Wrapping presents

Just done the small presents for the immediate family.  We keep to a £10 per person budget and keep it light as we have to carry them across London!!  Some times we wait and skip down to their south London local High Street which has twice as many shops as our small town.

Now that we have all been firmly told that the gold glittery wrapping paper is non recyclable I have finally finished up the roll I have had for 2 or 3 years  and won't be buying again.  A lot of people  are going for brown paper.   I have decided my giant roll of brown paper (£1) and the rolls of red ribbon from The Works sale (£1 for 3) is the way to go. The tags are last year's Xmas cards.

Bit boring though???  Printing with acrylics and foam roller did not work - so decided some drawing was the way to go.

Envelopes

I came across this group of bloggers in USA who are decorating the envelopes as well as the cards!
What a lovely idea to brighten up the day - but do you think the British Post Office would welcome this?




http://pushingtheenvelopes.blogspot.com/

Name plates

I have a new book about Zentangle drawings called Zenspirations by Joanne Fink.  It is called Dangle Designs and I have been experimenting with the dangle bits and the lettering.  It is great fun and very relaxing of an evening.

These are for my two 4 year old grandchildren.

Zentangle

Picked up this book at the library last week and now I am obsessed!

Did a few just trying it out and just copying things at first. I had to buy some micro pens in the end and that made all the difference in finished look.

Now I can see I need more input.   Checked out the "how to" on Tangle website.   You really have to concentrate and build up the patterns step by step and this site is completely free access to resources.  Adding colour is also exciting.

This is so relaxing in front of TV and log fire, especially  when the husband is watching motor sport or endless talent shows which I hate.  Tuesdays are my night for TV dominance. Great British Bake Off followed by Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year.  Last week was Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire so I did a Zentangle in celebration using the shapes of the Abbey ruins and the lovely grass meadows and trees shown!

This is quite a cheap activity.  Black micro pens cost £1 for 3, colour Gel pens 80p (The Works); sketch book pad or cards from my stash.  Or you can buy 75 special card tiles for £5 for small studies or good quality sketch books to use.   My son runs an Agile Stationary printing company and has stacks of off-cuts of good quality card so I will pick up some when next in London with them.

It is quoted as a "mindfullness" activity. But to me, it is formalizing all that doodling I used to do an agendas, minutes and information on statistics print outs I was handed at endless meetings.  Opps, should I admit that? after all  it was  public funded money and I covered many a paper!!

Love Productions - still inspiring for now.

Like most fans I was upset by Love Productions and the BBC fall out over the Great British Bake Off. And the fact they are not making another SEWING BEE!!!  Thank goodness in the last few weeks they have shown the Painting Challenge and The Pottery Challenge. I have been inspired to go out and do some more paintings.  I am not very good but I could see from the painting challenge you have to keep trying.  Here is my seascape. 

I have been inspired by this library book a bit too. But not enough as my houses are out of proportion with the rest!  

For some strange reason I am working on a view of Westminster bridge now - I wanted to capture a spring quietness before the horror of the past week.  I like the work of people how can really draw on the Urban sketchers web site and would love to spend time drawing in big cities.

My husband's carpentry work is producing bits of plywood so I am experimenting with painting directly on wood with acrylics and then varnished with some left over boat varnish from the shed.

It costs very little - even the hanging was a couple of fabric strips plaited together and knotted on to some left over screws.
I am thinking of doing some fairy doors for the garden for the grandchildren to find this summer next!

Getting Cabin sorted out.

Readers of this blog will remember I have been lucky enough to have had a log cabin for sewing etc built in our garden.

Finally all the painting, inside and out, has been done, floor fitted and electrics supplied so I am able to move in finally. All my boxes and bags of "stuff" were collected up from the house and taken out yesterday and as it was raining today I was able to go and play!  Sewing stuff is on one side.

My art stuff is on the other side.

My husband is planning tables and shelves for me later.  He is busy sorting his wood working shed which has just been re wired as well.  The bill will be heavy but we want to enjoy our hobbies for the next few years and spend some time relaxing and being creative.

For light relief this week from working hard I have been  watching one of those channels with old repeats and have found "Down to Earth" again and wanted to see if it as "durable"  TV as I remembered. as it has good actors, I adored the Faith Aldiss books so i will only watch the first few series - after that it just got silly and was nothing like her life after she left the Devon small holding.

We are preparing for visits and getting away in October - some exciting plans in hand!

Open garden and studios event

Have you ever done one of these? We have done Art Trails round amateur/semi professional studios before and have done lots of RHS open garden visits but this one combined our delights!

We decided on Bank holiday Monday to visit Dersingham village event. £5 each to visit up to 17 gardens and 10 were studios too, in support of the new Village Hall. The older part of the village is a delight. Lots of Carstone walls and here a old door into a garden.

This courtyard garden behind a cottage 400 years old built of Carstone (local stone) had super planting. Low maintenance raised beds and gravel/patios - so no grass mowing. Great for retirees.

This cottage garden was behind the Pottery, the wall was very old and bent but gave extra shelter to the garden and the fruit and veg was well advanced.

Monday was dull and there was wicked cold wind, by the time we got to this garden we were having a serious discussion about shelter belts! We loved the entwined willow hedge of this garden with its informal beds. We are tempted as that is achievable in a few years being fast growing.

The owner of this space apologised for the horsetail infestation, but it was not noticeable in the lush growth in this raised bed. So many varieties of Aquilegia and lupins seen in these gardens. 

It was so cold by 3pm we were concentrating on the Art studios so we could pop in out of the cold, and saw some outstanding local pottery, landscape photography, abstract glicee prints, watercolours, acrylics and pastels as well as some sewing!  I refrain from photos of other peoples art work as it their creativity and income!  All were very good.

As we are ordering a "craft cabin" soon we spent some time talking to garden owners about their beach huts (writing room); log cabins (chill out space), converted garages (studio and framing set up) and up market studio sheds and how using them all year round is handled in terms of damp etc. Very informative!

There was no rain here till late Monday night and today it could be winter. Across the road 30 flower pickers were working in the open field from 7 am in a storm with heavy gusts of rain while we hid in bed till late. 

I was glad I recorded by nice bank of lupins last week because now they are beaten down and all out of shape.

This weather will set the veg garden back quite a bit I fear.

Hope you had a nice bank holiday!

One of my "to do iin 2016" things

One of the things on my to do list this year was to complete more painting. I have been inspired by several good art books from the library to be more dynamic with water colours.  I am quite happy with my attempts at flowers following one book's step by step instructions.

I have used some old cardboard frames which set them off nicely.
The next book on landscapes was not so successful but I got some ideas (no pics, they really were not good). My latest book is about mixed media ideas and I am looking forward to having a little play with those ideas when I am fully fit. At present it is hard to organise the brain still, let alone feel creative!

What have you done lately to address the inner creative?

  I am jealous of one blogger's patient organisation of hexagon patchwork shapes by colour. 

Recycling cans

I have been experimenting with aluminum cans (cider, on a hot day there is nothing better) and looking at tin can art.  I also wanted to use the cans to make something to frighten pigeons in the veg garden.  I used carrier bags tied to sticks that rattled in a high wind but these bleached out in a few weeks and quickly disintegrated, besides looking a bit tatty. I cut some tin cans open and tied them as curling sheets to string and on to bamboo poles. These rattled nicely in a light breeze and flashed in the sun but quickly cut the string and flew off.

So I am experimenting with a tin can spinning flower cut from half a cider can. Inspired by some of the pictures on Pinterest search. Here is my first try.

I found that I could cut the slightly rounded triangles for the petals using a pair of scissors, which was easier than a box cutter knife.  The petals are just bent out, wearing gloves, and a hole punched in the end for a screw to attach flower to a stick.  I think to have a freely spinning flower I think it needs a central tube over the screw - a drinking straw perhaps?
On the web I saw a few ideas for making these flowers into wall art - painting the petals with acrylics, or pressing a pattern in relief into the metal. I tried the latter with an old screwdriver on a spare bit  and that worked quite well.
Really good people make jewelry and intricate models using these cans - I can see that would take some skill. To get to that stage I will need a lot of practice, far more than our annual summer consumption of cider (24 at most).  I may have to turn into a Womble and start collecting cans along the road.  There are plenty abandoned between here and the village.

I had a look on You tube and saw some other ideas and techniques.  Some people are so clever!

An alternative use of squashed cans I saw this week. Have you ever heard of the chap doing FREE ART FRIDAYs in Southsea. Google it - a very talents artist using found squashed cans!

Busy on a glorious spring day

Absolutely lovely day with a steady 10C and no wind (at last). The greenhouse has been populated with the plants from the conservatory and the heating set up just in case.

We went over to the local fruit growers HQ to collect the last of our fruit order (they supplied raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, etc in the autumn) This time it was no quite fruit - asparagus! This was the last item on our list.  They supplied 5 plants for £2 - a real bargain but then we probably have spent over £100 on our list!  My husband stripped yet more turf off the field to start to prepare the trench and tomorrow will build up the ground for the asparagus roots.  I probably should have done more housework like washing - but why waste such a beautiful day.  Even tea tonight was a simple pasta dish with chicken and pancetta in a cheese sauce with peas and carrots.

I posted off my entry to the BBC painting competition yesterday. Not as good as some on the gallery but I enjoyed taking up the challenge. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02kgkhg/p02kfzgb

What was shocking was the cost of sending this postcard - 63p!!

Textile Arts

Had an inspiring time at the London Sewing Show where I attended a couple of good workshops. Wendy Dolan showed a lovely technique for textile arts.  I am trying it out and will post the results of my experiments later on.  Her method involves stitching a basic background in white textiles of different sorts before painting with fabric paint and over stitching with freehand machine embroidery.  Not a technique for anyone with a unruly hoarding habit as it encourages keeping lots of scraps of cloth and using bits and pieces!

Have a look at her work http://www.wendydolan.co.uk/html/index6.htm

The contemporary quilting was also fantastic!


Weather has been awful today, 40 mph winds and a very sharp shower.  All the seedlings had to stay sheltered in the conservatory today.
Put off the experimental hot cross buns today - going to be plenty of indoor days this week as the forecast is awful.

Easter Sewing project with scraps

Had to wait in for a parcel today so sat by front bedroom window and did a quick craft project using scraps of felt and some of the decorative  stitches on my new sewing machine.  I am getting the hang of the start/stop button and my foot is no longer looking for the pedal!

Very much gurellia crafting - get an idea and develop it as I go along!

As for the waiting - delivery man left the parcel out the back without knocking just before 5pm!!

Its very dry here but so dull it feels cold and miserable - suppose to be better latter in the week when I have loads of gardening planned.

Another inspirational bit of TV!

So much of TV programming is rubbish these days but I do enjoy the current format of using art and craft competitions to inspire us to do more creative stuff.  I see Sky Arts has now changed it "Portrait Artist of the Year"  to "Landscape Artist of the Year".   I will look forward to this!

I am currently enjoying the BBC2 painting challenge as they show lots of different techniques and subjects.

The sewing bee final next week - this series has been really tough.  I don't think I can do some of that stuff!

Painting challenge

Just been enjoying the latest BBC activity programme,  this time about amateur painters. Really enjoyed this as you could see the different people develop.
Associated with it is a competition to submit a postcard yourself.  Have a look at the BBC website.

Not much happening in our world today as it was cold in the morning and raining in the afternoon. My husband completed the repairs of two fence posts which had rotted.  I cut some firewood then retired to the kitchen to put a casserole in the slow cooker and bake a cake.

A quick look in the fridge confirmed there needs to be an emergency shop for some extra fresh stuff as son, with wife and baby, on way to see us mid week! Slightly upsetting the planning for meals next week but for the potential baby cuddles they are forgiven!