one day in summer

 

one day in summer - watercolour

today I'm sharing here another recent work - this one may become a postcard print to be offered in my shop. (I'm at the moment deciding on which paintings I am going to offer and which will be postcards.)

new work

Here's a detail shot from a recent gouache sketch: 'dreamer cups' - I have given them each their own quiet personality.....

Just updated my shop this afternoon and there is new embroidery as well as gouache sketches - a new series of smaller brooches and a special 'medium sized' piece.

Hope you enjoy taking a look



Invitation to dream.... embroidery artwork

yes the chairs continue to feature - they are such a part of my 'language' these days.... infact I'm thinking about making new papier mache chairs - combining embroidery and or other textiles somehow.....hmmmm

The Little Visitor

 

The little Visitor- watercolour on paper

This is one of several recent paintings. I've been working intensely on them, each individual, with a variety of themes and ideas explored... There's a story to this, is she combing or pulling at, the little one's hair? I like the ambiguity (that's what I aim toward) and I hope you enjoy it too.

New original paintings and a postcard print set - coming in June.

Perhaps I will share one or two other new paintings here - in coming days.... 

Anyhow, busy busy - I've just been stitching all morning. New embroidery works are happening..... more tomorrow.

mosaic monday

1. NaturalDyes 045, 2. Dibujo/draw 2012, 3. i had this dream..., 4. BeastsUnhingedExpo07, 5. polaroids of texture and pattern, 6. Through the lychgate, 7. Untitled, 8. Old Aunt Prunella or..., 9. rb11p0dx cropped, 10. Flower basket colours, 11. New work by Makeal Flammini, 12. sita, 13. Klee cushions, 14. The fab 4 - Polaroids of a princess slicing oranges, 15. La force dans le mot. efforcer, 16. Untitled, 17. # 33 Taça em Papier Maché, 18. General and his Medals, 19. IMG_1858, 20. window and vines wip, 21. Untitled, 22. 00, 23. still working, 24. Cat, 25. monocromatismo multifacetado, 26. I made a bench!, 27. textile cookies, 28. kiss, 29. legs, 30. untitled little girl painting

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

A Happy Monday to you - many thanks to all the artists and photographers featured in this last mosaic of May. Please click on links to discover more about each image.

Today is usually a bank holiday here in the UK - but this year we have had things changed, due to the Queen's Jubilee. There is going to be an extended holiday next weekend, meaning Monday and Tuesday are bank holidays. This does not make a great deal of difference to me work-wise, as I am self-employed and my children will be on half-term break anyway. As for the Jubilee and me personally, I am unlikely to be seen wearing union jack bunting and dancing in the street, but you never know. ...There are going to be various Jubilee celebrations around the UK, and I believe our local neighbourhood has something planned. All of which will depend on our wonderfully unpredictable weather. Today it is humid, cloudy, with the chance of thunderstorms....

I know today it is Memorial Day in the US, so thinking of you all today and hoping you may enjoy any plans you have with family, friends or just yourself.

So, this week.... I am excited about some new embroidery works that I have in early stages of design. Hoping to share more with you soon. And I hope to update my shop on Wednesday, with a mix of new stitches and sketches.

Also, I am looking forward to sharing with you some of the new 'summer paintings' that have been created recently. I'll be offering a selection of original works -later in June, along with a limited edition postcard set. That is my plan at the moment.

I have not forgotten the big hint I made some weeks ago - that is the return of the pointy hat chaps (handmade doll creatures) and possibly other characters. They are quietly busying themselves and will be arriving a little later on this summer/autumn, to be confirmed.

A lot to be getting on with then, and happily so.....Have a very good Monday x

sketchbook & garden

sketchbook - a tiny one for random faces...
I've been painting all week and have enjoyed the process. Some of the paintings are quite colourful and all are more detailed works - a little different from my gouache sketches of recently. I am looking forward to showing you a selection next week.....

Meanwhile

it's been very warm here and I have spent some time in the garden






succulents and rust - houseleeks growing in an old rusted sugar tin with a sedum to the right. I have a tiny garden and most things grow in containers of some sort or another....

 
 a houseleek (or sempervivium) called grey owl - it is huge compared to most varieties and reminds me a little of a water lily. But these are drought-resistant. I like how they grow 'chicks' and nestle together. The larger ones with their tiny chicks remind me of the way I like to groups faces together in my stitch work..... perhaps they have inspired me.


 

aquilegia or granny's bonnet - this is a dark one, quite a beauty......

painting

busy painting - and as you can tell green is a featured colour in at least one recent work......  I liked how the colour dried to make an abstract landscape of sorts.... It is hot here (last week winter coats, this week how little can one wear in public?).... The painting process is not so easy when very warm and the paint dries rapidly. I like to dab and remove and re-think. It's good perhaps that as an early bird I can get up at 5am, and it is light, and can get some painting done for a short while.....

My method is to paint and then once I think a painting is complete I put it away. Not looking again. Just moving on to the next. These are more complex, layered paintings it seems. So they are taking considerate time and need me to focus focus focus. But I can see how some might lead to embroidery ideas. And some are just going to take time to be themselves......More to come...

mosaic monday

1. Sketchbook Challenge, 2. bird box open, 3. 難過的又要吐了 但為什麼不是綠色液體呢, 4. The Darling family at their country estate., 5. Untitled, 6. mixed media wire doll - fanny, 7. P5165248, 8. Estudio - mayo 2012, 9. Mountain of Strength, 10. leopard in the King's garden, 11. Jim Harris: Untitled., 12. Watercolour workshop by me, 13. A4poket al180512_0002, 14. Untitled 51712, 15. SAUNAK, 16. iPhone Beauty, 17. drawing_20120517_01_72dpi, 18. New-Frida-lace-2, 19. Chaos Theory, 20. Envelope, 21. capsella bursa pastoris, 22. Little angels, in my studio, 23. holland next top mermaid, 24. within, 25. Capuchinhas

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

A Happy Monday to you - many thanks to the artists and photographers featured in this week's mosaic of inspiration - thanks always to my Flickr contacts. Follow the links to find out more about each and every one....

This week, England is due to be sunny and very warm.... Waiting in anticipation. A nation has its flip flops on standby.... Right now it's overcast and just as chilly as previous weeks. I am not jinxing anything....

So this week I am working on a new series of paintings, I mentioned about yesterday. I'm calling them simply my 'summer paintings' and am not sharing anything yet, but am keeping them quiet (pressed under heavy books for their own good). Hoping to eventually show you something.

Also hope to work on new embroidery ideas, as there's always something new I want to try. I had a slightly ambitious daydream - and that is - to stitch a horse with figures. Not going to promise anything at all at this stage. Hope I haven't raised any expectations, but you never know!

Will look forward to sharing more pictures and ideas as the week goes by.... Thanks always for taking a look at my shop (many new things to browse always) and thanks for your comments here. Have a good week x

sketchbook sunday

 

sketchbook

I've not shared sketchbook pages for a few weeks - so here are a couple I've made over the weekend..... mostly random figure sketches....

In the past days I've made a start on a new series of paintings, I'm calling them simply my 'summer paintings' and hope to keep the momentum going on them for the next few months. Considered and tender, colourful: watercolours. I'm not sharing any pictures until I feel its right. But I am looking forward to it. Certainly not painting exclusively over the next few months though, the embroidery and the painting and the sketching - together help me out balancing ideas and exploring in different ways. The sketchbook pages may seem quite random but a little figure here or there can spark an idea, as I am sure you may know from your own experience. It just takes one little winking eye, or a certain shrug of a figure, to go further.....

storytellers

storytellers - a larger embroidery artwork

I knew the title for this one early on - they wanted to be playful and slightly mysterious too.... with their little puppets and their intricate dreaming supporting cast....

I've been on such a stitching journey recently - it has been interesting to be really working intensely and carefully on some more detailed larger works. It felt important to me to work on a couple or so at a time, to see how they may 'feed into' each other, but also so that I could perhaps go deeper and really get lost in the stitches! Looking at this work now I am pleased indeed that I chose that regal blue for the central figure and I particular enjoy their expressions - I just hope you do too.... There's so much that could be said but I want you to find the stories and I don't like to impress too much meaning, it's for you to find if you wish.......

So I have just updated my shop with all the new work - three special embroidery artworks and few new gouache sketches too

hope you enjoy your weekend x

A dreaming house

A dreaming house - this is a larger work of very detailed embroidery.... Intricate is a word I use quite often to describe my imagined stitched paintings/drawings - but this one really is quite, quite intricate and took many hours. I worked on one small area at a time, building little rooms within rooms, or details connecting with the whole, so that there is some kind of flow, but also a sense of space, differing perspectives and layers of meaning...  I did not want to stitch a house with easily defined rooms, but my aim was to build a dream-like world. There are pictures within the larger picture, such as the framed portraits on the 'wall'. (Tomorrow, when I put this work into my shop, I know I am going to find it tough to chose just five photos to describe this, so I may add more photos to my flickr stream.)

Meanwhile, here is the 'top layer of the cake' or attic scene:



The chairs are described in stitch just as I often paint them - with their own quiet personalities.... - always aiming toward some kind of ambiguity, I hope there are stories for you to enjoy and think about here, in this house of dreams....

Edit: I've just come back to this to add a few more thoughts.... I wanted to say it was important to me to use black and white for this work. One of my earliest memories is the black and white tiles on the floor in my great-grandfather's kitchen - a room that had not altered since the 1930's, complete with tiny stove and no fridge. It seemed important to have blocks of solid black and solid white in areas, to balance the complexity.... This piece has really taught me to stop and think, and to be quietly bold....

waiting for a title

I have been working on three larger stitched pieces over the past several days - and this is the smaller of the three - I think I would call this a medium-sized work, and measures 10.5 x 9cm. It is densely detailed and has a lovely texture. This is not yet titled, I have some ideas - often a title comes about as I work, but this one has kept me thinking a bit..... perhaps getting ready for the party with their little chairs, the main figure holds a doll, the echoes of figures and faces suggest memories, history, pictures of the past converging.... 'waiting for the party to begin' perhaps..... or dreaming of the beginning and the past.....

mosaic monday

1. hats, 2. Untitled, 3. 5_11-12, 4. my work２, 5. happy mother's day, 6. dollies in line, 7. Water way, 8. embroidery, 9. untitled, 10. Hectora, 11. Untitled, 12. summer project bag ☀☀☀, 13. vigilante, 14. sera, 15. Untitled, 16. number 53, 17. prepping..., 18. Give thanks., 19. may update, 20. cigar-tin story #131

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Happy Monday to you - many thanks to the artists and makers featured here, thanks always to my flickr contacts. Please click on the links to discover more about each one.

It's a rather overcast start to the week here - we had sunshine over the weekend though. I watched a blackbird having a dip in the bird bath this morning. Suddenly the world is looking leafy and green again, after what felt like an extended winter. Expecting some rain this week, but we need it still.

So this week I am busy working on new special pieces. I have some serious stitching to do. Hoping to update my shop on Friday, with new embroidery and paintings. There will be preview and in-progress shots to see here before then, if all goes to plan. I look forward to sharing more.

Have a good start to your week x

work in progress - a home for dreaming

a work-in-progress shot - this piece explores 'house and home' - an ongoing theme for me, as you may know..... this is just a detail of the many networks, patterns and faces that make a house a home... I'm playing with perspective, as ever, and the chair is a repeated motif....

I hope to have this larger work completed some time next week, along with a couple of other pieces I have been busy with recently...

the sun is out, the grass is cut, the borage is being eaten by huge snails (or some other oddity of nature), I've just 'pricked out' a small tray of violas.... it feels like spring here this weekend....

paper house

"I am thinking about a garden....."

(This is a paper house I made a few years ago....)

looking out

Charlotte stands by the window looking out.... (105 in my series of sepia shots)

It's busy in the quiet house as things are being created, more to share soon.....

mosaic monday

1. Venise '12, 2. Sterling silver and wood brooch, 3. felted weaving, 4. one of my favorite things, 5. my father, 6. Blackbirds (detail), 7. A Clowder, 8. Técnica mixta. 2012, 9. what was on the ceiling and window, 10. Untitled, 11. New characters for Karlsruhe, 12. net:working, 13. sacos feitos manta, 14. naturally tie-dyed pouches, 15. bird fetish with mask, 16. 2, 17. pink bunny heads, 18. purple ruffles, 19. May Day, 20. mountains., 21. La prometida, 22. coloredcornerPhoto, 23. Untitled, 24. barnacles, 25. Untitled

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

A Happy Monday to you...... it was almost sunny, almost.... here's a mosaic of interesting images by other artists, please click on the links to discover more about each one. Thanks always to my Flickr contacts.

As always, it's a busy week ahead for me. I'm making good progress on new textile designs, new characters are coming together and I am excited about sharing more - but not just yet. I'm dyeing, spinning, stitching... sketching and reinventing. It's feeling good, in a very soft and tactile way...

Shop news: I've just added several items to my SALE section. Including a few embroidery pieces. These will be offered at a sale price, for a limited time only.

So many changes happening in the world right now, it's good to be connected to you and to stay in touch. Thanks always for your comments and visits. Have a happy creative week ahead x

pandaesque

pandaesque - a pair of new gouache paintings

I've just added a selection of new paintings to my shop....

and earlier this morning I tinkered a bit with the layout of this blog... I hope you find your way around ok.

Also there's a new link over on the right: pearly buttons. This new space will be for photos of new doll creatures and characters, once they are ready to be seen (they will be a little shy for a while, as I am very busy with their finer details, stitching noses, buttoning shoes, spinning wool etc...) I want to have it as mostly lots of photos, a record of all the characters I make......

Hope to update pearly buttons some time in the next few weeks - I'll let you know here and this remains my main hub of things....

hope you have a very good weekend - it's a bank holiday here, and in typical English fashion the weather is cold, damp and not going to improve any time soon. It doesn't feel like May, but never mind, I like nesting......x

happy hats

pointy hat chaps in progress......

for some time I have been 'hearing' about a possible pointy hat chaps takeover - you know they like to take my attention... not just a reprisal but they want their own space this time. I don't know, such demanding chaps. And they are getting ever more particular - we want to be all natural they say, dye the fabric with plant dyes, you know how. Dye the wool and spin the wool and knit the wool. So yeah, not exactly a two-step process guys. But even so, they have persuaded me....

You may not know that years ago now, I began my professional design/craft/art career as a maker of textile dolls and creatures. I have made them every so often, over the last few years. The pointy hat chaps allow me to exercise my design skills in a different way - and I enjoy making them and I know people have enjoyed collecting.....

So, I am working on new chaps. And possibly other creatures. They will have their own space - they will be an off-shoot, a happy branching out.....

And meanwhile I will continue on with my ever-evolving mixed media artwork. Thanks for looking at all the new work in my shop. Never a dull moment x

new work

woman and her little man - this is a postcard-sized mixed media collage, and perhaps one of my favourites recently....

but I've made several new artworks recently and you can see them today in my shop..... it's chilly here, despite the weather forecast suggesting otherwise... all the rain has been good for our little pots of salad leaves! I hope your week is going well, more soon.....