Sunny Saturday

At last a lovely sunny day that I could spend indulging in some art work.  I have been doing bits and pieces, but nothing that I have felt worth sharing. I have decided to sign up for 'Design Matters' Creative Sketchbook Course. Meanwhile today I have been taking a few photographs in the garden and drawing.

First I collected a selection of different yellows and laid them out on some white paper in the dappled shade. I set the camera white balance on 'shadow'. A little tweak has brought out the colours especially in the shadow which looks a bit like a watercolour wash.

I then switched the WB to 'sunny'.

The courgette flower was crying out to be drawn.

I sat it on an old ink bottle, but it just wanted to close up

I love the contrast in colours.  I drew round the shadow cast by the senecio,  but the alchemilla mollis ...

 and the Ladies Bedstraw flowers were just too small to draw, but I love the shadows.

As the courgette flower curled up this little chap emerged from the petals.

I came indoors and added some colour to my page and got out the yellow embroidery threads.

Not sure where I shall be taking it next.

It is nearly the end of July and I shall be thinking about my calendar for August next week. 

July seems to have been quite a busy month for me. 

I am going to try and catch up with all of your posts as I have only been making quick visits lately.

I do hope you are having a sunny weekend too.

Jill

Do you have a MAC?

I shall have to change my computer soon as it is VERY cranky and grinds horrendously when I edit photos. Several friends are encouraging me to get a Mac and I have been to a friend's to familiarize myself with the format.  I am sure I would soon get used to it. However on my PC I use the program CoralDRAW Essentials 2 quite a lot for simple graphics.  It is very flexible and allows me to draw shapes to  exact sizes and position items on a page with accuracy.  I use it most to help Mr T create CD covers.  I have also used it for greetings cards and to manipulate images for the Postman's Knock project.  I have also created labels and inserts for my Etsy shop as it so much easier than Works, unless you are doing straight forward stuff. The only drawback is that they are stored as CorelDRAW files.  However that is not the problem.  If I get a new PC they no longer produce CorelDraw Essentials, but they do a Home and Student edition which I guess is the similar. But this is not compatable with  Mac.  What I think I need for a Mac as a substitute is PRINTshop.Pro which is certainly cheaper, but I don't know anyone who uses this.  The review sounds as if it will do what I want and more so I am wondering if anyone out there can help me with some simple info. Other people have suggested that I shall be able to do this sort of thing with Photoshop Essentials. I have Essentials 5 and the graphics part certainly isn't flexible enough for what I want.  If any of you have any suggestions I shall be very grateful.  I do not want to pay hundreds of pounds for a program. So if you have PRINTshop Pro can you let me know what you think of it.

This is the sort of thing we do - only in coverting it from a Coral file to a Jpeg the white background has turned black!  By the way this was the give-away for our guests at our garden do.

Meanwhile back to the creative stuff. I am doing a bit of experimental sewing - more of that another time, but I had to get the camera out in the garden yesterday as the sun came out in the late afternoon and I do like a bit of back lighting,

Honesty seed heads are just delicious at any time of year, but the sun shining through was stunning...

and I think purple and orange is my favourite colour combination at the moment. 

What a shame the Buddlea isn't full of butterflies. Are you going to take part in the Big Butterfly Count ? I did see five species yesterday despite the dull weather.

Do have a good week,

Jill

Still here

June was frantic and the first week of July busy too, and now I feel all in the doldrums - without any wind in my sails, rather than fed-up. 

 I finished my little boat I made from Ann Wood's pattern here.

I made the boat ages ago, but have been waiting for inspiration for the sail.  My upcycled plastic bag bunting provided me with the inspiration I needed so I was able to hang it up as part of the decorations for our party.

 Ann has some very pretty ones for sale.

Meanwhile last week I went to the Isle of Wight for a couple of days to stay with my Dad.  It is not far, but it takes ages as the ferry crossing adds an hour and a half to the journey. My sister will be moving onto the mainland later in the summer, so it may have been my last visit to her bungalow. She lives in Gurnard so we had lunch at the beach cafe and took a stroll along the seafront. It was very windy and I wasn't feeling very inspired.

 The beach huts which I have photographed several times.

The sun catching these sails really made them stand out - it was so blustery it was hard to stand steady enough to get a good shot.

And here our a few shots from our 'do'.  Luckily the weather held out, and although it wasn't that warm, we managed to stay outside 'till midnight.  I failed to photograph the spread,  thank you to Sainsbury's and Heather who made veggie bites and some wonderful little desserts.  And I failed to snap Marvin who helped himself from the buffet when we were all outside -  I had to clip the covers on the platters with clothes pegs!

 Everyone said they enjoyed themselves, and Mr T had friends there going back to his school days.

 Mr T rigged up speakers in the garden and had lined up suitable music.  We warned our neighbours we would be outside till late, but Sara from next door said she could hardly hear us from indoors, so we didn't keep her little ones awake! I think she had a little smile to herself about us 'oldies' having a good time.

 Strange how everyone congregated round the 'bar' - can't think why.  It made an alternative to the kitchen.

Luckily our friend Dave who does a lot of wedding photography took charge of my camera and managed to get portraits of nearly everyone. That is Dave on the bottom row reading the Sunday paper next morning.

I had to sneak Mr T from our recent self portrait as he got missed out - and yes that is me second from the end - I wish I could remember what was so funny.

I've nothing much up my sleeve at the moment but I am hoping inspiration will return soon.  Meanwhile I have a couple of projects that need finishing and I may give myself a couple of 'exercises' to do, (that is the textile sort - not physical, in case you were wondering,) which will fulfill my aim of just doing something. Postman's Knock is great for keeping the creativity ticking over - I've got a few ideas for my next topic, so I won't be idle for long.

Have a good week - I am gradually catching up with everyone.

Jill

Going Dotty

At the risk of repeating myself - yet another month has gone by, and finishing June's pages means that we are halfway through 2011. June has been very busy as any of my regulars will know, preparing and manning the Open Studio event and at home getting ready for Mr T's garden party on Saturday,  Thank goodness that the forecast is for fine weather, if not sunshine.  Mr T has been working very hard and the preparations are all in hand.  As you may guess from the fuss, this is not something we do very often.  I think the last 'do' we had was for our 25th, but that was a much smaller affair, and - oh my goodness - it was SEVEN years ago! I hope I shall have a few photos to share with you later. Next week I am aiming to visit my Dad and sister on the Isle of Wight for a  couple of days, leaving Mr T and Marvin to look after each other, so I don't suppose I shall have time to squeeze in a post.  I have my next postcard for Postman's Knock more or less ready to post when I get back from the IOW.  The postcards and my calendar have been the mainstay of my creativity this month I am looking forward to getting down to some serious stitching very soon. Meanwhile I will share my pages with you.

Some of my June entries I have filled-in in blocks, sometimes I find it difficult to remember what I did at the beginning of the week! I can look back and find out it was only last week I had my hair cut - seems like ages ago!

For July I have gone a bit dotty - I used one of the paper napkins I have bought for the party as a background. I haven't had much time for embellishments so I can add them later if I am in the mood.

I have been trying to keep up with everyone's posts but I haven't always had time to leave a comment. I'm feeling like a little nap now.  Mr T is watching some cricket, that is ideal to shut your eyes to for five or ten minutes.Goodness knows how I would have coped if I had had to teach until I was 66 or even 68!

Have a good weekend,

Jill

Sunday catch up

Why does it have to be all or nothing with our weather?  The heat doesn't suit me so I have been hanging around inside today close to open doors and windows.  I wanted to relax in the garden, but even the shade is rather too warm and Mr T who doesn't seem to be effected by the heat has been pottering in his vegetables, so I have been trying to find homes for the things I have brought back from the Open Studios. Sally and I have declared the event a success and we both made enough sales to make it worthwhile.  We both want to say 'thank you' to all our visitors and to those who made purchases.  I met some very interesting people, many of them Sally's friends as she is well established in the local arts community, but also some unexpected treats, like the elderly neighbour of hers who brought us some examples of her work in 'Design' magazine from the 1950s and a sample of her wallpaper design of that period. What a treat that was. I also want to say thank you for your 'bloggy' encouragement and to Chrissie for making a visit. 

I still have a couple of busy weeks ahead, but after that I am looking forward to some more intense creativity. I have been fired up and feeling a bit creatively frustrated.  Thank goodness for Postman's Knock which has meant I have had to produce a bit of art.

Gina's theme of Concealment and Revelation had me stumped for quite a while.  I was thumbing through my postcards bought from galleries and exhibitions when I came across Michaelangelo's David which I had bought in Florence (The postcards not him!) See this piece of work was one of those moments you never forget - along with every other bit of art we could cram into the visit, and I thought it would be good to be able to recreate that feeling. However my naughty side took over, especially when I realised I could not recreate my idea of a series of doors leading to the image on a post card sized piece of work in a week!

I had to make do with one door, but added the tab to build up the anticipation for the reveal.

I did hesitate a bit with the leaf and the joke, but I reckoned I had the measure of everyone's sense of humour....  Luckily Gina says this her favourite piece of art - I don't know if she has seen him - I hope she has, but I am very pleased my precious postcard has gone to a good home.  (I do have four others taken at different angles.) The door is one of my photographs resized to fit.
My postcard(s) from Lesley were a treat. She had said that she thought her original idea was too close to some others, but how different can a window be? I loved the window cleaner polishing up that beautiful view.  I could do with sitting by a lake today.

 Of course Lesley had found the perfect card to go with the pictures showing a window with a model fishing boat evoking fishermen's huts and fresh fish for tea.  But her second post card is a gem.  A couple of doggies in a window, which of course all us ladies of a certain vintage will remember from Uncle Mac's Children's Favourites, a Saturday morning radio programme, along with my other favourites 'Tubby the Tuba' and 'Sparky and his Magic Piano' and ... I could go on, but I won't...
What great fun the project is turning out to be.

Have a good week everyone.

Jill

Our best side

What a week! Not only am I occupied with Open Studio, but Mr T has organised a garden party to link up with old school and college friends he has recently connected up with.  It is a lovely idea, but I could have done with a bit of a break between the two events - well I have got a week after the OS finishes.  We are hoping the weather changes for the better! Lots of preparations have been needed after having some work done round the house and generally reorganising EVERYTHING.  This is us sitting on our new bench which Mr T started 5 years ago at occupational therapy before it was cut for stroke victims. It has been living in pieces behind the sofa, would you believe, but now with much thanks to some friends and a proper electic screw driver it is finished.

"Men at work"

It got its final coat of stain yesterday.

Only two more opportunities to visit our studio Wednesday and Saturday  Details are here on Sally's Blog.
Did I mention Chrissie from Niminyfingers came last Wednesday. How lovely was that?
It would be lovely to see you too, if you're near by... but wherever you are have a great week.

Open Studio

Here is a glimpse of Sally's studio where we are showing our work over June.

This is my corner of the studio.

We had a stream of visitors on Saturday and we both made some sales.

I am sure some of you will recognize some of my work, most of which has appeared on this blog or is in my Etsy shop.

My photographs.

It was beautifully sunny most of the day, even if a fresh breeze blew through, so we were very lucky as today it hasn't stopped raining.

Here are some of Sally's photograms and below some of her monoprints.

We are open again on Wednesday.  I am also spending a couple of hours on Tuesday and Thursday manning the exhibition at a local gallery showing a selection of work from artists across the county.

I know I am going to have a busy and interesting week - I hope you have a good one too.