January blobs of yellow

Hello, well here we are 2021 and it's good to be back here posting again.  

Today is about making a fresh start and finding I needed a refresher in both photo processing and website editing.  After a lengthy absence, so much has changed on my website platform.  I'm not sure that I'm able to update the layout very much now, for fear of disturbing what is already there, but I'm happy with the overall look of it so I shall be content to "tweak" and post.  At least it seems familiar and will help me to ease back into work again.

I'm looking forward to sharing new work in the making, new ideas and new ways of recording.  I'm also looking forward to sharing work from the past couple of years when I was working privately, just making art as and when I needed to.  There is still a lot to sort out and process.  It's been a long journey of healing and processing. So I'm not too sure yet in what manner it will all come tumbling out ...

So, there has to be a beginning and I don't know about about you but I really needed some blobs of yellow for cheer today.  It's very cold here in this part of Cornwall, much of the rest of the country has had snow.  I'm glad to not have snow at the moment.  I have had no heating or hot water since 19 December.  Talk about bad timing.  Funny how you acclimatize slowly ... and I'm coping, till I get a new boiler next week, by spending more time hibernating under my electric blanket.  It's utter bliss right now!

with best wishes to you all x

Cornwall colours and textures

We are almost done with February and I'm so glad to see the back of it.  Apart from one or two days it's been nothing but rain, hailstones, storms and news of Coronavirus spreading quickly round our beautiful Earth home!  And as I sit writing this now the rain is streaming down the window panes ...

I'm cosy indoors by the window looking through raindrops and I've had a lovely time going through photos, coming across work I had forgotten about.  At the moment, most of my art materials, fabrics, paints, sketchbooks and samples have been packed away in storage containers for over a year.  This house moving lark has been a long haul and I am going to be very excited to get it all out again.  No dates yet but soon - I hope!

I will have so many art projects and little works in progress to revisit.  So today I thought I would share some of the inspiration I find from my part of Cornwall, where I get my colours from and what inspires my textures.  I hope you may enjoy a few photos …

The last few photos are of recent textile work.  I've been enjoying working these very small hand stitched barnacles which I use with real shells, beads and little stitches on silk.  It's nice to be working on new things and I have more new work on my table which I hope to share soon.  Thank you for visiting me today.

gentle January

Just a quick post with a short announcement - that my online shop will open again on Saturday 1 February 2020.  I hope January will be a quiet peaceful one while I gather my thoughts and get organised.

It feels to me … a long while since I've been around on social media and things have changed here and there.  I shall spend time getting to grips with posting again and finding my way back to my projects.

Things have changed enormously for me personally too and life is still unsettled.  Although my grief remains as strong and intense as ever, other parts of my life are gently getting easier.  So, although it's not easy starting all over again, I am ready to see how things work out!

Snowed in

Well, that was an interesting week with the weather!

The "Beast from the East" meets "Storm Emma".  Siberian snow and 60mph winds meant we had a good 8 to 12 inches of snow in places with deeper drifts.  The "fuss" is that we don't get snow like this in Cornwall, not that often and not this thick!

We were snowed in for two days but it felt much longer especially when we had three power cuts, the longest for four hours.  We were very grateful for our wood burner and a well stocked fridge.

It all looks so pretty through the window but feeling cut off and isolated makes you realise how much you take everything for granted ... especially electric, keeping warm and making tea!

The snow has inspired my collages this week.  We are now on week 10, following the theme called "decollage".  Adding lots of layers and then tearing back to reveal images underneath.

"darling girl"

I used an advert from a 1950s magazine, a beautiful tarnished spoon, a snowy landscape, a few snowflakes from a card insert and some gelli printed tissue paper.  I like the feel of this one but I deliberated over whether to fill the white space, and then decided not to.  It Is enough.

Only last week ... I said I would be making only one collage a week from now on!  However, I find I get on a roll and this week I wanted to try working a collage on fabric.  This one has a cotton linen backing.  I worked some white gesso over it to prime first.  Then I collaged the same as I would on paper, using the layering/tearing back technique for this week.

follow in nature's footsteps

Other elements are waxed sewing pattern paper and a skeleton holly leaf from my garden.  The bird is a "blackcap".  The collaged background remains soft enough to handle and stitch into.  I have put it to one side to work on over the next few days.

My collages are 5 x 5 inches in an 8 x 8 inch sketchbook for week 10 of the collage project that I am doing with my sister Evelyn following the weekly prompts in The Collage Workbook by Randel Plowman

"snowed in"

Also on my desk ... a snowy heart I have been stitching with lots of layers of thick chiffon snow and glittering snowflakes.  I used some of my painted textured cotton fabric too which, as I used it, made me think of compacted snow ... you know when snow has uneven bumps and ridges.

I also have winter beachcombing on my mind and I've started another with very pretty beach finds including a tiny barnacle, pearl shell and a lovely mussel.  The simple pleasures of admiring sea treasures, taking time to select fabrics and quietly stitching a shoreline walk.

I will share the snowy one and the winter shoreline walk quite soon.  Meanwhile, here is one I found when I was sorting through a box in my studio.  I made it a while ago and it's one of only a few that I have left in my personal collection.  The two baby mussel shells are still attached in a tangle to the mother shell.

"along the beach"

Thank you for visiting me here x

reassemble and squares/rectangles

These are my collages for the prompts of "reassemble" (cutting an image into squares then turning the pieces and rearranging them) and "squares and rectangles"

reassemble

I used a piece of craft paper with a vintage notepaper theme in shades of blush pink and soft brown.  It had beautiful handwriting, old typewriters and romantic pink roses.  I left a small space between the squares in a similar manner to the mosaics I like to make.

blush rose

My collage for "squares and rectangles" is all rectangles actually.  Inspired by the first collage, I went seeking soft blush rose papers and pieces from my collection.  I discovered a bag of my erosion bundle pieces from several years ago.  A lot of the scraps were stained with cranberry and rose teabags.  I included a tiny pressed flower and the image of the little girl.  She has the rosiest cheeks.  The words "Tha'lt be like a blush-rose when tha' grows up, my little lass" come from one of my favourite childhood books "the Secret Garden".  For texture, I've included a fraying piece of biodegradable fibre from a shopping bag.  All other papers have come from the erosion bundle.

All collages are 5 x 5 inches in an 8 x 8 inch sketchbook for weeks 8 and 9 of the collage project following the weekly prompts in The Collage Workbook by Randel Plowman with my sister Evelyn.

I'm looking forward to next week's challenge of "decollage".  It looks to be an interesting technique similar to one I did in my Surface Treatment Workshop sketchbook last year. 

From now on, I will only be doing one collage a week to meet the themes as I want to pick up my textiles again.  A short break from stitching has done me the world of good.  However, as I mentioned at the start of January I am taking things nice and slowly and doing whatever takes my fancy this year.

Thank you always for reading my rambles ...

image pairings and strips

These are my collages for the prompts of "image pairings" (cutting an image in half and working the two sides into two distinctively different themed collages) and “strips”

“the green beak of some bird”

Above - I layered mainly vintage papers with a book loving theme.

“Y is for yacht”

A nautical themed collage with shipbuilding images, a German stamp with ships, a snippet from one of my photographs with sea spray and a label from the Cornwall Soap Box from St. Ives (it smells wonderful).

“say ‘cheese’”

Vintage papers, magazine image, snippet of original photo and a faded pressed Californian Poppy from the garden.

“love at first sight”

I used mainly vintage papers with some waxed papers for beautiful texture.

“strips”

Taking two images/papers and re-arranging them into strips helps to focus attention on different elements and patterns in the image.

Throughout this project I have endeavoured to use texture on all of my collages.  I like to use small pieces of fabric, stitch, buttons, waxed papers or lavish layering to achieve this.  Texture is always a hard thing to photograph, however I love running my hands over each collage in my sketchbook as much as I love considering and choosing the elements of theme and colour.

All collages are 5 x 5 inches in an 8 x 8 inch sketchbook for weeks 6 and 7 of the collage project following the weekly prompts in The Collage Workbook by Randel Plowman with my sister Evelyn.

the weekly collage project

It's been a few weeks since I last posted something here. I've got a little bit behind with sharing work online just recently although I have been keeping up quite well with making weekly collages for the project I'm doing this year with my sister.  I now hope to rectify that with some catch up blog posts over the next few days.

In this post I am sharing my collages for week 5 - following the prompt of "colour plunge" from The Collage Workbook by Randel Plowman.  Colour plunge essentially refers to choosing a colour and creating monochromatic collages using only (or mostly) tones of that colour.

I chose to work with autumn tones with a wintry feel, using pretty blueish greens, greenish browns and ochre yellows to create little stories of walks in the countryside.  I like that my collages have evolved from simply using random papers and bits and pieces already in my collection.

I tend to file my collage papers in a monochromatic fashion so I found this "challenge" quite easy and got a bit carried away.  I ended up with eight collages for this prompt and hope you enjoy seeing my "mostly" monochromatic little stories.

“mediocre”

I call this one "mediocre".  I was trying to create an organic feel with this one.  The skeleton leaf (found in my garden) in symmetry with the statue, the roots mirroring the bare tree branches, lifted off text on vintage paper and some lovely green silk fabric with a frayed edge that looks like soft dark green grass.  It has a wintry feel with the blue green tones and bare bones of the trees, roots and leaf.

“the stormiest of skies”

The colours in this one were inspired by the indigo clouds in the landscape.  It was a paper I was using to paint on.  I enjoyed creating the layers with a piece of my collage work with oil pastels, a piece of my hand dyed silk and a vintage photo of mother and daughter from the sixties out for a walk in the lanes.  Do you think they will they make it home before it pours with indigo raindrops ...

“unsuitable shoes”

“taken in the garden - October 1943”

A gentlemen poses in a garden with a sunlit backdrop through the trees.  I used an image with bokeh and old wallpapers to match and give a nostalgic feel.  I used old fashioned photo corners to attach the photo so it can be lifted off again.  There is some very nice old writing on the back and someone has written "taken in the garden October 1943" in black ink.  I wonder a lot about who this gentleman is, who took the photo and how their life may have been during wartime.  The photo came to me in a random bundle.

“brownish leaves and gnarly roots”

Seventies girl is out for a walk amongst the falling brownish leaves and greenish gnarly roots.  I added texture with dark brown bark paper and real leaves.

“bloom”

I called this one "bloom" which is a play on words and represents the floweriness of the vintage patterns, the real pressed flower from my garden and the pretty bloom in the cheeks of seventies girl.  There are lots of layers on this one and seventies girl came from a sewing pattern.

“I giggled to myself”

I used my favourite ochre yellows and papers and textures from my own artwork such as rusted tissue paper from an erosion bundle, small collages with oil pastel, gelli plate prints and textured/painted fabrics.  The image came from a magazine.

“mermaids singing”

Inspired by the spine of a paperback book.  All background papers are my own work from either paintings, textures created on The Surface Treatment Workshop or erosion bundles.

Thank you always for visiting me today and for all comments here and elsewhere on Flickr, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.  If you would like to follow along with the collage project please feel free to follow the weekly prompts, make and share on your pages.  Also, please do have a look at my sister Evelyn’s page where she shares her beautiful collages and creative journey with watercolour painting.  Her blog is inspirational.

Next post - week 6 - pairings