-blue-sky & abstracts said...

PS And the heart is lovely! x

Diane said...

This is just why I love you Carolyn. You make me LONG to be with you all. T'will be early August this year if you can make it girlies. xxxx

Corrine said...

Idyllic day and those barnacles are enchanting, I wanted little faces to peep out. Wonderful blue heart. xox Corrine

Lynn Cohen said...

1. The soup sounded devine!
2. the photos per usual leave me wanting to make air travel reservations.
3. the art piece is as delicious as 1. and 2.

CJ STITCHING AND BLOOMS said...

Hello Carolyn, WOW what a glorious Sunday you had to walk on the beach. Loved seeing your tulips blooming. Your friends were so lovely to come and visit and go beach combing with you.. Your beach scene oil painting is gorgeous. Somehow when I looked at your beautiful beach I could imagine myself there too. VBG Your beach finding are lovely. Such a glorious place you live. thanks for sharing. Hugs judy

Lynette (NZ) said...

I can see an embroidery waiting to happen in that photo of the green barnacles. Another lovely inspiring post

Flotsam said...

Ah, hasn't it been grand the last week? This weather certainly beats those winter blues away.

I like your photographs of the sea-life. I have a photo of the mussels on the lifeboat launch pier. They have grown into the shape of the Roman numerals carved into the stone.

Caterina Giglio said...

I never met a beach that I didn't like and yours is just fabulous... what great finds and how nice to be out with friends.. xox

Carol Rigby said...

What beautiful pictures. I especially like the ones of the barnacals. How lucky you are to live in such a beautiful place. I hope the weather is as good when I visit cornwall in the summer.

Caroline said...

What a treat it always is to visit Cornwall via your blog, Carolyn! Thank you for a lovely day in St Ives! Your fabric heart is beautiful too!

stephanie said...

beautiful images and heart, we have had some wonderful weather havent we! your images are inspiring as always!

Andrea said...

Oh Carolyn!!! Thank you so much for this wonderful post! I LOVED to meet you in St.Ives! You are a true inspiration, I LOVE your work, it impressed my so much!!! Thank you for your friendship, this means a lot to me! I will show my pictures about my stay next week on my blog! My heart is full of love!
Andrea

Andrea said...

It was WONDERFUL! PURE MAGIC to mee and such a pleasure to meet you Lesley and Carolyn in real!

I loved the walks and the discussions and the cafés on the beach with you.
I am so happy that my dream came true!
My heart is jumping all around- and I have a big big smile on my face!

Clare Wassermann said...

A totally exquisite post. I'm coming to Cornwall on Thursday and you have really set the scene xxx

Barb Cady said...

I agree a fabulous post, you really capture the spirit of St Ives with your photographs, and you have such an eye for what photo to take! I am such a huge fan of yours, you always inspire. Hope you have a sunny Sunday! xx ps Love the heart!

Anne said...

Beautiful!! Lovely blog ~ I'm now following! So nice to "meet" you!
Best,
Anne ♥♥

Gilly said...

I loved reading your blog, which I found via Lesley's. Your visit to the seaside looked wonderful, and so un-March-like! And I admired your photos of the mussels and the barnacles very much indeed - just the sort of photo I love taking! As for the parcel tape - never thought such a mundane object would end up looking almost like a flattened wasp next!

Wonderful blog!