All In Place

Well this has been my first purchase for the new studio - a lovely spotty broom and a very important one it is if I am to keep it looking as spick and span as it is now ( dream on - the next batch of fairies will restore my workspace back into a fluffy, fraying chaos.) But for the moment I can walk in and admire all my  shelves newly arranged and still relatively uncrowded and feel in control of this particular patch of the world ... what a nice feeling; however you do have to crack eggs to make an omelette and I will have to mess up this serene scene eventually !

Some of my dolls squashed between books and an old chocolate box containing crayons.

And below at last a home for my 'Magic Baking Powder', on the back of the tin it reads,

'Poudre a Pate Magic', so it must have belonged to some French fairies originally !

Following on is the shell tea pot I made for Betty Bib's Fairy Year book - talking of spick and span earlier the fairy sisters Spick and Span usually sleep in that pot but I've lost them in the move ( sure they'll turn up , they usually do. ) 

I'm so happy to have this space at last, as where I machined before was tucked into a dark corner and all my bits and pieces were balanced around me on the floor ( often falling over and spilling into the sandy cracks of a brick floor - I've left Brian with a very sparkly studio ! ) Now I can reach out and grab what I need ... in theory that is as I still can't resist putting ribbons etc in decorative boxes and woven baskets and then not remembering what's in them.

More dolls and a felt sausage dog - will post a better picture of him next time as he really is a great example of '50's toy making.

Another wider shot and I've just realised I haven't shown my office chair that I've covered 

( in haste )  with an old embroidered tablecloth - also next time !

Just to prove that I haven't just been titivating - here are some mermaid brooches that  I have just sent down to the Sandpiper gallery in Cornwall - it's  beautifully placed looking over the harbour, well worth looking up either in the net or in person if you are down there. In case you are wondering they were made in the old studio but I will confess to doing a spot of painting in the new place, which was easy to clear up - enabling me to still feel all is pristine.

I know it's really fiddly but I just love placing these sequins in just the right spot ... 

Bye for now ... there's just a little more 'arranging' to do !

New Studio !

So sorry to be out of touch for so long but after coming back from holiday I got completely caught up in the excitement of my new workplace ! It arrived on a large lorry in kit form at 6.30 in the morning and five men and lots of cups of tea later ( 8pm ) it was erected !  I'm absolutely thrilled with it and now I'm in the process of moving in - it's all a bit piecemeal as I need shelves and blinds ( it's SO bright - I've gone from a north facing space to south .) The most delightful aspect is that I really feel part of the garden with the birds and bees buzzing around me.

 Brian is also excited about my move as he will be able to spread out and hopefully it will give his work a new lease of life too as he can listen to the blues all day long and have the space to paint ... we can arrange coffee breaks together and harmony should reign ! I look forward to hours of creating with radio 4 for company and just hope it inspires me to do some lovely new work.

These shots of the inside are looking squeaky clean and zen like as very little of my clutter has moved with me at this point - nice to enjoy this white zone for awhile - it won't be lasting long once the fabrics, pincushions and scissors join me. Part of me wishes I was only going to paint and draw here - embroidery is such a fluffy, dusty pastime and I'm always trailing threads behind me wherever I walk but I really can't deny this messy part of my personality and I will post pictures of the filling up process as it happens.

My trip to Thailand was a real feast for the eyes and I shall end with a few pretty pictures from there  - will post again soon as the studio fills up and pictures of mermaid brooches to come too !

Spring Flowers

The magnolia in the front garden is blooming and with Spring in the air I have been going flower mad. Some new flowers fairies have been blossoming in the studio ( below is a close up 

of the 4cm little sprigs .) I shall be bedding them down in little boxes and selling them for £8 each should anyone be interested but I shall be away until 27th April , so please don't contact me until then ! 
They are machine and hand embroidered using velvet and organza and the main flower is

is hand painted , bonded Jap silk.

 
I'm also framing some for the Brighton May Festival - is it really that time of year again ?! 

Following on is a sneak preview of the flower embroideries I've been excited about making. They are a mixture of re-cycled old tablecloths and chair backs ; machine embroidered back together with hand stitching on top . I do feel rather guilty cutting into needlework pieces that somebody once painstakingly worked on , but I am also rescuing them from the obscurity of a bin in Oxfam to live again on somebody's wall. Having said that , it is getting harder to find them as a lot of household linens don't seem to get as far as a charity shop floor as they get taken as rags.  This one  is the largest one , measuring in at 38 x 32 cms. What I particularly like doing is 'drawing' with the needle on the machine and it is also refreshing to work larger and freer after dealing with the fairies !

 

We also had a birthday in the family this week , so will finish up with these pink Bergenia

to keep the flower theme going ( but I really wanted to show off the rock cakes in the foreground !) 

Next post I shall be talking about my brand new studio that is to be erected whilst I'm away in Cornwall  in the corner of the garden . Brian and I shall be able to wave at one another

as he takes over the big studio and I will be happy to work in a bijoux box that I can make my own and listen to Radio 4 in, blissfully uninterrupted !

A Day Trip To London

I'm chuffed to say that two of my paintings have been selected for the Royal Water Colour Society Open Exhibition ( running at Bankside gallery, next to Tate Modern until 15th March ) and so a trip to London was called for last week . The painting below was one of them and it also had a red dot on it when I arrived (  a bit sad to let it go, as it is a favourite. ) Sorry the photos aren't brilliant - it was either a blinding flash on the glass or dull I'm afraid.     

Here it is in situ - the other photo was even worst so I've left it out ( though it was slightly annoying that they didn't hang them together. )

Flushed with success I headed off along the Thames to Borough Market and drank in all the wonderful smells and colours. These mushrooms were rather gorgeous but  daunting to cook .

Clutching some fruit and cheese I headed back home.

A colourful end to a colourful day.

A Splash of Paint

I have been painting away these cold February days - glancing out of the window to notice the sun when it ventures out but otherwise engrossed in learning how to paint again. It has only been a few months since I spent a block of time with my paint box but it's amazing how much one has to relearn after time spent away. I'm showing the ones I'm happy with but I could just have easily photographed a bin full of the ones that just weren't up to scratch ( always painful to scrap the picture that has some nice bits and that you've spent ages on, but no matter how much you creep up at it from all angles it just doesn't have the magic to get it through quality control. )

Iris fairies. I love the shapes that these flowers make and hard to pare down the detail in them ( I'm always too keen to put everything in ) so I wanted them to be bleached out and in doing so I think they become a bit ghostly and hopefully magical at the same time.

Daisy fairies. I was drawn to the delicate tracery of foliage in these plants.

Poppy fairies. Clothed the fairies in tailcoats and breeches.

Fern fairy. This one is a work in progress - haven't signed it yet - always a satisfying task 

as I only will do so when it's good to go !

Cosy Studio

Just the weather for hiding away in the studio and getting on with all those things you just can't put off any longer. Of course one has to get organised with supplies of tea and biscuits, the radio tuned to a good play and the fire aimed at one's feet and then I find there is no stopping a girl and her sewing machine. 

In the interests of continuity here are granny squares I talked about in the last post - hardly recogniseable under their layers of machine embroidery. I do rather like their soft and mossy surface and must now find a way of incorporating them into my fairy garden pictures.

In the top one I have pulled some chiffon through from the back and plan to develop this idea further. They also remind me of Elizabethan parre terre gardens and this may also be a direction to follow. In the meantime I am  trying to get back into my painting - it's taken about six bad ones ( that had to go straight into the bin - always a painful process ) to get back into anything like the flow I had before Christmas ; in fact this little one was done a couple of months ago - will post some new ones when the paint starts to behave.

PS  The marmalade is going down well on these cold breakfast mornings and there is a pot here for Fred who has kindly mentioned it on his blog !

An Orangey New Year

I must confess I have been spending these January days keeping warm in the kitchen making marmalade, bread and granola - all very comforting - and my only excuse is that whilst stirring, kneading and toasting I have also been reflecting on which direction my work should take this year ...  the cupboards are now full and the inevitable cannot be put off much longer _ I must get back in to the studio !

Still reluctant to leave the warmth of the kitchen , here is a shot of some nicely drying rose hips

on one of those cold crispy days we had recently when the sun came streaming in.

The other homely activity I've got into over the holidays is crochet and not realising at the outset just how addictive it is ( see Granny Along ) I now find I'm well and truly hooked ( sorry about the pun.) It is however no laughing matter as I made the fatal mistake of underestimating just how much wool I would need for the modest knee blanket that I originally envisaged and having had to top up as I go along I've found that the lovely merino yarn I've been using is proving rather costly ( It is however wonderfully soft and as comforting as the marmalade and it should hang around longer too. ) 

Above are some of the squares before blocking and below neat and tidy after a night next to the aga pinned damply to an old towel. I've just bought hopefully my last batch of wool in a pale pink and plan to give each block of nine squares a 2inch border - will post the result when it's done - this could take some time, but then again perhaps not if I think of the depth of my addiction.  My original idea on taking up the needle was to learn how to make flower motifs so that I could incorporate them into my embroidery and this is my next step as soon as the book arrives on how to crochet motifs ... would also like to machine over some granny squares - I know it sounds cruel but it's got to be done !

Well I plan to carry on doing crafty. homely things until Spring calls - Happy New Year !