Glorious September

I am feeling much better and this glorious weather is helping. I'm back to the land of the living after a few days of a cold and I have been enjoying sitting in the garden with my pen and water colours. This is what I was looking forward to when I retired, last year's miserable autumn was such a disappointment. So far we have had mostly blue skies for at least a couple of weeks. I feel obliged to make the most of every hour so I have been gardening and out with my camera, cleaning windows and doing plenty of laundry. The garden seems to be having a last flush of flowers and there are plenty of insects about. I want to plant bulbs and move some shrubs, but the ground is so dry I am postponing these jobs 'till we've had some rain. I'll share some of the photographs I have been taking later.

I'm a bit disappointed wth the way this has come out even though I adjusted the colours in photoshop they seem to be really unsubtle - I just need to experiment.

Trying something new

I have finished my photography course and now have time to give rein to all my other art projects. I try to do something everyday, but I still feel as if I am indulging myself and should be carrying out a domestic task so I try to do something worthy round the house or garden before allowing myself an art session.

I have been fascinated by the collages, art journals, art cards and so on which abound on flickr and numerous blogs, so determined to have a go myself. This little picture is made in a cheap 6"x4" photography frame with the glass removed. I covered the whole thing, frame and backing with torn news print and layered it with gesso, acrylic colour washes and neocrayon. The collage consist of some leaves I have collected from the garden, magazine and paper bits. The little girl comes from the suzie que flickr free download pages. Flourishes were added with felt paints and a bit of stamping ink. I wasn't sure it worked until I photographed it, but looking at this it I am quite pleased. I pressed the leaves by ironing them between cartridge paper and them leaving them under a weight for a couple of days. Traditionally pressing flowers takes several weeks, but this seems to have worked - only time will tell if they last. I have a nice selection to use.

September

September is an emotive time of year especially for those involved with schools all their lives like me. It has always associated with new beginnings for me, even more than January. Seeing the school children making their way for the new term this morning made me think of new books and sharp pencils and new resolutions for the term ahead.
I conveniently forget the weeks of planning, sorting, ordering stock, relining pinboards for displays and staff-meetings and records, records, records to read and start to fill in.
In the 'old' days I also enjoyed starting the new class register with its red zig-zags and blue 'O' s. I always joked that I only wanted to be a teacher so I could keep a register. I used to make my own from my dad's spare football pool coupons - something else only fellow uk readers of my generation will know (Do they have them any more?). Now the register is computerised and far less romantic.
When I was a school-girl myself, I loved walking to school on September mornings when there was a morning dew.The cobwebs on the front garden shrubs would be magically transformed to diamond necklaces and the air would be scented with chrysanthemums and damp leaves. There was often a early morning chill with the promise of warm sunshine. The leaves would be starting to turn and the pavements were often slippery with berries and ripe fruits shed from overhanging trees. As I generally walked to school by myself I was able to keep in touch with my nature-loving self - not too cool for a young teenager if in the company of her classmates.
This is my second September since retiring - I was looking forward to a glorious Sepember last year, but it did nothing but rain and was gloomy most of the time, so may be this year will be glorious. The leaves seem to be turning early and the blustery weather is putting paid to the apples. They are being blown down before we can pick them and then they get bruised and won't keep.
I found the quote from Alexander Theroux on the internet, and although it does not quite match my sentiments voiced above - there is that whistful feel of summer's done.