winter days

 

thank you for bearing with me while I've been away from this space and my other online places

I've been taking a break from stuff online for a while because, as you may know, I was very ill

from August to December last year with an auto immune illness that made me feel terrible

 

I found it difficult to juggle online stuff, which didn't seem as important as trying to

keep up with things at home and I really needed to give myself time to rest and work things out

 

 

during my time away I read a lot about auto immune illness and my own rare one, in particular,

trying to discover why it should come along now and how I could learn to manage it without medication (after initial treatment with steroids) and other stress management techniques

 

I've had to re-educate my sleep patterns, change my diet completely, cut down on caffeine

and drink a lot more water.  These days I have to pace myself, take care in ultraviolet light and strong sunshine and generally re-think a lot of things.  I don't spend so much time on the computer now and certainly try to switch off much earlier in the evening

 

there is a stress in my life that I carry ... that I have to learn to come to terms with and live with ...

it's a hard thing to bear but I do my best each and every day and I am, essentially,

a very happy person seeing the good and looking for the beauty in life

 

 

recently I have been feeling ready to write in this space again

and share my projects and things I find beautiful and inspiring

 

as usual ... I weather watch from the window seat

always in awe of the power of the sea

 

 

I made a little video of huge waves crashing over the harbour wall
it's a little too large to share here but you can see it on my facebook page

wild waves

in December I visited Amanda Richardson's show at The Salthouse Gallery, St. Ives

 

Amanda Richardson is a Cornish textile artist

who hand dyes her own fabrics to create very detailed textile collages

of landscapes, seascapes, water, rocks and plants

 

 

there is no stitching on these textile collages except for when Amanda chooses to use stitches
to attach her finished pieces to a canvas, instead the pieces of fabric are intricately cut,
placed and applied to form the images

 

the details are amazing and very, very fine ... her work is inspiring

 

 

I also discovered Ben Hecht's beautiful encaustic mixed media paintings ...

 

Ben is a mixed media artist working with encaustic and wax, embedding geometry designs,

old maps, music boxes, antique clock pieces, gem stones and fossils into his art

 

 

if you are inspired by nature and the natural world I am sure you will enjoy watching

Ben's video series and want to find out more about his work

 

Ben Hecht - Mixed Media Artist

there is much to look forward to ... coming up this year   I've already begun work for a textile show at St. Ives Arts Club at the end of July it will run for 2 weeks from 23 July to 5 August 2016 (it replaces the show I was due to do in November last year) more on that as work progresses ...   before that ... I'm taking part in "Stitch St. Ives" a supplies show at The Island Centre, St. Ives, Cornwall Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 March 2016 where I will have my own hand dyed fabrics, artisan beads, textile texture packs inspiration packs and vintage collage packs  

 I'm using the theme of St. Ives in a big way in 2016 inspired by my projects, sketchbooks and older work   these are my newest photos taken in January after my meeting at St. Ives Textiles looking at old buildings and cottages and working at Porthmeor Studios   The Sloop Inn

 

 

 

St. Ives features again as the theme for

St. Ives Textiles Show during the St. Ives September Festival

to be held at Porthmeor Studios, St. Ives

 

I've been teaching textiles processes / sketchbooks

and the group have been creating wonderful journals full of samples

I will share more on that soon ...

 

meanwhile ... I'm gradually extending my working hours and will be updating my etsy shop quite soon   shop

 

  these winter days are for reflection, for contemplating new work whilst aiming to keep a personal perspective   my life as an artist is a necessary and grounding thing I love to create and move things around exploring shape and colour, mark making and meaning   this process can't be rushed ...