sketchbook Sunday

my newer sketchbooks are slowly becoming inhabited...

have a good Sunday x

head portrait

a head portrait...

I am working on new heads (they are slighter larger than the 'tiny series) for my 'autumn collection'....

I hope to share a new head each Thursday during these coming summer weeks....

Just a reminder that my Etsy shop will be closed from August 8th until September 1st when many of the new autumn things will be available....

hope your week is going well...

mosaic monday

1. 5 girls in a row, 2. Façades, 3. MUDANZA, 4. peter hurley | danny espinoza, 5. cloud mobile, 6.Untitled, 7. Untitled, 8. werkinprog, 9. musk ox, 10. frozen, 11. House snail and books, 12. Myth, 13.colar de franjas, 14. studio bulletin board, 15. Wallum Glass Pendants, 16. Untitled, 17. Emaki study 20110720, 18. 4 larger works in progress 6, 19. Trees 2, 20. Trust...

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Happy sunny Monday to you...... many thanks to all the artists featured in this week's mosaic - via my Flickr contacts. So many lovely images for you to explore, just follow the links.....

This week I hope to make the most of the sunshine and spend some time relaxing - but I am also still working away at new ideas, making marks in sketchbooks, playing with stitches and clay..... 

I hope to share new things and glimpses as the week goes by.... have a very good one....

sketchbook Sunday

recent pages from my sketchbooks.... my sketchbooks are about being playful - sometimes the simple quick sketch sums it up.... does not have to be 'good'.




giddy up!

enjoy your Sunday x

clay work in progress

a work-in-progress shot...... I would like to create some sculpture work for my tiny garden..... rather than making tiny things I am aiming toward, thinking of, one or two larger pieces.... but before ordering a ton of clay - stop and plan!

I've been doodling and sketching with gouache. I've also discussed with my daughter the kind of sculpture that she likes, and would perhaps like to help me put together, or at least have some input. (Perhaps she might also make her own). Her thoughts are she prefers abstract to figurative. You know me and my love of figures, but also I like the abstracted form.... I showed my son my sketchbook very quickly this morning and he pointed to one of the figures. This is the one I am modelling... I'm making a small prep version before I do make a larger one, if it feels right.

This clay is air-dry Newclay. I don't have a kiln or access to one, but that won't stop me. Once dry newclay is pretty damn hard, and can be treated with an extra hardener coating. And then painted/varnished - to look like a ceramic glaze. The sculpture will live outside in the spring/summer, under glass cover.

Well, we shall see how this goes..... You may be wondering (or maybe worked out already) why the figure here has newspaper stuffed inside - that is to stop the hollow form from caving in as it dries. I want the figure to have lots of thumbprints. But I also want to keep to the idea of abstracting.... so I will make the lower half a lot more uniform with the 'legs' less expressive than the torso...

Have a good weekend and more soon....

calm & inspiration

A windowsill - early morning - I am an early bird, always have been..... I like how simple objects together have a certain calm in early morning light.....

Today I went to a fabulous exhibition at the British Museum - 'Treasures of Heaven'.... I am so pleased I made the time to go and see. I will tell more about it soon. Very inspiring. Here's a link to the museum site to find out more.

my little healing space

After having a day that's been stressful and rainy (we all have them), it was so nice to see a few rays of sunshine and to step outside into my little side garden.... this is my healing space, my little sanctuary. It's not especially private, I don't have the luxury of high yew hedges. However, I know that even if the space is rented, the pots and plants are mine and I have grown many from seed or cuttings.... It is not perfect, and I want to add more. This summer I would like to make some sculptures to live in there and make the space more individual. I'm going to visit a few exhibitions and get some ideas and inspiration....

I recently came across the work of Lotte Glob - her croft landscape was recently featured in Ceramics Review magazine and you can see more about this on her website. Of course her landscape is very different from my little urban space.

Thanks for your kind comments from yesterday. I am indeed looking forward to some time to recharge and play with new ideas, and to grow little creative random stalks that might lead to who-knows-something-interesting......

enjoy the rest of your Tuesday

mosaic monday

1. maquina 3x4, 2. why, 3. The Reason Why, 4. etude 422, 5. Untitled, 6. Untitled, 7. Block #1 for DRAWN IN A DAY (drawn, above), 8. Untitled, 9. ///, 10. McNally Jackson, 11. city on the hill, 12. The Journey. New Miniature Artist's Book., 13. "As aldeias são as pessoas", 14. TADA365 #191b Printing with leaves, 15. in a vast turquoise ocean, 16. the language of art, 17. Jean Martin Charcot, 18. Untitled, 19. Painting 07-06-11 B, 20. she wept until her tears turned to silk

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Hello to you on this cold and damp July Monday..... yes there is something wrong with that phrase but moving along...... many thanks to the artists featured in this week's mosaic. 

This week - I have just returned from the post office, having sent several packages and hope to have more packaged and sent very soon. I'm going to continue with my sketchbooks and planning ahead.... 

A little advance notice: my Etsy shop will be 'on vacation' from August 8th - September 1st.

I am not going anywhere exotic - I am not going far at all (perhaps a few day trips). So I will be around to answers questions, and will continue to blog etc... The vacation will be for me to focus on spending time with my family and to work on new new new for the autumn. In particular, I am looking forward to putting together Novembermoon no. 4 - I'm hoping also, if the summer weather allows, to work on an outdoor clay project. I'll share more about that when/if it happens. 

I'll be re-opening my Etsy shop on 1st September with a new range of artwork and a new zine, hopefully!

Ok, enough shop talk, I need to get on with things around here. Lots to do. School finishes at the end of this week - looking forward to that final end of term feeling and pizza (we have pizza at the end of term, it's our little family tradition/treat.) Let's hope for some sunshine to come!

Have a very good week ahead x

sketchbook Sunday

sketches on brown paper....

'caring for her childhood self' is the title I have given for the first.... the other pages inspired by this rainy weekend... really, we are having April in July here.

Thanks again for all the lovely comments (both here and there) re: my Etsy Featured seller interview - here's the link

Also, just to repeat it: I am pleased to say that I shall be making a donation to Oxfam tomorrow (I pledged to give 10% of my art sales for this week). You can read more about the crisis in East Africa here.

Have a good Sunday

just flowering

A view of our tiny herb garden this afternoon, with fennel and oregano just flowering..... It is one of those rare and lovely days: not too hot, not too chilly, sun is out, gentle breeze.....

Thank you for all your very kind comments re: my Etsy featured seller interview. I am so grateful for all the positive feedback regarding my work, it means a lot. I'm spending the next few days carefully putting packages together, thanks.

And as I tweeted earlier this week I am donating 10% of my art sales this week to the wonderful Oxfam.

Etsy featured seller

a page from my brown paper sketchbook..... this is available as part of a set of prints in my Etsy shop today..

I am in a bit of whirl because now I can tell you - today I am Etsy's featured seller..... I am delighted and hope that you may enjoy reading my interview:) yes!

thank you

mosaic monday

1. 20110620singleward, 2. Bloc 11 Opening Reception Postcard, 3. Bird Rock, 4. car and caravan with tank A2, 5. Mary, 6. Boom de la historieta en Colombia, 7. Dear Mother, 8. Untitled, 9. Untitled, 10.sketchbook, 11. collection, 12. Spanische Tanze, 13. summer loop scarf in security dots, 14. DSC07754, 15. Mouse Trap - Page 1, 16. Selena, 17. Untitled, 18. Untitled, 19. Untitled, 20. Bogotanismos I, 21.Untitled, 22. de draagbare rommelmarkt, 23. absent friends 2, 24. até 16 de Julho na Mãos à Arte, 25.don't touch what you can't afford to get a thump for

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

A Happy sunny Monday to you..... many thanks to the artists featured in this week's mosaic.

The last few week before the school holidays and I am busy busy.... I really want to share lots with you now, before I take a little time off in August. So today I shall be updating my etsy shop with a new selection of paintings + art cards + 

Thank you for your comments here and I hope that you will have a very good week ahead x

metapainting

Detail from a new still painting: 'The Magpie Painter'. You can see more of it here. This work will be in my shop tomorrow.

 Metapainting..... (a painting about painting) Well, strange or not, I enjoyed painting the brushes in this one - they seemed to take on little lives of their own....

It is a larger work for me: 40 x 40cm - me who is used to working on an A4 kind of scale.... We seemed to spend an awful lot of time getting to know each other. But gradually, many layers and ideas later, the painting decided it was complete.

I've earlier posted the final nevering for this week of posts. Thanks for looking and reading.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

a little birdie told me....

it's been a busy week - with writing each day and posting over at nevering (with sketches too)

I've also been working hard on new still paintings. I shall have three new ones in my shop, this coming Monday. The one above is completed now and you can see it here. The other two are still in progress and will keep me painting this weekend. I'm enjoying the process. Interesting how the tension in my shoulders that I get when I stitch using my machine - has faded away whilst painting these. Perhaps not that surprising but the feeling is quite welcome....

Also in my shop on Monday, a further selection of new prints and tiny heads postcards.

Have a good weekend - I shall continue to post over at nevering.

mosaic monday

1. field, 2. Seek Help, 3. 114a, 4. LA ÚLTIMA TAZA DE CAFÉ, LAS ÚLTIMAS PALABRAS, LA ÚLTIMA LOCURA, 5. olio3, 6. Untitled, 7. Dream Board, 8. companion3, 9. Untitled, 10. Jim Harris: Untitled., 11.ceiling of the guggenheim, 12. work in progress..., 13. The long wait, 14. a close up of the protagonists, 15. Untitled, 16. Untitled, 17. Untitled, 18. 3x3start, 19. DSC08898, 20. school presentation

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

A warm Monday to you..... and a happy July 4th to all that celebrate today...

many thanks to the artists featured in this week's mosaic - always a joy to put together - I am grateful to all my flickr contacts for sharing their lovely, varied, imaginative and super images

This week - I am working on a week-long project over at my writing blog nevering...... I shall be posting one or two new pieces of poetry or prose each day. There may also be new sketches to keep the writing company. I am welcoming responses in the way of reader's own writing relating to the post, responses in the form of links to sketches/drawings etc.... 

I hope you might like to take a look over there a few times this week.... see what's happening - I am not sure what I will be writing about exactly yet - that's the interesting part ha!

It is really warm here. I said that before but it is....warm..... I hope to get some painting completed this week too and perhaps there will be a new still work in my shop later on this week....

New tiny heads postcards on their way also....:)

enjoy your week and more soon x

sketchbook Sunday

pencil sketches in a sketchbook..... some doodle-ness..... I have not used a pencil for a while! but I found a pack of sweet little mechanical pencils in the supermarket and tried them out.... doodles can lead you to realise some interesting and strange notions.... or nothing much at all..

but this kind of sketching and doodle work helps me with my stitched pieces - for example this recently completed mixed media collage: 'somewhere else'

the lines become more exact, of course, the figures are less speaking more....

*

this weekend is really rather muggy - my ten year old has baked a cake and I did very little to help, it was lovely to see his enthusiasm....

I am looking forward to a week of sharing new writing over at nevering - beginning tomorrow

enjoy your weekend x