mosaic monday

1. Untitled, 2. Untitled, 3. Fachprüfung 2001, 4. DWYL book, 5. untitled, 6. 我 的 “禅” 。, 7. Aveiro, 8. She Saw It Differently, 9. Untitled, 10. cam atc, 11. May 26, 12. # 1300 "New Age Girl", 13. HEADACHE, 14.HEADACHE zine, 15. The King & Queen of Birds, 16. Fuego en la mirada, 17. Still life in gouache and pencil, 18. 22. May 2011, 19. Peut-être suis-je venin, 20. Untitled

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Happy Monday.... many thanks to the artists and photographers that make this week's mosaic, via my Flickr contacts....

If you have woken up to an overcast kind of day, you are not alone. It is an almost misty, almost rainy, almost October kind of a day here. Bank holiday weather.

This week I have my best critics home for the week, and we shall be busy with this and that. 

But I will also be working on my new stitch and paint. I am looking forward to it. I'll be a little quiet as I get into this new work, because it is for me a small departure from the figurative and 'face obsessed' work that I have made of late. It's something I am nervous about but in a good way. At the same time I am revisiting so many ideas: on colour, pattern, texture and abstraction..... If this all sounds a little cryptic, I hope to explain more, visually, in the weeks to come.

My newest book/zine waiting for the speckled blackbird will be available from next week - looking forward to that too.... I hope you will like it, I'll share some photos next week.

Meanwhile, this is the final day you can get 20% OFF in my etsy shop. Just use the coupon code MAYBK - take a peek here

have a good week ahead x

looking ahead....

What I am working on this summer ahead....

same but different

I'll be busy this week ahead so forgive me if I am quiet - but hope to post a mosaic tomorrow

many thanks for your comments always

bundles, offerings....

I have not mentioned natural dyes in a while.... I did a great deal last summer but have not created many new fabrics in recent months. I see many other dye-artists working on their projects and enjoy seeing their results. But I have not had the time or really the space lately.

So this year, now it is supposed to be moving toward summer (though in typical english tradition is is getting colder as May ends...) I have a new small dye project happening. I'm making tiny snippet bundles, wrapping plant material and tying them, placing them not on a windowsill, but outside in dishes in a sunny spot in my tiny garden. It is a covered area (there's a glass carport type roof above) and it gets nice and warm there.

I'm putting one bundle there for the next several days then will leave them until much later.

They currently sit in a dish next to my weathered Buddha head, a small stone head I've carried around with me from one home to the next over the past several years. Little bundles like quiet offerings.

This weekend, as my offer to you - I am giving 20% discount in my shop on everything including sale items. Just use the code MAYBK at the checkout stage of things.

Enjoy your weekend and I hope the sun shines a little for us....

wip friday

work in progress

a detail from a painting I am working on - part of a new series of work on canvas to appear in my bigcartel shop later this summer....

meanwhile, many new things to see here

have a good weekend and as always thanks for your words

some of my own new words are to read over at nevering

new work - with an historical edge

I've just updated my shop - many new paintings and a few other special things

I thought I would share here three of the paintings I have added to my shop today. They are each inspired by my love of English history. I'm especially interested in that time we call 'medieval' through to 'Elizabethan', which is oh about 500 years of time or more.... And so much happened. As well as reading history I like to look at historical portraits.

But what I like to do with my own art is to make portraits that are very much modern, inspired by, and have my own thumbprint in there somewhere.... I particularly like the portraits, few as there may be, of young children in early art. I like the way children were dressed as little adults, their poise, their silence, their clues....

I won't go on but just to say - thanks for looking at my work here and in my shop today

mosaic monday

1. Untitled, 2. foggy sunday morning, 3. ochre monoprint vignette, 4. mayjournal531, 5. studio view 2011!, 6. rag rug, 7. Untitled, 8. 無, 9. _!, 10. obstáculo, 11. Lazarus I, 12. ceramic brooches, 13. More mark making samples, 14. The Paths, 15. flickr.com/photos/55256450@N07/5737141443/, 16. Untitled, 17. ted atc, 18. radio days, 19. equilibrium, 20. seeing like the ancient ones

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Is this the last Monday of May? No, not quite, we have one more after this - but still the days are moving quickly. Today does not feel so warm with blustery conditions and heavy cotton wool clouds....

Many thanks to the artists featured in this week's collection of favourite images via my Flickr contacts.

This week I am - finishing work ready for my shop update planned for Wednesday 25th. I will be offering a new selection of original paintings, new yesterdays doll creations and maybe more.... So please do pop by.

I have lots to do today so will get on - wishing you a very good week ahead x

new work

a pause between steps
&
moving day

two new gouache paintings for my shop update - which I plan to be on Wednesday coming, 25th May....

I'll preview a few more works before then - thanks for all your comments this week x

painting on canvas

interior inspired by a vintage bowl
40 x 30cm acrylic on canvas

I am slowly but surely working on a new series of paintings on canvas.... my aim is to have a small selection together to 'show' as an online exhibition later this summer in my bigcartel shop... At the moment the shop is not active but I have had in mind to use the space for particular and special things....

have a particularly good and special weekend x

111

he has questionable nostrils... perhaps:)

garden

step outside the kitchen and you are into our little garden....

you can't see it all here but I have a few glimpses to share...

shame I did not get our bright pink chair into view,
it looks..... startling...

hope your week is going well

mosaic monday

1. bosque, 2. studio, 3. 'A Rare Bird', 4. tortelduifje, 5. оод, 6. untitled, 7. Secret, 8. DreaMY GIrl, 9. new wip sneak peek, 10. ᵒₒᵒ, 11. Untitled, 12. Untitled, 13. Untitled, 14. conversation, 15. Untitled, 16. define floral, take 2, 17. w i p, 18. golden fish bowl, 19. Little warm up, 20. amuletos, 21. Untitled, 22. Fanciful Flower Potholders, 23. Untitled, 24. Hund, 25. New eye embroidery.

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Happy Monday.... it's a chilly start here. We've got so used to mild weather.... many thanks to the artists and photographers featured in this week's mosaic. As you may know from seeing a new mosaic mostly every Monday, I really do like Flickr. I find it to be one of the most interesting, friendly places to share images and ideas. I'm not really a 'social networking' sort of a person - I use facebook but mostly for my 'mixed media and poetry page' rather than personal. (I prefer to keep my personal life private and offline, that's just me.) But I do like flickr and it's good to be in touch with many people for some time now. Thank you Flickr!

I've also been asked by a few people - how do you make the mosaics? It's not something I have devised for myself, anyone can have a go if you have a flickr account. You need to use a widget called a mosaic maker and you can find here

This week I am continuing with new paintings and some stitch work, as well as making progress with my latest book projects - which have developed over recent times - I now have two books in the works. The first is a collage of text and imagery which I think is going to be called 'waiting for the speckled blackbird'. The second book project is a non-text, visual only book titled 'a book of signs and symbols'. I think the latter will take a little while to come to fruition but I am happy with the beginnings.

I'm aiming to update my shop in about ten days time, before the end of the month for sure. I will let you know nearer the date.

In the mean time, I wish you a very good and happily creative week ahead x

sketchbook Sunday

recent pages from one of my sketchbooks...



and work in progress - pages in progress from 'a book of signs and symbols'

yes black gouache is my favourite

many thanks for all your comments this week - as always much appreciated....

110

a red head for you today... this week has gone by so quickly.

Today the sun is mostly hiding behind clouds and I have just painted an old garden chair cerise pink over pale green....

have a good weekend x

feel the texture

I have not worked on canvas for a while. But I was looking at some 'old' paintings of mine around here, and decided to work on a few new ones...



early stages




complete on the same wall



close view

30 x 40cm on deep stretched canvas

and just for a change a new piece of flash fiction over at nevering today

work in progress

a close-up view, a section of a painting in progress....

mosaic monday

1. Suzhou Creek_26, 2. S/T Óleo sobre papel 2011, 3. Irresponsable., 4. sktch, 5. Leonilson, 6. Sueño(夢), 7. May, 8. 60's Girls, 9. Untitled, 10. altar 1, 11. a chirpy group II, 12. ready to bud, 13. Monica Canilao: installing day 5, 14. Monica Canilao: installing day 5, 15. in harmony, 16. cielo, 17. Untitled, 18. if she could speak, 19. Untitled, 20. silk kiwifruit slices


Happy Monday.... and thank you to the artists and photographers featured in this week's mosaic....

We finally got some rain over the weekend and it is sunny again here, but cooler. The blossoms are curling and giving up.... A certain blue tit comes to our washing line each morning and picks at it, I presume he is getting the little bugs in and around...

This week I am working on paintings and stitch, as always. Also I am putting together a new little book that is what I can only describe as a collage in book form - writing and images, with pages that are different, some smaller than others, some that open out.... I hope this new little book with no name just yet will be ready to sell as a limited edition by the end of the month...

Working on this collage-book means I am postponing the next issue of Novembermoon. So the next issue for my 'regular' zine will be September now. There are still a few, but not many, copies of Novembermoon no.3 available and you can find one in my shop.

It's satisfying working on book-shaped projects, and maybe one day I'd like to work on something collaborative again. Have not done that in quite a while. We shall see...

Meanwhile I hope to offer one or two tinyheads this week... they will just come and surprise you:) Thanks for your kind comments always and have a good week ahead
x

sketchbook Sunday

recent pages in one of my sketchbooks....

109

109 - so an update on the tinyheads as they have not been appearing as often these days.... I am now aiming at making 150 total for this series..... I hope that I can make at least one or two each week, if not more. Thanks for cheering me on as I have been making these. They are made in gaps of time in the day,  and each one takes about two to five minutes to sculpt and then ten to twenty minutes to paint. I like to make them quickly and not worry so much about 'perfection' ha.... Of course when I started making the tiny heads, at the start of the year, they were to be a daily practise. But I have given myself permission to revise that goal to something I know I can manage within the time I have.

This week has been a busy one, with plenty of new work added to my shop and parcels to send out - many thanks!

We have also, finally, had some rain today. I woke up to the sound of a thunderstorm. Not what you expect on a May morning. And the terrible sound of two foxes fighting. Snarling, barking and wailing. They were out of sight and as I stood at the bedroom window the rest of the world seemed oblivious..... Later this morning I went to our local shop and crossing the road I noted a small scorpion. A small plastic scorpion that had been run over a few times. As I reached the other side of the road, I saw a large magpie swoop down in anticipation. Perhaps he was going to 'eat' the scorpion?

 I like to note these small things. What have you seen lately that has made you look twice?

Dream of a gift

Dream of a gift

This is one of several new paintings (and pillow creatures and stitch work) that went into my shop yesterday.... many thanks for taking a look....

Still no rain here. It is the driest spell I can remember at this time of year. Yesterday I found half a robin's egg shell, sitting on the ground by our washing line. Now to think what to do with it..... it seems lonely....

pandas

printed pillow creatures - pandas ----

for my shop update tomorrow

108

Though I may not be making them strictly every day, the tiny heads continue to continue..... I've aged this one with tinted varnish and given her a longer neck.... perhaps a small series of long-necked-ones are on the horizon....

mosaic monday

1. pick me, 2. r1, 3. what did you bring me, 4. flickr.com/photos/55256450@N07/5654485677/, 5. Untitled, 6. Angel Jack, 7. img287, 8. handmade resin dolls, 9. Untitled, 10. Keep the Wolves from the Door April 23 - 29, 11. soul conversation sm, 12. escutcheon collection no. 12, 13. Cambio de plano (salir del blister), 14. Drawing 04-19-11 E, 15. Untitled, 16. _4272634

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

A May Mosaic for you..... many thanks to the artists and photographers featured, thanks for sharing your work via my Flickr contacts...

In a world of Big Events and News, it is easy to feel small and quiet.... but small and quiet is not so bad. I don't see it as a negative. So this week I shall continue doing what I do - making pictures, putting stories together in one way or another. It is a bank holiday here so we are mostly taking things easy but there's still things to do and I have new work to share over the next few days...

Wednesday 4th May is the day I hope to update my Etsy shop with a new selection of artwork. You are invited to take a look, of course. I'm happy with how my paintings are evolving in recent times, in their own quiet way....

Have a very good week, take care x

May Preview III

I know how you feel



the special ones

two new paintings.... both gouache on watercolour paper, completed recently.... They are two more for my May selection, available here from May 4th....

My fascination for angels - of different appearance and temperament - is a long term thing.... drawing or painting winged-things is not the whole story, I tend to see many figures in my work as angelic for some reason.... perhaps because they want to be and I let them....

I wrote a collection of poems called 'Orbital Angel' in the late 90's which won a competition and it was published as a pamphlet... my daughter was a tiny 4 month baby with an ear infection and I could not get to the prize evening.... now my daughter is 14 and writing her own poems :) I write less these days, but there are times when I will sit and just write a lot. And then I enjoy the process....

May bank holiday weekend..... I wonder when it may ever rain? we have had about a month of dry, sunny days.... quite unusual for April. Now it is very windy outside this evening and I am wondering if rain clouds are finding their way to our garden because we do need their company tonight...

thanks again for your comments, I enjoy reading - best wishes and a mosaic coming tomorrow...