The free-range artist

Christmas is over and I'm finally working on a few paintings. Today I finished one that has been languishing for well over six months. I also started another. That felt good. I did all this fuelled by double chocolate and raspberry brownies. I decided a couple of days ago that January would be the month I cut down on sugar. That lasted then.

I don't think I ever really liked the idea of having a pristine white studio space, shared with other hipsterish artists, seriously working away whilst we talked about gallery representation and listened to Autechre. I think I do much better working out of my living room, on my own, glass of cava just out of shot, Boromir getting shot by orcs on the TV in the background (and then dying beautifully) for what seems like the fifth time this Christmas. (Note to self, must find new box sets to watch whilst painting).

Across these two tables (one on loan from my brother, one from Ikea £14) are the collection of random and useful objects helping me work at the moment.

Candles, always.
Pile of Moleskine notebooks for journalling, notes, poetry etc
Pile of handmade paper.
Yellow A5 Finsbury Filofax (Xmas prezzie from mum and dad)
Nourishing reading matter.
Crime novel (January is all about crime fiction)
Brushes, paints etc
Feathers
Bright pink poster paint
Karma bubble bath bar from Lush (it smells amazing and every now and then I catch a whiff of it and just think mmmmm)
Knitted owl gloves made by mum. Slightly too small. They limit my hand movements somewhat but i am determined to break them in.
A little stuffed and stitched handmade mouse. Gifted to me by one of the tutors at work late last year when I was in the middle of a stress related meltdown.
Sharpie markers
Washi tape (a growing addiction)
Dirty paint water
Earphones
Course file for my classes
Pile of magazines inc County Living (even though I live in the middle of a large town) and The Simple Things. Both are essential for decent vision boarding and daydreaming about cosy fires, woodland walks, suppers that include all manner of rare and lovely foodstuffs and rugged yet sensitive blokes in fairisle jumpers.
Broken glass lampshade (cracked side facing the wall)

There. You can keep your sparsely furnished converted warehouses. This is all I need.

Look! I'm a domestic goddess!

This is chocolate and pistachio fudge, courtesy of Nigella Express. I have made it for the guys at work, it's sat next to me in a spangly bag by my desk. It would have taken all the will in the world to give it away where it not for the fact that this is the second batch, the first batch having been consumed stealthily by furtive fridge light over a period of four days last week. I now can't look at the stuff without feeling a little bit queasy.

Tonight is the last night in my flat before I decamp to my mum and dad's for four days. Tomorrow evening I  plan to be in my pyjamas, vodka and tonic in hand, watching Narnia. Merry Christmas you lovely people.

A little recap

These are some of the paintings I did in November. I did quite a few other things as well. I took on a lot of extra teaching which seemed like a good idea a few months ago, when the job situation was looking particularly bleak. I also broke both my phone and my Ipod. There was a depressing evening in late November where I found myself slumped on the sofa feeling stressed and tearful and couldn't even listen to music to sooth myself. I also couldn't phone my mum.

It's all good now though. Work is winding down, we had our Christmas meal today and I'm blogging after ten vodka and tonics. By the end of the week I'll be feeling a bit bored.

Deep and crisp and even...

 An astonishing amount of snow has fallen here in the last 24 hours. It started yesterday morning at about 9am and stopped at 7ish yesterday evening. I have never seen so much snow in my whole life. Not even as a child when I  used to go sledging down the hill behind my house. I have been up there this morning to see the children enjoying themselves but they are only sledging down the south bank and have left the steeper, north side untouched. Wimps.
Yesterday, everything was quiet and everybody stayed tucked up in their homes, today the whole street is alive with the sound of shovels scraping the pavement and excited chatter.
I plan to spend this afternoon finishing another Christmas present, the embroidered fabric below is going to be another wintery cushion cover. The last one turned out quite well and now I have the stitching bug. It's funny how I always prefer to stitch in winter and paint in summer. I think it's because I find stitching a quiet, repetitive process whereas painting requires (I think) a bit more active participation which I don't seem to have so much energy for in the fallow months.

This will probably be my last post until after Christmas so I wish you all a merry and restful Yuletide and I'll be back soon with my resolutions and new year crafty plans.

Stocking fillers

This is something I have been working on for the past week. It will eventually become a cushion cover. There is plenty more to do still, I plan to do quite a bit more hand stitching around the felt tree (the same tree from this post and this post, when will I ever be free of this tree?) and I also want to stitch some seed beads on to the back ground. This will end up in some one's stocking, though I have not decided who is getting it yet!

A wintery weekend

It has been truly bitter here for the last couple of days. Last night and this morning saw the sharpest frost I have possibly ever seen. It was thick like snow. The air was filled with tiny ice crystals that looked like glitter floating. It was really quite magical.

I have been busy trying to make at least some handmade Christmas presents, I try to do this every year and usually end up frustrated, in a temper and out of time, but this year I vow to make at least three. I will post some pictures tomorrow of a little hand stitching project I have underway.

In other news I have been trying to make the flat look a bit more seasonal, I am aiming to have my own handmade twiggy tree rather than a bought one but it's really been a bit too cold to go out collecting twigs. In the mean time I have settled for some ivy on the mantle piece. It all looked lovely until I accidentally set fire to it with one of my lit candles.

Aunty Jenny! Look at this!

This is Fig and Blue Cheese Tart. Isn't it pretty? I will make it in May when when you come back. The best thing is, it looks just like it does on the front of the magazine. It has a wholemeal walnut pastry which is just lovely.

Right. I'm putting myself back to bed now. I have a streaming cold and can barely talk, so it's under the covers I go.

Whispers of Snow

The promise of snow is always a little bit exciting; the whispers started circulating 'round the building earlier in the week (perpetuated mainly by me).

This morning was tad disappointing as I was expecting drifts galore and another day housebound trying to get over a very poorly throat but all we had was a light dusting. However, by the time I got out of the shower it was throwing it down and has only just stopped. I am staring out of my office window at the peaceful winter scene by the canal and I actually don't mind being in Banbury at the moment. God knows I've whinged all summer about wanting to be elsewhere but, right now, this is OK. I've got a shaft of weak, wintry sunlight hitting my desk as I type and everything feels sort of still.


Yesterday I managed to get all of my Christmas presents wrapped, I'll pop them under the tree tonight. With that little job out of the way I can focus on what is, for me, the main point of Christmas- food.

I plan to make blue cheese and fig tart for tomorrow night's dinner, this comes in at a whopping 81 grams of fat per slice. A convenient way to ingest as many calories as possible in one go. The Sloe Gin has been strained and is settling nicely in the cupboard, it should be drinkable by Monday. I tried a little bit last week and very good it is too, though shockingly sweet.

What i've been up to this week (Part 1)

I keep meaning to write a post about the wonderful work being created in some of my classes and how talented my students are, and I will, eventually, but apparently I'm just too self obsessed.

This is a stack of hand dyed and handmade papers just waiting to be made into little books. I'm trying to break free of the old muted colours that seem to dominate my handmade books at the moment.


I've also been having some fun with the free machine setting on the sewing machine. I've been a bit wary of this ever since the machine blew up the first time I tried it (apparently the peddle had needed servicing, it was on it's way out..) Said machine was as good as gold this time though. I've been experimenting with Indian imagery, it seemed to lend itself to the colours and gold glaze I covered everything in. Though I am feeling a bit unsure about pillaging symbols and motifs from random cultures and religions all in the name of a pretty piece of craft. Spiritually, is this right?

As you can see below, these papers start life as pieces of muslin, napkins, kitchen towel, random pieces of old material, then I just go mad with the drawing inks (these are lovely and transparent, plus I can get quite cheap wholesale 1 litre bottles from the educational suppliers we use at work, so it's not as costly as it sounds, these were done as a class demo, though, any work bods reading). Morrison's kitchen paper works great. The little green pattern shows through.

Right, that's it. Hopefully back tomorrow with some images of the book covers I've been making for the craft fayre and some of the handmade Scroogey Xmas cards. The craft fayre is next Sunday so it's going to be a busy week ;-)

Blenheim Craft Fayre

So, this morning Mum and I got up and went to Living Crafts at Blenheim Palace. A fayre of talented craftmakers and artisans. I have to say, I didn't find much to inspire, only quite a bit to be a depressed about.

There was little genuine talent on display but a lot of very savvy business people. Poeple great at self promotion, people who can produce work to sell very quickly and sell it at a fairly high price. It was a fayre aimed directly at people of a certain age and class with a nice wodge of expendable income. Bitter? Moi? No, I think one has to trawl thorugh the local craft markets organised on a much smaller scale to find the real talent. Or Etsy. The pitches at these national craft fayres cost so much money, how could anyone trying to work outisde of a full time job, with a family etc either a) afford it or b)produce enough work to sell??? The setting was great though.




Anyway- enough of that. I'm meeting up with a group of old work colleagues from my days at Ottakars as an idealistic graduate. I'm not sure whether it depresses me or cheers me that the friends I made whilst working there remain some of my most favourite people in the entire world. I am, however, sworn not to drink too much tonight as I am teaching a mixed media handmade Xmas cards workshop tomorrow. Hence I have spent the last week making little cards, trying to feel a little bit Christmassy in this most windy and wet of Novembers. And I do, a little bit...