Playing With Sticks & String...

 It's been a busy week, but most of my projects have been quite large and I've not had anything to show unless you are interested in half-knitted wadges of yarn.  I've been knitting some small Easter themed objects, which I am sure you will be seeing soon on Twitter and Facebook.  The daffs are the only ones I can really show for now.

I have finally completed this rather splendid men's cardigan, which is a commissioned piece using a very old pattern - I can't find a date on it but looking at the style of aeroplanes, I'm putting it in the 1940's.  The yarn is chunky so it was a relatively quick knit, but the patterns involved a fair bit of concentration.  It also has integral pockets, a fitted zipper and a sizeable roll collar.

I don't normally knit clothing for other people (rarely for myself any more) but I could not resist this lovely design. 

In any spare minutes, I've been knitting this lace shawl - I'm hoping this photograph shows the little sparkles in the yarn.  It's a nice simple repeating pattern that I have knitted several times before in various different yarns and it is always effective.  The good part is that although you start with over 300 stitches, it decreases as you go, so psychologically seems to get quicker along the way....that's my story anyway!

This came in the post today - first copies of the latest Adventure Time comic with a cover painted by....my son!

Nice big credit on the inside cover.  I'm a proud mum again - especially as he has done the cover for next month's issue as well!

And finally, now that the builders are just a (bad) memory, it's time to get the garden sorted with no fear of anything getting wrecked.  We have gained a long length of space between us and the new houses since they put a gate on the front end.  I noticed last week that it gets quite a bit of sunshine along our wall in the middle of the day, so I am going to try and grow some potatoes and beans in there - it's worth a try!

The People's Potatoes - Now For Sale

After the book launch party of last week, I now have a box of books here for sale.  This book can be obtained through various other sources, but if you buy it here, I get to keep a little bit of commission!

As you can see, the book costs £20 (overseas buyers may like to buy it through my Etsy shop where the price is in dollars) plus post and packing. 

The book is a hardback, beautifully published with lovely glossy pages which show off my paintings really well.  Apart from the illustrations, the text is interesting and informative, with a first section telling you how to grow and look after your potato plants, and the second section containing a 'top 100' varieties of potato, with all my paintings.

There are 100 of them.....yes, 100 paintings which represent 18 months of my life!

I promise to sign each copy if you want me to, just let me know.  To order the book, either e-mail me at c_bletsis@yahoo.co.uk or go straight through Etsy.

Potato Party!

Last night I went to the launch party of The People's Potatoes which was held at the Waitrose Conference Centre in Bracknell.  It took us a while to find it - who knew that Waitrose own a trading estate the size of a small principality?  They even have their own sports and leisure centre....

No surprise to find the buffet was a selection of potato crisps and small jacket potatoes!  There was also lots of champagne on offer.

Copies of the book were everywhere, and the cover design had been made into placemats!

There was a small slideshow about the process of writing the book - and I got presented with an enormous bouquet!

After that, it was more mingling and I had to sign lots of books - that was the most peculiar feeling, people asking me for my autograph.  I think I like it!

So that is over, now we just have to sit and wait for the book to become a best-seller...talking of which, I should have my box of books for sale by the weekend, and they will be available for mail order through this site or my Etsy shop.  I promise to sign your copy too........

Archie...

Here is a portrait of a little Cairn terrier, waiting now for the portrait of his partner in crime.  This has been executed in Derwent Drawing pencils, but due to the neutral grey of the background which was echoed a great deal in the colour of the dog's fur, I have also used black Chinese brush pen for the deepest darks and white acrylic to make the highlights and white hairs really stand out.  This was quite a difficult one for me because of the background colour, but I am so pleased I persevered as I think it works well.  His little pal is a nice shade of ochre, so should be a lot easier to draw!

Tomorrow is the day of the launch party for The People's Potatoes book.  I have my smart blouse and trousers ready, and am trying to remain calm although I am really quite excited.  You can see the book for sale here - first sighting of it in the market place!  More on the launch after it happens....

The People's Potatoes

How amazing to finally see the book I illustrated that has been about three years in the making! I got my copy delivered to me today by the author and it feels very strange to see my work in print - and in such quantity, 100 paintings!

The illustrations have come out extremely well - I can hardly believe that they were my work, it feels such a long time ago that I spent so many hours, weeks, months, painting nothing but spuds!

The book will be available for sale at various outlets, but I will also have a box of them here soon and will have them for sale on my Etsy shop or just e-mail me at the above address.  The book costs £20, plus post and packaging.  More info when the time comes.

It's Finally Happening......

After 18 months of very hard work and a further 18 months of waiting, the potato book is to be published at the end of this month, with a launch party being held at Waitrose HQ the first week of November.  I'm very excited at the prospect of seeing the book, but filled with trepidation at attending the big 'do'.  Seeing as I am the sole illustrator, there will be a fair amount of focus on me.....which I don't mind in small amounts, but well, y'know....  Good excuse to buy a new outfit though!

I will have a number of copies of the book to sell from home and will have further details about this when the time comes...I might even sign them for you!

I forgot to mention this last week - I've had a few enquiries about the pattern for the knitted fox stole. Seeing as how it is very doubtful I will have time to knit any more for sale in my shop over the next few months, I have painstakingly transcribed my horrendous scrawl from notebook to legible pattern, which is now for sale in my Etsy shop. 

Polly's Progress...

The macaws are slowly taking shape - this is such fun;  I can lose whole chunks of the day painting subjects like this and when I emerge it is suddenly tea-time and nothing is cooked.  I'm better prepared for this nowadays and cook before picking up a paintbrush.

Notice the droplets at the bottom left of the painting - they aren't still wet, I've painted them that way.  When I was a child, my parents took me to an exhibition and there were a set of paintings which were about five feet square of solid colour with water droplets painted all over them.  I remember studying the technique intently, storing it away for future reference.  It's been used many times on various different pictures.

One such painting was the cover illustration for a book on potatoes that I did 100 paintings of spuds for a while back.  Yesterday I discovered that the first proofs are back from the printers and it should be finalised and in print next month.  At last, 18 months of hard work will finally be made public - I can't wait!

Disappointed....

Several months ago I was very excited to plant some Truffles potatoes in order to have my own crop of these delicious & unusual spuds. I've nurtured them, fed them, watered them and protected them from bugs and blight and how have they rewarded me? Very poorly, that's how!
That's not even a dinner plate in the photo, it's a side plate and quite a small one at that. I reckon I have got back more or less exactly what I planted and considering the labour & expense that has gone into raising this paltry peck of purple potatoes, they must be on a par with gold in value!


Compare them to the amount of tomatoes (yes, they are supposed to be yellow - very tasty) I am collecting on a daily basis at the moment, it's a very poor show! So we are going to have them for tea tonight and savour every last mouthful.......at least it will be a colourful meal!

Moving On......

Thanks to everyone who lent their support to yesterday's post - I'm glad it's not just me that thinks that's a bonkers way to run an exhibition. I got a more detailed explanation from one of the organisers today and it still makes no sense to me at all - I completely understand that they want to give new artists a chance and that space at the venue is very limited, but to cut people alphabetically? Selection committee, people, the clue is in the title. Apparently I can enter again next year.........great.


Anyway, enough of that, it's not good for my blood pressure! Here are some potatoes.....not just any potatoes though - I grew these! First time in my life growing spuds - aren't they pretty? And it was half an hour between getting them out of the earth and serving them on a plate for dinner. Yum!


I've been knitting this camisole top from a pattern in this month's The Knitter magazine. A bit complicated but well worth it - I just love the zig-zags & the way the cables make it pull in at the waist. I still have to sew in a bit of narrow elastic around the neck to stop it from gaping as the cotton is soft and flops a little. Considering this batch of yarn was £10 on eBay and has stretched to two summer tops, it was a real bargain.


Now that is finished, it is time to get back to knitting little creatures - depressing though the thought is, Christmas will be upon us quicker than we think and I need to be stocked up beforehand. So this little dog is the latest addition to the menagerie - he's a bit more butch than the pups I have been making lately. So butch in fact that he deserves a specially designed coat.....


.......although if he was really that tough, perhaps he wouldn't wear a coat!

He will be on Etsy as part of a set later in the week.


Don't forget that the giveaway - Eldritch the witch's cat - is still open and will remain open until the end of August. Click here to leave a comment and enter yourself in the draw.

Hooray!

Hooray for cool new stitches to learn - this is a Japanese feather stitch which meanders too and fro in a most satisfying way.


This is the reverse - almost as pretty as the front. I'm knitting this on 2mm needles in a ridiculously thin laceweight yarn in my favourite colours. It could take a while.


Hooray for my potatoes and runner beans growing at a terrific rate - just goes to show that looking at them twenty times a day really does make them grow faster...doesn't it?


Hooray for the first time I have managed to grow lettuce, ever! Yes, they are indeed planted in an old washing-up bowl.

And the biggest hooray goes to the fact that I have turned the corner on the painting I was having so much trouble with. I've cropped off about two thirds of it, so it doesn't look nearly as daunting and believe me, the psychological aspect of that makes all the difference. Today I managed to get quite a lot done and no longer feel like throwing my paints, brushes and that darn brown canvas under the nearest bus!

St.George & Potatoes

With the sun shining, the dirt & dust show, so it's been a week of Spring cleaning here. While mucking out my bedroom (a fairly accurate description of the process involved...) I discovered hidden behind a chest of drawers a piece of embroidery I did while I was at school. It was dusty and stained and starting to come apart in places. We had obligatory needlework lessons in my school which I thoroughly enjoyed and managed to stretch working on this piece out for over a year. Even back then I was fascinated with the different stitches and effects that could be achieved with thread and beads.
So I've soaked and washed this very carefully and got the worst of the staining out. Now it needs some TLC repairing the horse and St. George's belt, as well as addressing the hole above his bicep. Then after pressing , I think it deserves to be put behind glass in a frame before it gets any more damage.


Last year when I was painting potatoes, one of my favourites both to paint and to eat was 'Truffles'. The colour was mesmerising and the flavour was the most potato-ey potato I have ever tasted. At the time, I asked the author of the book if he could get hold of some seed potatoes in order for me to grow my own....today I collected them and planted them in my modest pair of potato sacks on the patio, along with some Bonte Desiree.


I still have some left over, so I'm going to have to find a corner to squeeze in another bag. This is the first time I've attempted to grow potatoes - wish me luck! I've also planted some runner beans, one lone strawberry plant, and got some tomato plants growing nicely indoors. The spindly bush on the right is my Goji berry which amazingly survived being buried under eight inches of snow for a fortnight during the winter - perhaps it will even have berries this year.

This time of year I get very impatient with my garden - everything is just on the edge of getting started and I want it all to get going NOW. At the moment all I'm doing is proving that staring at grass seed and blossom buds on a twice daily basis does not make them grow any faster...

Picasso............

...is this handsome dog's name. This is a recent commission completed a couple of weeks ago but kept under wraps until it had been framed and given to the recipient (Happy Birthday Jo, so glad you like him!)
He's been 'painted' with Derwent Drawing pencils and a touch of acrylic white body paint for the whiskers and highlights. It was very difficult to photograph this picture as the light reflects off the black pencil, which meant no flash (forget daylight, we haven't had much of that lately!) and consequently some of the subtler colours have been lost. There is a much softer grey-purple shading on the ears in the actual painting.

If you fancy having your pet immortalised in pencil or paint, feel free to get in touch with me as I am now able to take on far more commissions as the potato book illustrations are (subject to the author's approval of minor alterations) now complete.

Speaking of potatoes, there is still another fortnight for you to leave a comment and be in the draw to win the 101st and last potato painting.......I'm a bit disappointed in the uptake of this giveaway - go on, you know you want a painted spud on your wall!! You have until Valentine's Day to enter....

Something for the Weekend.......

Owing to the rapid sale of Spud the puppy, who is winging his way to Denver as we speak, I thought I had better knit up another boucle puppy, in white this time. He is also knitted in Sirdar Snowflake Snuggly yarn, with a smart red and white check knitted coat. As soon as he has all his belongings made he will also go up on Etsy, sometime next week.


I've also had fun knitting this tamoshanter hat from a pattern in this month's Yarn Forward magazine. It is knitted in the round using a lace rib pattern, with a hexagonal decrease pattern on the crown. I've added a tassel for fun. Sorry about the bad quality photograph - oh for some decent daylight to take pictures by!


This is the underside of the hat, with a couple of inches of rib that keep it snugly on the head. If and when we ever get a dry day, I will be re-photographing these before they go on Etsy.

Just a reminder, see below for my giveaway - an original potato painting in acrylics, the 101st and hopefully last ever potato painting I will do, so a bit special in its own right. I still have a couple of alterations to make to two paintings before they go for publication, but only about an afternoon's work.

I shan't be twiddling my thumbs however, as after a week of wondering what to paint (slight creative block!) I have been given a family portrait to do which I am really looking forward to.

Tell Me What You Think To This........

I haven't made jewellery for such a long time - this set is just for me and I doubt I'll be making any similar for any one else.


Here's a close up of the bracelet....what do you think I have used to make this pretty bauble?(hands down you in the back, I know you know, but give someone else a chance!) Have I splashed out on some gen-you-wine chunks of turquoise? Nope.
Are they plastic imitation? Nope.
Paper-mache? Nope.

I'll put you out of your misery - these beads were made from............


....yes, a potato. Not only do I paint the darn things, I'm wearing them as well. It all started when I got a Secret Santa parcel through the post containing a very delicious box of chocolates and also a sheet of paper with How to Make a Potato Bracelet instructions tucked into an envelope. At first I laughed heartily, but then had a thought that if this method worked, it would make quite a fitting keepsake to remember the past 18 month spud marathon. Originally, I had planned that I would wait until I had the 100th potato finished and use that as the basis for a bracelet, but as you can read below, I never actually got Potato No.100 in my hand, so this has been made with the 99th - not quite as symbolic but close enough!


First I had to cut the potato into rough cubes, slightly larger than the beads I wanted to end up with. Then I speared them through the centre on a wooden skewer and left them to dry. The first batch were put on top of the radiator on some tinfoil and just left - these ended up quite angular and a few sort of caved in on themselves. After my son's adventures making freeze-dried potato stew with his Bolivian cookbook that he got for Christmas (a whole other anecdote...) I made a second batch and popped them in the freezer overnight. The has the effect of drawing the moisture out of the potato as it defrosts, making it dry quicker but also you can squidge it a bit and soften the edges - these are the smaller, rounded beads. Above is how they look when dry - they are as solid as pebbles.


Then each bead was painted turquoise with acrylic paint and left on a knitting needle to dry.


They needed a second coat to get a good covering - this is half the mess I got into......


When the turquoise paint is completely dry, paint the beads with black acrylic paint. Now, you have to be quick here - the instructions said paint with black paint and rub off with a paper towel - that just left me with a smudgy black bead. What you have to do is mix a slightly watery black acrylic, paint it on then quickly dip the bead in a pot of water and rub with a damp paper towel until the black is left only in the cracks and fissures of the beads.


When this is dry, do the same with white acrylic paint - you can see in the photo how little remains in order for it to look authentic.

Finally, paint the beads with two or three coats of acrylic varnish - I used matt finish as I preferred to have a soft sheen rather than a high shine on the beads - it's a matter of personal taste.

It's a very effective but quite labour-intensive way of making your own turquoise - I'm pleased with the results and wore my necklace to work today where it got quite a few compliments. The beads seem really hard and robust, although doing the washing up with the bracelet on might not be such a good idea on a regular basis!