No Crafting, Just Chilling...

Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis will know that I have been very stressed this summer - constant building noise was driving me to the brink of insanity.  However, just before having to go back to work, we took a few days off and caught a plane....a very small plane!

To a very small island - this is Alderney in the Channel Islands, just off the coast of France and where I spent my teenage years when my parents retired there.

Not much has changed, the beaches remain the same.

No-one there but us most of the time.

Stacie's favourite pursuit, assembling a sandy Dalek army - she also did more sketching than I did!

I was too busy collecting shells....

...collecting photos for future paintings...

...or freezing myself in the sea!  Going swimming was a bit of a mad thing to do but when you are challenged, you have to step up.  It was COLD!

We also bird watched at Gannet Rock,

and explored various forts and German fortifications left over from the war.

I have often reminisced about how awful dental checks were when I lived in Alderney and that it was pretty antiquated at the time.  We as children all dreaded the visit to the school of the local dentist, it was not a good experience.  In the museum I found the actual chair we all had to sit in and it was so much worse than I remembered!  Zoom in if you can to read the notice....no wonder we all had problems with our teeth in later life!

I have been crafting since I got back - more on that in another post.

Wish You Were Here...

So, this got finished yesterday - it's an acrylic painting of Yaquina lighthouse in Oregon.  No, I've not been there, I poached the photo reference from an internet pal of mine who very kindly gave me permission to use it. 

It's not one of my better paintings due to extenuating circumstances - hard to concentrate when the house is shaking and even Aerosmith can't drown out the noise - but it's not bad.  Kept me happy for a while at least!

Not sure what to paint next - got a hankering for a flamingo.....

...Soothes My Soul

I gave this painting a rest over the weekend - spent the time catching up on some sleep, gardening and general slobbing about while it was peaceful.  Back to the noise today, so I am sure at some point I will be plugging myself into the MP3 player and getting on with this.

I have cropped an inch or so off the bottom - it was unnecessary so  it had to go.  I think the painting will be finished very soon - I need to complete the bottom section with the plants and then go over the whole thing 'trouble-shooting'.

I'm hoping that when we go on our little trip to Alderney, I will be able to make a few such paintings 'plein air' although they will have to be watercolours as I am not carting a ton of acrylics on holiday with me!

On the needles - socks for my daughter, a sleeveless sweater for me and some unsuccessful design attempts at a monster....

If you have a spare minute or two, check out the progress of the Amur leopard cubs at the zoo in Estonia.
They are big enough to be outside now and always make me laugh with their antics, like giant playful kittens  - which is what they are I guess!

Song Of The Sea...

It's not long now until our mini-break in Alderney and I'm so impatient!  It's not been a good summer for me -  I know I keep banging on about it, but the noise and disruption caused by the building works three feet from our house has really affected me badly. It starts shortly after 7 a.m. and carries on until 5 p.m. and is driving me CRAZY! We can't have windows or doors open as it is too loud, which makes the house hot and stuffy.  Even with everything battened down, the vibrations can still be felt.  So no lie-ins, no sitting in the garden, no gentle summer breeze wafting through the house, no birdsong, no escape.

Usually I use the school holidays to catch up on some painting, but it's very hard when your concentration is shot to pieces and your nerves are stretched to breaking point!  However, I am manfully carrying on with this acrylic - if I put on my headphones and turn the music up, I can almost drive out the presence of the Doozers.  Plus the subject matter reminds me that I will get a few days respite soon!

I'd like to camp out in the offices of the people who say we are not entitled to any compensation for having two summer ruined by building works and play the drums while running a vacuum cleaner, a blender and a hairdryer for 10 hours solid, five days a week and see how long they last before getting annoyed...if only!

I promise I'll try and shut up about it from now on - it's boring and depressing, but hopefully goes some way to explain the lacklustre blog posts lately!

There's A Kind Of Hush...

So, this morning there were no builders outside....I waited just to make sure they weren't lulling me into a false sense of security, then it was time to whizz round the housework, do a bit of cooking for later, fly to the supermarket and back, and ahhhh, have two hours at the easel before lunch.

This acrylic is based on a photo of a lighthouse in Oregon - nowhere I have been unfortunately!  It did beg to be painted though - the idea of being by the sea in the sunshine is very compelling at the moment.  So much so that we have booked a few days in Alderney at the tail end of summer.  I cannot wait - just to sit on a beach with my paints, to beachcomb, to eat fresh fish and chips and not be woken up by diggers and drills....

Currently on the needles - the alphabet!

A Watery Watercolour...

Despite a day of disruption and noise due to the builders finally moving in to the plot next door yesterday with their diggers and heavy plant, I did manage to get a couple hours painting time in the late afternoon and complete this little watercolour.

I think it is a place called Emsbury Cove - I got the reference photo from Midge at Soggibottom blog and I am sure she will correct me if I have the name wrong!*  I like the sense of looking down into the water and the light on the ripples.  It's a simple painting but it has broken my 'block' and hopefully I can paint more during the summer holidays...if the noise does not drive me over the edge!

The knitted aeroplane is going surprisingly well - I had to do the shaping while it was on the needles so complete guesswork.  When I sewed it over the foam base structure last night, it fit almost perfectly - wow!  Either the knitting gods are smiling down on me or I am quite good at my job these days!

*Elberry Cove - see, I knew Midge would put me straight!

Recovering The Status Quo...

It's been a hectic few days, with the end of the day job plus a super-quick rush job for the animation. The heat didn't help, but we are back to normal temperatures now and after a large parcel was put in the post yesterday, I can relax a little.  Yesterday I managed a couple of hours painting and this picture is starting to take shape.  I was a little concerned with that dark branch going across the centre, but with the addition of the leaves (not complete as yet) it has been knocked back and I am happy it does not overpower the rest of the painting.  There is a fair bit more to do - I'm looking forward to it!

That is if I can resist the pull of this...

The garden is looking so pretty at the moment, I just like to wander around and see what's growing.  There has also been a fair bit of watering needed, particularly the vegetables.

Worth it though - we have picked two lots of carrots and runner beans, a few courgettes and still await our first red tomato. 

On the needles next - an aeroplane.....

Phew, It's A Scorcher!

 

We've had what the press have been referring to as a heatwave here in the UK the past few days - yes, it's been quite hot, but I am sure those of you living in sunnier climes would laugh at us calling 32C hot.  It was rather muggy, especially after a few spectacular thunderstorms and torrential rain, but that didn't stop me getting on with things.

I finally got over a bad case of artist's block and have started this little watercolour.  It's the view down through trees to the water below, using a photo sent to me by Midge from Soggibottom blog in Devon.  I'm not sure how it will turn out or if it will be worth it, but I am very happy to be using a brush again.  

On the other hand, my daughter has been painting like a maniac the past week - we've gone back to using the 'Paint Your Own Masterpiece' book and she has churned out another version of this Cezanne.  All I do for her is make a light sketch of the main objects, the rest she does by herself. (For those of you who are new here and are thinking 'so what?', my daughter has Down's Syndrome, so this is really quite an achievement!)  I think this one might deserve framing!

As well as knitting a grizzly bear (hot work!) I have been teaching myself how to make loom band bracelets.  It was getting embarrassing at work (infant school) being shown up by six year olds who have mastered this and I hadn't the first idea.  So when I got a bag of the bands free with a magazine, I took the bull by the horns and had a go - turns out it is not that hard after all, and I can see the attraction, they are strangely addictive!  I want to try one of the very intricate designs and then I can file this under 'done it'!

Despite the heat, we have managed some lovely leisurely walks with the dog in the fields behind our house.
They are sown with a crop of beans this year but in amongst them are millions of daisies.

It is so pretty - shame they want to plough it all up and build 450 houses on it.  We are praying that this doesn't come to pass as long as we are living here.

I don't know what Clovis would do without his daily canters through the countryside - he's never been a dog for road walking, it has to be running through the grass and bushes or it just isn't a walk.

Some sunflowers have snuck into the mix as well!

More Fishy Business!

For over a year now, one of the most popular posts on this blog has been my tutorial on how to do a fish stencil.  I keep meaning to find out just where all the traffic comes from!

Anyway, This summer I decided I was sick and tired of the koi carp stencilled in our main bathroom, plus the paint on the wall above the bath was getting chipped and looked bad.  So I initially started by painting the wall in a contrasting blue to the rest of the room - it turned out a bit darker than the paint looked when in the shop under flourescent lights.  I had to leave it for a couple of weeks to see if I really liked the shade before going any further with it.  Luckily it grew on me!

Then over the past few days I have been working on a much bigger version of the shoal of fish we have in the downstairs loo. It took a few days because the actual stencil is in a rectangular shape, which doesn't look natural, so I wanted to add extra fish and in order to get them looking a bit more random, I also wanted to reverse the stencil in places.  After a while, the paint builds up and gets sticky, so the stencil has to be allowed to dry before being used again.  I think this is finished, although I shall contemplate it while in the bath or sitting on the toilet (as you do...) and think about whether it needs any more fish.  For now, however, it's fine.

The painting of Troy is coming along nicely - this week I have been working on the background a bit more before carrying on with the dog.  I want him to look like he is in the garden, not like a cardboard cutout laid on top of a garden picture, so it is necessary to get the background in now to eliminate any harsh edges when painting the dog.  It's all a matter of juggling..

One the needles this week - a picnic table!

Shells & Snow

As planned, this painting was completed yesterday - when it reaches the point that you are going over the same things again and again, it's time to stop!  I'm quite pleased with this - it doesn't have exactly the misty feel of the reference photographs, but I do feel I have captured that pink morning light through the trees which was the intention.  This was painted in acrylic on canvas board which was first treated with gesso as I hate the texture of canvas! 

The painting will be on sale in my Etsy shop shortly.

A long time ago, over 2 years I think, I got a commission to crochet seaweed...yards and yards of it with shells and various pieces of flotsam and jetsam woven into it.  This was to be used as part of a frame for a mirror.  This week I was kindly sent photos of the completed mirror by the lady who commissioned me, somewhere in the depths of Texas. I think you'll agree it has turned out to be jaw-droppingly beautiful!  She commissioned another artist to make the shell-encrusted frame - a very clever lady!  I wonder how she did it...I'd like one of these in my home too!

Please continue to leave your comments on the previous post if you would like to be entered into the draw for some free watercolour pencils.

And That's That!

This got finished today - hooray!  It is a very large canvas, involved a great deal of paint, a great deal of pain from my injured shoulder as I had to paint it on an easel rather than my usual stance of drawing board in the lap, and a fair amount of language entirely unsuitable from a lady.  I do not like copying another artist's work, I have serious problems with perspective on such things as chairs, and the more I worked on it the more mistakes in the original I uncovered and struggled to correct.  But never mind, it is for a friend of mine, it's what she wanted and I hope she likes the end result!

Birthday Blue

It was my sister's birthday yesterday - we won't go into how old she is, but she's older than me...
She's had a tough time of it lately; living in Greece has not been a bundle of laughs over the past year with ever decreasing finances and ever increasing taxes, social unrest and general chaos.  To add to the misery, she had her house burgled a few weeks ago and anything that wasn't nailed down was taken, including her jewellery.

I thought it might be nice to have something made especially for her to kick-start a new collection, so commissioned a gorgeous focal bead from the talented Kaz at Cheeky Cherub Designs.  I wracked my brain for days thinking how to show it off to it's best advantage without detracting from the bead itself - I'm out of practise when it comes to jewellery-making these days.  I hope I have achieved it!

Memories.....

While clearing out a corner of the living room the other day, I came across an old sketchbook which brought back some happy memories.  This was an experiment in painting teasels and dandelions following a tutorial in a book.

This was sketched sitting in the sand dunes on Braye Bay in Alderney, one of the smallest islands in the Channel Isles.  I spent my teens living here and look back on those years as the happiest in my life.  When I went back some 20 years later, it was incredible to find it so little changed.

The view to the left of where I was sitting for the above sketch.  We used to come down here after school (a couple of minutes walk) for a swim before going home.

Some brief studies drawn in the garden of our current house - can't quite believe I did them, they look a little bit like I knew what I was doing.....

The most poignant of them all, my little dog Jasper (a couple of years dead now) who used to spend all summer long sitting on the edge of the patio gazing into the flower bed.....there used to be a mouse that crossed his path in the evenings and he just sat and watched in fascination.
The agapanthus was one of many that I attempted to grow - never with much success - I buy them, they flower, the winter kills them!

I always say that I don't sketch much - maybe not as much as some artists, but there are these half filled books all over the house and it is surprising how a small pencil drawing can bring back so many memories, more than any photo, probably because it takes time and study to draw whereas a photo is a fleeting glimpse.

I'm in the middle of painting a horse at the moment, and best of all, have just parcelled up and sent off a big box of garter stitch scarves to the USA - perhaps now I will have a few days respite in order to get on with something a bit more interesting!

Seaside Interlude II

You don't get to the coast for two years, then it's twice in a fortnight....
This is Bosham (pronounced Bosem) just outside Chichester.  We paid a visit there yesterday and had a glorious day in the sunshine, although the sea itself was far, far away as the tide was out.  Fish and chips for lunch, an icecream cone while sitting on a churchyard wall, even a surprise bead shop to potter in - a very good day out!

Seaside Interlude

After working so hard lately, it was good to get away yesterday and head to the sea for the day.  We wanted to go and see the Historic Dockyards at Portsmouth and visit the HMS Warrior.  It was a lovely surprise to discover that included in the ticket was a trip on a boat around the harbour to see all the various ships docked there.  The sea was smooth, the sun was shining, what could be better?

There were war ships both old and new....

...this is HMS Warrior.

We weren't too sure what these elderly gentlemen were doing, but were relieved to see later on that they had recruited a full crew on the oars - with just two of them, they were going nowhere!

Just outside the Warrior was a Punch and Judy show - we had to stop and watch as I don't think Stacie had ever seen one before. She thought it hilarious at least!

Everything on the Warrior was sparkling clean, tidy and shiny.  It was fascinating to see how well equipped it was for battle, with cannons both on deck and below, and each deck being well stocked with guns of every size and plenty of cutlasses.  The shiny brass tracks on the deck are for the cannons to be moved around during fighting without gouging holes in the wooden deck.

After a break for fish and chips on the waterfront - something I haven't done for years - we went back to visit the Mary Rose museum. Unfortunately the hull of the Mary Rose, one of Henry VIII's ships, was closed as they are still getting it preserved and renovated as well as building a new museum around it.  We got to see many of the items salvaged from the wreck and Stacie had fun trying on some clothes in the style of that era - here she is in a Henry VIII jacket.  I think we nearly took that one home with us!

Very tired by now, we walked to take a look at the HMS Victory, Admiral Nelson's flagship.  We knew this might be a bit difficult for Stacie to walk around due to steep and narrow stairways so didn't plan on going inside.

However, after asking one of the guides how tricky the stairways were, he told us that we could go and have a look and one of the other guides would let us off if Stacie found it too hard.  Famous last words....we discovered that once on there, you had to follow the set route, and after we had gone down one deck, there were no guides to ask, so we had to keep on going around the whole ship, with the stairs getting steeper and steeper and we ended up in the bowels of the ship which was very claustrophobic with the extremely low ceilings and the lack of light.  Poor Stacie ended up in tears but struggled manfully on until we eventually came across the exit and daylight! 

It was fascinating though - funny how much of it I remembered from a school trip I was taken on many decades ago.
Don't worry about Stacie, after a bit of a sit down in the shade followed by a cherry ice-cream cone back on the sea front, she was fine...and slept in the car the whole way home!

Seaside Memories Necklace

When I met Toby from Natural Attrill on Tuesday, he gave me a very pretty vintage rectangular mother-of-pearl charm, which I fell in love with for it's colours and air of nostalgia. I wanted to make a necklace based around it using various seaside related charms and marine-coloured beads, and above all I wanted it to look old. The above is the result - it's two pieces of antique-look chain hung with too many treasures to list them all - gulls, fish, shells, pearls, you get the idea. Perhaps it looks like Grandma's trinket box jammed with years of bits and pieces, but that was the look I was after. It's pretty and all mine........