colours of the season and the tides of the sea

a fab day on Friday visiting some of my favourite places locally ...

at Godrevy ... the light is always amazing

this gorgeous rugged coastline and beautiful white sand beach
(owned by The National Trust) is one of my most favourite places ever

for quite a while I just sat on the headland to breathe in the salty sea breeze

I want more of these peaceful moments this year

the colours of the season in the winter landscape are very calming ...

I visited Sharon McSwiney's exhibition

at St. Ives Arts Club

"Colours of the Season"

11 - 17 February 2017

Sharon was exhibiting her gorgeous metallic wall hangings, pictures and jewellery

with her friend Alison Dupernex, a textile designer who creates beautiful knitwear

their work complements each other beautifully

and a lot of thought goes into ensuring their pieces reflect their chosen theme

"Colours of the Season"

these gorgeous seaweed pieces were my favourites
in particular the shapes, textures and colours in the patinas

Sharon offers workshops at her Garden Studio to make a wall hanging
like these or smaller pieces of jewellery / art cards
so I'd really like to try and do a workshop with her this year

(I've thrown a photo in here that I took the same day on Long Rock beach

the colours complement very well, I think)

below are some of Alison Dupernex's textiles

I adore the tones and textures

Alison's work picks out the colour palette I associate with the beach and the winter season

(my photo centre of pebbles taken the same day at Long Rock beach)

all of the work at the show was gorgeous and very inspiring

but sadly the exhibition is finished now

if you would like to see more of Sharon's and Alison's work you can visit their websites

and Sharon has a shop at The Drill Hall in St. Ives with a good selection of all that she produces

as well as her private Garden Studio where she offers one to one workshops

for another chance to see their work at St. Ives Arts Club

Sharon and Alison will be exhibiting again in October 2017

following the show, and some lunch at Porthmeor beach,

I headed over to Long Rock beach in search of more beach inspiration

(looking for interesting pebbles and tangles of seaweed / beach string)

to work with for the "Cornwall" theme for St. Ives Textiles

I'm spreading out my collections and sketchbook samples at home

trying to narrow down my focus a bit as I've been feeling
rather overwhelmed by the amount of inspiration all around me

Cornwall is a very large theme ... but I must decide very soon and knuckle down

meanwhile ...

I'm just enjoying time to walk on the winter beaches and breathe ...

St. Michael's Mount through seaweed

Sharon's lovely sketchbooks

colours of the season ... on a winter beach

lichen at Long Rock

St. Michael's Mount ... always visible on the horizon
and beautiful winter colours ...

finally ... here are my stencil prints from week 2 of The Surface Texture Workshop

following the prompts ...

"redux"

layering newspaper and taped text and stencilling over the top
(will probably work more into this one before sticking in my sketchbook)

New York London Paris

"drama"

combining colours that "pop"
layering stencil prints over newspaper and taped text
the "pop" is gold metallic paint, heated to create texture, then gilded

"regular"

stencilling with gold leaf

might try cutting this one up

"enhance"

seaweed and mussel shells
printed using a hand made stencil with metallic paints heated and gilded
painting and filling in around the edges of the print

a negative taken from the earlier print ... on tissue paper

"smear"

dragging a ruler across the wet print for effect

"mark making"

scribing with a tool in white paint before layering with more stencil prints

"bling"

"texture and bling"

stencilling, burnishing with a spoon, then stencilling again with texture paste
enhancing with metallic paint then gilding for extra bling

"soft"

soft watery metallics in silver and gold with extra "bling"

well that's it for today
thank you for visiting and for all your very kind comments

I will be posting The Surface Treatment Workshop each Wednesday from now on
with textiles, catch ups and general updates on Saturdays

with love x

memories of May

I have a little time today to catch up with my blog

and I'm sitting at my little table writing this ... gazing out to sea

it's a very misty mizzly sort of day

I can only just make out small fishing boats pulling out mackerel

there is no horizon ... just layers of beautiful silver grey

it isn't always so ...

sometimes the colours of Cornwall are beyond vivid

the sky so dark you think it will rain for sure ... but it doesn't always

this was a day my precious boy was fishing on the pier

and I decided to go and meet him for lunch ... take him some sandwiches

good job I grabbed my camera too ...

the surreal dark skies came over so fast

and I was glad to be on the spot to capture these amazing colours

Mousehole harbour

we've enjoyed some lovely times this summer
making the most of where we live and enjoying the beautiful weather

these are just a few photos from May ...

beautiful scenery and the softest sand on Porthcurno beach

I went metal detecting on this beach and cleared it of a lot of "rubbish"

I also found a toy cap gun and some "spendables"

I let my hubby drive down the narrow country lanes to Porthgwarra

it's a "hairy" drive ... with few passing places

you wouldn't want to meet anything coming up the other way!

but it's worth it, though, when you get to the tiny little cove

it's so peaceful there ...

the wild flowers and succulents are very beautiful

and there is a little place to have a Cornish cream tea

wild flowers at Porthgwarra

I also went metal detecting on the beach at Godrevy
(I have a growing collection of tent pegs and other "rubbish")
but I do find small amounts of money and interesting bits
and some of it comes in handy for rust dyeing

the thrift at Godrevy, overlooking St. Ives bay, was stunning

mid May ... and a change of scene

swapping Cornish harbours for Devon ones

the tiny harbour at Lynmouth

we travelled to North Devon ... staying at The Rising Sun
which overlooks the tiny harbour of Lynmouth

we had beautiful views of the harbour, river and out to sea

we took a walk on the pier ...

this unusual structure is Rhenish Tower
once used to store salt water and later used as a beacon
it was rebuilt in 1954 following the floods of Lynton and Lynmouth

Lynmouth pier and Rhenish Tower

the lobster pots and fishing baskets were interesting to me
fully of rusty barnacles, colours, shapes and shadows ...

looking closely ...

and looking through holes ...

holes and shadows of holes ...

and textures ...

the beach at Lynmouth appears to be a very dark grey black colour
but, on closer inspection, there is colour there too

I photographed the "toy boats"

and we met new friends ...

we went on the cliff railway to Lynton

had a cream tea at Villa Spaldi (the Devon way ... jam on top)

and visited the goats at The Valley of The Rocks ...

we had a very "blustery" day at Ilfracombe

visiting Damien Hirst's "Verity"

"Verity" meaning ... truth of principle or belief

Verity was created by Damien Hirst

she is an impressive work of art

a stainless steel and bronze statue standing over 66 feet and weighing 25 tonnes

she stands on the pier at the entrance to Ilfracombe harbour

I was interested to read that the sculpture is weather and lightning-proof

and underwent extensive wind-tunnel-testing to ensure her capability

of withstanding the force of high winds and sea spray

she is positioned in a place that sure does get the full force of sea gales

and it was incredibly windy on the day we chose to see her

if you wish ... you can read more about the context of the piece here

Woolacombe

just a little further west along the North Devon coastline

and we came to a place that I regularly visited, with my family, as a child

it holds a very special place in my heart

we stopped for coffee and Italian biscotti at The Watersmeet Hotel in Woolacombe

boy ... have I fallen in love with the place

the interiors are very tasteful indeed

this is "so" my style!

I'm hoping that I may get to stay there next year (please, please!)

and the beach is gorgeous because the light is amazing!

something beautiful to look forward to next year (pretty please)

back home in Cornwall ...

and another beautiful stay at The Godolphin Arms in Marazion

so ... this is just down the road from me

but a stay means we can enjoy a few drinks with our meal

and not have to worry about driving home afterwards

I was treated to this gorgeous room with balcony

and views over the causeway and St. Michael's Mount

the sun shone ... and we went on the beach with the metal detector

(fun times!)

I think of that lovely time when I gaze across the water to the Mount

(this is my view from my bedroom at home)

how the colours of Cornwall inspire me

I'm working very hard now for a show I'm taking part in
with the group I belong to - St. Ives Textiles
creating new textile pieces, framed work, wall hangings
the hearts I love to make and quite a few cards
(my sketchbook will also be available to view)

if you would like to visit the show here are the details ...

"St. Ives in Textiles"

Porthmeor Studios, Back Road West, St. Ives, Cornwall, TR26 1NG

17 - 24 September 2016

(10am - 5pm daily - free entry)

I will be at the show (all day) on these dates ...

Saturday 17th September
Wednesday 21st September
Friday 23rd September
Saturday 24th September

I really would be delighted to see you there

thank you for visiting x