seed head rambles and Mousehole collages

December has been a very good month ... very full of doings and busy-ness

so busy I didn't get time to write here till now ...

it began with a print making session at St. Ives Textiles on 1st December

 at Porthmeor Studios, St. Ives

all working together with the theme of seeds and seed heads | pods

 quite soon I will be updating the St. Ives Textiles website

with more about our printmaking sessions and lots of photos

meanwhile here is a little inspiration seen outside Tate St. Ives on the way home

love that little tiny frosted spider's web there

images that I will play with further using photoshop and image transfer techniques

looking forward to this early in the new year

meanwhile ... I've been gathering for the theme and considering colours

and at a workshop in Newlyn I began working on this ...

 a mixed media collage on canvas

with vintage papers and images layered up

with 3D texture and details

the vintage papers have been coloured with water colours and inks

texture paste added through a flower | seed head stencil

then I've added the faux silk flower, real seed pods and the twiggy border

still to be added ... some stitched elements which I will do off canvas and attach

so will show again in the new year when work begins in earnest for

the St. Ives Textiles show in September 2015

other playful things going here are ...

working on textured backgrounds for stitch

using lutradur scrim gesso and tyvek painted with golden acrylics

again ... small samples ... which will be further enhanced when stitched

and then generally having fun with gesso on stamps to create texture on sketchbook pages ...

on 6th December ... another workshop

working with vintage papers to create a spiral bound book

I chose to use a winter berries theme for mine

almost finished ... but had to stop because we've had lots of work going on at the house

(scaffolding erected so the roof could be cleaned of moss and lichen, new fascias soffits
gutters and down pipes fitted and the outside of the house

throughout the early part of December we were additionally busy

with family and friends coming down to stay with us ... which was really lovely

I'd sprinkled snowflakes all around

so it was looking quite pretty indoors, even if it wasn't cold enough to snow outside

and on that particular day that I took these photos

St. Michael's Mount looked so majestic rising out of the clouds

here I've dabbled with some painterly textures on the images I took through the bedroom window

and another ...

with snow added (artistic licence)

and, looking back, I'm not quite sure how I managed it ...

but I made some collages from old cards

this one reminded me of Mousehole (the gap)

xxx

and that's it for today ...

thank you always for making it down to the bottom of the post

and for all your very kind comments always
thank you for visiting

with best wishes

Carolyn x