Make a note in your diary

Hope you can make it to the private view on Friday 3rd August at 6.30 pm. I shall be stewarding on other days, but have not sorted the days yet. ...So watch this space. More details of the artists on the blog.... here

Drawings

I have been trying to discipline myself to a drawing a week.. I would love to do a drawing a day, but time is quite elusive at the moment.. so once a week has to do.

The drawing above is of my sitting room ceiling lamp..... I drew it in Biro... but it was so boring, that I decided to play with it in Paint shop and used the  layer function, the 2nd layer is a photo of the tree in the garden, and then before merging the layers.... the trees were knocked back by adjusting the transparency, and the lamp drawing enhanced with 2 filters, coloured pencil and then find edges. Great fun.

 

This outline drawing of a shoe is very simple.. H pencil on cartridge paper.... and timed. Next is purses or bags...... I have been inspired by the EDM challenge.... see here.

I am hoping to give myself some rules for each drawing... wonder what media I shall use next? Collage or paint..... Mmmm will have to see what I feel like when I start.

Lots of Stitching

It was great to get into the studio for most of the day yesterday. My daughter has a commission to make a quilt. She is really  pleased about it. So we bought the fabrics from cupcake cottons in Burford last week, and she cut the squares out the evening before last. Hence yesterday was spent stitching the top together. The photo does not show it finished..... in fact we took the photo so we would have a record for her notebook. I print it out using my little pogo printer.. they are so useful as they are self adhesive.

However, not all work in the studio has been for my daughter. I have now finished my 2 pieces of work for the exhibition at Artsite Gallery at the start of next month ( August 1st -11th) . The exhibition is called Words and Pictures, and I have really enjoyed working these pieces. I have also finished a Quilt for the Festival of Quilts, which I need to post off tomorrow. My grandaughter will be going with me for the first time, so I thought it would be fun to make a quilt to hang at the Festival.

Thats My boy!

Yes ......that's my baby boy, playing Ice hockey today..... he is No 9, a defenceman. Today he scored a hatrick ( that's 3 goals)  and 2 assists, what a star! So proud.

Road Trip to Cirencester and Big Arts Day

Its Big Arts Day today at Lydiard Park.... but it keeps raining...  the event is going ahead in true British fashion.... come rain or shine!!. Everyone has been advised to wear wellies and old jeans .. love it! They have had to cancel all car parking on site, but lots of extra buses have been laid on to get the public to the event. Wish I could go to the event today, but am going to watch youngest son play ice hockey this afternoon. 

 Dodged the rain yesterday and took a trip to New Brewery Arts in Cirencester. More of a bunny hop from here rather than a road trip.. but hey ho, made a good title. I wanted to see Sarah Beadsmoore after her wonderful talk to the Great Western Embroiderers On Tuesday. When I first arrived a note was on the door to her studio to say she was in a meeting..... so I wondered along to another studio. In fact it was the wonderful Christmas Cactus that was in her window that caught my attention, and as I was lost in thought thinking about my lovely plant that I lost last summer, a voice called out ... come on In!

I did and had a lovely chat with Kate Cotton, a knitter, who has just taken on the workshop along the corridor from Sarah. She heartily recommended I went into the "Pop up Gallery" which is a temporary gallery space attached to Brewery Arts, and look at the bird sculptures of Mike Lythgoe.. if you manage to get to Ciren before the 22nd July.. do go and look, they are wonderful and so graceful, and are thoughtfully integrated on driftwood bases which he sources from Dorset.

 Managed to get back top the car park before the heavens opened up again.... and endured a very wet and flooded journey home. We were quite grateful that we only live a "bunny hop" away. We were soon enjoying a cup of tea and chocolate cake in the comfort of home.

This weather does not bode well for Art in Action next weekend at Waterperry near Oxford. I had threatened to go this year, but a few years ago we all ( and the cars) got stuck in the mud when it rained this heavily. To go or not to go....... .. that is the question. (Hope the Bard forgives me for that!) The organisers are telling everyone to bring their wellies!!!

Grass is greener on the other side!

Eco friendly lawn mowing ?

These cows normally live in the field over the road on the farm..... however they also live on the flood plain, so with the amount of rain we have had lately, they obviously decided to move house!
Just hope the farmer comes along with a poop scoop. The fines for fouling on this housing estate playground are quite high..... max £1000 as I recall. Thats a lot of money per cow herd ;o)
 Mind you the council will save a lot of money on grass mowing.

Went along to The Marlborough Branch of the Embroiderers Guild today, and Deena Beverley gave a most interesting and inspiring talk. Deena regularly writes for Stitch magazine and has published a number of books ... one of her first publications is visible on the table..... String work. She also has quite an interest in dolls... fascinating.

 Were your first fabric pieces clothes made for yor dolls? I know I indulged my dolls in all sorts of fashion shows when I was a very young age, all wearing the most wonderful garments stitched by me!

Latest works an update

A snippet of the fabric I have been working on.. space dyed and then hand painted. Its all ready for stitching now. I am really happy with this and looking forward to completing the stitching.

The other piece of work is finished, not easy as it was green, and I do not do green. Find it very difficult to work with. I had hand dyed a piece of fabric green to show the Grandchildren how to mix green for dyeing last summer. Of course when I was auditioning my painting for a background ... the green worked the best. Typical!!!  All finished now thank goodness and framed too.

These works are in preparation for an Exhibition at Artsite Gallery  in Swindon called Words and Pictures  from 1st - 11th August.

Irish dance dress update.

Have spent a lovely couple of days re-decorating the dance dress, have to say I am very pleased with the result. I do not have a photo of the back view, but that is lovely too ( even if I say so myself).

 I think I will have to source some more skirt fabric, as my granddaughter has grown a couple of inches recently, and the skirt is getting a little short. It will be fairly easy to add a few more ruffles, but I am not sure I can get the same fabric.
I have been trying to get back into my own work during the rest of this week...... but think my mojo has gone on holiday along wiht my inspiration. So inconsiderate!

Seems to be final- Urchfont Closure

I had  a meeting at Urchfont this afternoon, and I was really looking forward to visiting this wonderful learning facility before  it closes in September.

It was only a short meeting of the Urchfont Embroiderers ( I am a member) and we had to decide .... what next.... as it is the end of Urchfont as we know it.

I was so surprised. There is a decidedly empty feel around the place..... many things have disappeared, such as the hanging baskets and the beautiful flowers. In the past the summer blooms have been spectacular. I suppose the staff are not bothering this year. The planned Open day in July has been cancelled too.. and the walls of the manor house have been "minimalised" and look quite sterile and now, in my opinion,  show a corporate image. All in preparation  to be sold I suspect.

 I spoke to some of the staff there, whom I have got to know quite well over the years... many are talking of retirement.

 Felt very sad when it was time to say goodbye. However on the drive home, I suddenly realised how lucky I had been to have had the opportunity to be part of Urchfont Manor for so many years. So sad that future generations will not have the same opportunity.

For me... time to move on.... I have written to the council and signed petitions, but have been ignored by the local politicians and decision makers. I can do no more!

A Stitching day

A most enjoyable day today with the Great Western Embroiderers.
We had the work from the recent Lydiard Exhibition returned to us, and we had 2,000 visitors, quite an achievement, and apparently this is double the normal number of visitors to Lydiard. The comments in the visitors book was very complimentary too.

The group asked me to give a workshop and demonstration about using the embellisher machine ( needle felter) see here  we had great fun, and I suspect sales of the machine will be going up this month, so many members saw the potential of this technique.

 I was also able to  give all members a quantity of raw Cotswold fleece, with details how to wash, card and spin. Many thanks to Edna of Cotswold Sewing machines in Stroud, who sourced the fleece for me. We were delighted with it.

 In the afternoon Pam took an interested group of our members along to the Museum in Cricklade, which they all enjoyed.

What a difference a day makes!

It has been so good to see the sun today, after the storms of the past couple of days. Wales seems to have suffered the  worst this time with flooding, but even up here on the hill we had flooded roads last night when we drove home from babysitting.

(Photo, thanks to the  Daily Mail---- supermarket in Wales)

It was so pleasant just standing on the patio today and looking at the blooms in the flowerpots.... the Azaleas have not enjoyed the rain very much and are looking a bit bedraggled, the Pansies however seem to be smiling through it all.

Just a quick reminder to you all .. the Traditions Exhibition at Lydiard house has its last day tomorrow, it is being taken down on Monday. We are so pleased with the lovely responses from all the visitors. We have already been booked to exhibit there again in 2014.

I am busy thinking and planning for our next theme..... and tryng to get some photos together. At the moment I need a bit more inspiration, and had planned some visits. Unfortunately the weather has put a stop to some of the visits I wanted to make. Typical!
Will share with you when I have sorted myself out.

Youngset son managed to get Man of the Match (see here)  again today at his Ice Hockey match.... so proud of him. Has injured his wrist, but ice packs are sorting it all out.

Two days of fun

Lots of fun today, firstly we watched the Pageant on the river Thames in London on the TV, what a fantastic event. You can see some of the photos here.

We then joined in the street party outside, in the pouring rain of course ( this is England!!) We had plenty of Gazebo's and umbrellas to protect us from the downpour. Chatter, laughter and BBQ's.... a great time with  all the neighbours. 

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to be invited to take part in a textile day, locally, another fun day. It was a small group and we worked with textile artist Sue Green. Her studio is in a wonderful location on a farm just over the county border in Gloucestershire.  When I got home, I managed to decorate the house in bunting and GB flags just before it started to rain. Phew!

Jubilee bunting

Had a fun morning making bunting for next weeks holidays --- the Queen's Jubilee celebrations. Then we also have the Olympics 2012 and Wimbledon and apparently some  European football matches... so we thought we might get some mileage from using the bunting this year.

The garden is looking really good and we have had lots of time to enjoy it in this wonderful sunshine. This plant always flowers in time for my mothers' Birthday - middle of May..... and has continued to flower beautifully for a long time this year. This great weather has meant we have eaten lots of BBQ's and very enjoyable they have been as well.

Still drawing .... using coloured pencils ....but may be its time to eat the fruit now!

Olympic Torch Relay

Great fun and festivities as the torch relay passed through Swindon and surrounding villages yesterday. Daughter managed to get this photo of the Chelsea footballer who had the honour of running in Swindon as well as many other noteworthy and local people.
 Great to see, I watched much of it via the Internet. See the link here to watch the relay live.
The North Wiltshire countryside looked amazing in the sweltering sunny heat of 28C.

BBC Wiltshire also has some interesting photos, as Zara Phillips carried the torch around Cheltenham race course last night. The local paper Swindon Advertiser also featured lots of photos.. .see here

Sketching fruit

Sometimes it is just so calming to sit and sketch.

Football hero

Thanks to the Swindon Advertiser for this great photo of my grandson playing in the North Wiltshire football league at the County Ground pitch recently... see here. He also got Man of the Match ;o) ............ I am so proud of him.

Went along to the Museums at Night at Lydiard House last night. It was lovely to see the Great Western Embroiderers Exhibition in the night light, and talk to so many interested visitors about our work. I took my sketchbook along so visitors could see how I work..... our local paper also promoted the event ( see here).

 As it is a national event.... did you go to a Museum near you? If so which one?

Swindon Open Studios 2012

Went along to the Open Evening for this years event, it is always interesting to meet other artists who wish to take part. If you are interested in taking part this year, and live in a 15 mile radius of Swindon, take a look here

Malvern Quilt show

Spent a day at Malvern Quilt show yesterday, it was my first time, and I really enjoyed myself. Not quite as many quilts on show as at the Festival of Quilts. Seemed to be lots of traders, and naturally I could not resist some purchases. By time I took the photo it was pretty crowded, the photo shows a temporary lull in this particular spot.!! Was really pleased I went to the show, and hope to go again next year

Droxford in Hampshire

I spent a delightful day, giving my "Stitches- Use and Abuse" workshop to members of the Textile Workshop  who meet in Droxford Village Hall. They have an exhibition soon, so do keep an eye out for it if you live locally.

 I usually like to keep numbers down in my workshops so I can give lots of individual attention. Although 19 members attended from this group ( and a couple of others drifted in during the day), they were so enthusiastic and knowledgeable, that the large numbers were not a problem. What a talented group of textile artists, as you can see from the photos of the work they produced. I was very impressed by their hard working ethos.

A very enjoyable day for me, and the weather was great too.