Tiny Nest made from hair

Made randomly with my own hair from brush....after getting rid of the damp washed hair tangles (its long).I found myself felting it with my fingertips and it turned into a little birds nest.
Here it is surrounded with soft feathers I found on the grass in a morning following shrill Owl and or Kestrel calls, and I wondered if there was a bit of a fight, as I can think of no other explanation of the loud calls and subsequent treasure.

Lovely things waiting for assembly or transformation

Waiting to be used in a current project: art deco mirror,rusted fabric, faux pearls, 1930s bridesmaids floral headband...and a little birds nest made from my own hair...will show that in detail in the next post.

Sycamore Angels...or fairies

Another page from an old journal I was writing three years ago....scraps of antique fabric and Sycamore seeds....I think I shall start playing again, artwork can get all too serious.

A Page from my Old Journal

I have been making my own journals for about 6 years now, using my late Mothers Victorian story books, so that they wouldn't just stay in the bookcase unused.
Today I started to read through some of them again, and found some pages that I loved at the time, and still do....here is a stitched Sooty ( although I added the name "Little Flo", as that was the title of the chapter, but it was Sooty, sitting and staring out of the window watching the birds.
It was done on the spur of the moment, in minutes, which always seems to work best, and somehow just captured the essence of my little friend, simply.

Contents......and chat

This photograph was taken at home before I packed the chest for the EAST exhibition, so the contents are all spread infront of it...gradually I will put images of them on the blog, with their stories.
At the moment I am working on another project with a group of 8 artists, each making an "Heirloom Box", its contents and story. Its inspiring to see how creative and individual each body of work is, as they emerge.
I find that I am now really enjoying making the"artefacts",and creating their stories especially when I can manage to combine wood somehow with textiles, as its such a great contrast, and am looking forward to seeing how this will feed into future work....no images of this work untill the exhibition is up and running of course.
In the background at present is research for a completely new body of work destined for local and London exhibions in 2014....and a competition in 2013, so I need to stay on track, and what better for that than deadlines.

Details from 2 Framed Works: "Making a Point" exhibition

"Hope Chest"....the exhibition "Making a Point" is now open

It was the Private View of the new EAST exhibition: Making a Point, this evening, and despite the bad weather lots of people came, including many friends, making it a lovely event. The feedback for the show has already been excellent,and images will shortly be appearing on the EAST website, which I will add a link for soon.....it is late this evening, and I just wanted to post this, plus an image of my "Hope Chest" which I hope you will enjoy.

Super New Exhibition of Textile and Mixed Medium Artworks by EAST

This is an exciting exhibition of all new textile and mixed medium artwork by a group of very talented artists, so if you are in the region, it is not to be missed. I have new work on show, and will put some images onto Blogger once the show has opened on the 6th October.

Gathering Myself...and a new exhibition

Time to gather myself together again, after too much time alone and wondering. It will do me good...and put a bit more structure into my day to start blogging again, and now that some new work for what promises to be a great exhibition is complete, I can focus on other things, rather than too much inward looking. Here is the poster for a wonderful new exhibition of Textile Art, comming up very soon at Braintree Museum ( for starters)...then it will start travelling further afield. This is all for now, as I am committed to "making something" this afternoon....too long have I been wandering, and after some real good spiritual food this morning, I am making a new start, hand in hand with my Lord. Here's the poster.....I will post some fragments of my work for the exhibition shortly too...and here's to life! it is a gift.

Changes in the Seasons of My Life....

I have now decided to have a break from blogging to concentrate on the work I am preparing for two exhibitions.
I've also found that blogging can rob me of the time I usually put into my journals, which have become neglected and were always so important to me.....
I have always seen life in seasons, and mine has changed in three major ways over the last 6 weeks.
Leaving my studio and turning my sitting room into a studio, and getting used to that.....and being alone more, missing the folks at Cuckoo Farm.
Leaving my church after 16 years to go to a new one....and trying to explain to friends just why....and not seeing them so often.
Then having to have Sooty put to sleep.... feeling all the afterwards guilt and doubt that comes with having made that decision, let alone the loss of a very vociferous, and "paws-on" companion.
All this will even out in time, and I will get used to the changes, but in the meantime I shall concentrate on my work and the website that I have been meaning to make for 3 years now, and the book to be started in the late Autumn....and my journals.

Sooty

Such Sadness

Yesterday was heartbreak for me, as I had to make a very hard descision about the sweetest little friend who had been with me for 16 years. Sooty was such a special little person...I have had and loved cats all my life, but never quite like this....it is so painful.I still have his lovely brother William, but feel bereft....I dont usually share such personal things, but perhaps it will help by writing it down.

Sooty just 10 days ago...I never dreampt that he would get so ill so quickly.

Exciting Moves & Projects, so too busy dear friends to blog

Dear blogging friends...I shall continue to be absent from Blogger for a while, as I am working on a large progect which seems to have grown in size as it has evolved, and of course there are approaching deadlines. I'm also in the throes of giving up my studio, as the time and energy spent in getting there....two buses and a three quarter mile walk, has now become counter productive, so I decided to sacrifice my sitting room and am turning it into a studio...that one can sit in of course. This has meant the distribution of the Victorian sitting room furniture...apart from the sofa and wingback ( which wont go through any other doors), between the kitchen and the bedroom of my small park home. On the positive side, I now have a bedroom free of computers and paperwork....all in the studio to be now, and my kitchen has the lovely victorian dresser with the Staffordshire Dog collection all staring out at me, and the Georgian round to table to gather round on my best Eastern rug....very smart now! So far it has taken two weeks....a complete "inhouse" move, and tomorrow a friend with a 4x4 and trailer is going to start the transportation of all that is in the studio. Along with all of this, my sweetest little 16 year old feline friend is poorly, so am feeling a bit heartsore ( a good South African expression) at the moment. However, it is also an exciting time as I JUST KNOW that it is the start of another season in my artwork, and by having everything here at home,when I am inspired I can just carry on as everything will be to hand...and as I only share my home with the cats, I dont have to stop unless I want to. Also....when one of those horrible "blocked" times arrives, I will just be able to go and do some gardening to get away from it. In the meantime, here is another glimpse of a small part of the project....I shall put images of the finished work here when the exhibition opens in October...and will also add more little fragments as I get time.

........and another

Just a little sample to see how things work together.

Another "Fragment" of the new work

I'm ready now...at last, to start work on the front of the "Hope Chest". The top, sides and back are almost finished, and now I have worked out the contents of two of the drawers....the third still is a bit of a mystery, but will evolve as I go along. I never plan everything, prefering to let it grow and evolve as I go along. It always develops from an emotion, and the "story" I am writing about the specific piece of work. Pictured here are some of the early 1900 hand assembled Tape Lace motifs, with some beautiful old mother of pearl buttons which have inspired the initial design The buttons have all been chosen for their sheen and iridescence and are very old ones.... I seem to have collected a very large amount of these over the years, and at last shall use some!

Little Fragments of New Work For an Autumn Exhibition

Im working on quite a large project for an exhibition due to open in October, and will say more about that nearer the time. Up until then, just a few small fragments ( my "pet" name for the last 3 years work) will appear, as sadly I have learned now not to show too much untill it's actually on show...but its exciting and quite demanding, which is always good as then I stay focused :) Well.....that is the general idea!

Promise Boxes: Blessed Be The Ties That Bind

Alchemy 2 Exhibition, Slackspace,Colchester 2012

Here is a body of work I recently exhibited locally; it was a deviation from my ususal textile based work into paper...all vintage paper, and a very personal project. I really enjoyed working on something that was so different, but there were similarities of theme as this was all about family and the links between an Aunt, Mother, Father, Brother, Sister and me. I am going to try to copy and paste the written piece that went with it...to save myself going over it all again...but first some more images.

The Story of the Promise Boxes In 1973 I was given an old “Promise Box” by my mother, which had originally belonged to her sister Lottie in the 1920s, who died at quite a young age. It travelled to South Africa and back with me, and has been a small constant in an ever changing life by giving words of hope, inspiration or encouragement …always seemingly at the right time. “Promise Boxes” were very popular in the early part of the 20th century, when revival meetings saw many people coming to the Christian faith….Auntie Lottie and my mother were two such people, and I was to follow in their path, later on in my life. They were “chapel” rather than “church”, so I grew up hearing the old gospel hymns and the choruses so popular in the 40s and 50s, most of which were contained in the well-known Hymn Book of the time: “Sankey’s Sacred Songs and Solos”. The copy of our book was written in Tonic sol-fa, perfect for playing on the little old organ we had at home, although unlike my sister, I never learned to play. The hymn book had become redundant....but was a link to the past which could not be easily be disposed of, with such a history. Alchemy2 has provided me with the opportunity to recycle the Hymn Book by making it into a “Promise Box” by use of its pages which contain treasured memories of old songs, whilst it still remains the container of these…but now in a different way. Recycled boxes have been used to contain more of these pages, which all now have a hand written promise from scripture on a little scroll, whilst an old photograph album acts as a visual reminder of the original box, the history of its owners, and some of the old promises which have been shared and loved by us down through the ages.

My Broadband Problem!

Just when I was ready to come back and show you some new work, I lost my broadband connection. So far it has been 33 days and "they" still haven't got to the bottom of it. The Dongle I've been loaned has such poor coverage that I cannot upload images and pages are taking 5 minutes to load, so I can't "make a comeback" untill it is all sorted out....so frustrating.

Too busy to blog!

Yes...sadly too busy too blog at the moment with 4 projects and deadlines, and also talks to give.
Its like the "buses" story....you wait for one and then two...or four in this case come together.
I went through that scary "dry-desert" time for about 8 weeks before Christmas when real creativity seemed to have deserted me....all I could do was wait in faith knowing that eventually it would return, and it has.

Treasure Arrived...a new season...and musings.

Arrived today ... a lovely collection of broken faux pearl necklaces, bought for a new project; all damaged bar one which I imediately put around my neck....inspiration is starting to return after one of those desert-dry times.
I seem to have had lots of ideas whiring away in the background, but no motivation to carry them out...that made me question the ideas themselves, as I am usually passionate about what I do.
Realising that the passion was just not there for all, has helped me to focus on the one alone, that is firing my imagination and creativity at this time, and has also given me fresh perspective on my work for EAST which is not comming from my usual subject...
I still have some issues over the source, but shall hope to resolve them as I go along....I think it's because it is a slight deviation from what I call my "real work", but also I think I am into a new season where instead of just concentrating on one thing, I may need to have "several irons in the fire",
We have so much to learn as artists, dont we, and I think one of the things is to recognise the season we are in...I always see things in seasons.
I also get very intense and probably "think too much"...then I end up with a bout of depression and have to pray my way out of it before the mist lifts!