My month in numbers: August

Julie of Notes on Paper inspired me today to put together a blog post, giving a concise, in numbers, sort-of-round up regarding August..... I have not explained very succinctly, perhaps, but here goes and thanks for the suggestion Julie.

So August in numbers.... a small insight into my month.....


9. The number of books I have purchased from my local Oxfam secondhand bookshop. Today I purchased this gem:

A curious book, 'The Lady's Oracle', published in the 1960's, an elaborate play on fortunes and predictions.... It's like one of those origami folded pick-a-number things we used to play in the school playground, only in complex book form. I was attracted by the cover and really that is why I bought the book. The fact that the contents are eccentric, well, that is ok too..... Other books purchased include a few childrens titles, old penguins and a book on Expressionism. I like buying secondhand books.

2. The number of red lipsticks I have purchased this month. I feel rather guilty about this, too frivolous, why two? I am trying to get the right shade of red. The first looked red but when I wear it - well it looks pink. The second is a more orange-red and a better shade. I have a yellow tone to my skin. It's colour theory, of course. I don't buy many cosmetics, so.....

5. The number of photographs I have taken of blackberries.... I have been picking them to dye wool (see below). The blackberries grow at the back of our rented little garden that backs on to a little open patch of land between houses. There are many many blackberries there but I seem to be the only one picking them....

at least 10. The number of natural dye 'baths' I have made this month. These include: blackberry, onion, marigold, alkanet, walnut, madder, and basil. I really should write a natural dyes post some time soon.

1000+ the number of times I have made a comment regarding the weather, usually to my children. 'Oh look it's raining', has been the common theme this month. I am, as you may know already, quietly obsessed with clouds, rain and other weather patterns.

4. The number of sketchbooks I have purchased from Muji. Stocking up. I have filled one already. These are the ones I like. http://www.muji.eu/pages/online.asp?V=1&Sec=12&Sub=47&PID=4461 The paper is heavy enough to take gouache, a nice smooth surface, slightly off-white, scans nicely too. An inexpensive sketchbook allows me to experiment freely, without worrying. I actually 'waste' less paper. I don't get precise about it. If I draw a terrible horse, I draw a terrible horse (I do, from time to time, draw terrible horses).

20+ the number of poems or attempts at poems I have written in notebooks this month. At least three are ok. If you are interested in my poetry you may have already seen my poetry blog nevering. Long-term, I am working toward a first full book collection. In the mean time, my chapbook 'Here and There', with poems from nevering included alongside previously unseen, will be out soon.....

I could also give numbers for emails sent (many many), ice-creams eaten (only about 3, it has been cold), and sleepless nights (a nice zero 0).

I hope your August has been ok and now for September.....

mosaic monday

1. Atlantic (deep water)2, 2. bird tales wooden necklace, 3. Embracing emptiness-, 4. from_heaven_to_earth, 5. silk dots fragment, 6. embroidered portrait buttons 5+6, 7. BCTF display - Morgandy, 8. no title, 9. Untitled, 10. untitled, 11. back to hemp pulp, 12. (e)motive, 13. on paper, 14. Les larmes de Sombre, 15. S/T. Técnica mixta. 2010, 16. wearing a dress, 17. Untitled, 18. abstract 1/3, 19. watching TV, 20. everything! will! be! okay!

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Happy Monday to you.... it is a bank holiday here, so many people have the day off work, but I have been busy stitching this morning. But news about that in moment.... Firstly, a thank you to all the artists featured in this mosaic of recent favourites. Please follow the links above to find out about each individual photo.

Yes I have been stitching, infact I have been creating a few new dolls just recently....

Meanwhile, I am on track for updating my mixed media art shop a week tomorrow. The first Novembermoon zine is completed now and ready for me to physically bind and sort etc... I hope you will like it. I also have new paintings and mixed media. I've had several people asking me to offer new work in the £10-£20 price range, with gift buying in mind - and yes there will be some things available. Thank you for your suggestions, they are always welcome and I appreciate people getting in touch. Thanks!

I hope you have a very good Monday and a happy week ahead.

acorn garland

Little acorn garland & paper figure 'Lady Autumn'...... The little acorn garland has taken up a few hours work, you know how it is when you get 'an idea' and then it must be seen... So it was that I found myself spinning the naturally brown wool, knitting a cord, to make a 'twig rope'. The acorns are quite small, only slightly larger than the ones I will soon find locally. Each acorn is made using naturally dyed cotton and linen fabrics, and have vintage buttons atop. I am making a few more of these for my shop update (Tuesday 7th Sept). Lady Autumn is a watercolour figure that appeared recently. She wanted to be cut out and made into a doll, of sorts, and so she seems to be appearing here and there in our house right now....

An autumnal day here - it feels as cold as October, oh dear. For just a moment the sun tried for an appearance but it is not to be.... a Bank Holiday here too, so I feel for all the people who make their living selling ice-cream, buckets and spades on the beach, running B&B's. It is not an easy time for anyone right now, I know, I'm feeling the pinch too, but am grateful for what I do have.

Not wishing to end on a dull note....

Here's a calendula marigold growing in a basket by my kitchen door.... I took this photograph earlier in the week, proving we did see some sunshine. These cheery flowers are useful for salads, natural dyes and cosmetic lotions. I am hoping to harvest enough to dye wool for spinning.

Enjoy your weekend x

Blue-stockings

Blue-stockings.... a new mixed media work on paper

If you want to find out more regarding the term 'blue-stocking' there is plenty to be found online. Here I am referring to the eighteenth century blue-stocking of intellectual society....

A rainy, dull as dishwater Thursday with the lights on.... oh well, perhaps September will bring sunshine. I hope your week is going well. Oh I posted a new poem over at nevering yesterday.

I hardly recognise myself

'I hardly recognise myself' - a new mixed media painting. This one will be offered as a print in my autumn selection.

You may 'recognise' the experience of not recognising yourself. For me, I still feel twentysomething but when I look in the mirror there is this slightly older person. She sort of looks young but not that young. It is a jolt of recognition, that glance in the mirror, seeing but not quite believing.....

Monday - imagine

Imagine - my daughter's hands hold a new brooch & heart set.....

A Happy Monday to you - I do not have a mosaic for you this week, hopefully next...... The piece above is for my new autumn selection. I am pleased to be looking forward to autumn and all the new things I would like to share.... My shop update will be Tuesday September 7th. There will be new stitches, prints and issue one of novembermoon zine.

Until then, I hope to preview some of the new new new that I am making.....

Enjoy your week... it is still rainy here, summer has vanished between the clouds.... but here's hoping for a little sunshine, you never know...

take care, more soon....

novembermoon zine

I'm feeling much better after taking a small break, how are you? Thank you for your kind messages, it has been a good week of relaxing, making old and new connections, catching up with a few me things and most importantly enjoying some time with my children.

Now, I can share here a few sketches from my sketchbook - and news of a forthcoming zine.... For a while now I have been thinking, reflecting on the name novembermoon. For those who may not know, this was the name of my first creative blog/site. I used the name for a while, and still do for things such as twitter.

I decided to make a gentle switch-over to using my own name for presenting work, which felt like the right thing to do, but novembermoon does not want to fade or wane for good..... So, with ideas for a art-few-words zine, I decided novembermoon was to be the title - and this zine is not going to be a one-off, if I can help it. I plan to make this a quarterly, with an issue in September, December, March and June. A small, handmade book with colour printing, novembermoon will, I hope, be something to enjoy and collect.

A monthly would be too great a task and might quickly become a chore, but I feel a quarterly will give me those little goals and highlights that I enjoy. Each issue will reflect the season, my current obsessions and dreams.

So I have most of the artwork, for the first novembermoon zine, and will be offering in September.

(ps. I am to publish my poetry chapbook 'here and there' in October. It has been good to give the poems something of a further gestation period and more have surfaced over time so.....)

xx

mosaic monday - natural dyes

1. a natural dyeing mess bench monday, 2. Natural Dyes Wild Card Art Batts #2, 3. Blush pink from avocado skins, 4. overdyeing, 5. the blue, 6. Sandstone No. 3 Detail, 7. dyeing with onion skins again, 8. Pokeberry dye, 9. Natural dyeing - avocado skins, 10. the ripple of the stitch, 11. madder sampler, 12. drying

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

A happy Monday to you.... mid August and summer feels a little cool and slowed down here..... I prefer this to sweltering heat, of course.

This Monday I've put together a natural dyes mosaic, featuring dyed fabrics and fibres, a variety of dyestuffs..... Many thanks to my dye friends for sharing their photographs via Flickr. A few years ago I was uncertain if there were many people interested in natural dyes, but that is clearly not so. There are many of us experimenting, with jars catching the sun on kitchen windowsills, little snippets of fabric soaking in strange concoctions. Buckets catching rain and berries and leaves for future 'experiments'..... It is heartening to know others share my interest in the beautiful natural colours that may be obtained from simple dye methods..... age old recipes can be 'tinkered with', adapted according to how you wish to dye, what you want to dye and there's still a lot to learn.....

This week I hope to catch up with a little more dyeing myself.... I have fabrics that need to be 'walnutted', and yarn that might get blackberried, in the old fashioned way of things......

I am going to take some days off this week, from my usual several hours of working on things for sale etc.... I have had a headache that won't shift and I think I just need a break. So forgive me for being a little quiet this week. I'll be back soon with news of autumn updates and more......

until then have a good, creative, sunny week x

monoprints and paintings

As promised, way back at the start of this week, another monoprint post..... I've been experimenting further with ink on paper, making one of a kind prints using various layering techniques. Apologies for not giving too many 'how-to's' here, but I prefer not - plus there are many books out there on printmaking that will give you a greater insight into techniques. To be brief, the monoprint process that I use involves applying ink to a sheet of glass and printing off. Sometimes I make more than one impression on a sheet of paper, layering to create a diversity of texture and effect.

The paintings begin as prints..... I make a monoprint on heavier paper - often using ink that is left on the glass from previous pictures. Once the ink is dry I then return to the feint image and use the shapes and textures I see as a starting point for painting. These paintings I call 'colour studies', rather than giving descriptive titles.

My work on paper is an interesting contrast to my work with stitches and fabrics...... they talk and exchange ideas, in their own way. I feel balanced when I am working on both. There are going to be a few changes ahead with how I present my work for sale in the future - how and where I offer artwork and crafted items, but more of that another time.....

I'm rather tired this weekend so am going to keep it brief here today. I hope to share more with you next week and wish you a creative, restful Sunday evening......

a handful of acorns

a sneak peek at what I am making for autumn...... more soon......

mosaic monday - and the winner is....

1. Untitled, 2. Untitled, 3. my second work with wood(tree), 4. broders tropicales, 5. The Spider & The Fly, Edinburgh, 6. The Spider & The Fly, Edinburgh, 7. The Spider & The Fly, Edinburgh, 8. The Spider & The Fly, Edinburgh, 9. new things, 10. La fille aux parcelles de nuages, 11. Untitled, 12. wo 41, 13. Cornish umbels, 14. "So Awkward" by Marianne Dages, 15. Untitled, 16. wave

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Good Monday to you..... I sit here with the window open, the sun shining, it definitely feels just a little cooler in the morning, that hint toward autumn.... Many thanks to the artists and photographers featured in this mosaic and erm yes forgive me for featuring my own work, but yes one row of these features 'things by me' at The Spider & The Fly, Edinburgh - as photographed by Lisa (Lou Lou and Oscar) who kindly shared the photos over at Flickr. Thank you Lisa. (And I'm sending a few more goodies to the shop this week....., if you are visiting Edinburgh do make a visit).

And we have a winner..... thank you to everyone for leaving your kind friendly comments.... name picked out of the hat and at random completely, completely randomly........ and the print goes to Rosie aka a rambling rose

This week I shall continue to design and make new work..... I've made a start on some new poetry stitches and am looking forward to sharing more. Also, I would like to share, this week, some further monoprinting I have made just recently - it is a current obsession, yes. I'm enjoying working in bold black and white. But am also enjoying using a hint of colour in my stitching.

I started knitting mittens yesterday! I don't know if what I am knitting will become mittens or something else, I never really know with my knitting projects. I'm using my own handspun, natural dyed wools. I hope to make some more progress on these over the week to come. You never know, I might actually finish them before autumn.....

Enjoy your week and more soon...

a purple kind of saturday

A watercolour sketch & purple stemmed angelica.....

I experimented with painting much larger than I usually attempt - as you may know I prefer working small, not just because my working space is small but as a personal preference, I like the intimacy of any artwork that can be held in your hand..... Well I challenged myself to paint on a larger sheet of watercolour paper and enjoyed the ebb and flow of it. When I showed my daughter (who is 13 and a really thoughtful critic, I value her opinion very much) - she said quite simply: "you are better at working on a smaller scale". I had not even asked her about the size, she just knew so there you go.......

So I have cut up the large watercolour, keeping the area I felt actually worked. The red-purple is inspired by the purple angelica that is now flowering in our garden. It is a beautiful plant and seems to be attracting many hoverflies, and a few wasps. Today my two and I got outside and tidied our one little border, then, as it had rained heavily last night, we finally covered the gaps between plants with cocoa mulch. Now the garden has a rather sweet scent, but I think that will fade in a few days....

Thanks to everyone for signing up for my print giveaway. If you would like to sign up there is still time, I'll be drawing a name on Sunday evening (see previous post). I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.

new print giveaway

'we are all acorns'..... pen drawing, now completed (see previous post)..... On the left is the original, on the right is an ink jet print version (5x7 in size). I have scanned and altered the tones ever so slightly to make it a little different from the original (also reproduced a little smaller).

I'm working on a selection of pen drawings as part of the new autumn goodies for my shops.....

Meanwhile, I'm offering one print as a giveaway. Just leave a message here saying hello. Make sure I can contact you via email some how. I'll pull a name from the hat Sunday evening. Open to anyone, anywhere, even if your next season is not autumn!

many thanks and enjoy your Thursday

thinking seasonal

A new pen drawing in progress.... Happy Monday and welcome to August.... so that acorn shape in the drawing above is a clue to how I am thinking.... I am already thinking autumn, perhaps my favourite season (or did I say that about spring, but it's so fleeting....).... Perhaps England offers the best weather in autumn: mists contrasting with bright sunshine and all the colours of the season, or perhaps I am just a romantic who right now can overlook all the wet, windy and dismal days September/October/November may bring us.....

I enjoy following the seasons and having set little 'traditions' and ideas on living 'in the season'. Do you? I look forward to the changes but am convinced summer is my least favourite season, mostly because I find it hard to write effectively about the season - or perhaps I can and am not trying enough.... perhaps like haiku all the poems I want to write are seasonal, or season-rooted. I was thinking of that recently.....

I'm as always busy working on new drawings, stitches and ideas... Meanwhile I am pleased to have a selection of work available to see at The Spider & The Fly, Edinburgh.... Please do visit the shop if you are in the area, there is a wide selection of handmade goodies by fab artists (and me).

For this month I am offering 10% discount off everything in my bigcartel shop. Just use the code: AUG10 at the checkout (you'll see a box asking you for a code - if you have any problems or would like to revise a price 'manually' I can do that for you of course)...

have a very good week x