No fools here

That's another month done - goodess me, time does fly especially when you are enjoying yourself.

I seem to have had a busy month and last week I seemed to be rushing about from place to place.  But I did manage to get April's pages done, although at the moment they are looking a bit plain. The background is decorated with a spiral lino cut I whizzed off this week.  I'm into spirals at the moment, but more about that another time.  I also spent a day with my friend Sally at her studio at Digswell where she ran a workshop on monoprinting techniques using the heavy etching press - great fun, but really, we only had time to familiarize ourselves with the basic techniques as printmaking is quite a laborious procedure, but with so much potential.  Not sure that it is my method at the moment, more to share from that another time too.

However the excitement of the week has been the first posting day for the Postman's Knock group.

Twelve of us who have blogging connections have entered a 'deal' to send a postcard every fortnight to one of the members of the group on their chosen them.  The first posting date was yesterday, so quite a lot of us received our first postcards this morning.  You can view them here.

My chosed  theme is Windows and here is my card from Penny

Perfectly conveying her Spanish theme.  I haven't heard whether mine has arrived at its destination yet.  fingers crossed that it arrives safely.

Do have a look at the other postcards, I feel I am in such talented company.

Jill

Time Marches on ...

I am a bit tardy getting my March calendar pages posted, but I have actually started it, I have just had an adversion to going through the process of scanning the pages etc.

 I am glad to say good-bye to February - it has been not only a dreary month, but one of restlessness, especially the last couple of weeks.  Every few months I feel as if I am turning another corner in my creative journey so hopefully March will be the beginning of the next phase.

I rather slopped this page together in my new journal - I love filling in the little squares, but my creative energy has been focussed elsewhere. 

Thanks to everyone who was so encouraging after my last blog, ` I quickly came to a decision after writing it.  I have decided not to registar on a college course, but to try to follow my own path taking part in as many workshops as I can, buy books, build up my  local contacts and set myself goals.  When I began this blog with the sub-heading "chronicles of a mature learner" so that is what I am going be doing.  Watch this space.

I took advantage of the sun this afternoon,  so join me and Marvin in the garden.

Have a great weekend,

Jill

Calendar Challenge 2011

Only two days to go - so here is a review of 2010. Kate and I are throwing down the gauntlet again and opening up the challenge for another year. It really isn't that difficult. Setting up the page could be as simple as cutting out enough squares for January and sticking them in an A4 sketch book. The background could be a plain colour wash, or as fancy as you like. As for filling in the days, as you can see sometimes I don't write anything - a picture or stamp will do, you could just do a doodle - or sometimes I cram in as much info as I can. I certainly don't fill it in every day and often have to go back a week (or more), but a couple of words about the weather can suffice. There is no obligation to record your life story!  I have been doing this for about 18 months and it is great to go back and look at what I wrote a year or more ago.

The calendars in the challenge are posted on the flickr page, so if you haven't looked there lately it is worth a peek, especially if you are looking for inspiration. Please e mail  me or Kate if you have any questions.

My January pages are in preparation so watch this space!

And if I don't get around to writing another post this year - Happy New Year to you!

Jill



December's here

Congratulations all of you who have pledged to keep up the art calendar for twelve months we are nearly there.  So here is my completed November.

 Which looks so much more colourful now it is filled in - and December...

...a blank canvas. Who knows what the next 31 days will bring!

I will say again what great fun I find this to be, and I love looking back and seeing what happened when over the previous months. So helpful when you have a brain like a piece of sequin waste (in-joke there).

Today I should have been having lunch with the 'Nutty Knitters' group which I recently joined. However I am a bit of a wuss when it comes to icy and snowy weather so I sent my apologies. Our hostess lives up a lane about 12 miles away in the Bedfordshire countryside, and although she did e mail to say the road was passable  I am Mrs Cautious these days and full of "what ifs".  So I've been moping about thinking what a wimp I am. However to redeem myself here is my second blog in as many days. 

Firstly here are my attempts at knitting.

No, I am not knitting for a three legged baby with a split personality, they are supposed to be mini Christmas stockings. Even a wash and a hot press hasn't evened up my stitches! Just be grateful I'm not giving you one of these to hang on your tree when I come round! I am much better suited to the other kinds of needles.

Here are the two little journals I have made  covers for, in what I have called distressed patchwork as there are lots of frayed edges.

The embroidery was inspired by the bleached denim marks, I am pleased with the freer designs.

 They come with 4"x6" narrow lined journals.

Below is the last purse I managed to finish before the sewing machine seized up. I am not expecting news before the end of the week at least.

This purse is slightly stiffer than the previous ones and I am offering to add a cord to turn it into a little shoulder bag, for when you don't need to carry anything but you bit of plastic and a few coins.

What do you think? They are now in my Etsy shop.

PS You can view everyones calendar pages here

011110

These pages look quite striking, but because there is lots of colour on the squares which are bleached out areas they did not take colour very well. There is always something to be learned when doing this sort of thing.  I was inspired for my November pages by one of my long term Flickr contacts who I have been neglecting a lot lately. Unfortunately I cannot download Diana's picture, but you can see it here. She had captured  autumn leaves amongst grey stones. Hopefully the grey days, which are squares of pastel paper from an old sketchbook will fill with colour.

Diana and I 'met' when we both joined the same Flickr group when we had the same camera and we shared a love of cats. However Diana is an amazingly prolific photographer and has an incredible range of subjects from beautiful formal still lifes to wonderful candid portraits often taken in New York . I would say she favours classic subjects, but she can knock you sideways with a stunning 'off the wall' shot. Definitely worth a cruise through her photostream or her website here,

October begins

September completed

The month has been as busy as my pages suggest and is significant in that it has seen the launch of my

Etsy shop which turns me from being retired teacher/pensioner into self-employed crafting business woman (well sort of). My work room has become a bit of a production line lately with several sewing project at various stages, but and it is a big but ... my first love is dabbling so I must build time into my days for this. Of course I am prepared to put in the hours needed at the moment to get the shop up and going, but I hope I can get the balance right. It is very flattering when your work sells and I do like doing a bit of stitchin'

October begins...

I made these pages by first dyeing them with brusho powder watercolours. Rather than cut out the squares, this time I drew them and bleached out the colour. I then drew illustrations. You may notice that the 31st artfully falls from the row like an autumn leaf - or like an erratum slip (when you realise I missed out a  square). This page fulfilled an urge to doodle - now it is back to the sewing machine! I shall find time later to catch up everyone's calendar pages on the flickr site - there are many who have managed to keep going through the month  and well worth a look - it's downhill now to the end of 2010!!

September

Here is August, all 31 days of it, and how disappointingly wet it has been. I always find looking at my completed month interesting - for example it seems ages ago I had lunch with my friends, and yet it was only last week, but on the other hand only a blink ago I was planning the colour scheme for the page and here is the month complete.

What will be in store for September I wonder. It can be one of the most beautiful months. Don't you just love chilly bright mornings, when the air is crystal clear and every shrub and twig is decorated with a sparkling spider web? 

For my September calendar I have gone a bit 'mad'. I have been sitting at the computer for hours -  more work on setting up my shop. It will be such a relief when it is done. I have been taking photographs of the things I shall be selling.  I even went and cut the grass as an excuse to flex my muscles after sitting about for so long.  I needed to flex my creative muscles as well especially as I have been hand sewing and drawing those little illustrations for my memoirs. When I realized it was the end of the month it gave me an excuse to clear my desk and get out the paints.  I went a bit fauve and built up my autumn scene in orange and mauve - the colours haven't scanned very well. No stamping, no pens, but I did a pit of junk printing and stencil work. What fun, and I definitely felt a bit loosened up (although I could probably do with a few more days of sloshing the paint about). However I didn't want to lose my paint effects when I stuck down the squares for the calendar, so  ...

I scanned one of the pages, desaturated the colour and blurred it a bit with Picasa and printed out a couple of sheets which I cut into 4cm squares. I stuck these down in a slap-dash way and added the numbers and weekdays with a dip-pen. Everything is a bit blotty and smudged, I even started misnumbering the days and had to do a quick cut and paste job. But overall I have ended up with a rather effective page.

It is great to look back at last September's page when I was just staring out on my Art Journal quest. Everything was rather tight and restrained. I was very cautious about expressing myself artistically. I cannot emphasise enough how far I have come, mentally as much as artistically in the last twelve months - and now I am about to set up my own shop. I would say to any of you who feel unsure of your talents, just let go and enjoy yourself - it doesn't matter, it has taken me 60 years to gain the confidence to share something like this sploshy page, and know some of you will like it, but if you don't, it doesn't matter

The turning of the year

So it is August. How did that happen? July, been and gone. At least keeping a visual diary like this helps you look back and see what did happen.

Unfortunately I should have kept my mouth shut on my last post about Mr T as the next day he developed an infection and will probably have to return to hospital for some more work. He is on mega antibiotics and a district nurse is calling weekly to change dressings. What a wonderful service they provide - last year they were calling for seven months!! Goodness knows what that would cost if we had to pay. (PLEASE don't let it go on so long this time!!) Meanwhile we are keeping cheerful and busy.

I had an inspiration for my August page when I saw this picture in The Guardian from the Garima Gospel. You can read more about it here.

As I say on my journal page the colours remind me of Italian majolica ware which I love for its association with some great holidays so that was my inspiration for August.

What will August hold?

The summer seems to have peaked early this year. I do hope the brighter weather returns for all those who are forced to take their holidays within the school break. But I have been spending time in the garden this week. Not only tidying up, but doing some drawing. This year I have lots of Rose Campion - Lychnis coronaria. I love the way it brightens up the dullest corners.  I had lost all of mine, but seeds from a friend have brought them back to the borders. Only a process red acrylic ink would be bright enough for this flower.

The pinkest pink in the garden!

There are lost of great seed heads appearing and some leaves are turning red early so here is another composition from my A4 journal.

This is drawn with a waterproof pigment liner pen and coloured with Brusho powder watercolours. I have some jars of mixed up colours and I enjoy using the limited palette, mixing the colours only by layering them, some times dry and sometimes wet in wet. It certainly helps keep the piece loose and lively.

If you have been, thank you for 'listening'. I hope your weekend is turning out well and have a good August.

A new month

Where did June go?

 It is hard to ignore the passage of time when you are filling these in, but I started last July and I must say I enjoy looking back at what I wrote.

Here is July 2010.

 

I hope you like my new Blog layout. This way I can post larger photographs, it was quite easy with the new design tab.

SWIFTS

Here is something I have been thinking about for some time. I did a page in my journal last year devoted to swifts, but I wasn't quite happy with it so I thought I would have another go. Some of the dyed paper I made earlier in the week was just the background I was looking for. It is not a great piece of art, more a poster, but it expresses how I feel about swifts, they speak for themselves.

I learned some new facts about Swifts from this BTO page.

• 
  
  In spells of bad weather Swifts can foray for food hundreds of miles away from their nesting sites so those on the south coast could be feeding in northern central France.
• 
  
  Their eggs can survive long periods of chilling while the parent birds are away.
• 
  
  Young birds can also survive chilling to the point of torpor, reviving quickly when the parents return with food.
• 
  
  The young can survive up to three weeks without food whereas adults swifts become weak after starving for two or three days and usually die after four days without food.
• 
  
  Swifts are related to humming birds.

Swift lino print

I already knew;

• 
  
  Swifts sleep and mate on the wing.
• 
  
  When they leave the nest they have one chance to fly as they cannot take off from the ground and will then be airborne for three or four years until they raise their own family.

I find the life of these birds which grace us with their presence every year truly wonderful, and if I were to have to choose an animal existence it would have to be a Swift for me