It's my *****day

It's my *****day and I have the first head cold I've had all winter. Not that it has curtailed any grand celebrations, but we have postponed going out for lunch as I don't think I will taste a thing. I love this sentiment that was on a card from my oldest friend - we met at Infant's School - although we rarely see each other these days.

You may be older than you've ever been before, but remember,

You are younger than you will ever be again.

Thanks, Avril.

I'm not one for great celebrations, unless of course it is a 'biggy',  and I may have mentioned before that it is my father's 90th, nephew's 18th and (toy boy)husband's 60th all in May - I will probably mention it again, so I am more that happy to have a quiet day. Tomorrow I am going to The Textile Fair at the Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington.  For once I haven't got to drive as my friends are picking me up, so that will be a treat.  I went to the same show about three years ago with another friend, when we went by train.  What a day - not only were the local trains stopping short of St Pancras due to work on the line, but there was

a big rugby match at Twickenham - I seem to remember it took us over three hours to get home, but it was a good show.

I have been getting on with my Creative Quiltmaking, the first modules are mainly concerned with sketchbook work and generating designs - a skill I want to develop myself, however I am looking forward to starting to work on fabrics later.  Meanwhile I have some sketchbook pages to share with you.

I was supposed to go to the local museum to do some sketching of artefacts, but typically on the day I went, it was closed (note to self - do more research before leaving the house).  But it was not problem as I had my camera and took some more photographs and made sketches of one of my favourite local buildings which I have photographed before.

This Victorian house, which now houses the local museum, has the most wonderful features at roof level.

There is an amazing variety of mock Tudor chimney stacks, decorative ridge tiles, finials and just look at that lightning conductor - thanks to a zoom lens.

One of the heads and fancy tiles that decorate the porch.

What about this fellow?

As you can see, there could be a life's work based on it.  

But here are my sketchbook offerings.

There is more to come, but I need to give my cold infested head a break.

Hope you are having a good weekend.

Jill

Busy doing Nothing

I'm afraid that this is just a flying visit to show that I hadn't forgotten the change in the month.

I'm sorry to say I have nothing of creative interest to report at the moment, but I do seem to have been busy this week.  Managed to put together a page for March in my new journal - my fifth! I have taken a patchwork theme. I'm afraid the artwork is not very impressive or inspiring, but I'm sure it will look very different at the end of the month.  I haven't even had much time for reading!

I am trying to drop in and see what you are all doing, but apologies for not adding any comments. I'm flying off again now - see you soon and have a great weekend.

Jill

My head in the clouds...

I've not a lot to show and tell this week. I've finished the first module on my Creative Quiltmaking course but I don't think the next one will be completed so quickly. However I have been trying a few things out in anticipation and here are a couple of spreads in my A2 book in which I am recording progress in all things textile, and an A5 book in which I am recording colour notes, trying to build up a resource of colour schemes that I see in magazines etc.

I have been working on a motif from an old key which as been with me a long time.  I made a couple of printing blocks from foam sheet stuck onto scraps of mount board using photo-mount spray. They are fairly robust and will work well with acrylic paint. I used Stazon ink for thy key print.

But mainly I have been spending time reading this week two stories at once, which is very unusual for me. The first is Stephen Kelman's Pigeon English.

Not only was Stephen Kelman in my husband's tutor group when he taught on the Marsh Farm estate in Luton, he also taught Stephen's wife.  There are some nice references to the local area although the story is set in London.  We contacted Stephen to offer him congratulations when he was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and had a lovely reply to our e mail.  It is a humorous but poignant tale which has had me laughing out loud. But before I finished reading it, this arrived ...

We had watched the TV series on Sky Atlantic and I was totally captivated by it and had to have the book.  The series started again last Friday, so if you have Sky A - I highly recommend it.  We cannot find anyone else who watched it.  The minute I picked it up I had to start reading.  It is set in Australia between the 40's and 60's and is about two families, the Lambs and the Pickles sharing a house on Cloud Street, but it is so much more.  Time Out magazine says "Imagine Neighbours being taken over by the writing team of John Steinbeck and Gabriel Garcia Marquez and you'll be getting close to the heart of this tale."

The language is lyrical, hilarious and earthy, every character loveable, there is a river is running through  the pages and there is the house which holds them all together.  I hope I've made you want to read it. I'm off now to do a bit of reading myself, but which one will it be?

Have a good week

Jill

What I've been doing...

I usually manage to write a blog once a week, but it seems ages since I last posted.  In fact it hasn't been that long, but I have been busy.  Last weekend was a real treat when I went to Art Van Go on Saturday to see the exhibition put on by the Spectrum textile group.  Not only did I see some very high class work, eat rather delicious cakes and drink tea from pretty cups, I was able to chat to Gina.  I also met Gill of Vintage Rock Chick and Jane from Things to Make and Do.  It was especially good to meet Jane as we exchanged postcards as part of out Postman's Knock project last year.  You can see photos of the exhibition on Gina's and Gill's blogs. After a pleasant Sunday I was pole-axed on Monday with a violent headache, mainly down to sinus problems, but I seem to have spent most of this week half asleep. I have been raking around for things to share with you. 

 
These are colour exercises for my course

 

This book arrived on Tuesday so I was able to sit and have a lovely read between naps.

It is "Breaking the Rules of Watercolour" by Shirley Trevena.  There are lots of examples of her work on the web and even a couple of short videos of her talking about her techniques.

Laura Kemshall is a fan of hers and recommended her work to me.

I haven't done much this week bit I did unearth these two drawings which I must have done over fifteen years ago. They are on A2 size paper and I must say I especially like the tope one.  I had completely forgotten about it.

The second one is a sketch done of poppies which grew in my garden at the time, but have long since disappeared.

Finally I will share with you this old book I found in Letchworth some months ago. 

 I bought it to have a go at an altered book.  It is in very bad condition, but it is old.

The cover is marbled paper with a leather spine.

The spine is broken, the paper brittle and badly foxed.

However it is just seven years shy of being 200 years old.

It is Volume IV of Boswell's Life of Dr Johnson.

I have been pondering what to do with it, and what theme to take.  As I bought it from a book dealers very cheaply, I know it is not worth much, but I haven't been able to bring myself to start altering it.

I stalled for longer when I found that Doctor Johnson and his friends visited Lord Bute's garden at Luton Hoo.

Although here Dr J seems to be unimpressed with the gardens, overleaf he is quoted as saying,

"This is one of the places I do not regret having come to see. It is a very stately place, indeed; in the house magnificence is not sacrificed to convenience, nor convenience to magnificence"

I wonder if the hotel management which now runs the house has this as their motto. 

After their visit DR J's party dined and drank his Majesty's health at an inn, in the village of Luton, as it was the King's birthday!

So what shall I do with the book?  I still haven't made up my mind, but if I keep reading it, it is going to fall to bits!

I have another busy week ahead.  On Thursday I am giving a short talk to my U3A Natural History group on Bumble Bees.  I'm no expert, but I hope I can keep my group entertained for 30 minutes or so.  The BBCT have provided me with a Powerpoint presentation so that has given me a good start.

Wish me luck.

Have a great weekend

Jill

Launch

I have enrolled to do Creative Quiltmaking with Design Matters which is a City and Guilds recognised course.  This is something new for me as I haven't taken part in a textile course before, although I have learned a lot from some workshops I have attended.  I am hoping that it will help me with the design process as I don't want to feel I am just making things, my inner artist is calling.  There is nothing wrong with just making things, I love it, but I want to express something and the trouble is I'm not sure what it is I want to express - perhaps it is just the love of making things!!
I started this blog when I was doing photography with the OCA as a way of chronicling my learning, so I shall be doing the same again by sharing my work with you.  I haven't quite finished the Creative Sketchbook course, but that has given me lots of ideas and skills.

The course has kicked off with lots of drawing activities, and I love drawing.  However I don't usually draw from photographs so this was different.  I did similar work at the beginning of the Sketchbook course but this time I had more freedom to choose my own subjects.  I wanted to challenge myself so did not choose easy objects to draw.  Here are a few examples done in an A4 sketchbook.

My grandmother gave me these crochet gloves - they WERE a challenge to draw even working from a photograph.

I had to make a collection of items together that would be used for various exercises. I chose things for their shape, colour and sentimental value.  Grouping the objects together reminded me of the classic creative writing exercise where the teacher would present her class with a seemingly random group of objects and ask them to weave a story round them - thank goodness no one is asking me to do that! Although the key and little bottle do bring Alice's adventures to mind.

I hope I can keep you entertained as well sharing my learning curve.

Jill

February

Here is my February all fresh and green and ready to go.  It may be freezing, but the sun is shining and there are snowdrops in the garden.

I made the background by printing the pages with white acrylic and then giving it a watercolour wash.  The paint acts as a resist.  My paisley lino cut gives a damask effect.  I scanned the pages for the squares and added a bit of depth to the wash with watercolour and Inktense pencils.

January has turned out rather lively.  The blank page was very unexciting but wintery silhouettes added some atmosphere.

There are lots of calendar pages on the Flickr site or your can link to calendar blogs from Kate's page, do take a look.

It's not too late to take up the challenge.

Jill

Sunday

I have posted these photographs before,  right at the beginning of my blog adventures when I was logging my progress in my photography course. Clare mentions that the scenery is reminiscent of Tuscany, and I have to agree - I think it is the row of poplar trees and high view point, but it is definitely south Bedfordshire. Here is the same scene taken at each season.

I drove right through the middle of this scene today on my way to see friends. I always love it how ever many times I pass through. It was very misty this morning and I wished I had my camera with me.

I have also had a go at making a book from all the papers I have created during my sketchbook course. This is the chaos that is my desk, sometimes I wonder how I manage to get anything done!

I printed paper for the front and back covers with the linocut inspired by the scene above.

It has five signatures stitched into a card spine.  The stitching is a bit wonky despite my careful measuring, I guess more practice would help, but it is not the sort of thing you make every week.

I'm not sure how I am going to use it yet, but I keep having to give it a bit of a stroke, how sad is that?

I have nearly finished the Creative Sketchbook course and I have got a lot from it - what next?  

Watch this space

Have a good week.

Jill