Its that funny time between Christmas and New Year.  Felicity over at seahorse textiles has introduced me to a fantastic new word - lacuna.  I had to look it up.  It means an empty space or a missing part. 

Well, so to fill an empty space (and trust me mine isn't really empty - the to do list is growing inexorably and not all in a crafts related way) what better way than a bit of You Tubing. 

And I found this, which shows some nifty background techniques. ( I love the faux crackle effect).

http://youtu.be/r-_e_pNDvyU

Now I should just say that this girl is all a messy painty sticky kind of girl, and to be quite honest it is not all to my taste.  But you've got to admire her va va voom. 

I also have no idea what my trusty machine would do if I asked it to stitch through layers of pva, paper and gesso! 

She is also hugely inventive.  Here's another video she did, this time about using a craft mat as a faux gelli plate! 

http://youtu.be/KFPgo6GAPkQ

Well, I guess as the year draws to a close and resolutions are made I should just finish this last post of 2013 and say thank you to anyone reading this.  It's been a blast and no doubt there will be more to come in 2014! So happy new year. 

So what's a girl to do? Well, browse the web of course ( insomnia must have been so boring in ye olden days!)

First up to share is this post about a Central St Martins graduate with the most incredible surface design patterns.

http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/yehrin-tong

Follow that link and just marvel at the way she has used monkeys and tigers. 

Next up is this fantastic blog. 

http://jamesrussellontheweb.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-life-and-work-of-peggy-angus-new.html

Now you may have noticed that I don't confine my reading to textile, quilting or embroidery blogs but do like some more art related things. And you may also have noticed that I'm a bit of a fan of Eric Ravillious and his contempories.  Thanks to James Russell I am now introduced to another of this circle of artists.  This time Peggy Angus.  She is completely unknown to me and her work is a quite rare, but certainly someone to research a bit more.

Then again, want to know what colours we were putting on our walls in the 60s and 70s? Try this.

http://www.littlegreene.com/paint/colour/period-paint-colours?p=3

That Tan looks scarily familiar in a teenage bedroom kind of way. 

And then of course, following the highbrow theme, there is this! 

http://www.utrend.tv/v/cat-dog/

Whippet X is rendered quite speechless ( or should that be woof less ) at this. Cats to him are merely a snack option. 

Right - going to try again. A girl needs her beauty sleep.

ps - sorry but to follow the links you will need to cut and paste into your browser I think.  I wrote this on the iPad and haven't mastered how to do the links there yet. 

I must tell you a little bit about my recent trip to Compton Verney (well, recentish) again with my friend Jane ( who seems to be featuring quite a lot in my blogs at the moment! ) 

Other bloggers have reported on Compton Verney before - notably the wonderful Stephanie Redfern who I think might live fairly close by.  But it is such a fabulous place it is worth mentioning again. 

It's a house of the stately pile variety, but unlike other such piles there wasn't an antique in sight. (actually, I lie.  There was, but since they were in the British Folk Art gallery I don't think they quite count.) Instead the house was an empty canvas, having been somewhat abandoned after the Second World War and allowed to gently decline, in which to place a pretty eclectic variety of stunning art works. 

There are several galleries housing permanent collections - Neopolitan paintings from the late 1700s, ancient Chinese bronzes, Northern European medieval religious art etc. None of these galleries are so overwhelming that they leave you exhausted.  But there are also temporary galleries and a collection of Folk Art collected by Enid Marx over her lifetime and now permanently housed there. 

On the day of our visit the temporary galleries housed a collection of animal prints from the British Museum, curated by the Leicester Print Works, and prints from an animal alphabet made by Enid Marx herself.

Enid Marx was a print maker and textile designer from the mid 20th century.  She was a contemporary of Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious.  If you pop by my blog from time to time you might know that I am an enormous fan of this mid century British art. I would love to own a Ravilious!  Marx herself created wallpapers and furnishing fabrics, very much of their time but somehow still fresh and inspirational.  You can order both through the shop at Compton Verney.  I am tempted, though I must say that lovely as her stuff is, we should work hard to support the living artists of today who follow in her footsteps. 

Photography was both limited and actually impractical on the day, but Jane and I were rather struck by this incredible chest in the Italian gallery.  Both could see the potential from some of the motifs intricately worked on the surfaces. 

So, if you should ever find yourself on the M40 in Warwickshire ( junction 12 to be precise) then I fully recommend a detour to Compton Verney.  The house sits in stunning grounds (Capability Brown) and there is a fabulous restaurant!  What more could a girl want! 

I am not going to finish the Journal Quilts challenge - it's a shame but something has to give. 

The JQS challenge is set by the Contemporary Quilt group of the Quilters Guild.  Each month participants submit a small JQ to a dedicated web site and build up 12 over the year.  

I managed to do 8 of the 12. But I am not going to beat myself up about the last 4.  I was very hesitant to start the project in the first place, but in the end thought 'what the heck'.  

So why not finish? Well, simply, time. The making is ok, it's the designing that is more time consuming, and while I did treat these as more of a Sketchbook process the last four simply ran away with me.  I have the ideas still in my head, but I don't have time to execute them.  I will blame Jane and 'The Tree and Me' exhibition! 

On my last post I reported that I had been invited to produce some work for a new Arts Venture in Milton Keynes. 

Well the  gallery is now up and functioning. 

There was a big bash - I think there might have been wine because my friend Jane did seem to enjoy herself very much!!  Unfortunately, due to family commitments I was unable to go to the grand opening, but I had a private viewing all to myself on Tuesday lunchtime. 

And I have to say I was quite blown away by the quality of the work on show.  This sounds a bit, well elitist, but to be perfectly honest I thought that it might all be a bit 'worthy' but amateurish.  It was anything but!  It was quite quite fabulous! 

Here are some pics for you to enjoy. 

I should say that there was a lot of other work, but my photos did not do it justice.  There is a fair amount of natural light in the space and my photos have a lot of glare (must learn to take better photos!)

I must say an enormous thank you to Jane and the other curators who did such an amazing job of hanging the exhibition. My own pieces looked stunning grouped together.  I really do feel much more confident now to put more of my work out there. 

Finally, the exhibition runs until early Jan, but because of the location you have to be accompanied.  But if you are in Milton Keynes, I urge you to go.  If you are interested, leave me a comment and I will arrange a viewing.

Last weekend was frenetic on the creative front. Frenetic but hugely satisfying and successful. Let me explain.

I have a friend here in Milton Keynes ( my home from home) who I met when is did my City and Guilds courses. Indeed Jane was the Tutor on my C&G courses! We have kept in touch.

Jane recently moved her studio from her dining room table (shared with her 2 boys, her daughter and her hubby) to a wonderful new art space in Milton Keynes called Arts Central because you cannot get more central than the third floor of some empty office space over Milton Keynes station. She has a brilliant creative space with wonderful views over the City.

And the venue has a gallery space.

And all gallery spaces need an exhibition - hence the call for entries to 'The Tree and Me'. Frankly, the time was so tight that I had just dismissed it, but Jane and I had an inspiring visit to Compton Verney ( which will be another blog post I am sure) and fully charged up and inspired I succumbed to her gentle persuasion.

Hence last weekend saw a frenetic session of work based on some recent very successful pages from my sketch book.

In the end I managed to submit 5 pieces. I am really pleased with the fact that I was able to turn this work around so quickly and that they were happy to accept it for the exhibition.

I am also pretty thrilled that Milton Keynes now has a 'Range' store - not because I am interested in most of the tat they sell there , but, boy, do they have a good range so simple frames!

I feel that I might now be on the next phase of my artistic journey. 







Created with Werdsmith.

I spent Sunday behind the cheese counter, so to speak. 

It was a lovely hectic day.  A French market outside in the yard had really pulled the punters in. 

And lots of chocolate.  This is just one corner. 

You can find out more about The Larder here ( http://www.thelarderdeli.co.uk ) including Christmas extra opening times. 

If you ever find yourself near Chichester, West Sussex, then you should make a little visit. 

And if you should find yourself strolling around the little streets in the city centre be sure to find North Pallant and there you will find the Pallant House Gallery.  The gallery itself is a comfortable mix of old and new - the old Pallant House sits cheek by jowl with a contemporary extension, but in such a way that each enhances the other. 

And the Gallery is a little gem. 

So it was that last weekend, in the pouring rain (it was so tempting not to make the effort!) we found ourselves wading through puddles to reach said gallery in search of Eric Ravilious prints. 

Now I have blogged about Eric Ravilious before (and I would share the link - but I cannot find it!) but then it was his water colours. I love Ravilious - a talent sadly taken in his prime as he was a war artist and died in 1942 I think - and this exhibition was about his work as a printmaker.  And it was just fabulous. 

I love printmaking as you may have noticed.  But I am such an amateur. Ravilious was a master.  His woodblocks, and the detail he achieved with them, are breathtaking.  Rather than me going on about Ravilious the blog by Poul Webb is a brilliant source of information and images.  Have a look. 

The lovely thing about Galleries is finding the unexpected! And Pallant House did not disappoint! In fact the unexpected actually quite blew me away. 

The Gallery runs an initiative called 'Outside In' to support artists who do not come to the art world via a conventional route - they don't go to art school etc.  They were running an 'Outside In' event called Squalls and Murmurations featuring the work of Kate Bradbury.  

And you know that lovely feeling when you realise that you really are looking at something quite special. Well, that is what Kate's ink drawings and up cycled characters gave me - a really warm inside glow. 

Kate's ink drawings are quite exquisite - the photos don't really do them justice.  They are very detailed.

Kate used ink and chinese paper - in many places the effect was like lace and you had to really look hard to realise it was drawing.


Magical and whimsical.

Kate is also a performance artist as Diego and the Fairy (think I have that right!). 

If you're new to this blog, or perhaps just drop in from time to time, then I should quickly say that there is no theme or purpose to this, my latest sketch book, other than as somewhere to play with ideas and techniques and to just generally unblock me. 

This followed the horse chestnut theme, sticking paper leaves coloured with inks onto a background paper of mono printed tissue paper, again coloured with a wash of ink. 

It all started when I somewhat impulsively bought a new table and chair for the dining room of the Northamptonshire home from home.  

All the more impulsive because you may know, if you pop by often, that there is some doubt as to how much longer we will me here ( Whippet X and I plus assorted work colleagues/house mates.) 

So to fit it in a bit of rearranging of the furniture was needed. 

And you may also recall that I mentioned tidying up the studio.  That needed to be finished because I have also got a new cupboard for the art stuff. ( by the way none of this stuff is new - just new to me.  The cupboard was being thrown out by work.  I rescued it and painted the doors white.  The table and chair were a bargain from a local furniture shop.  I was going to paint them both to give them that country kitchen look but now they're in I think they work just fine without the paint. ) 

So I re- assembled the cupboard (tricky when there is just one if you) and had a complete sort out.  I have managed to rationalise all my stuff so if we do move (or I go back to my real home) I won't  feel quite so overwhelmed by the junk in the back room. 

And then, because the back room/junk room/studio feels so much more conducive to working in I did a bit of printing.  I got the old tile out and did a bit of mono printing.

And I found this:- 

Now you might know that I'm a bit of a fan of block printing using funky foam, but Eric takes it to a whole new level! 

I am impressed! 

Whippet X is my constant companion - snoozing here while I type.

The others visit from time to time.

Well the Young Upstart recently gave us all a bit of a scare!  Have you ever heard of Canine Meningitis?  No, neither had I.  It's rare!  But it is very serious and to say that he was very poorly is an understatement.

A great vet and a stay in the animal hospital at Potters Bar, and so far so good.  I am keeping my fingers crossed.

That came completely out of the blue - quite unexpected and very sudden.  So that's this month's curve ball  - I hope.

But do you know what?  Typing this is therapeutic.  I feel a bit better about the day job than I did when I started typing.  That's the power of blogging and,of course, the power of dogs.